http://safeweb.norton.com/safety

http://safeweb.norton.com/

All you need to do is type in the website and you will get the security report.

Simple!

You could still get a Trojan Horse or worm and they can cause a lot of problems. What are the chances? Slim, very, very slim. If you ask 100 Mac users with at least two years of time using their Macs how many have gotten a Trojan horse or worm (really isolated by an anti-virus application, not “I had a crash once, so it must be a virus”), well, you are unlikely to find even one or two out of a hundred who have gotten any real virus / Trojan horse / worm.

This is what’s needed for a virus / Trojan horse / worm to infect your Mac:
– Someone has to develop that malware. A few have been developed, but none in the last few years.
– You have to go to the source of this malware (Website, someone’s drive).
– You have to type your admin password when the malware asks to invade. OS X is protected from changes by password, and since the malware doesn’t know your password, it has to ask you to type it.

If you download an MP3 file and open it in iTunes or QuickTime Player, it will just play. It won’t ask for a password. That holds no danger at all. It is possible for all manner of files to add serious malware to a Windows system with no hint of a password request, but not a Mac or Linux system.

Free: ClamXAV, Sophos, or iAntiVirus (last requires OS 10.5 or later, and Intel).

Pay: Virex, Norton, Sophos, Intego, MacScan, Avast.

The best for getting rid of tracking cookies (not really a threat, but insidious nonetheless) is MacScan. The new version is US$29.95; if you can find version 2.6 (no longer on their site), it is free and malware profiles updates are free — skip the MacScan engine update; that cancels your free use.

After you do all the scanning routines to get rid of tracking cookies and rare but possible other bad stuff, start using Firefox with NoScript and NoRedirect installed, uncheck the option to allow third-party cookies, uncheck the option to allow Java (different from Javascript which you likely wouldn’t want to disallow as almost all sites rely on it), be sure the built-in OS X firewall is on, set the advanced options of the firewall to use stealth mode and Block UDP Traffic, use a hardware router even if you use only one computer on your network, don’t keep Personal File Sharing / Windows Sharing / Personal Web Sharing / Remote Login checked when you don’t absolutely need to use them, don’t use Wi-Fi during any secure data exchange such as online banking or CC purchase, when you do use Wi-Fi, set a WPA password and choose to make the network hidden, never open any email from someone you don’t recognize, and never open attachments unless you were expecting it (skip all the jokes and chain letters).

Some secondary means of security are available at securemac.com