Intego Mac Internet Security X8 Antivirus Software
Sep 15, 2014 Intego Mac Antivirus Security X8 scored highly among the five anti-malware programs we tested in our review suite: it caught 98.3 percent of on-demand malware (above the average of 80.8 percent.
- Intego's programs have received dozens of awards from Mac magazines around the world, all of which stress the quality and ease-of-use of Intego software. With its unique position as the Mac security specialist, Intego provides Mac users with full protection from all the dangers of the Internet.
- Sep 09, 2018 It is, therefore, necessary to install have a powerful internet security software installed in them. This comes in the form of the Mac Internet Security X9. This application has been engineered with the sole intention of offering your computer and data superior protection against all sorts of malicious bots and people on the internet.
Intego Mac Internet Security X8
Pros
- Certified by two labs for Mac malware protection.
- Includes full-featured firewall.
- Detects Mac, Windows, and Linux malware.
Cons
- Poor detection of Windows malware.
- No protection against malicious or fraudulent websites.
Bottom Line
Intego Mac Internet Security X9 scores well in lab tests using Mac malware, and it offers firewall protection. But it fails against Windows malware and lacks protection against dangerous URLs.
Intego Mac Internet Security X8 Antivirus Software 2017
The vast majority of antivirus companies that publish security software for the Macintosh started with a Windows product first, but not Intego. For 20 years, Intego's mission has been protecting Apple products. Intego Mac Internet Security X9, the latest release, is more than just an antivirus. It also includes a full-featured firewall that both blocks attacks from outside and manages network permissions for programs loaded on the Mac. Intego (accent on the first syllable) is effective against Mac malware, but not against Windows malware, and it lacks the protection against malicious and fraudulent URLs found in most competing products.
Like Symantec Norton Security Deluxe (for Mac), Intego requires that you restart your Mac after installation. None of the other Mac antivirus utilities I've evaluated require a restart. After reboot, you enter your serial number, supply an email address, and choose your coverage level. At the Minimum level, the VirusBarrier component only protects you from Mac malware. The recommended Standard level adds detection of malware aimed at Windows, so your Mac doesn't accidentally pass those along. At the Maximum level, it scans inside ZIP files and other archives. For testing purposes, I chose the Maximum level.
Intego next downloads the latest malware definitions, with a note that the process can take 'a few minutes.' On the Apple MacBook Air 13-Inch that I use for testing, the progress bar initially said five minutes, but then crept up to nine. I didn't time the whole process, but it took well over 10 minutes. On the plus side, it automatically launched a malware scan after updating those definitions.
A handy instructional overlay points out the various components of the product's main window. One click dismisses the overlay, but you can get it back at any time by clicking the Information icon.
An image of a monitor displays Intego's castle logo along with the date and time of the most recent scan. At left, Intego lists the drives and partitions available on the Mac. From here you can launch a quick or full scan. You can also control real-time protection and schedule scans right from the main window—more about scheduling later.
Pricing and OS Support
With a list price of $49.99 per year for one license and $99.99 for three, Intego costs more than most Mac antivirus software. The most common price for one license is $39.99, a price shared by Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac, ESET, Kaspersky, Trend Micro, and Webroot. But you get more with Intego; specifically, you get a full personal firewall.
Likewise, Norton's price of $89.99 per year for five licenses reflects the fact that it offers a full suite of protection, not just an antivirus. You can use those five licenses on any combination of macOS, Windows, and Android devices. With a $59.99 per year McAfee subscription, you're free to protect every macOS, Windows, Android, or iOS device in your household. Or you can choose not to spend any money at all; Avira Free Antivirus for Mac and Sophos Home are completely free.
Intego supports operating systems as far back as Mountain Lion (10.8) and, of course, anything newer. That's good news for those who don't always upgrade to the latest version. Webroot and ESET Cyber Security (for Mac) extend support to even older versions. Others have more stringent requirements. You need Yosemite (10.10) or better to use McAfee or Trend Micro, and El Capitan (10.11) to run Avira. Symantec supports whatever OS is current, plus the two previous versions.
Only for Mac Malware
Mac malware isn't as prevalent, varied, or virulent as what you find on Windows, but it still exists, and the independent labs find plenty of samples to use in testing Mac security products. As for my own hands-on testing, my programming skills are Windows-specific, as are my samples. While I can do extensive hands-on testing of Windows antivirus, I rely more on the labs to identify which Mac products are most effective.
As noted, Intego focuses strongly on Mac protection, so it's not surprising that both AV-Test Institute and AV-Comparatives certify its protection in the Mac arena. In tests by both labs, Intego protected against 100 percent of the Mac malware. It also earned a top score when AV-Test challenged it to block less-risky PUAs, or potentially unwanted applications.
Intego's documentation says that it also detects Windows-centric malware, so your Mac doesn't become a carrier of contagion, spreading infection to Windows boxes. However, this element fared poorly in testing. It had the lowest detection rate in AV-Comparatives' tests for the detections of Windows malware, at 28 percent. Kaspersky and Bitdefender were among several that managed 100 percent detection of Windows malware.
Intego's results were even worse in the similar test by AV-Test. Where ESET, Trend Micro Antivirus for Mac, and others detected more than 99 percent of the Windows samples, Intego scored a zero.
