PCs hit the market a few years before Apple’s Macintosh, and PC viruses got a running start. Most antivirus companies spun up to combat PC malware, only adding Macintosh protection years later. Intego, by contrast, started life as a Macintosh security tool, and the company has maintained its Mac-centric focus. Intego Mac Internet Security is more than just an antivirus. It also includes a full-featured firewall that blocks attacks from outside and manages network permissions for programs loaded on the Mac. Intego is effective against Mac malware, according to one lab, and the firewall component is welcome. However, Norton 360 Deluxe also has lab certification, and two labs vouch for Bitdefender Antivirus Plus. They both excel at phishing protection, a feature Intego lacks, and both come with a wealth of security bonuses. These two are our Editors’ Choice Mac antivirus apps.

Pricing

With a list price of $49.99 per year for one license, Intego costs the same as Bitdefender, F-Secure, and Webroot. Quite a few competitors go for $10 less at the one-device level, including CleanMyMac, ESET, G Data, and Malwarebytes Premium Security.

A three-license Intego subscription lists at $66.99 per year, a little on the high side of a range from $49.99 for ESET Cyber Security to $89.40 for MacKeeper. For $89.99, you get a five-device Intego subscription. That’s more than many competitors, but a bit less than McAfee and Norton 360 Deluxe, both of which cost $119.99 at the five-device level. On the one hand, Norton and McAfee offer suite-level protection beyond what you get with many Mac antiviruses. Intego also goes beyond the basics, including a complete personal firewall, something you don’t get with most Mac antivirus tools.

If your budget can handle a slightly higher price, Intego’s Mac Premium Bundle starts at $84.99 per year. It adds Washing Machine (cleanup of junk and duplicate files), ContentBarrier (a simple parental control system), and Personal Backup. Bump your yearly fee to $134.99, and you can add Intego’s Privacy Protection VPN. This review covers the basic Mac Internet Security package.

You don’t have to lay out cash to get a feel for Intego’s protection, as a 14-day free trial is available. If money is tight, Avast, AVG AntiVirus, and Avira Free Antivirus are completely free.

Most Mac users routinely install operating system updates immediately or after waiting to see if any problems arise. If you’re stuck using an ancient Mac, you may not have the option to update. For quite some time, Intego supported versions as far back as Mavericks (10.9). The current version, like Avast One Basic and AVG, wants High Sierra (10.13) or later. For those stuck with antique hardware, ProtectWorks AntiVirus still offers support back to Snow Leopard (10.6).

Others have more stringent requirements. For example, F-Secure Internet Security, Sophos, and Webroot require Monterey (12) or later.

Getting Started With Intego

Anyone can download Intego’s Mac antivirus and install a free trial. If you’ve purchased a serial number, enter it at the beginning of the installation process. As usual, you must give the antivirus Full Disk Access and other essential permissions. Unlike most macOS antivirus tools, Intego requires a restart at install. Once Intego downloads the latest malware definitions, it’s ready to go.

Clicking Intego’s castle icon in the menu bar reveals three components: NetUpdate, NetBarrier, and VirusBarrier. NetUpdate simply manages product and malware definition updates. NetBarrier is the firewall, which I’ll discuss below. Naturally, VirusBarrier is the main event. If you upgraded to the premium bundle, ContentBarrier, Personal Backup, and Washing Machine also appear in the menu, with VPN at the top tier.

(Credit: Intego/PCMag)

Down the left side of the main window, you find a list of possible targets for scanning. On my test Mac, this includes an icon for the whole Mac and icons for each drive. ClamXAV presents a similar list of targets, though ClamXAV’s list adds important folders such as Downloads and Documents. The main window contains an image representing the selected target, displaying Intego’s castle logo and the most recent scan information.

The main window also gives you quick access to real-time protection, scheduled scanning, and safe browsing. A simple set of tabs across the top lets you switch from the main scan screen to a list of quarantined files and another list of files you’ve chosen to trust.

Lab Certification

Mac malware isn't as prevalent, varied, or virulent as what you find on Windows, but it still exists, and the independent labs that perform Mac security testing find plenty of samples to use. While I can and do perform extensive hands-on testing of Windows antivirus apps, I rely on the labs to identify which Mac antivirus apps are most effective.

A few years ago, Intego appeared in lab reports from both AV-Test Institute and AV-Comparatives. Both labs have reduced the number of Mac antivirus apps they test, and AV-Test does not currently include Intego. Intego did receive certification in the latest report from AV-Comparatives, though its 99.1% malware detection score didn’t quite match the 100% earned by Avast, AVG, and Bitdefender.

Intego’s configuration settings reveal that it’s meant to detect not just Mac malware but threats aimed at Windows and Linux. It’s true that a malicious program written to run on Windows, like any other Windows-specific program, won’t run under macOS. Even so, you don’t want your Mac to potentially become a carrier for attacks on your Windows devices.

