![\"Intego](\"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Intego-20-Year-Anniversary.png\")
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It’s always a bit of a surprise when a big anniversary creeps up on you. You go on, day to day, doing your work, when all of a sudden you realize that it’s been a round number of years. Anniversaries give you a chance to take stock of things, to reflect back on both the good and challenging experiences.<\/p>\n
This month, Intego is celebrating its 20th anniversary. Twenty years of innovation in Mac security software. Twenty years of protecting Mac users from the dangers of the Internet.\u00a0Let\u2019s take a stroll down memory lane and explore how Intego has grown and changed over two decades.<\/p>\n
Back in 1997, when Macs were a lot simpler, network and file sharing were becoming commonplace and the Internet was just starting to take off, viruses and malware became a serious problem for Mac users. Most people don’t realize, but viruses started affecting the Mac before they became endemic on Windows computers. There wasn’t a lot of malware back in the late 1990s, but it was obvious that businesses and individuals needed to protect themselves from threats on floppy disks and those coming across the new vector of network file transfers, both over local networks and the Internet.<\/p>\n
In October of that year, Intego, based in Paris, France, released its first product: Rival, an antivirus for Mac OS 8.<\/p>\n
The success of Rival led Intego to continue its mission of protecting Mac users. In July 1999, Intego released NetBarrier, the first personal security software suite for Mac OS. NetBarrier combined a firewall and anti vandal to prevent network attacks, and packet filtering features to block sensitive data, such as passwords, credit card numbers, and more. NetBarrier was revolutionary for Macs; at this time, firewall software for Mac didn’t exist for consumers.<\/p>\n
The following year, Intego refined its antivirus software and released the first version of VirusBarrier at the New York Macworld Expo in July 2000. This application provided protection for files downloaded from the Internet, CD-ROMs, floppy disks, and other types of removable media (remember Zip and Jaz disks?). With automatic updating of virus definitions via the Internet \u2013 something we take for granted now – VirusBarrier always provided up-to-date protection for the latest threats.<\/p>\n
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The San Francisco Macworld Expo in January 2000 saw the release of version 2 of NetBarrier, which added features like the Aqua interface recently developed by Apple, spam filtering, ad banner blocking \u2013 yes, even back then, ad banners had already become a problem \u2013 and much more. This was a period of transition for Apple, and this version of NetBarrier was compatible with Mac OS 9, but an OS X version was released a few months later.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/netbarrier1.png\")
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As the Mac was experiencing a renewal \u2013 the iMac that Steve Jobs developed, and that Apple released in 1998, had become a popular home computer \u2013 it was clear that children needed to be protected from the dangers of the Internet. Adult content was available at the click of a mouse, so in January 2001, Intego released ContentBarrier for Mac OS 8 and 9, which blocked online offensive material. The company also began offering a full-featured suite of security and privacy tools for Mac: Internet Security Barrier. This package contained the three cornerstone products that Intego would build on in the coming years: NetBarrier, VirusBarrier, and ContentBarrier.<\/p>\n
For a fun blast from the past, you can download legacy versions Intego’s Mac OS 9-compatible software<\/a> (no longer supported, of course) and run them in a virtual machine, or on a classic Mac if you still own one.<\/p>\n Mac OS 9: Some Love for the Classics!<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n