AppleInsider › Forums › General › Genius Bar › Third-Party Products › Sophos
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Sophos

post #1 of 33
1/29/12 at 3:55am
Thread Starter 
Is Sophos a good anti virus program to use with the Lion OS and a Mac mini? Thanks
Reply
Reply
post #2 of 33
1/29/12 at 6:44am
Absolutely worthless. DO NOT GET ANTI-VIRUS FOR YOUR MAC.

Doesn't matter what it is. Don't get it.
PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
Reply
PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
Reply
post #3 of 33
1/30/12 at 3:12am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post

Absolutely worthless. DO NOT GET ANTI-VIRUS FOR YOUR MAC.

Doesn't matter what it is. Don't get it.

What about what apple recommends is Clam Xva? Thanks
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 33
1/30/12 at 7:08am
Quote:
Originally Posted by marvfox View Post

What about what apple recommends is Clam Xva? Thanks

Don't get it. Apple recommends something? Ha!

They're all viruses themselves. Anti-virus software IS a virus in OS X. You're just not going to run into any OS X malware unless you're pirating paid software or looking at illegal porn. You'd be more likely to be struck by lightning on your way to cash in your winning PowerBall ticket.
PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
Reply
PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
Reply
post #5 of 33
3/1/12 at 3:30am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post

Absolutely worthless. DO NOT GET ANTI-VIRUS FOR YOUR MAC.

Doesn't matter what it is. Don't get it.

Why is Sophos worthless in your opinion?
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 33
3/1/12 at 5:55am
Quote:
Originally Posted by marvfox View Post

Why is Sophos worthless in your opinion?

Why do you think you need Sophos (or any anti-virus) on a Mac?

Related story: We run Sophos at my company where I must use a Windows XP machine. Every Thursday at noon, a scan gets kicked off (which I can't disable) and runs at least until 5 when I leave. All afternoon, my machine crawls. I can barely do anything. Now replicate this loss of productivity among the thousands of laptops we have at our company.
Reply
Reply
post #7 of 33
3/1/12 at 9:49am
Quote:
Originally Posted by JupiterOne View Post

We run Sophos at my company where I must use a Windows XP machine. Every Thursday at noon, a scan gets kicked off (which I can't disable) and runs at least until 5 when I leave. All afternoon, my machine crawls. I can barely do anything. Now replicate this loss of productivity among the thousands of laptops we have at our company.

I don't understand why anti-virus programs do this. They should keep timestamps of all updated files since the previous scan - if a virus attaches itself to another file, its timestamp would update. Each scan should take about 5 minutes. I don't know why anti-virus apps insist on scanning over and over.

I'd only run an AV app if I suspected there was some abnormal activity, slowdown or after installing untrusted software, I'd never have one running in the background. ClamX AV is a capable app but I'd just run it once and keep it shut down.
Reply
Reply
post #8 of 33
3/1/12 at 12:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marvin View Post

I don't understand why anti-virus programs do this. They should keep timestamps of all updated files since the previous scan - if a virus attaches itself to another file, its timestamp would update. Each scan should take about 5 minutes. I don't know why anti-virus apps insist on scanning over and over.

I'd only run an AV app if I suspected there was some abnormal activity, slowdown or after installing untrusted software, I'd never have one running in the background. ClamX AV is a capable app but I'd just run it once and keep it shut down.

It's a company policy. They have it as a Windows Scheduled Task that we cannot change. Apparently desktops run in the middle of the night, but they want to run laptops at noon since they are most likely powered on at that time. Unfortunately, I'm trying to actually USE it at that time.
Reply
Reply
post #9 of 33
3/2/12 at 3:27am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by JupiterOne View Post

It's a company policy. They have it as a Windows Scheduled Task that we cannot change. Apparently desktops run in the middle of the night, but they want to run laptops at noon since they are most likely powered on at that time. Unfortunately, I'm trying to actually USE it at that time.

