Yesterday I spotted a few articles about the apparent success of Intego’s VirusBarrier Express which has been download over 500,000 times from the Mac App Store. The app is a free download but is a cut down version of the full VirusBarrier product available for purchase through Intego’s web site. Virus definitions for the free version are released 60 days after the paid for product, so new viruses are potentially not detected for sometime after they become widespread.
Obviously the ease of installation of apps from the App Store may well be a factor in this large number of downloads, though I do wonder how many of those 500,000 will translate into sales of the full product for Intego.
Intego’s product is not the only free solution available to Mac users. Recently Sophos began providing Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac, Home Edition for free. Alternatively there is the popular ClamXav which is a well thought of free solution. Neither of these products is currently available for installation through the App Store, though that could change pretty quickly now one of the main players has started to gain traction through this route.
Obviously many Mac users ( including myself ) continue to operate largely without virus protection, but for those who wish for the comfort of an installed layer of protection I would suggest looking at the other free alternatives before immediately opting for the “convenience” of Intego’s App Store offering.
Testing comments
I really dislike Intego, I had it on my machine and it was often hogging CPU and Ram, I tried to delete the App but you have to jump through hoops to get rid of the software from your machine, if you don't get it all it leaves little bits which again sit there using resources. Unless they fix these issues I wouldn't use the software again.
The only time I had any experience with SOPHOS was many years ago through work on windows machines, but the software was seemingly very good and I liked the ethos of the Co, of course I've no idea if they have changed or what there Mac software is like, but it is certainly a company I'd use again. However I'm still at a stage where I don't use AV software on my Mac, although that of course could mean that I'm sending files with the nasty little buggers to my window friends. So it maybe worth looking at some for that reason, I do occasionally run ClamXav, which I believe is still freeware http://www.clamxav.com/.
Gazmaz