Member Avatar for Studio

Hi

i am new to Mac so dont know alot of the software that is out there, however the first piece of software i need is a firewall and Antivirus (preferably free) are there any that u guys can recommend

Thanks

Studio

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Dani AI

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Brief, practical guidance for a Panther-era Mac that needs a lightweight firewall/virus approach while keeping performance acceptable on older PowerPC hardware.

Start by thinking in terms of exposure and handling of files rather than installing heavyweight resident scanners. Gathering hardware and OS details (as recommended) is the first step toward choosing compatible tools. Prioritize patching, limiting services, and using the network gateway (router) as the first line of defense so the Mac itself is not directly exposed.

Concrete hardening and operational advice: keep Apple security updates applied; perform daily work from a non-administrator account; disable any unnecessary sharing and remote-access services; make sure the system-side firewall is enabled and unused ports are closed; do not allow email clients or browsers to auto-open attachments or downloads; maintain a regular, verified backup routine so recovery is fast if anything goes wrong.

Antivirus strategy for a 512 MB G4: prefer on-demand or scheduled scans instead of continuous real-time scanning to avoid major slowdowns. Scan files that will be passed to Windows machines before sending. Test any AV product with existing USB/peripheral sync workflows first — several people in the thread (see and ) reported sync conflicts when scanners locked files during device synchronization. If resident scanning is required, look for options to exclude sync folders and to schedule or throttle scans.

Checklist:

  • OS version should be confirmed and the latest Apple security patches applied.
  • File, printer and remote sharing should be disabled unless required.
  • Daily work should be done from a non-admin account.
  • Incoming files destined for other platforms should be scanned on-demand or at a gateway.
  • Any AV choice must be compatibility-tested with USB/peripherals and scheduled for off-hours full scans.
  • Maintain regular, verified backups and keep a clean restore path.

Recommended Answers

All 7 Replies

Member Avatar for gortonsfi

So you're new to mac, eh? How about we start with what kind of Mac you're learning on, powermac, iBook, whether it's a G3 G4 or G5, which version of Mac OS you're running, OS 9 or 10.4 for example. That's going to affect what you can and can't add a lot.

Sorry it took so long for someone to respond.

Member Avatar for yellow

ipfw (the built-in firewall) is pretty good.

Member Avatar for Studio

Hi

sorry i fogot to mention that i am on a Mini mac G4 1.25GHZ with 512 mb Ram that obviously runs MAC OSX 10.3.5

Member Avatar for gortonsfi

Oooo hahahah cooool Mac Mini!! What do you think about it? Are you coming from a Windoze background? What brought you to try the mac?

Welcome to the club!

Member Avatar for cashondeb

Norton Antivirus is what I use, and is fairly a cheap software program to buy. Check into that for your virus protection. By the way, welcome to MAC (Most Awsome Computer) EVER. I don't like windows at all. Had family members that were windows forever, but got them to by Mac's, and love it.......and one of 'em are my parents who've never owned a computer before, and say the mac is sooooo easy to learn!

Member Avatar for kc0arf

Hi,

I would not be the quickest to jump onto the Norton bandwagon.... I have seen cases where Norton fell apart in the Windoze world, and the antivirus just seems clunky on the Mac.

Also note that Virex, the last time I checked, was incompatable with my USB Palm device. I could not sync while Virex was up and running, because Virex would lock the file. I also found Virex support on OS X to be spotty at best.

Right now, I am not using anything on my Mac for anti-virus. I do not use Microsoft Office, so any office macro bugs heading my direction will not execute. I love OpenOffice. I am also behind a Linux-based firewall, so attacks via the network are thwarted there.

My linux box scans with BitDefender on a daily basis.

Christian

Member Avatar for yellow

Also note that Virex, the last time I checked, was incompatable with my USB Palm device. I could not sync while Virex was up and running, because Virex would lock the file.

I discovered this on Friday after reinstalling Panther on my work Mac. I decided to upgrade Virex to 7.5.1 at the same time. And then tore my hair out when my Palm wouldn't sync. MAN that was annoying. Needless to say, I'm back running virex 7.2.1.

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