I did download Sophos today and it scanned over three hundred and 30 thousand files and it said nothreats whereas I used Clam Xva and it said 4 trojans I had and it crashed 11 times yesterday. I deleted it. Thanks marv
Reply
Reply
post #10 of 33
4/18/12 at 11:08pm
http://support.apple.com/downloads/

Apple does allow antimalware - antivirus on their machines, since the advent of intel processors on apple macs, converting codes to create from windows viruses to Apple will be a lot easier.. If you use your Apple machines to do online transactions, better have a good malware protection, Sophos is a good one, I'm a Windows-Linux-Mac OS X user, and this clearly shows that Apple also relies on Linux security concerns

" Apple also works very closely with the FreeBSD Security team to analyze and release patches for security vulnerabilities."

https://ssl.apple.com/support/security/

I use Bitdefender for Linux / Mac OS X Lion, it wont hurt your system to use it, and I use Sophos for on-demand access scanning, that loads the antivirus and actively scans every downloaded stuff from the internet.. it scans your cookies and internet caches..
Command & Conquer
Reply
Command & Conquer
Reply
post #11 of 33
4/18/12 at 11:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by marvfox View Post

I did download Sophos today and it scanned over three hundred and 30 thousand files and it said nothreats whereas I used Clam Xva and it said 4 trojans I had and it crashed 11 times yesterday. I deleted it. Thanks marv

Check it out here. http://www.clamav.net/lang/en/, since apple modifies unix to its own gain, Mac OS is same as Windows, which is entirely closed-source, using an open source progam is a feat for open source programmers to create a program to work efficiently on a such system, ClamAV is a good 'nix antivirus.
Command & Conquer
Reply
Command & Conquer
Reply
post #12 of 33
4/19/12 at 3:26am
Contrary to what egrar has said, you don't need it.

Don't get one. Don't install one. Don't use one. Don't even think about one.
PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
Reply
PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
Reply
post #13 of 33
4/19/12 at 4:19am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post

Contrary to what egrar has said, you don't need it.

Don't get one. Don't install one. Don't use one. Don't even think about one.

Why are you so adamant about this software?
Reply
Reply
post #14 of 33
4/19/12 at 4:20am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by egrar View Post

http://support.apple.com/downloads/

Apple does allow antimalware - antivirus on their machines, since the advent of intel processors on apple macs, converting codes to create from windows viruses to Apple will be a lot easier.. If you use your Apple machines to do online transactions, better have a good malware protection, Sophos is a good one, I'm a Windows-Linux-Mac OS X user, and this clearly shows that Apple also relies on Linux security concerns

" Apple also works very closely with the FreeBSD Security team to analyze and release patches for security vulnerabilities."

https://ssl.apple.com/support/security/

I use Bitdefender for Linux / Mac OS X Lion, it wont hurt your system to use it, and I use Sophos for on-demand access scanning, that loads the antivirus and actively scans every downloaded stuff from the internet.. it scans your cookies and internet caches..

It is good and scans everything on your hard drive and it is free.
Reply
Reply
post #15 of 33
4/19/12 at 4:21am
Here's a good site, http://www.virusbtn.com , if you need to know more about AntiViruses, which one is real and which one is not, which one works better. I am not saying you have to install an AntiVirus to your Mac but.. who else will suffer the most when one gets a virus, a trojan or a malware.. who will say, hey thats a malware site... your guts? ESP

I recently bought an Apple Mac Book Pro mid 2011 edition, just before the latest Apple Mac trojan outbreak.. I wanted one for years then this happens... oh well, I already knew about how vulnerable every system is anyway, and this is just the beginning..
Command & Conquer
Reply
Command & Conquer
Reply
post #16 of 33
4/19/12 at 4:27am
Quote:
Originally Posted by marvfox View Post

Why are you so adamant about this software?

Because I'm right. OS X needs no protection. YOU are the best line of defense because NOTHING is going to install on its own.

