For too many years common knowledge promoted the myth that Macs don’t need antivirus protection. Sure, the OS is intrinsically more secure than Windows, though that gap is shrinking as Microsoft gets wise. But malware, even ransomware, can attack Macs too, and that’s where Vipre Advanced Security for Mac comes in. The name suggests a suite, but this is, instead, a simple, bare-bones antivirus utility, without any bonus features. It even lacks some expected features such as the ability to steer your browser away from dangerous and fraudulent websites. It does have an ultra-cool user interface, but apart from that, it’s pricey for what it offers.
(Editors’ Note: VipreVipre is owned by J2 Global, the parent company of PCMag’s publisher, Ziff Davis.)
How Much Does Vipre Advanced Security for Mac Cost?
A single license for Vipre Advanced Security—which you can use on either Windows or macOS—costs $54.99 per year. That’s high, given that Trend Micro Antivirus for Mac and Malwarebytes go for $39.99 and ClamXAV (for Mac) for $29.95. But when you increase the number of licenses, Vipre starts to look better. You get three Vipre licenses for $64.99, five for $74.99, and 10 for $99.99. And once again, you can use these to install protection on macOS, or you can use them on Windows, where you get a full security suite rather than this bare-bones Mac antivirus.
Sophos also offers a 10-license subscription that’s good on Windows and macOS, but it goes for $60. For $59.99 you can install McAfee AntiVirus Plus (for Mac) on all your devices, whether they run Windows, macOS, Android, or iOS.
Of course, it’s also possible to protect your Macs without paying a single dollar. Avast, AVG, and Avira all offer free Mac protection. Sophos Home Free (for Mac) also costs nothing, though technically it’s limited to three devices per household.
Most Mac users keep their operating systems up to date, so the fact that many Mac antivirus products only support recent versions isn’t usually a problem. Vipre does go farther back than some, with support for El Capitan (10.11) or later. If you’re stuck on an older OS version, perhaps due to antique hardware, you might look at ProtectWorks AntiVirus (for Mac), which both extend support back to Snow Leopard (10.6).
A Little Vipre History
You may be surprised to learn that Vipre has been around for more than 25 years. Originally published by Sunbelt Software, its name stood for “Virus Intrusion Protection Remediation Engine.” Over the years, the product was bought by GFI and then spun off as a separate company called ThreatTrack. You can still see this history in some of the product’s web pages. For example, if you click a malware notification popup for more information, you come to a page with sunbeltsecurity in the URL and several references to ThreatTrack on the page. More recently, J2 Global, owner of PCMag’s publisher Ziff Davis, acquired Vipre.
Getting Started With Vipre
Vipre installed without incident on the MacBook Air I use for testing. Once it launched, it displayed an orange Vipre logo with the words “At Risk.” That’s because the full disk access required for an antivirus to do its job is no longer a gimme in modern versions of macOS. Clicking for details gets an explanation of how to give Vipre the necessary permission, and doing so changes the orange logo to a serene green, with status “Protected.”
It’s worth noting that this product could hardly look more different from Vipre Advanced Security on Windows. Where the Windows product’s user interface is all straight lines and rectangles, on the Mac it embraces curves and color gradients. The main window is separated into three arcs, ranging in color from dark at left to silvery-light at right. The big Vipre logo I mentioned resides in the left panel and reflects security status. The middle panel has three green-glowing toggles for Active Protection, Auto-update Application, and Auto-update Threat Definitions. Naturally, toggling any of these off puts you in At Risk status. Finally, a big Scan Now button at right reveals a new set of buttons for Quick, Full, and Custom scans. It’s a very futuristic, sporty look.
The main window and scan choices are just about the entirety of this product’s user interface. Clicking a Settings gear lets you check history, quarantine, and ignored files, as well as opening the product’s preferences. Most users won’t need to meddle with preferences, except possibly to enable scheduled scanning. Avira, McAfee, Trend Micro, and a few others automatically enable scheduled scanning. With Vipre it’s up to you to turn it on.
BullGuard doesn’t sell macOS protection separately from BullGuard Internet Security, but its macOS edition is likewise sparse. It’s like Vipre in features, but without the sleek, futuristic appearance.
Lab Results Lacking
I put every antivirus to the test, to the best of my ability, but my best is admittedly better for Windows-based products. I’ve worked with these for years and have devised a collection of helpful analytic utilities. I don’t program for macOS, so I rely more strongly on the independent testing labs in the Mac realm. Two of the four labs I follow regularly release reports on Mac antivirus. One of them has included Vipre in its testing in the past. Unfortunately, Vipre doesn’t appear in either lab’s latest results.
