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What is the purpose of running something like this when there are no viruses out there?

1- To stop spreading viruses to Windows users
2- Macs will not be virus free for ever...

Manusnake said:

They can look after themselves. Why would I spend my money and slow down my computer to protect those that chose an insecure platform?

Quote

Virus software you buy today won't be able to detect viruses released tomorrow. And when there is a legitimate Mac virus out in the wild, the press will be all over it. Then I'll make my decision on whether or not virus detection software is available.

It's a little slow but it is more stable and far less disruptive to your system than anything sold by Norton or Intego. It's unbelievable the spin MW is putting on some of its reviews now, favoring products that are clearly subpar and trying to ding free products that are actually better / interfere with your system less because it's not from a known developer that they have a relationship with. You can't run one of those other programs without them spreading junk all over your library folders, which interfere with various system processes, and in some cases stuff that you can't even uninstall. You have to go in after an uninstall and find the various startup items, extensions and other warts and delete them manually. Norton and Intego products s*ck, thank you very much.

I would like a bit more info on what was tested. For any review covering Mac anti-virus type programs, we should know the following. Does it detect and remove:
1. MS office macros?
2. All known Mac trojans?
3. All known Mac rootkits?
Thanks

Whenever I Run this Antivirus... My mac book pro gets super hot......... Any Solution for this temperature? I think thats the downfall of macbook.... they get super hot for heavy duty activities..

I have a MacBook too, and experience the same thing as you do. Any CPU-intensive activity will get the MacBook super hot, and the fan will become very noisy. I might never get another MacBook, but an iMac instead in the future.

hayesk said "They can look after themselves. Why would I spend my money and slow down my computer to protect those that chose an insecure platform?"

Because if you forward along an attachment, say for business, and it has some kind of Windows virus, they won't open it. They will cower in fear because their anti-virus software has alerted them that you are trying to infect them.

So you can crow all you want about our superior, more secure platform... but if it impedes my ability to do business with the rest of the world, I'll check out ClamAV, thankyouverymuch.

{quote} hayesk wrote:
They can look after themselves. Why would I spend my money and slow down my computer to
protect those that chose an insecure platform?
{quote}

You seem to be a very selfish person, with limited angle of vision. There are people out there who cannot afford a Mac because it's too expensive, or get one (even if they can afford one) because of their geographic location. So, are you going to tell these people: "Sucks to be you. Your mother should have gone to a different country to give birth? Or sucks to be you, you should have been born richer?"

You also seem to forget that many people have a mixture of both Mac and Windows computers at home. I happen to be in that situation, and therefore don't want to put my Windows computers at risk.

If a Mac virus comes to life one day, the effect will be more catastrophic than a similar virus on the Windows platform, because a lot of Mac users think they are invincible.

A great way to use this App is to set it up to scan your downloads folder. I just use to to scan new files I download, as I know the rest of the system is clean. I don't see much point in regular scans. I've scanned my computer quite a few times and never gotten a hit, so I feel that scanning new downloaded files will keep me safe.

The default settings have the definitions updates and quarantine folder toggled off, true, but I suspect anyone too daft to check through the Preferences routinely on installing a new program is unlikely to be even aware of ClamXav's existence.
This is a really good utility, although I admit to only running it intermittently to flush out any Windows junk that has accumulated on my MacBook. Long may it remain so.

I leaped into the Mac world because I got sick and tired of having to deal with viruses and other malware and the inherent problems of Windows OS's. I personally suffered the devastation caused by a virus two years ago. That made me very concerned about the dangers in doing computing especially if you depend on your machine to do your work. I was precisely asking myself if there was an antivirus program for Macs and now I found one and it is free. I'll give it a try because Macs won't be immune to malware forever. Also, I don't want to pass a virus to any of my friends.
For those who think that Macs are invincible, I'll try to explain my opinion with this analogy... just because our army is the best technologically and quality of our soldiers, that doesn't mean our goverment should stop developing better weapons and security measures to put in place to protect us. Because we are not directly under attack now, that doesn't mean we will never be. The enemy is always looking for ways to hurt us and that means looking for deficiencies in our defense as well as developing new weapons. Just imagine if we don't stay ahead of the game a get caught unguarded. History has always proved that be worry is way better than to be sorry.
The same principle applies to Mac computers. Just because Macs are not under attack now from hackers and other criminals doesn't mean they are not looking for ways to do it.

{quote}For those who think that Macs are invincible, I'll try to explain my opinion with this analogy... just because our army is the best technologically and quality of our soldiers, that doesn't mean our goverment should stop developing better weapons and security measures to put in place to protect us. Because we are not directly under attack now, that doesn't mean we will never be. The enemy is always looking for ways to hurt us and that means looking for deficiencies in our defense as well as developing new weapons. Just imagine if we don't stay ahead of the game a get caught unguarded. History has always proved that be worry is way better than to be sorry.
The same principle applies to Mac computers. Just because Macs are not under attack now from hackers and other criminals doesn't mean they are not looking for ways to do it. {quote}

Vey well done, and very good analogy. I'm a Mac user myself, but sometimes I am baffled by the attitude of some Mac users thinking that Mac's are invincible. For example, I once asked someone on an unsecured wireless network if he had his firewall enabled. His answer was: "No, but I'm on a Mac anyway." If firewall was not important at all, why would Apple include it in the OS?