Trust us. You do not need anything.

Quote:
Originally Posted by egrar View Post

Here's a good site

Why do you insist on spamming here? If you can make a post that doesn't have a link to a separate site, I'll consider not banning you. Your outlook isn't too good right now.
PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
Reply
PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
Reply
post #17 of 33
4/19/12 at 4:39am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post

Because I'm right. OS X needs no protection. YOU are the best line of defense because NOTHING is going to install on its own.

Trust us. You do not need anything.



Why do you insist on spamming here? If you can make a post that doesn't have a link to a separate site, I'll consider not banning you. Your outlook isn't too good right now.

My mistake for posting sites, won't happen again, forgot to see that your a moderator here, .
But I THOUGHT this section deals about third-party products? Anyway just wanted to help here..

I guess I have proven my point here..
Command & Conquer
Reply
Command & Conquer
Reply
post #18 of 33
4/19/12 at 4:44am
Thanks for the human reply; almost made something of a mistake there.

Quote:
Originally Posted by egrar View Post

My mistake for posting sites, won't happen again

It's fine as long as you're not schilling for them. Feel free to post them as reference or such, but don't make your posts look like ads. Sets my internal spam sensors off.

Quote:
I guess I have proven my point here..

That anti-virus is unnecessary, yes.
PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
Reply
PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
Reply
post #19 of 33
4/19/12 at 7:13pm

That I have proven, that there is no system is perfect or malware proof.

Command & Conquer
Reply
Command & Conquer
Reply
post #20 of 33
4/22/12 at 5:00am
Thread Starter 

You are right.

Reply
Reply
post #21 of 33
4/22/12 at 7:01am
Quote:
Originally Posted by egrar View Post
That I have proven, that there is no system is perfect or malware proof.

 

Except the only malware that will ever affect OS X is stuff you install yourself. Anti-virus software won't save you from yourself. It can only pick up the pieces once YOU have done the damage.

 

Be intelligent enough not to install every little thing that comes your way and you will never need it for any reason ever.

 

Another personal anecdote that you will ignore: In the nearly twenty years I've used the "modern" Internet, not once have I ever downloaded anything, nor has anything shown up on my computer having auto-downloaded, that I didn't recognize as safe.

 

This. Stuff. Just. Doesn't. Exist out there. I don't know what dank corner of the Internet you'd have to visit to even FIND this stuff, but you can go just about anywhere and never even SEE anything REMOTELY close to malware for OS X.

PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
Reply
PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
Reply
post #22 of 33
4/22/12 at 7:09am

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


YOU are the best line of defense because NOTHING is going to install on its own.

 

AI's article says that isn't the case at all. You should talk to the admin to have the story corrected.

 

"Once a user visits a site carrying Flashback, the program installs itself without the need for permission and proceeds to collect sensitive data like user iDs, passwords and web browsing histories which it then sends to an off-site repository."

melior diabolus quem scies

"No theatrics and no more personal attacks, just stick to the logic and tell me why I don't have any argument ~ Jragosta/2012

Reply

melior diabolus quem scies

"No theatrics and no more personal attacks, just stick to the logic and tell me why I don't have any argument ~ Jragosta/2012

Reply
post #23 of 33
4/22/12 at 7:47am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gatorguy View Post
AI's article says that isn't the case at all. You should talk to the admin to have the story corrected.

 

My statement remains correct. OS X doesn't install Java on its own.

PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
Reply
PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
Reply
post #24 of 33
4/22/12 at 3:23pm

I agree. Visiting a malicious web site checks if you have java installed, if found it forces you to update java using its own "fake" java update, same thing happens even if you dont have java installed, unfortunately most website needs java installed for its various needs / designs. Apple failed to warn its users about this, what they did is not to install java by default. Its been known that theres a multitude of java exploits out there, the new HTML5 will change this, but thats another exploit waiting to happen.

