1 week ago
57
The Jury's backmost and the menace is real. Malware is simply a thing, adjacent for Apple Macs. Admittedly astir malware is inactive designed for Windows. Apple besides has a fig of built-in safeguards for macOS, including their precise ain microorganism scanner XProtect, which tin scan for and forestall malware portion moving successful the background. The operating strategy besides uses 'Notarization' to scan third-party bundle for malicious contented - if nary threats are found, a valid summons is generated for Apple's Gatekeeper programme to accidental the program's safe.
Still, determination are viable exploits for Apple's built-in information tools. Any menace database is besides lone arsenic bully arsenic its past update.
Mindful of these online risks, Intego person been producing information bundle for some Windows and macOS since 1997. Its improvement of 'Mac Internet Security X9' has been ongoing since 1997, combining some antivirus and firewall features.
The main website claims Internet Security X9 (hereafter shortened to 'X9') is award-winning and volition support your Mac against 'all types of malware and viruses'. These are beardown claims, truthful we were keen to find retired if X9 lived up to the hype. Can it connection among the best endpoint extortion software, connected apical of macOS' built-in information tools?
Intego Mac Internet Security X9: Plans and pricing
Intego's licensing for X9 follows a elemental licensing format depending connected the fig of Macs connected which you privation to instal the product.
The minimum outgo for installing X9 connected 1 Mac is $39.99 for 1 year. The adjacent tier supports installation of X9 connected up to 3 Macs for $54.99 annually (Just implicit $18 per machine). The last tier allows you to instal X9 connected up to 5 Mac and costs $69.99 annually ($14 per machine).
Those consenting to wage upfront for a 2-year subscription besides payment from further discounts : for instance, a two-year licence for 1 Mac costs $74.99 (savings of astir $5). If you person a Windows machine, you tin besides opt for 'dual protection' for some devices for an other $10.
You tin download and trial X9 and different Intego products via a free 14-day trial. No outgo accusation is required.
Intego Mac Internet Security X9: Features
Having mentioned Intego's 'dual protection' feature, we should clarify that portion we're reviewing the Mac mentation each Intego's products are cosmopolitan binaries. In different words, their bundle is compatible with some Windows and macOS.
The Mac mentation of X9 is successful information a bundle of 2 Intego app,though arsenic acold arsenic we could spot these aren't purchasable arsenic standalone products. The archetypal is 'VirusBarrier'. As the sanction suggests, this is an antivirus programme to support your instrumentality from Mac and cross-platform malware. Advertised benefits see casual setup and configuration, automatic and scheduled scanning and real-time protection.
The different constituent of X9 is Intego's "NetBarrier" - an precocious firewall, which provides some outbound and inbound protection. It allows users to acceptable up elemental rules and supports basal profiles, similar 'Home', 'Work' and 'Public Hotspot' depending connected wherever you're utilizing your Mac.
Intego Mac Internet Security X9: Setup
X9 for Mac enjoys precise wide compatibility, supporting each versions of macOS from 10.12 (Sierra) onwards. We were capable to corroborate this by installing connected a 2017 Macbook Air.
After heading to the Intego website to download the proceedings mentation of X9, we recovered the installer weighed successful astatine conscionable nether 120MB, truthful took lone seconds to look successful our 'Downloads' folder. Once this was done, we lone had to treble click the colorful icon to statesman installation.
The instal wizard confirmed that X9 is exceptionally lightweight, taking up lone 200MB of hard thrust abstraction connected a Mac. As soon arsenic the instal was complete, the X9 icon appeared successful the paper barroom astatine the apical close of the screen.
Eager to get started, we clicked present and tried to unfastened 'VirusBarrier'. In bid to effort retired the proceedings version, users lone request to participate their sanction and click the corresponding button. On archetypal launch, Intego cautioned america their strategy hold needs to beryllium approved successful 'Security Preferences' but a adjuvant wizard explained the steps necessary.
On archetypal motorboat we were a small perplexed, arsenic though the surface was good laid out, it work some that Real Time scanning was 'on' and that it had 'failed to load'. We're mentioning this here, arsenic during our tests (see below), X9 didn't look to beryllium capable to observe threats successful existent time.
At this constituent we decided to motorboat X9's 'NetUpdate' diagnostic utilizing the icon astatine the apical right, which informed america that the bundle was so up to date.
Next, we tried to load NetBarrier. This displayed an alert saying that the firewall's inheritance processes weren't moving properly. Luckily it was conscionable a substance of clicking 'Load Processes' to get this going. Once again we entered a sanction and clicked 'Free Trial', truthful we could proceed with setup.
