Transcription
Hello everyone, in this video I will show you the new app from MacPawn, namely Moonlock. An app that revolves around the topic of security on the Mac, including malware protection. What this app can do, whether you really need something like this, or for whom it might make sense, we will take a closer look at in this video. Behind Moonlock is the well-known developer Macpow, or more precisely, the Moonlock Lab, which is Macpow's research department for cybersecurity. Some of you will surely know the company or at least have heard of it. Clean My Mac, Setup, or Clear VPN are certainly among the better-known apps or offers. The so-called Moonlock Engine will surely be familiar to those of you who use Clean My Mac, because the Moonlock Engine is behind the integrated malware scanner, and Macp now offers a standalone app around the topic of security for precisely this. I personally became aware of it last year through the media; there were also a few articles about it, and it already made a very interesting impression, I think. However, since Macp approached me and asked if I was interested in testing Moonlock and making a video about it, I thought that this might also interest some of you. This video is therefore created in cooperation with MacPo, and the app was also provided to me for this purpose. In the course of this cooperation, you will also get a discount code. But as always, I value that nothing is dictated to me here and that I can design the video as I wish. In any case, I just want to give you a neutral overview of Moonlock in this video. Whether it's something for you personally in the end, everyone has to decide for themselves anyway. What I personally like, as with all apps I know from MacBook, is the user interface. Here too, we have a user interface that is simply tidy, reduced to the essentials, and pleasant to use. Actually, what we have is the basic structure or the basic interface, as we already know it from Clima Mac. Only here everything revolves around the topic of security on the Mac. The first point here actually leads to a general overview. Here you can find all sorts of functions or areas that exist in the app. Simply summarized in an overview. I will come back to that later anyway. Let's start with the main functions, and the malware scanner is the beginning. First, you choose between deep, balanced, or fast, can scan the entire Mac or just a specific object, a folder, an app, or something like that, and can make a few settings regarding the malware scanner. Basically, the deeper the scan, the longer it takes. Or vice versa, if it needs to be faster, it will of course be scanned more superficially. Here, however, I have chosen balanced, so a middle ground between thoroughness and duration. In my case, it took just under 2 minutes, and fortunately, nothing was found. I won't go to the next point now, because before that, I want to test it fundamentally. After all, with Moonlock, real-time protection is also active in the background continuously, and below that, by the way, we also see that Moonlock always ensures that the malware database is up to date. This happens automatically anyway. However, if you want, you can also check manually. For a simple test, just to see how Moonlock behaves, I will now use the well-known malware test files from the European Institute for Computer Antivirus Research, abbreviated EICAR. A total of four different malware test files are available here. I will now simply download one of them and we will see what happens. A few seconds pass, and Moonlock has already detected it and reports it directly below the menu bar icon. In Moonlock itself, you can also see that the corresponding file has been placed in quarantine, as well as which file it is exactly. It is also displayed here on the right under this point in the overview, and a manual scan will of course also show it. However, as I said, there are four different test files here. I'll download this one here, for example, and we'll see that after a short time Moonlock reacts the same way. I'll also add the other two files now. We see that it's a bit different again. But we'll also see right away how Moonlock automatically detects it. In the detection history, we can also see how all four files have been placed in quarantine. And finally, I will now run a scan again, so that we can simply see how it proceeds. The corresponding files are also automatically isolated, as it says here, so to speak, locked away so that they cannot harm the Mac. But of course, it would be recommended to permanently remove the files after you have seen what this is about. And I will do that now. It looks like this, it's relatively quick, and then it's done. But let's move on to the next point. Moonlock also integrates Macp's separately available VPN service, namely Clear VPN. And this is also very easy to use and has the basic functions of a VPN service. You have the choice between optimal location or can manually select a country or region. Optimal location generally maintains my country and my general location. Simply so that certain websites or services continue to function correctly, but my specific location and my IP address are still masked. You then simply click on start, and after a few seconds, the VPN is active. Or you select a specific country yourself. I have now done that with the Netherlands, and a simple test shows that it worked. Many of you will surely know this. When you go to the Apple website of another country, your own country is recognized and offered here at the top. So, you are simply redirected to the corresponding Apple website of your own country. And as we can see, the website believes that I am in the Netherlands and has redirected me there. The next function, Network Watcher, is intended to ensure that apps and websites cannot establish a connection to the countries of my choice or send information there. What exactly this is about is shown by the categories that exist here. For example, "Minimize fraud risks" shows you all the countries or regions that are generally known for fraudulent activities, or "Exclude sanctioned countries" shows you all the countries that are subject to international sanctions. "Reduce bot traffic" lists all countries known for a high volume of malicious bot activity, and "Avoid censored networks" lists countries where censorship often leads to uncontrolled data collection. So you then select the countries to which you want to block connections. I will now simply click on three countries arbitrarily. Then you go to start, and it will also be shown to you here how many connections were found and blocked during use. Here too, I will now do a simple test to directly force such a block. You see, I have now