So, what are we supposed to do.. 

Command & Conquer
Reply
Command & Conquer
Reply
post #25 of 33
4/22/12 at 3:38pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by egrar View Post
…if found it forces you to update java using its own "fake" java update… 

 

Ooh, neat. Your computer holds a gun to your head! How extraordinary. Apple doesn't advertise that feature very often.

PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
Reply
PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
Reply
post #26 of 33
4/23/12 at 4:05am
Thread Starter 

Listen to the guru Tallest Skill he knows everything.

Reply
Reply
post #27 of 33
4/23/12 at 5:47am

Every web site you go to download a bit of info to your computer, a web browser have cache that it maintains.. if for example your using the fastest browser now a days like Google Chrome, and you have ClamAV as an anti virus, it will flag a Google Chrome cache as a threat. The faster the web browser is, the more it downloads to its caches, from java , flash, cookies etc... you can limit some of these using options built in to your web browser, or setting up your java to clear its own cache when you exit a web browser.. try downloading ccleaner for instance and see how much crap is left in your apple mac without you knowing it.. did you allow it to happen? No, your just browsing / surfing the net , right? the same principle happens when you browse a malicious web site, that "crap" downloads to your system without you knowing it, since its maliciously designed to "fool" you one way or the other, its ALREADY on your computer. Its as simple as that.

Command & Conquer
Reply
Command & Conquer
Reply
post #28 of 33
4/23/12 at 6:26am
Quote:
Originally Posted by egrar View Post
…you go to… …you can limit… …did you allow it…

 

And you've made my argument for me. Thank you.

 

 

Quote:
…that "crap" downloads to your system without you knowing it, since its maliciously designed to "fool" you one way or the other, its ALREADY on your computer. Its as simple as that.

 

Where it can do absolutely nothing without your password. Which you give it. 

 

Game, set, match.

PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
Reply
PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
Reply
post #29 of 33
4/23/12 at 10:35am

WARNING !! Verified malicious sites below.

 

For Reference only:

http://sistemabanesconlineseguro.66ghz.com/

 

http://facebookv10.altervista.org/

 

http://www.mie-kenkou.com/drugstore/m/region/matsusaka/cssbunhs/internetbanking.html

 

How will Mac OS X protect me from this sites? Will it warn me about what it is? Surely an Anti-Virus like Sophos, or using a third party software will protect me against these but not Mac OS X.

I dont know if the above website involve the latest trojan , or might be something elsle, be warned!

One of these site even looks like a legitimate well known Bank.. 

So again, I ask , how will Mac OS X protects me from these sites? if ever , can you post something (pictures or screen shots) that the system did protect you from even opening these sites, I would love to see it, seeing Mac OS X in action! :)

 

ps: correct me if im wrong, as you can see, im just a newbie around here.

 

 

Command & Conquer
Reply
Command & Conquer
Reply
post #30 of 33
4/23/12 at 11:45am

no. it's not. it's useless. don't use that

Reply
Reply
post #31 of 33
4/23/12 at 12:26pm

Independent studies shows Sophos did fairly well.. AVG, Avast and Bitdefender is gaining grounds on Malware protection, Avast still on beta for Mac as I see it, and it does'nt offer Mac Business suites for now.

Its my first time to use Sophos and its seems to be ok, it caught EICAR test file fast as it was downloaded to my Mac.  I've been a fan of Bitdefender, due to its linux support, also been using it without a problem. :)

Command & Conquer
Reply
Command & Conquer
Reply
post #32 of 33
4/23/12 at 12:27pm

hmmm... still waiting for those screen shots....

Command & Conquer
Reply
Command & Conquer
Reply
post #33 of 33
4/24/12 at 4:25am
Thread Starter 

Good luck using Sophos it is a good app to use.
 

Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Third-Party Products
AppleInsider › Forums › General › Genius Bar › Third-Party Products › Sophos