Mac users aren’t bogged down with the same viral issues as their Windows-using brethren, but they aren’t bullet proof. They can still get scammed, hoaxed, and bilked out of their time, energy, money. ClamXav is a free, open source virus and scam scanner for Mac OS X.
By default, it doesn’t run in the background at all. It won’t use your system’s resources you pressing the scan button. It has the capability of thoroughly scanning your computer for any malware it is harboring, but that’s not what impresses me the most. It also scans your mail from Mail.app for phishing, spoofing, and other scams. That really blows my skirt up. I like knowing that my mail is being watched for scams with little to no hassle on my part.
If you want more intense protection, you can use the Sentry feature to constantly monitor certain folders for malware. If you prefer, you can also have a full scan automatically run at a certain time of day. Quarantining and whitelisting are also available from within the settings menu, so you can customize the scan to your liking.
Some might call this paranoia, but I think it is worthwhile to scan your home folder every now and again for the crap that Windows users deal with every single day. Let’s stay frosty, everyone.
If you’re interested, you can download the latest beta of ClamXav for no cost. That said, the developer requests that you donate via Paypal if you enjoy the app. I thoroughly recommend that you do.