Experts at AV-Test Institute rate antivirus tools three different ways. They assign up to six points for the product’s all-important ability to detect and protect against malware. Products can earn six more points by doing their job without slowing down system performance. Another six points reflect how well the antivirus avoided false positives, meaning instances in which it flagged a valid program or website as bad.
At the time of its previous review, Vipre took six points in all three categories. You can’t do better than a perfect 18 points. Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac, Norton, and Trend Micro did the same. In the latest test, though, Vipre doesn’t appear.
Five of the six products tested by AV-Comparatives in their latest Mac-focused test achieved 100% protection. Vipre wasn’t among the tested products, so we don’t know how it would have done.
Among current products, Avira Free Antivirus for Mac is the only one to achieve a perfect score in the latest reports from both labs.
Hands On With Vipre
Vipre’s full scan continues the high-tech look. A list of files being scanned scrolls upward in the background, behind a pulsing circle that reports percent complete in big numbers, inside a circular progress bar. That progress bar could use a little tuning. On my test system it got to 16% in about 10 minutes, stayed at 16% for almost an hour, and then raced to 100%. Overall, the scan took 75 minutes, the slowest result among recent products.
Many antivirus products, both for macOS and Windows, use their first full scan to optimize for future scans, doing things like noting files that needn’t be scanned again. By observation, Vipre does this. A second scan finished in 28 minutes.
Scan times for Mac antivirus products are all over the map. Webroot SecureAnywhere Antivirus (for Mac) finished what it calls a full scan in 2.5 minutes, and Trend Micro did the job in 10 minutes. Then there’s McAfee, which needed almost an hour. The main point is, you should run a full scan after installation, regardless of how long it takes. After that, real-time protection should take care of new attacks.
Like most macOS antivirus products, Vipre does its best to wipe out any Windows-focused malware it encounters. These threats are powerless on a Mac, but there’s always a chance they might get transferred to a Windows computer on your network. To check Vipre’s handling of such files, I copied nearly four dozen Windows malware samples to a USB drive and mounted it on the Mac.
At the time of my previous review, Vipre started wiping out samples as soon as I mounted the USB drive. This time, nothing happened automatically, so I launched a custom scan on the drive. In just 17 seconds, Vipre processed all the samples and detected 85 percent of them, which is good.
Impressively, Webroot caught 100 percent of the Windows malware samples I exposed it to. Clario and F-Secure Safe managed 89%, slightly better than Vipre. Again, Windows malware isn’t a direct threat to a Mac, but getting rid of it is surely a good thing.
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What’s Not Here
As noted, this product is the Mac edition of Vipre Advanced Security, but it offers fewer security features than the basic Vipre Antivirus Plus application. The Windows antivirus steers your browser away from malware-hosting websites, and from phishing pages that attempt to steal your security credentials. Neither of those features shows up on the Mac. The Windows edition also gives you a secure deletion file shredder and a tool to erase traces of your computer and browsing history.
Other Mac antivirus products offer a range of bonus features. Norton and McAfee include firewall protection, for example. F-Secure, Kaspersky Internet Security for Mac, Sophos, and Trend Micro all offer some degree of parental control. Kaspersky and Sophos give you added control over which apps can use your webcam. Despite being associated with a Windows product that’s a security suite, Vipre Advanced Security on the Mac includes only the bare essentials for an antivirus.
Good Looking, Easy to Use, But Could Do More
Vipre Advanced Security (for Mac) looks stunning, and it’s easy to use. That ease of use comes, in part, because it only offers the basics of real-time, scheduled, and on-demand malware scanning. It doesn’t even steer your browser away from dangerous sites and frauds. And it doesn’t appear in the latest test results from the two independent labs we follow. If you’ve chosen Vipre Advanced Security for your Windows protection and have some licenses left over, however, don’t hesitate to use them on your Macs.
Norton 360 Deluxe (for Mac) earns a perfect score from AV-Test, and it includes a no-limits VPN as well as support for Windows, Android, and iOS devices. Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac and Kaspersky Internet Security for Mac managed perfect scores from AV-Comparatives. Bitdefender marks up safe and unsafe links and offers its own ransomware protection system. Kaspersky offers many features beyond simple antivirus, among them webcam blocking and a full parental control system. These three are our top pics for antivirus software for your Mac.
