Rubenking The Best Mac Antivirus Protection of 2018 Despite what you may have heard, your Apple computer is not immune to malware. We test the top contenders to identify those offering the best Mac antivirus protection. Even Macs Need Antivirus Protection It never fails. If you post on a help forum about some computer problem you're having, some genius is sure to contribute, 'Get a Mac!' Yeah, it's not much help, but there is a nugget of value at the core of that advice. Devices running Windows (and Android) are vastly more likely to get hit with a malware infestation than Macs, simply because the macOS operating system is better at maintaining security.

But less likely doesn't mean impossible; Macs do get hit with ransomware, Trojans, and other types of malware. Smart Mac users don't rely strictly on the OS. They install a macOS-centric antivirus utility. We've put a collection of such tools under serious scrutiny, to help you choose the one that's best for your macOS devices.

As with, the most common price is just under $40 per year for a single license. ProtectWorks is unusual in that a single $29.95 payment lets you protect all the Macs in your household, with no subscription needed. McAfee goes beyond that, with a $59.99 per year subscription that protects all your Macs, PCs, Android, and iOS devices. With Sophos Home Premium, $50 per year lets you insall and remotely manage protection on 10 Macs or PCs. At the high end, you pay $99.99 per year for a three-license subscription to Intego Mac Internet Security X9.

You may have heard that the coming advances the platform's privacy and security. Safari on Mojave automatically blocks ads and social media trackers. The built-in password manager does more than ever. And when AppleScript apps try to access internal macOS features, Mojave makes them wait until you give permission. But nothing we've seen suggests that upgrading to Mojave will obviate the need for an antivirus utility. Free Mac Antivirus Protection There's another angle to the variation in Mac antivirus pricing.

How about paying nothing at all?, Avira Free Antivirus for Mac, and Sophos Home Free (for Mac) are totally free for personal use, although Sophos technically limits you to three devices, macOS or Windows. AVG also offers free antivirus for Mac, but until its phishing protection improves we can't recommend it. The best commercial products offer more protection but if you can't afford the best, at least install a free antivirus. Offers everything found in the free edition, plus ransomware protection and Wi-Fi intruder detection.

We don't consider the added features worth the product's $59.99 per year subscription price. It merits three stars, but not a spot in the chart. Malware Protection Lab Certifications When you go to select a new washer, refrigerator, or other appliance, chances are good you research it first. User reviews can be helpful, as long as you discard the very best and very worst of them.

But actual test results performed by an independent lab give you more reliable information. Two large labs include antivirus products in their testing, and all but four of the products in this roundup received certification from at least one of them. Malwarebytes declines to be tested, on the basis that its unusual detection mechanism isn't compatible with current testing methods. And the labs didn't choose to include ClamXAV, McAfee, or ProtectWorks. The researchers at evaluate Mac antivirus products on three criteria: protection, performance, and usability. A product can earn up to six points for each. Protection against malware protection is essential, of course, as is a low impact on performance.

A high usability score reflects a small number of false positives, legitimate programs and websites identified as dangerous. Several products achieved a perfect 18 points, all six points for all three criteria.

F-Secure Safe took the lowest score in the most recent test. You won't find a Mac-specific review of this product, as it's a cross-platform suite that protects Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS devices. In the macOS malware test by, almost every charted product scored at least 99 percent, and a couple managed a perfect 100 percent. Webroot stumbled just a bit, with 96.9 percent protection. This lab, too, included a test using malware aimed at Windows. Yes, these samples can't affect a computer running macOS, but they could conceivably escape to Windows machines on the network.

Scores in the Windows malware test ranged from 35 percent to 100 percent, which is quite a span. Results in these tests have a much smaller point spread than in tests of. It's good that most products in the chart received at least one certification for Mac protection, and even better that some received two certifications.

