We’ve all heard that Apple computers are very secure because their unix based but as more and more people begin to purchase macs the more you will be at risk. Simply put, the more macs on the market the more likely there will be someone trying to hack your system. Well, if you’re looking for the basic anti-virus security you should look into ClamXav. I use this myself and my previous employer had this installed on every mac in the building (we were an all mac building @ 300 employees). Ok, you won’t the low down on ClamXav? Take the next step to monitor your system for viruses.

ClamXav is a virus check for your Mac OSX. if you often download any type of files to your computer you can setup ClamXav to watch those locations. For example, I preset all my downloads to land on either the desktop or within my documents folder thus I set ClamXav to watch both of those destinations. Anytime I download a file to one of those locations ClamXav automatically scans for any type of virus that may be attached to that desired file.

By selecting your folders of choice, you must click “save settings & launch ClamXav Sentry”. At this point you’ll notice an icon in your top menu bar (near the time) that assures you that the virus check is running. Personally, I download a lot of torrents to my desktop and my friends often send me music. You’ll notice that the ClamXav icon in you menu bar become active anytime any file is downloading to the locations you setup to be watched.

I’ve been pretty satisfied with this application as it has caught a few issues within files I was trying to download. If you do not currently have any software watching for viruses I suggest you try ClamXav. It’s extremely simple to use and works on its own once setup. There really is not much more you can ask for regarding a free app. What applications or precautions do you take to secure and monitor your mac?

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This entry was posted on Friday, October 5th, 2007 at 5:16 am and is filed under Apple, Workflow. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.