The “Macs don’t get viruses” myth has been busted. Windows malware is more prevalent, but plenty of attacks target Macs. You need antivirus protection for your Mac. Webroot Essentials takes little disk space and normally turns in blazingly fast full scans. However, a bug during testing meant we couldn’t confirm speedy scanning, and while it aced our own tests, the independent labs don’t vouch for its effectiveness. Our Editors’ Choice winners for macOS antivirus tools are Bitdefender Antivirus and Norton 360 Deluxe. They offer more security features than Webroot, and both hold perfect lab scores (one for Norton, two for Bitdefender).
How Much Does Webroot Essentials Cost?
Like the Mac antivirus apps from Bitdefender, ESET Cyber Security, and F-Secure, Webroot Essentials costs $49.99 to protect a single Mac. There’s another price cluster just under $40, including CleanMyMac, G Data, and Trend Micro Antivirus.
At $69.99 for three licenses, Webroot matches Bitdefender, and the pair costs more than most competitors (though Intego Mac Internet Security goes for only a little less, $66.99).
It’s Surprisingly Easy to Be More Secure Online
Webroot’s price to protect five Macs is $89.99, about a dollar less than CleanMyMac. If you’re willing to pay a higher price, you can get a full-blown cross-platform security suite that goes beyond Mac protection to include Windows, Android, and iOS as well. Both Norton 360 Deluxe and McAfee Total Protection cost $119.99 for five licenses.
You can run Webroot under the latest version of macOS or any of the three previous versions—meaning that it supports Sequoia (15), Sonoma (14), Ventura (13), or Monterey (12). Norton supports the current version plus two previous ones. In any case, most Mac users stay up to date with the latest.
If you do have a reason to stick with an ancient macOS version (old hardware, perhaps), ProtectWorks AntiVirus supports versions back to Snow Leopard (10.6), and Intego runs on Mavericks (10.9) or later.
Installation
During its quick installation, Webroot asks for your registration key and an email address. Registering an email address gets you access to 24/7 tech support and email alerts about new global security threats. As with Webroot Essentials on Windows, you can also opt in for “special offers and newsletters.” I didn’t.
Past versions of this antivirus installed security extensions for Safari, Chrome, and Firefox very smoothly, with minimal user interaction required. That has changed in the last few versions. I had to manually locate and install the Web Threat Shield extension for Chrome and activate it with my keycode. My Webroot contact confirmed that only Chrome is supported at this time and that there’s no automated installation. That’s seriously awkward. Users who don’t make the extra effort (most of them, I imagine) won’t get the benefit of the Web Threat Shield feature, even though it shows as enabled in the main window.
(Credit: Webroot/PCMag)
More than most cross-platform antivirus tools, Webroot’s main window on a Mac looks the same as that of its Windows counterpart. On both platforms, the app name has changed from Webroot Antivirus to Webroot Essentials, but the window title still says Webroot SecureAnywhere.
As on Windows, the main window has a green gradient background. A light-colored panel displays stats about recent scans, and a big Scan My Computer button launches a full scan. To the right, a vertical panel provides access to program features, with the selected feature expanding for detail. The feature list is slightly different from on Windows: Mac Security, Identity Protection, Backup & Sync, Password Manager, Utilities, My Account, and Support. The Windows edition has PC Security, naturally, and uses the name Privacy Protection in place of Identity Protection. The backup item, which does nothing but announce that backup isn’t available, doesn’t appear in the Windows edition.
(Credit: Webroot/PCMag)
As part of the setup process, you create a Webroot account online. From the online console, you can see all your subscriptions and registration codes. The console lets you check to be sure all the protective shields are active on your devices, and you can download the installer to protect a new device.
As with the Windows edition, your Webroot license includes a premium license for LastPass. You can activate the password manager through the online console and share your passwords across all your devices. Please refer to our separate review for full details.
Lab Results
When I review a Windows antivirus utility, I turn to the latest reports from the big testing labs. The more labs testing an antivirus and the higher the scores achieved, the better. I also perform my own hands-on tests using live malware safely isolated in a virtual machine. In addition, two of the labs I follow test Mac antivirus. Unfortunately, neither includes Webroot in its latest test reports.
Lab reports for Windows antiviruses typically exhibit a much larger point spread than on the Mac. In the latest report from AV-Comparatives, all but one of the tested apps protected against 100% of the malware samples, and the remaining one managed 99%. Webroot received certification in some earlier instances of this test but doesn’t appear in the latest report.
Experts at AV-Test Institute rate antiviruses on three criteria: protection, performance, and usability. That last category refers to minimizing false positives, which are instances when the antivirus flags a valid program as malicious. An antivirus can earn six points in each category, so the maximum possible total is 18 points. Avast One, AVG, Bitdefender, F-Secure, and Norton 360 Deluxe all reached 18 points. Here again, Webroot doesn’t appear. The lab score champions are Avast, AVG, and Bitdefender, which took top marks from both AV-Test and AV-Comparatives.
Full Scan, Scheduled Scan, and Removable Drive Scan
Like most of its competitors, Webroot offers two types of malware protection scanning. As the name implies, the default full scan looks at all files and active processes. The quick scan still checks active processes but then only looks at files in startup locations and known threat locations. You’ll have to dig into Advanced Settings to select a quick scan.
(Credit: Webroot/PCMag)
When I timed the full scan for past reviews, it generally took just a few minutes. This time around, the full scan dragged on for seven hours. By observation, it seemed to have somehow started scanning cloud backups from my Windows computer. My Webroot contacts reviewed the logs and identified a bug. I didn’t manage to complete a full scan during this review, but the quick scan finished in just 17 seconds.
