Re: question about Avira vs Sophos AV on a Mac

[Ric Getter <ric.getter () PCC EDU>]

Tim,
In my experience (I'm an admitted Apple fan-boy and Mac owner since 1984)
with both Sophos and Avira, I would say that the choice is really clear.
Sophos doesn't multi-thread and that can be a performance drain on the Mac.
Avira seems to have multi-threading (Avast does, as well). AVG Free for Mac
was a good product, but since they started their data collection program
<http://www.pcworld.com/article/2984639/privacy/avg-s-new-privacy-policy-is-uncomfortably-honest-about-tracking-users.html>
last fall, I think it's worth avoiding.

The most common threat I've seen anecdotally here at PCC on Macs is browser
hijacking. Avast and Avira have been my go-to tools for cleaning up those
issues. Virtually all the Macs in our district have McAfee Enterprise
installed (including the ones that have been hijacked) so I am greatly
unimpressed with that product (and McAfee's performance hit on the Mac OS
is borderline criminal).

Hope this helps and is not too insultingly opinionated.

Ric


Ric Getter
Programmer/Analyst - PCC Media Communications/PCC-TV
Portland Community College - Sylvania
971-722-8036

On Fri, Mar 18, 2016 at 1:51 PM, Cline, Tim <Tim.Cline () unc edu> wrote:

> All,
>
>
>
> If you had to choose between putting Avira or Sophos as an AV product on
>
> student, personally-owned Macs, which would you choose?
>
>
>
>
>
>
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> Regards,
>
> Tim Cline
>
>
>
> Tim Cline
>
> Information Security Specialist
>
> Information Security Office / Information Technology Services
>
> The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
>
> (919) 445-9388
>
> Tim.Cline () unc edu