On archetypal motorboat NetBarrier asked america to specify the benignant of web to which we were presently connected : Home, Work oregon Public Hotspot. These came with adjuvant explanations - for instance, a enactment web is considered to beryllium 1 which you spot but to which galore different devices are connected.
When the NetBarrier model itself opened, we were impressed to spot a colorful overlay explaining the relation of each section.
Intego Mac Internet Security X9: Interface
We've already mentioned NetBarrier's colorful overlay which provides a adjuvant mode to navigate features. Still, the model itself is highly elemental to navigate. Incoming and outgoing web postulation is displayed via a graphic successful the left-hand pane.
On the close of the model is simply a bid of color-coded rocker switches controlling connections, specified arsenic 'incoming internet' and 'outgoing local'. Depending connected the web benignant you selected earlier, these volition show successful antithetic default positions but this tin beryllium changed with a elemental rodent click.
The 'Application Monitor' besides opens successful a abstracted model astatine the apical near of the screen, though it tin beryllium dragged elsewhere. This provides a basal database of each applications presently connecting to the internet/network, each with their ain icon. You tin adjacent treble click connected an exertion sanction to unfastened its root folder.
This is the 1 diagnostic of X9 we really recovered we could person done without, arsenic accusation connected connected apps could easy person been displayed successful an expandable database wrong the main NetBarrier model itself.
We besides recovered the 'VirusBarrier' interface to beryllium adjacent flawless. Sections are good laid out, with antithetic tabs for 'Scans', 'Quarantine' and 'Trusted Files'. The main scan model allows users to execute a 'Quick Scan', oregon 'Full Scan' via dedicated buttons. There are besides buttons for mounting up scheduled scans and checking if 'Safe Browsing' is enabled (Chrome and Safari browsers only).
The preferences pane revealed that VirusBarrier tin scan e-mails, outer iOS devices similar iPhones and outer disks (during scans). By default the scanner besides detects malware for different operating systems (Linux and Windows) but you tin acceptable this to macOS and iOS lone if you wish.
Intego Mac Internet Security X9: Performance
When we were playing astir with VirusBarrier preferences, we were pleased to spot that it's susceptible of scanning wrong archives. This is due to the fact that our archetypal trial was to effort to download a fake computer virus successful compressed (ZIP) format, provided by the bully radical of EICAR.
After opening Safari connected our trial machine, we downloaded the fake microorganism and macOS obligingly unzipped it for america automatically. X9 didn't amusement immoderate alerts to the virus' beingness but erstwhile we aboriginal ran a 'Quick Scan' it detected and quarantined the file.
Our adjacent trial was to find a new, existent machine microorganism that we'd caught successful the chaotic and effort to download it to the machine. We made definite this microorganism was designed to infect macOS specifically.
Once again the record downloaded to our trial instrumentality and didn't trigger an alert successful X9. However, erstwhile we right-clicked the record and chose 'Scan with VirusBarrier', it was detected and sanitized.
We visited the 'Quarantine' conception of the VirusBarrier to cheque the malware had been detected and chose to delete it from the Mac permanently.
When we were investigating VirusBarrier, we needed to instal an other third-party inferior to decompress our existent machine virus. This gave america a accidental to spot 'NetBarrier' successful action, arsenic during installation the inferior tried to entree the internet. NetBarrier instantly detected this and asked if we wanted to let it to marque connections. Since there's nary request for a decompression inferior to spell online, we selected 'No'.
Still, we wanted to taxable NetBarrier to much blase tests, truthful decided to unfastened Safari and wage a sojourn to GRC's "Shields Up". This tract is susceptible of moving an extended artillery of tests connected devices, to cheque for immoderate susceptible ports. A scan of the archetypal 1056 TCP ports revealed that they were what GRC calls 'stealth' mode. In different words the strategy provided nary accusation connected whether they were unfastened oregon closed. This provides fantabulous extortion against random scans by cybercriminals.
Intego Mac Internet Security X9: Final verdict
As we mentioned, during the setup signifier it seemed that the 'real-time scanning' wasn't enabled connected our trial device. This whitethorn beryllium the crushed wherefore the malware we introduced to the strategy wasn't detected and quarantined instantly by X9's VirusBarrier. In fairness, arsenic soon arsenic we ran a scan the fishy files were sanitized with impunity.
The X9 NetBarrier firewall connected the different manus performed perfectly successful our tests. It refuses to respond to probing requests, positive instantly detects erstwhile applications effort to link to the internet. We were besides precise impressed however easy it is to power betwixt web profiles, arsenic good arsenic to allow/block incoming and outgoing internet/local web connections.
English (US) ·