I’ve recently re-watched your video “Do Macs need Anti-Virus software?”, and I’ve been reading up on malware for the Mac.
Basically, malware that exists for OS X can only be installed by the user – by entering the admin account name and password, right?
An example of this: there was a trojan a couple years ago called OompaLoompa (Leap A – I believe) that looked like a JPEG on the outside, but when opened it would prompt the user for the Admin account name and password.
Now, I do recommend people to install ClamXav – not to scan for Mac Malware, but for Windows Malware (so that people don’t accidentally give their friends a nasty surprise).
Btw: You mentioned Norton A/V in the video… It’s crap on Windows, no doubt that it was and still is crap on OS X. Norton cripples any PC it’s installed on.
Cheers
— Tommy
Right. There are trojans out there, but they would require that you download software and install it yourself. Always trust the source of anything you download.
As for ClamXav, I haven't tried it. But I don't like the idea of running system software on your Mac for the sole purpose of preventing Windows viruses. Simply follow good common sense security practices and use anti-virus on Windows.
ClamXav only runs when you want it to run. If it always ran, I wouldn't use it.
I run Microsoft's Security Essentials on my Windows machine. But most people I know only have trials installed of Anti-Virus software, or they don't keep their software up-to-date. I know that isn't my problem... but hey... :p