If you keep a Mac up to date on the latest available operating system, you don't need anti-virus monitoring; in fact, something like that causes more problems than it prevents. Malwarebytes AntiMalware for Mac (formerly AdwareMedic). However, is a different story. It's recommended by Apple support procedures as a good adware/malware removal tool. I can count on one hand the third party software that Apple Support specifically has recommended / currently recommends for customers experiencing certain issues (in this case, adware or malware) and AdwareMedic / MalwareBytes AMfM is one of those pieces of software. Malwarebytes as traditional anti virus programs aren't needed as much with the way most programs install on OS X and the built in protection.

The benefit with MB is it is quick and doesn't hinder your system. I have an AppleScript I can run that automates the whole process even and closes it immediately if nothing is found. The whole process takes about 10 seconds. While MB probably won't find any big viruses, it sniffs out adware and malicious browser plugins that may not even be active very well. If you're safe with your computer but just want some reassurance, go that route.

I have not used ESet. But Sophos EP (with the management console etc) is as good as any other similar product I ahve used. From an antivirus point of view its one of the better ones I have used, from a firewall point of view the program config can be a little annoying (depending how you do it) but you can preconfigure trusted ip's etc - and everything can be controlled from the console - it can be linked into AD so av is automatically installed after x minutes of being picked up in AD. I'm not going to say which is best having not used both.

Sophos

And Eset does come well recommended. I'd probably say go with what you know especially if its reviews are still good.

Here The Story Goes Sophos Free Antivirus For Mac

I presume Eset has central management abilities also. Daniel537 wrote: Really? We referred a problem upgrading to their support team, the initial team didn't know so referred to the next level - true it took a couple weeks to fix but we resolved all the problems (1 was a database corruption on the upgrade and the other caused by.net 4.0 which messed things up.

Here the story goes sophos free antivirus for mac

Remove and all is fine). My issue was also a database corruption, the first guy referred me after 2 weeks another guy took over who did the exact same as the first. And then referred me after 2 weeks another guy took over who did the exact same thing etc. In the end it added to about 6 months and never once did it feel like I was speaking to anyone senior as they all did the exact same initial steps despite me saying that it had allready been done. Sophos system centre is not admin friendly.

To many options. And not as effective when it comes to picking up virus and spyware.

I have done 3 months testing of 20 PCs on my network against Sophos, Symantec 12.1, Kaspersky. Believe it or not Symantec was the best and easy to use, cheaper, 5 stars when it comes to using minimal resources and great to deploy! Symantec has really surprised me! No Regrets, I know run Symantec 12.1 across 200 PCs and 20 Servers!

And if its just for a small office and budget is tight, Microsoft Security Essentials is perfect (however no management suite included) it does the job and its free! We started using Sophos 3 years ago, we were limited at the time by needing Mac support as well and there was on Sophos, Norton, McAfee or CA. We had just finished CA which was dire beyond belief in every way possible, I have never had a good experience with McAfee and Norton was still a bad memory so it was Hobson's choice. Having said that I have been very happy and there is a lot in there including device control and application blocking. The Firewall is also pretty good if a little complex to configure and is location aware which is good for laptops as you can have two different polices to cover work and other networks. The AV scanner is really quite light though if you do regular full scans the users will notice but that is the same of an AV scanner. They also support mobile devices like iPhones and Blackberries.

Updating policies implements changes pretty quickly on the PCs. Yes there are bits that could be better and Support could be better but then I have never met a support department that was as good as it thought it was. I prefer to get down and dirty and learn how it all works. I have used ESET on my home PC and it is very good as a stand alone product no idea what the management tool is like though.

I'm not sure that this is a fair comparison. Sophos covers a lot more territory than just AV and security these days is far more than just AV. These other products don't even come close to the control that you have with Sophos. Application control, device control, data control, web, email, NAC, encryption.We have had a fantastic experience with Sophos for the past 3 years after horrid experiences with Symantec and Mcafee for years before. I have not had any problems with sophos being a resource hog either.

As a matter of fact we are running 8 year old systems with often less than 1GB memory. Long story short, i'm surprised to see that others have had problems with Sophos.