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Malwarebytes earned a three-star good rating, but because of its unusual detection and remediation mechanisms, it's not suited to lab testing, and hence has no lab certifications. The chart also doesn't include free products such as Sophos and Avira, but you can find all of these products in the blurbs at the bottom of this roundup. Hands-On Phishing Protection Testing When we test on Windows, we use live malware inside an isolated virtual machine. We've coded a number of analysis tools over the years to help with this testing. Little of that testing regimen carries over to the Mac.

Phishing, however, isn't platform-specific, and neither is our antiphishing test. Phishing websites imitate secure sites, everything from banks and finance sites to gaming and dating sites. If you enter your credentials at the fake login page, you've given the phisher access to your account. And it doesn't matter if you are browsing on a PC, a Mac, or an internet-aware sewing machine. Over half of the products in this story include protection against malicious and fraudulent sites.

With ClamXAV, Intego, and ProtectWorks, this just isn't an included feature. The venerable SiteAdvisor component of McAfee AntiVirus Plus (for Mac) failed when tested previously. More recently, it went from flop to phenom, with an amazing 100 percent protection. The wily malefactors who create phishing sites are in the business of deception, and they constantly change and update their techniques, hoping to evade detection. If one fraudulent site gets blacklisted or shut down by the authorities, they simply pop up with a new one. That being the case, we try to use the very newest phishing URLs for testing, scraping them from phishing-focused websites. We launch each URL simultaneously in four browsers.

One is Safari on the Mac, protected by the Mac antivirus that's under test. The other three use the protection built into Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer. Discarding any that don't fit the phishing profile, and any that don't load correctly in all four browsers, we report the product's success as the average of the difference between its detection rate and that of the other four test systems. Most of the products in this roundup beat the combined average of the three browsers. Bitdefender in particular scored hugely higher; perhaps the browsers were having a bad day. It's worth noting that, while phishing is platform-independent, phishing defense may not be. For example, Norton on Windows scored siginficantly better than Norton for the Mac.

Tested at the same time, McAfee on Windows and on macOS both scored 100 percent. Ransomware Protection The scourge of ransomware is on the rise. While ransomware attacks are more common on Windows devices, Macs have suffered as well. Of course, any antivirus utility should handle ransomware just as it handles spyware, Trojans, viruses, and other malware types. But since the consequences of missing a ransomware attack are so great, some security products add components with the sole purpose of preventing ransomware attacks. We've observed a wide variety of techniques on Windows. These include blocking unauthorized access to user documents, detecting ransomware based on its activity, and recovering encrypted files from backup.

Of the products listed here, Bitdefender and Trend Micro offer a ransomware component that blocks unauthorized modification of protected documents. As with Bitdefender's Windows edition, the Safe Files feature prevents all unauthorized access to your documents. On a Mac, it also protects your Time Machine backups. Trend Micro offers multiple layers of Windows ransomware protection.

Folder Shield, which, like Safe Files, prevents unauthorized document access, is the only layer that made its way to the macOS edition. Sophos Home Premium includes the same CryptoGuard behavior-based ransomware protection found in its Windows equivalent. Our Windows test sytsems are virtual machines, so we feel free to release real-world ransomware for testing. We just roll back the virtual machine to a clean snapshot after testing. We don't have the option to do that on the physical Mac testbed, so we just have to figure that since it worked on Windows, it probably works on macOS. Spyware Protection Any kind of malware problem is unpleasant, but spyware may be the most unnerving. Imagine some creeper secretly peeking at you through your Mac's webcam!

Other types of spying include logging keystrokes to capture your passwords, sending Trojans to steal your personal data, and watching your online activities to build a profile. As with ransomware protection, we've observed more features specifically devoted to on Windows-based security products than on the Mac, but a few products in this collection do pay special attention to spyware. Under Windows, Kaspersky's Safe Money feature opens sensitive sites in a secure browser that's hardened against outside interference.

