ProtectMac Antivirus Review: Protect Your Mac

Written by: Hollan • Edited by: Michael Dougherty
Updated Sep 25, 2009 • Related Guides: Trojans | Macs | Mac

Should you protect your Mac with ProtectMac? It can't hurt anything but your wallet.

There have been more and more antivirus programs for Mac lately. Unfortunately, the once proud virus-proof bastion has slipped. Sure, Macs don't have the same problems as PCs (that's one of the reasons we use Macs, right? Insert Vista joke here), but with the rising threat of Trojans, Macs are becoming more susceptible. Enter ProtectMac Antivirus. It does just what its name suggests, but how well? I tried it to find out.

Download and Install
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ProtectMac is easily downloadable from their website. You can buy a license for it for $44.99. The license does cover up to three Macs which is nice for multi-Mac households. However, it is only good for one year. Yep, so in a year you'll have to purchase it all over again. That's not so good. On the bright side, they also offer a free 30-day trial which is complete with all of the features the licensed version has.

Downloading and installing are as easy as they should be. ProtectMac even gives you a little icon next to the Bluetooth icon for fast access, should you need it.

Features
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ProtectMac has everything you need in a virus protection program. It can run scans of your whole computer or individual files. It can run scheduled background scans or you can do it manually whenever the mood strikes you. However, I think the best feature is the Trojan detection. Macs aren't vulnerable to many viruses yet, but Trojans can be hidden in spam and leech off of your computer (or turn it into a spam bot without you knowing. The horror!) or phish for your passwords or credit card numbers (more horror!). ProtectMac detects and destroys Trojans with a simple click of the mouse.

I ran it over my whole MacBook. It took about two hours to scan everything, and when it was done I had one Trojan in an unopened piece of spam. ProtectMac got rid of it (I just had to click Delete), and I haven't had a problem since.

Usefulness
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Internet safety is a growing concern for Mac users, but I'm a little bit leery of all this protection software. I always think software companies are just trying to scare people into buying their products, but ProtectMac isn't like that. You do need to protect your Mac from Trojans, and ProtectMac does just that. If you have a Mac connected to the internet, this software will be useful for you.

Overall
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While the price is steep, the ease of use and protection it offers is worth it. While you might not download torrents (a hot bed of Trojans), almost everyone with an email address gets some form of spam. You'll be able to sleep better at night knowing that Trojans in your spam aren't turning our computer into a zombie. A little bit of protection can go a long way.

Download ProtectMac.

Sroach90 Nov 29, 2011 4:03 PM

RE: ProtectMac Antivirus Review: Protect Your Mac

I use protect mac its great software

Candice Hungerford May 11, 2010 9:24 AM

Getting it all

I recommend Clean App it gets it all.

Rennie Hill Apr 25, 2010 4:05 PM

ProtectMac Antivirus

About four years ago, I became so frustrated with my high-spec PC with its antivirus, spyware, and adware programs that sapped the performance so much, that I decided to bite the bullet and buy a Mac-Mini. It took no time to get used to and I was rewarded with stability, ease of use, and good performance that lasted well and didn't noticeably deteriorate over time.
About a year ago, stories of security threats started to circulate, so I looked around for an antivirus package. I avoided Symantec products as they had previously made one of my PCs very slow.
I think that it was via the Apple web-site that I found the ProtectMac product and, as I liked the description of it, I purchased a licence.
As soon as I installed the program and ran a scan, the program reported that it had found hundreds of security threats. At first, I found it hard to believe that there were so many threats around on the Mac platform, then I noticed that all of the threats came from the same place - on an external hard drive that contained work files copied from my old PC's hard drive. The compromised files were peppered throughout my previous work files. In my opinion, these should have been eliminated by the PC's antivirus system but, sadly, this hadn't been the case. ProtectMac Antivirus had found all of these threats that had been missed previously, which indicates that it is also efficient at protecting colleagues' PCs, as it stops threats being passed on.
In use, I haven't noticed any deterioration in performance or speed. The only time I notice its presence is when I insert new media, e.g. USB drive, CD, etc. It is very easy to control and a scan of inserted media can be stopped immediately, if desired.
All things considered, I think that this is the least intrusive yet most effective security tool that I've seen on any platform.

Dr Bill Whitmore Jan 31, 2010 9:59 AM

Effective ProtectMac!

Folks,

My boss passed me an infected memory stick. ProtectMac found it immediately and cleansed the beast! However, my boss, like everyone else, was using Windows on a Dell platform and the corporate anti virus couldn't cleanse the virus!

A few folks have migrated to Mac after seeing my MacBook Air running Microsoft Office 2004 very stably and for seeing the effective ProtectMac at work!

greg barnes Jan 24, 2010 4:43 AM

protectMac antivirus

I've never had a virus on my mac. I tried ProtectMac because of all the rumors I've been hearing possible Mac infections. Reading The Mac Malware Myth
January 29th, 2009, I don't believe I need ProtectMac. My problem is that since I downloaded ProtectMac, my iMac has been slow and lethargic. How do I turn it off?

Joe Mark Sep 20, 2009 11:55 AM

Slow speed

It does catch the virus threats, but it takes almost an hour to run the program. It seems better to ad a few bucks for a better program that is quicker. It is too difficult to take this up with Apple.

Manoj Aug 12, 2009 1:07 AM

ProtectMac antivirus

How do i reinstall ProtectMac antivirus trial version after uninstalling it. I have uninstalled the trial version, but there may be some file which keeps track of previously installed software. Kindly advise.

Madelein Aug 6, 2009 5:10 AM

ProtectMac

Although I have never had a security problem with my Mac, I have downloaded ProtectMac antivirus out of quiriosity, but sorry to say - it seems as though ProtectMac invade your Mac, since I have had numerous problems with my Mac after uninstalling ProtectMac. As ProtectMac has been the only "new thing" to be installed and then uninstalled on my Mac, this antivirus programme seems to highjack your Mac!!!!!!!! Not good at all!!!!!!

ProtectMac Antivirus Review: Protect Your Mac

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