What Mac apps and services do you use?

Iestyn

OMG Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2011
Messages
48
Hi all,

Just wondering what Anti-virus and firewall my fellow Mac lovers use and which ones stood out for you?

What ad blocking service do you use? I've been doing a bit of research into uBlock recently and I keep come up against conflicting information. Their website states that uBlock and uBlock Origin are two separate services, and that they no longer support 'uBlock Origin' and that 'uBlock' is the new and only supported version but on the Chrome extension store, 'uBlock' hasn't been updated in quite a long time so I'm a bit confused on which one to use. Does anyone use their extension and can shed a bit of light on the matter?

I hope all that makes sense.
 

Iestyn

OMG Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2011
Messages
48
Very helpful info there, thank you. What antivirus do you use and recommend?
 

Floris

I'm just me :) Hi.
Staff member
Joined
Jan 1, 2001
Messages
60,096
Very helpful info there, thank you. What antivirus do you use and recommend?

It sounds counter effective, but I don't recommend using an anti virus on mac systems.
Most of them are intrusive, counter productive, and Apple already has a great built in response system.
Using the mac app store with certified developers is more than enough to not get dodgy virus infected stuff on a computer.

I haven't had an anti virus since my first mac in 2005/2006, and despite that I check once a year with something enterprise market would use, there hasn't ever been found anything.

If I were to run something it would be some of the tools by Patrick; https://objective-see.com/products.html

Most anti virus systems are so intrusive and in your way, taking over and breaking ssl to snoop inside the traffic, log more than they should and share it. Take too much of the ram and cpu .. that they're just as much of a virus than the virus they're trying to prevent.

Just smart computer using will help, the macOS architecture is a lot different than Windows' etc, anyway. Opening an infected file will require a few things to happen. The really damaging ones require your root pass anyway. Don't download from free download sites like download.com or anything but either the official site for the app, and basically only if it's not available in the mac app store and you really want it.

Plan B situation: If you suspect something to be infected, you can use something like this: https://www.virustotal.com/en/documentation/desktop-applications/mac-osx-uploader to check prior to running it.
 
Last edited:

Iestyn

OMG Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2011
Messages
48
It sounds counter effective, but I don't recommend using an anti virus on mac systems.
Most of them are intrusive, counter productive, and Apple already has a great built in response system.
Using the mac app store with certified developers is more than enough to not get dodgy virus infected stuff on a computer.

I haven't had an anti virus since my first mac in 2005/2006, and despite that I check once a year with something enterprise market would use, there hasn't ever been found anything.

If I were to run something it would be some of the tools by Patrick; https://objective-see.com/products.html

Most anti virus systems are so intrusive and in your way, taking over and breaking ssl to snoop inside the traffic, log more than they should and share it. Take too much of the ram and cpu .. that they're just as much of a virus than the virus they're trying to prevent.

Just smart computer using will help, the macOS architecture is a lot different than Windows' etc, anyway. Opening an infected file will require a few things to happen. The really damaging ones require your root pass anyway. Don't download from free download sites like download.com or anything but either the official site for the app, and basically only if it's not available in the mac app store and you really want it.

Plan B situation: If you suspect something to be infected, you can use something like this: https://www.virustotal.com/en/documentation/desktop-applications/mac-osx-uploader to check prior to running it.

Don't suppose you have firevault enabled do you? Considering enabling it. If you do, does it considerably slow down MacOS? Just curious. Always looking out for new ways security. Not sure wether to or not
 

Floris

I'm just me :) Hi.
Staff member
Joined
Jan 1, 2001
Messages
60,096
Don't suppose you have firevault enabled do you? Considering enabling it. If you do, does it considerably slow down MacOS? Just curious. Always looking out for new ways security. Not sure wether to or not
FileVault isn't enabled in HighSierra, because I've had some custom security token manipulations to guarantee existing ransomware can't trigger the default account stuff they're doing.. And the token has to be in place properly for FV to work.

It's on my list on the next HS update to turn it on and test it as that will be a fresh installation ~ i've read on macrumors some people had issues with the fv and hs. No rush yet :)
 
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