The Safe Money feature on the Mac doesn't do that, but it does check URLs to make sure you're on a legitimate secure site. Kaspersky offers an onscreen keyboard, so you can enter passwords with no chance of capture by a keylogger. Its webcam protection isn't as configurable as it is on Windows, but you can use it to disable your Mac's webcam whenever you're not using it. It even includes the ability to block advertisers and others from tracking your online activities. If spyware is your bugaboo, you'll like Kaspersky. Sophos Home Premium offers protection for the webcam and microphone that's more substantial than Kaspersky's.

You get a notification any time an untrusted program attempts to access either; you can allow access or stop the program. There's also an option to whitelist a program, so you don't get a popup every time you use your off-brand video chat tool. Bonus Features. Many antivirus tools on Windows pack in a ton of bonus features, packing in everything from tune-up utilities to.

That behavior seems less common on the macOS side. Even so, some vendors don't have a standalone Mac antivirus, opting instead to offer a full as the baseline level of protection, and a few others include suite-like bonus features in the basic antivirus.

A typical personal firewall component blocks attacks coming in from the internet and also manages network permissions for programs installed on your Mac. Intego, McAfee, and Norton each include a firewall component, while Kaspersky's Network Protection comes close. Parental control is another common suite component.

With Sophos (free or premium) and Trend Micro Antivirus for Mac, a content filter can block access to websites matching unwanted categories. Kaspersky goes beyond that, with content filtering, internet time scheduling, private data protection, and even social media contact control. Protect Your Mac Most of the products covered in this roundup earned certification from at least one independent testing lab; some managed two certifications. There really are no bad choices here, as far as basic antivirus protection goes. Even so, a couple of products stood out.

Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac not only achieved certification from both labs, it earned the maximum score in every test, and took the top antiphishing score. Kaspersky Internet Security for Mac also earned high scores. It offers a full suite of Mac security tools, at the same price competitors charge for basic antivirus protection. These two are our Editors' Choice winners for Mac antivirus protection. Look over the reviews, pick the product that suits you best, and get your Mac protected. Once you've done that, you should also consider installing a. While an antivirus protects you, your devices, and your data locally, a VPN extends that protection to your online activities, protecting both your security and your privacy.

Pros: Protects files and backups from ransomware. Top ratings from two independent testing labs. Excellent score in our antiphishing test. No-hassle Autopilot mode. TrafficLight browser extension marks dangerous links in search results. Cons: TrafficLight currently doesn't work under the specific Safari/Google combination. Bottom Line: Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac gets top marks from the independent labs and in our own hands-on testing.

With its handy Autopilot mode, you can set it, forget it, and have confidence that your Apple computer is protected against malware. Pros: Excellent scores from two independent testing labs. Full parental control system.

Network protection. Decent score in our antiphishing test. Privacy protection.

Useful bonus tools. Cons: Parental content filter foiled by secure anonymizing proxy. Content filter missed raunchy sites blocked by Windows edition.

Bottom Line: Kaspersky Internet Security for Mac excels in independent lab tests, and it goes far beyond mere antivirus, offering protection against network attacks, parental control, privacy protection, and many other useful features. Pros: Certified by one independent antivirus lab. Webcam protection. Very good phishing protection. Ransomware protection. Remote management.

Simple parental control. Cons: Parental content filter foiled by secure anonymizing proxy. Lacks exploit protection, malware deep-clean, download reputation check, keylogger protection, and other advanced features found in the Windows edition.

Bottom Line: Sophos Home Premium offers Mac antivirus protection at a very reasonable price, but the absence of many advanced features found in the Windows edition is disappointing. Pros: Certified by one independent testing lab. Speedy full scan. Excellent phishing protection for Chrome and Firefox. Useful bonus features. Ransomware protection.

Wi-Fi intruder detection. Cons: Doesn't add much to free edition's features. Poor phishing protection for Safari. Password manager includes only basic features. Bottom Line: Avast Security Pro (for Mac) adds ransomware protection and Wi-Fi intruder detection to the features found in Avast's free antivirus, but these additions don't merit its high price.