Scanning and Scheduling
I clicked the scan icon for my test Mac's main hard drive and chose a quick scan. The scan finished in three minutes, which is pretty good. The current average is almost five minutes, driven upward by Trend Micro's 10-minute quick scan and a 21-minute quick scan by ESET. At the other end of the spectrum, Norton finished a quick scan in 30 seconds, and Webroot SecureAnywhere Antivirus (for Mac) in 15 seconds.
Intego's full scan of the same drive took 14 minutes to finish, little more than a third of the current average, 42 minutes. The only faster full scans came from Norton and Webroot, which took 10 minutes and two minutes, respectively.
I'm not equipped to test using real-world Mac-specific malware, but I do have plenty of samples from my Windows-centered testing. I copied those to a thumb drive and scanned the drive with Intego. Oddly, the scanner reported that it checked more than five times as many files as were present on the drive. It detected just 18 percent of those Windows-focused malware specimens, a poor result that's completely in line with the test results from the labs.
Although Intego listed specific threats as quarantined, I could still see them on the thumb drive. And when I ejected the thumb drive, those files vanished from quarantine, but not from the drive. My Intego contact explained that quarantine in Intego simply involves blocking access by macOS and applications. Even if it detects Windows malware, Intego won't remove it. The point of having a Mac antivirus detect Windows malware is to keep the Mac from being a carrier. Intego doesn't accomplish that.
Webroot, McAfee, and several others not only support scheduled scanning, but they also enable a scheduled scan (typically once per week) by default. If you want scheduled scans from Intego, you must first enable the feature. After that, you can schedule a full or quick scan on a daily or weekly basis. It's worth noting that some Mac security products skip scheduled scanning entirely, figuring that real-time protection will smack down any new malware that pops up after the initial full scan. Bitdefender, Kaspersky, and Sophos Home (for Mac) are among those that eschew scheduling.
Safe Browsing Isn't What You Think
Intego's main window has a prominent panel that reports on the status of Safe Browsing in Chrome and Safari. At first, I figured this referred to safety extensions for those two browsers, since this is a pretty standard feature for Mac antivirus utilities.
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Where is itunes on my mac. Choose Apple () menu System Preferences. For example, while you can view your iPad backup from your iPhone, you can choose which iPad content to back up only from the Settings menu of your iPad.On a Mac with macOS Catalina 10.15 or later:.
Digging a little deeper, I found that all this feature does is check whether you've enabled each browser's built-in protection against malicious and fraudulent sites. Intego doesn't offer its own protection in this area. In the antiphishing chart below, you can see that almost every other product does attempt such protection, and almost every one of them is more effective than the protection built into various browsers.
You may notice that McAfee also lacks data in the antiphishing chart. That's not for lack of trying. McAfee's SiteAdvisor extension is well known and well regarded. However, the release of macOS Sierra in March completely bollixed SiteAdvisor by disabling the NPAPI technology central to the URL-checker component's functionality. I'm told that McAfee's next version, due before long, should solve this problem.
NetBarrier Firewall
The NetBarrier firewall is a completely separate utility from the main VirusBarrier application. At first launch, it asks you to identify the current network as Home, Work, or Public Hotspot. Naturally you can change this as necessary. Like the VirusBarrier antivirus component, NetBarrier displays an instructional overlay the first time you run it, pointing out the main window's features.
In Public Hotspot mode, the firewall blocks any unsolicited connection attempts from the internet or from other devices on the network. An animated diagram that occupies half the window illustrates this setting, with incoming arrows visibly hitting a barrier. If you switch to the Home or Work mode, it allows incoming connections from within the network so, for example, another device on the same trusted network can find your Mac. The firewall component in McAfee AntiVirus Plus (for Mac) works in very much the same way.
In Home mode, your Mac can freely function as a server, and file-sharing features are enabled. If you switch to Work mode, NetBarrier pops up a query when a program attempts to use these features, and allows them only with your approval. At the tough Public Hotspot level, it simply blocks file-sharing and server-related features.
For testing purposes, I enabled the Public Hotspot mode. NetBarrier quickly warned me that Chrome was attempting internet access, and asked whether to block or allow it. I found that clicking for advanced options displayed the precise URL involved, and gave me the opportunity to block or allow all access or just the specific domain. Surprisingly, the firewall also popped up to ask whether it should allow VirusBarrier to access the internet. You'd think that its own sibling would be whitelisted!
With McAfee, all Apple-signed binaries get full access by default. For unknowns, you can set it to block, allow, or prompt. Here, too, it works a lot like Intego. When I enabled program control in Norton Security Deluxe, it bombarded me with popups for tons of processes I didn't recognize; I had to turn it off to continue testing.
Firewall experts can create exceptions, rules that allow very specific types of connections that the firewall would otherwise block. However, this functionality is far beyond the knowledge of the average user.
Not for Mixed Households
With Intego Mac Internet Security X9, Mac users get both antivirus and firewall protection, which to some extent justifies its higher-than-most price point. Two labs certify its protection against Mac malware, which is good. But its promised ability to foil malware aimed at Windows targets just isn't effective. And, while firewall protection is nice, some kind of filter to keep fraudulent and malicious URLs at bay would be more immediately useful.
If you're an all-Mac household and want to throw your business to a company that's always focused on protecting Macs, you could consider Intego. But for a general-purpose Mac antivirus that will get along with your other devices, Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac remains an Editors' Choice. If you want the expanded protection of a security suite, not just antivirus, consider our other Editors' Choice, Kaspersky Internet Security for Mac.