simply extended it to many more countries and am using Brazil as an example for this test. If I now click on an official page from Brazil, for example, we actually see that the connection is blocked. And in Moonlock, it actually says 36 connections found and blocked. I can see what exactly that is. First, the app is listed, namely Safari, and then the corresponding website. And conversely, I can now test it, of course. I deactivate this function in Moonlock. Connections to the countries will no longer be blocked, and we see that the website opens normally. That was just for a simple test. It's not about official, trustworthy websites of other countries at all. It's specifically about fraudulent activities, secret harmful connections that might be executed in the background in certain apps or websites. But let's look at the next function, and that is System Protection. This function does nothing more than check the official settings of macOS, namely all settings that have anything to do with security, and not only gives you feedback on what you could adjust differently, but you also get a detailed step-by-step guide on the right side on how to adjust it or at least what is recommended here. Whether you really want to do that is of course up to you. For example, I actually noticed that I had set Airdrop to "everyone" at some point and then forgot to change it back, and I was pointed out here, for example. At the very bottom, marked as "Done," all the settings that are already correctly set according to Moonlog or at least meet these recommendations are listed for me. It is also practical that if I have changed a setting according to this guide, I can send it for checking at the bottom, and if I click on "Check" here, Moonlog will really check whether I have actually changed it correctly and effectively. And we see that the list has become shorter. I haven't changed all the settings, but where I have, it is now marked as done. And the last point here is Security Advisor. Here you simply get general tips on the topic of security. Whether it's tips on strong, unique passwords or, for example, the difference between two-factor and multi-factor authentication, and on the right, you always have a detailed explanation. So much for an overview of all the functions available on the left. If you click on "Discover" for the first point, you get a general overview, as mentioned. Above, on the topic of malware, then here below VPN, Network Watcher. I could also set a schedule for the scans, and here on the left, we have all the tips and recommendations from these two points, System Protection and Security Advisor. If you scroll further, you will also find links to videos or articles on certain topics, for example, how to encrypt or decrypt files with Macpod's free app N Crypto. A question that many will surely ask themselves is, do you really need this separately on the Mac in addition to macOS's own protection, especially such a malware scanner? Because the fact is, macOS already has a relatively good built-in malware protection with Gatekeeper and X Protect. Many surely know this general statement. On a Mac, you don't need any third-party antivirus programs or extra protection? And that's still true. macOS really has very good protection of its own. But the fact is also, and I say this personally from experience or simply from dealing with the topic of security on the Mac over the years, that malware for the Mac is also increasing more and more and is also becoming more dangerous "under quotation marks." However, I don't think that changes the fact that macOS's own protection is still good enough for most users today. So the general answer today to the question, do you need third-party programs like this on the Mac, is still no, but with the addition that it can't hurt. Moonlock is not the only app that offers something like this anyway. As is well known, there have been antimatterware apps for the Mac for some time, but with Moonlock, there is now a new alternative from the developer Macow. And if we set aside the question of usefulness or necessity, which everyone has to answer for themselves anyway, the app itself, at least from what I've shown you here, makes a good first impression, I think. Ultimately, however, everyone has to find out for themselves whether it's something for them, whether they need something like this, whether they benefit from it in everyday life. And for that, there is the option to test the app for free for 7 days, so that you can answer this question for yourself. However, if you do decide on Moonlock, there is the choice between a subscription with annual or monthly billing, or the option to purchase Moonlock once. However, these are still the regular prices. Via the button here at the bottom in the middle, you have the opportunity to get a 15% discount on the prices with the code Apfelwelt15. Or you can simply click on the link that you will find in the video description or pinned at the very top of the comments. The annual billing at €45.90 per year or €3.80 divided over 12 months, I find to be okay. However, billed monthly, it becomes significantly more expensive, and the price of the one-time purchase is also not exactly cheap. Of course, you can also use it only temporarily and then cancel it, but one way or another, I am of the opinion that with a more expensive one-time purchase or subscription, the app must be truly convincing, must offer me a benefit, and the app should then also be regularly in use by me, so that it really pays off in my opinion. So, to conclude, the question again: For whom does such an app make sense? On the one hand, perhaps for those who say, I want to consciously increase security again, simply have a second layer of protection, in addition to macOS's own protection. On the other hand, there will also be users who already actively use malware protection on the Mac, and with Moonlock they now have a new alternative, and then it also depends on the type of use. So, generally speaking, it also depends on which websites you regularly visit or where you regularly download things from, and whether these are perhaps more regular, let's say, critical areas of the internet. But as I said, in the end, everyone has to decide for themselves or find out whether they really need something like this. And I hope, of course, that I have given you a good overview of Moonlock with this video and have been able to help one or the other with a decision. But please also write in the comments what you think about this app or about this topic in general. And if you haven't subscribed to me yet, but want to stay up to date with more videos, then please subscribe to my channel. Thank you for watching and see you in the next video.