How can I secure my Mac when online?

[peripathetic]

I am currently running Norton's Confidential but this is due to expire shortly and
I cannot make head-nor-tail of the Norton website.
Can anybody offer advice as maximum online protection is important to me,
seeing that I don't sleep well at the best of times.

[snags]

A good start would be:

System Preferences > Sharing > Firewall > Advanced:

Tick 'block UDP traffic'

Tick 'enable stealth mode'

[snags]

^ For OS X Tiger. May be slightly different for subsequent OS...

[Milvus]

As Snags mentions, there are differences in protection methods depending on the release of Mac OS. What release are you running?

[peripathetic]

My Mac OS is 10.5.8.

You seem to be suggesting that this is something that I can setup however I wonder if this would meet the requirements of financial organisations who offer 'Complete protection' PROVIDED - here comes the small print- 'adequate security is being used'.

I'm not doubting anyones advice rather that commercial security software might carry more weight with the above organisations in the event of a claim.

[Milvus]

Norton Confidential is no longer supplied by (Norton) Symantec. All the components are in Norton Internet Security For Mac. Norton Confidential essentially provided additional passwords protection and anti-phishing, so Norton Internet Security provides that and more, such as virus (Windows) and trojan protection. You might also consider upgrading to MacOS 10.7. Security protection for trojans is built in and automatically updated

[rojash]

http://www.eset.co.uk/Home/Cybersecurity

Any help?

[peripathetic]

Thanks everyone. I'll stick with Norton I love the reassurance a 'name' gives.

Have just bought a new Hotpoint washing machine although it's made by Indesit and the identical Indiset is cheaper.

[Milvus]

You'll be safe there. There are no known viruses on an Indesit washing machine (can't say anything about the clothes going in though) :)