Anyone who uses a Mac regularly knows that are pretty solid, but they could always be better. Third-party screenshot applications offer a lot of features that you might not have otherwise known you needed. RELATED: It’s true, you may be able to get by without ever requiring any additional software. You can already take full screen, selection, and window captures with just a few keyboard shortcuts, and Preview can make quick work of any light editing. But if you want an all-in-one alternative that offers more capture choices, annotation tools, and even sharing, then there are some excellent options. Skitch is How-To Geek’s go-to favorite screenshot app for macOS, and with good reason: it has pretty much everything we need.

Skitch lets you take screenshots from a selected area (with or without a timer), of the full screen, of a window, or of specific menus. There’s even an included “camera” mode, which lets you take selfies with your webcam. Once you’ve captured the perfect screenshot, Skitch will let you dress it up with a multitude of editing tools, including arrows, lines, shapes, highlights, callouts, and pixelation for obscuring personal information. You can then save your final screenshot in one of eight file formats. With Skitch, you can share your creations via AirDrop, Notes, FTP, or your social media accounts. Also, because Skitch is an product, you can sign into your Evernote account and save your snaps there. Monosnap It’s difficult to place in second, because it has a lot going for itso much so, that it might be more of a tie.

Monosnap doesn’t have quite as robust capture options as Skitch, only giving you the ability to snap a selection or the full screen. However, it throws in a few enhancements, such as the ability to take full screen screenshots with a timer, or auto upload selection captures to your FTP or cloud storage.

It also has a selfie mode, as well as the ability to create screen recordings. That’s not bad for a free app, but where Monosnap really shines is in the editing department. Just like Skitch, you can go to town on your screenshots with text, arrows, lines, drawings, cropping, and redact sensitive or revealing information. It will even let you open your snaps in Preview with the click of a button. Additionally, you can rename your shots (which is a pretty nice touch for those who like to keep everything in order) before you save them as PNG or JPG. Finally, you can share your snaps on social media, and if you want to add, and integration, you can upgrade for $4.99. Clarify has a lot going for it. It’s a capable screenshot program with an interesting twist: it’s designed for creating how-to guides with your screenshots.

When you take your screenshots, you can add them to a document as “steps”. Give your document and each step a title, add accompanying text, and if needed, annotate everything with lines, text, highlights, shapes, and so on. You can then save the whole shebang in one proprietary.clarify file for later editing; export it to PDF, Word, or HTML; or just save a single screenshot as a PNG or JPG. You can also share your creations via, as a blog post, or through Clarify’s own sharing service. It’s a little unconventional, and will set you back $14.99, but if you need to explain a process to a friend or family member, Clarify makes it really easy to illustrate things in a concise, easy manner. Captur is decidedly simple, and that’s kind of what we like about it. It doesn’t come with any fancy editing tools or social media integration like the others on this list, but you can take instant or timed full screen, selection, and window captures.

Once you have your screenshot, you can save it, or edit it in Preview. The name of the game with Captur is simplicity. It sits in the menu bar giving you just a few more options in addition to your Mac’s own native screenshot powers.

For example, you can easily change the file format, destination, default file name, as well as add times and dates to all your captures. It’s only slightly more advanced than macOS’ built-in offerings, but in just the right places. So if you don’t need a full-fledged screenshot app with all those other bells and whistles, you might give Captur a whirl.

Snagit gives you pretty much everything you could ever need. It can not only take screenshots and add a dizzying array of annotations, but it can also take and trim video recordings, create animated GIFs, take scrolling captures (full screen snaps of stuff that you have to scroll to see), take panoramic captures (for wide horizontal or infinitely scrolling pages), and much more. Snagit is probably the most powerful screenshot application on the Mac, so why is it here at the bottom? Its $49.95 price tag (ouch).

That’s quite a bit of moolah for a screenshot app, no matter how powerful it is. You can try Snagit for free for up to 14 days though, so depending on what you need, give it a shot—you may decide it’s well worth the price.