Tech question: do you have an anti-virus on all your devices?

[razz]

I just completed a cyber security assessment put out by the federal government and it made me think. Maybe the techies here can advise me.

I have an iPhone and a Macbook Air. I don't have an anti-virus but do have a malware. The government assessment advised that each of us should have an anti-virus on all devices including our phones. Do you? Which one? What advice should I be looking at? TIA

[Tammy]

The Mac and Apple products don’t usually need this. In fact the company says the antivirus products can interfere with the software they already use.

Apple is so secure - I don’t bother with anything else.

[bae]

I don't bother, in my experience the anti-virus software functions too much like a virus itself for my needs. (In that it interferes with my use of the computer.)

[jp1]

I don't bother on my iphone or ipad. For my windows 10 computer I use the windows defender app that came with it and run a spybot scan once a month or so to clear out all the damn cookies and occasionally more nefarious stuff that inevitably piles up on a windows machine. It's probably been 15 years since I've had a serious malware event, but it's also been that long since I've gone to a dicey website or clicked an uncertain link in an email. Social distancing, it's for computer viruses too.

[bae]

It's probably been 15 years since I've had a serious malware event, but it's also been that long since I've gone to a dicey website or clicked an uncertain link in an email. Social distancing, it's for computer viruses too.

This is my approach too, and it's served well for decades.

I click on things on an iPad that I'm prepared to completely restore, but never on a real computer!

[razz]

Thank you for your responses.

I did add a virus protection shortly after I bought my Macbook but it slowed it down so badly that in time I took it to a registered Apple repair. They removed it and added Google Chrome for me to use instead of Safari. I also use Duck,duck,go as was suggested here for my browser and have had no problems for over 7 years. I try to update my information and understanding periodically which was triggered by the Cyber Survey.

[nswef]

We get Norton with comcast and so I have it on the PC and the android phones and tablets. No problems.

[Tammy]

It’s also important to keep your iPhone and MacBook in line with the updates that come out regularly. That’s probably the best thing you can do to maintain security with Apple products.

[Rogar]

I have done whatever research I can figure and do not think I need it for my iPad. Recently I removed Avast from my PC. What ever I could find said that Windows Defender that comes with Windows 10 has improved over the years and is probably as good as at least the anti virus/malware freeware and probably some of the pay for subscription packages. I'm still a little suspicious and use the iPad for most of my financial transactions.

[jp1]

It’s also important to keep your iPhone and MacBook in line with the updates that come out regularly. That’s probably the best thing you can do to maintain security with Apple products.

Yes. Although I wish they hadn't changed iOS last fall. Before, it showed the number of apps that needed updating right on your homescreen on the App Store icon. Now you have to click on it to see how many apps need updating. I try to remember but sometimes I go for 2-3 weeks before I remember to update everything. Looking now I have 18 apps that need updating...

[SteveinMN]

Yes. Although I wish they hadn't changed iOS last fall. Before, it showed the number of apps that needed updating right on your homescreen on the App Store icon. Now you have to click on it to see how many apps need updating.
jp1, that must be a Settings change. Through iOS 12, 13, and now 14, my App Store icon has always displayed updates (except for OS updates, which are displayed on Settings/General). You might want to go into Settings/Notifications and scroll down to App Store. Are Allow Notifications and Badges set to on?

As for computer security, I do have the free version of Avast running on my Mac and I occasionally run MalwareBytes to check on malware. I also do not run Adobe Acrobat or most Microsoft products, which eliminates a few common vectors for havoc. I run nothing on my iPhone and DW does not run any anti-virus software on her iPhone or iPad. She does run Windows Defender on her Windows laptop. And we do try to stay current on OS updates, though we are never on the bleeding edge of applying them on the day of release.

[Yppej]

Yes, and I do not install anything (such as a smart thermostat) that cannot run anti-virus software. The one exception might be the GPS plug-in device in my car. I have not heard of it being hacked to steer someone to a dead end where they could be robbed so worst case scenario I get lost.

[Tradd]

I have an iPhone and a MacBook. I don’t run anything extra for anti virus/malware. I am very suspicious of weird looking emails and don’t click on weird looking stuff.

[jp1]

jp1, that must be a Settings change. Through iOS 12, 13, and now 14, my App Store icon has always displayed updates (except for OS updates, which are displayed on Settings/General). You might want to go into Settings/Notifications and scroll down to App Store. Are Allow Notifications and Badges set to on?


Thank you! I think I lost that when I upgraded to iOS 13 and I just assumed it was just the way it would be. But apparently it's that my notification settings got changed. Or perhaps they made app store notifications optional at that point and just started everyone out with it off.

[Alan]

Being a bit of a nerdy household we run several Windows machines (2 laptops and 2 desktops), 1 Linux machine, 1 Chromebook, 3 iPads, 1 Android tablet and currently 2 iPhones and a backup supply of 3 older iPhones and 1 Android phone. The only anti-viral or malware protection we run is Windows Defender on the Windows machines. We learned a long time ago the best security defense is to keep away from sketchy sites and to not click willy-nilly on unknown links.

[ToomuchStuff]

Now have a couple Windows systems, work stuff, and my primary systems are Linux based. Also now have an Android tablet and phone; the phone is only for phone and text/work picture stuff, while the tablet is for VLC/Music and one specific app. Windows all have Defender on them, to the best of my knowledge (anyone remember MSAV). First line of defense is of course is not doing sketchy things/links, etc., second line, would be to use a bootable distro for anything questionable or security stuff like online banking. Otherwise, I would probably use a dedicated machine with OpenBSD on it.
Never even seen antivirus for Android.

[ewomack]

The most important thing anyone can do is not click on anything suspicious. Anti-virus software is good to have (good free versions that are "good enough" exist), but the real threat comes from clicking on something with an embedded hostile file, such as an email attachment or a malicious website. Be very wary of anything that looks "off" and you'll probably be good 99% of the time.