Antivirus Software
McAfee VirusScan antivirus software for Macintosh computers is available at no additional cost to members of the RIT community, for both Institute and home use.
You should use:
- VirusScan 9.1 on Mac OS X Lion, Snow Leopard, or Leopard if you have an Intel Mac
- VirusScan 9.0 on Mac OS X Leopard or Tiger if you have a PowerPC Mac.
If you do not know what kind of Mac you have, see Apple’s article Does my Mac have an Intel or PowerPC processor?
Download the newest antivirus software that is compatible with your system:
| Operating system | Hardware requirements | Antivirus software |
|---|---|---|
| Mac OS X Lion, version 10.7 or later Mac OS X Snow Leopard, version 10.6 or later Mac OS X Leopard, version 10.5 or later |
Intel processor, 1 GB of RAM, and 300 MB of free disk space | Download McAfee VirusScan 9.1, aka McAfee Security 1.1 |
| Mac OS X Leopard, version 10.5 or later Mac OS X Tiger, version 10.4.6 or later |
PowerPC processor, 1 GB of RAM, and 300 MB of free disk space | Download McAfee VirusScan 9.0 Universal Binary, aka McAfee Security 1.0 |
| Mac OS X Panther, version 10.3 through 10.3.9 | PowerPC processor | Learn about McAfee Virex for older systems |
If you want to verify checksums on the latest McAfee VirusScan downloads, they have the MD5 and SHA-1 hashes listed below:
- VirusScan 9.1
- MD5: cd91e887144101dc6b7b2a5cb83e061c
- SHA1: 8dd7bb1f20dbd77bcdbbd1cbd494d5b9d7dfeee8
- VirusScan 9.0
- MD5: 1369bd1b78a074917749537d9ab6357d
- SHA1: 86dbaeb241dda2ab008f28cfc5762e6567d43060
Notes
VirusScan versions after 9.0 are also known as “McAfee Security Anti-Malware.” Version 9.0 corresponds to Security 1.0. Version 9.1 corresponds to Security 1.1. We have no control over this.
VirusScan 9.1 is the first version to support Mac OS X Lion. This version requires an Intel-based Mac. If you have an Intel Mac, we suggest you use this instead of older versions. If you do not know what kind of Mac you have, see Apple’s article Does my Mac have an Intel or PowerPC processor? for assistance.
VirusScan 9.0 requires Mac OS X 10.4.6 or later. It cannot be installed on Macs that are not running Tiger or Leopard or Snow Leopard. We now suggest you use this version only on PowerPC Macs.
Please make sure you run an eUpdate sequence periodically to keep the VirusScan software and its definitions up-to-date.
Malware warnings from VirusScan may be for suspicious files that do not directly impact Mac OS X systems. For broad protection, VirusScan shares antivirus definitions with McAfee's products on multiple platforms.
The VirusScan Reporter window may appear (and re-appear continuously) when viruses or other malware are detected. This has occurred most often in our testing when scanning the local mail cache stored by Apple Mail. We are investigating why VirusScan Reporter loops in this way, and hope to find a method to dismiss its warnings. If you see this problem, please contact us.
If you are distributing VirusScan to managed computers, you should be aware that the product installer (not VirusScan itself) creates a group named "Virex" in the local Mac OS X directory service. If you are not running the installer on managed computers, we suggest creating this group on those computers before you install VirusScan. When doing this, you can choose the GID for the group; otherwise, it will typically assume GID 500.
System administrators should be aware that the installer will only install to the currently startup volume. Installations of VirusScan on-disk are also not universal, even though the installer itself works on both PowerPC and Intel Macs. If you are deploying through means other than the downloadable installer, you will need consider packaging separately for each architecture.
The VirusScan 8.6 and later installers additionally create two files that are required for the software to run. If they are not present, the application may act as a demo, and it can expire and no longer run. Systems administrators who are deploying VirusScan through means other than the supplied Apple Installer package should be aware of this behavior.
The two files are:
- /Library/Preferences/.com.Mcafee.VirusScan.install
- /Library/Preferences/com.Mcafee.VirusScan.plist