(Credit: Webroot/PCMag)
Webroot runs a scan immediately upon installation, something that not all antivirus tools do. By default, it also schedules a full scan every day. You can modify the schedule to run on just one day of the week or on startup.
Like most Mac antivirus utilities, Webroot aims to eliminate any Windows malware it encounters so your Mac doesn’t inadvertently infect other devices on your network. To test this feature, I copied my Windows malware collection to a thumb drive.
(Credit: Webroot/PCMag)
When I mounted the drive on my test Mac, Webroot immediately went to work scanning it. After completing the scan, it removed the malware found and launched another scan. The second scan found more malware, but the third time around, the system came up clean. Webroot removed 99% of the Windows-centered malware, beating almost all competitors. Among recent Mac antivirus tools, only Aura scored higher, with 100% detection.
Phishing Protection
Why waste time and energy writing malware to steal personal data when you can just ask people to hand over their secrets? That’s the mindset of the ne’er-do-wells behind phishing websites, those fraudulent sites that emulate online banking sites, email services, and even dating and gaming sites. If you aren’t observant enough to recognize the fraudulent site, you can wind up giving away your account to fraudsters.
Phishing works by tricking the user, with no reliance on any particular operating system or browser. If your smart air fryer includes a full-scale browser, you could fall victim to phishing while waiting for onion rings. Any device that can surf the internet can be a conduit for phishing attacks.
(Credit: Webroot/PCMag)
When testing an antivirus program’s ability to detect phishing frauds, I compare its detection rate with that of the protection built into Chrome, Edge, and Firefox. I start with a list of reported phishing URLs collected from websites that track such things. I work to make sure the collection includes both verified frauds and sites that are too new to have been analyzed and blacklisted. I launch each URL in all four browsers and note the reaction. If any one of the browsers can’t load the URL, I discard it. I also check to be sure that each URL really does fit the definition of phishing, meaning it imitates a secure site and attempts to steal login credentials.
While phishing itself is completely browser-independent, protection against phishing may not be. With Webroot, I tested the Windows and macOS editions simultaneously and found that they aligned perfectly, both achieving 100% detection. Mac security tools from Avira and McAfee also reached 100% detection in their own antiphishing tests.
Do bear in mind, though, that this protection against phishing frauds currently only works in Chrome. If you’re a loyal Apple aficionado wedded to Safari on your Mac, you won’t get the same protection.
System Analysis and Optimization
There seems to be a trend toward simplicity in some Mac antivirus utilities. Sophos Home Premium, for example, is so simple it doesn’t even have the standard macOS main menu. Webroot is also on the simple side, but it does throw in some advanced utilities. Experts will appreciate them; ordinary users can ignore them.
(Credit: Webroot/PCMag)
Clicking Utilities in the main window brings up a page with four tabs: System Control, Reports, System Analyzer, and System Optimizer. As in the Windows edition, System Control lists all running processes. Most will have a check in the Allow column. Any that are still under analysis in Webroot’s security cloud will instead have the Monitor box checked. Removing the Allow checkmark has the same effect as checking Block in Windows. Webroot terminates the app, deletes it, and, if it was under monitoring, rolls back all its activities.
Also, as on Windows, the Reports page isn’t for use by the average consumer. Rather, if you’ve engaged with tech support agents for help, they may ask you to generate and send a log. You can also send in a suspect file for analysis.
The System Analyzer page reports on several elements of your Mac’s security and performance status. On my test Mac, it reported a low amount of physical RAM, a pending macOS update, and a user account without a password. It also flagged processes using a lot of RAM and a large amount of space dedicated to temporary files. It assigned the Mac an overall score of 50 points from a possible 100.
(Credit: Webroot/PCMag)
What to do about those problems? I clicked the adjacent System Optimizer tab and found several choices. Clicking Optimize Now displayed a popup that promised to get rid of useless files and browsing traces that reveal your surfing activity. It took about three minutes and reported that it didn’t recover any disk space. Disappointing.
Have you ever deleted a file by accident and sighed with relief to recover it from the Recycle Bin? That handy feature can work against you if you neeto delete a file with no possibility of recovery. Webroot can securely erase files for you, overwriting them with random data three times, by default. That’s enough to foil any forensic recovery software.
(Credit: Webroot/PCMag)
When I clicked Delete Files Securely on the System Optimizer tab, I was surprised. The folder selected for deletion by default was the folder containing the files representing the secure deletion feature. A careless user could make a big mistake, and as currently implemented, this feature isn’t very useful.
The final optimization choice involves verifying the status of your Mac’s main hard drive. It finished a scan quickly, reporting “Unresolved issues exist,” but didn’t provide any resolution advice, just as when I last reviewed this app. Combine that with the system optimizer that did nothing and the secure erase feature that’s hard to use, and you get a tepid collection of system performance features.
Verdict: Simple and Effective Antivirus Protection
Webroot Essentials for Mac aced our antivirus tests. It retains a light touch on disk space and system resources, but a bug prevented us from confirming its famed speedy scan. The independent labs don’t vouch for it, and its optimization features don’t shine. Bitdefender Antivirus and Norton 360 Deluxe may not scan at warp speed, but they offer more features and the labs confirm their efficacy, so they remain our Editors’ Choice winners for macOS antivirus.
Webroot Essentials for Mac
Cons
The Bottom Line
Webroot Essentials for Mac requires minimal disk space and earned excellent scores in our hands-on antivirus tests, but independent labs don’t vouch for it.
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About Neil J. Rubenking
Lead Analyst for Security