(Credit: Intego/PCMag)

As when last tested, Intego detected 100% of the Windows malware samples in a test by AV-Comparatives. Avast, AVG, and Norton matched that score. In a separate test using less-risky PUAs (potentially unwanted applications) scores ranged from 93% for Intego to 99% for Bitdefender Antivirus.

Having excellent scores from one lab puts Intego in good company, given that most competitors don’t have even one certification. F-Secure and Norton earned a perfect score from AV-Test, and TotalAV came close. AVG, Avast, and Bitdefender pulled in perfect scores from both labs.

Scanning and Scheduling

A quick scan of my test Mac finished in two and a half minutes. The macOS antiviruses that offer a quick scan tend to be very quick, but Intego’s time is less than half the current average.

Recommended by Our Editors

Avira Free Antivirus for Mac - Review

Bitdefender Antivirus Plus for Mac - Review

ESET Cyber Security for Mac - Review

Intego's full scan of the system took seven minutes to finish, way below the current average of 48 minutes. Only a handful of competing antiviruses came in faster in their latest timing tests. Testing suggests that it performs optimization to speed subsequent scans. A second full scan came in under two minutes, and a second quick scan took barely a minute.

I'm not equipped to test using real-world Mac-specific malware, but I have plenty of samples from my Windows-centered testing. I copied those to a thumb drive, which I mounted on my test Mac. Intego immediately offered to scan the drive and quickly detected 79% of the samples, almost precisely the median of current scores. Others have done much better. Webroot Essentials tops the list with 99% detection, while Avast and McAfee came close with 97% and 96%, respectively.

(Credit: Intego/PCMag)

Even though Intego quarantined 79% of the Windows malware samples, the files visibly remained on the USB. To remove the quarantined files, I had to open Quarantine and select Delete All. ProtectWorks handles quarantine in much the same way, but it lacks the option to delete all quarantined items. With ProtectWorks, I had to delete each one individually.

Intego offers scheduled scanning, placing that option prominently on the main window. It’s easy to schedule a quick or full scan daily or weekly. Clicking Advanced gives you finer control over each scheduled scan. In the advanced mode, you can set a scan to run monthly, not just daily or weekly. You can also limit the scan to specific folders such as Documents and Downloads. For example, you could check Documents daily but run a full scan once a month.

(Credit: Intego/PCMag)

Webroot Essentials, McAfee, and several others support scheduled scanning and automatically set up a scheduled scan (typically once per week) by default. You have to choose your schedule with Intego, but doing so is a snap.

It's worth noting that some Mac security utilities skip scheduled scanning entirely, figuring that real-time protection will smack down any new malware that pops up after the initial full scan. Bitdefender, G Data Antivirus, and Sophos Home Premium are among those that eschew scheduling.

Safe Browsing

Intego's main window has a prominent panel that reports on the status of the Safe Browsing feature. When I first encountered this feature, I figured it referred to a browser extension that would keep users from visiting malware-hosting pages, fraudulent (phishing) pages, and other dangers. That is, after all, a standard feature for Mac antivirus utilities.

(Credit: Intego/PCMag)

Digging a little deeper, I found that this feature only checks whether you've enabled the protection built into Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. Intego doesn't offer its own protection in this area. It provides detailed instructions for turning on protection manually in each supported browser.

In the antiphishing chart below, you can see that almost every other Mac antivirus app attempts to detect and deflect phishing attacks, and nearly every one of them is more effective than the protection built into various browsers.

Several competitors demonstrate that a macOS antivirus can detect and defend against phishing fraud. AVG, Avira, McAfee, and Webroot all scored 100% in this test.

Firewall

While you can open it from Intego’s icon in the screen-top menu bar, the NetBarrier firewall is a visibly separate application from the main VirusBarrier antivirus. At first launch, it asks you to identify the current network as Home, Work, or Public Hotspot. Naturally, you can change this as necessary. It also displays an instructional overlay pointing out the firewall’s main features. That overlay only appears at first launch, but if you dismiss it too quickly, you can bring it back by clicking the Help link.

(Credit: Intego/PCMag)

In Home or Work mode, the firewall allows all local network traffic but blocks any unsolicited connection attempts from the internet. An animated diagram that takes up half the window illustrates this setting, with arrows representing internet traffic passing through or visibly hitting a barrier. If you switch to Public Hotspot mode, unsolicited local traffic is also blocked.

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. This distinction isn’t visible in the app; I had to dig into the help to learn about it. At the tough Public Hotspot level, it simply blocks file-sharing and server-related features.

For testing purposes, I started in the Home 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. Clicking a button titled I’m Not Sure brought up a simple explainer to help with the decision.

(Credit: Intego/PCMag)

Intego also has an option, disabled by default, to trust any app that has a valid digital signature. Given that about one in five of my current Windows malware samples has a digital signature, I don’t advise turning on that option.

Firewall experts can create exceptions, rules that allow particular types of connections that the firewall would otherwise block. However, this functionality is far beyond the abilities of the average user.