so i recently bought a macbook air with intentions on making music, however before i start downloading anything that has to do with making music i feel i should have some solid antivirus software to keep me and my projects safe however I'm clueless as to where to start. A friend of mine who frequently uses macs suggested i use sophos antivirus and its a free download so to me it seems to good to be true so i was wondering if anyone had any experience with sophos or any other antivirus software thank you in advance.

If there is any advantage of Apple's obsession with closed systems, it's the relative safety it adds. Macs have a long history of being tough to hack. ...with Apple even making a competitions for hackers and giving insane prices for those who find some weak spot. I've heard sotries about guy recieving new iPhone and a bloody Nissan 350z for revealing how he made jailbreaks possible on first iPhone.

I'm not sure how is this reputation valid today, I'm whole life on PC, but as Bertie said: Avoid dangerous corners of the interwebz, pay attention to everything you run or install, ignore suspicious mails and you'll be just fine. 

... but on PC I use old trusty Avast. It has a Mac version, if you want to try.

Part of what I do is being an IT security professional, and in my opinion: you shouldn't bother with antivirus.

It's not just that antivirus software has a tendency to be ineffective in the real world, it can also create whole other levels of bad (sometimes going as far as to lessen the security of your machine, by screwing with HTTPS connections for example).

You will be much better served making sure you:
1. use Chrome as your browser (stays up to date for you, and has good defaults tuned for your safety: it really is your first line of defense). Bonus points for adding uBlock origin and Ghostery as extensions, as ads on the Internet aren't just annoying, they sometimes serve malware, even on reputable sites.
2. keep GateKeeper enabled (the OSX security feature that enforce your applications be digitally signed) – You might have to "Cmd+click -> Open" some of the software you get (looking at you, fxpansion) because not all developers do the right thing when they distribute applications or software instruments, but they should be treated as a careful exception.
3. Invest in using a password manager so you never reuse the same password on any site (I strongly recommend 1Password for that job: https://agilebits.com/onepassword ).
4. when you download software for music production or otherwise, don't do it on free WiFi from cafés, airports, etc. Some developers don't serve their software over HTTPS, which means if the wifi hotspot you're connected to is bad, it can replace what you're downloading with something that's going to make you have a bad day. As a matter of fact, you should never do anything important on the Internet when it's not on HTTPS (and yes, downloading anything enters the 'important' category).

If you really care to go the extra mile:
5. install this little gem: https://objective-see.com/products/blockblock.html which will alert you anytime something potentially fishy tries to install itself on your machine
6. get the LittleSnitch app ( https://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/index.html ) to serve as your firewall, so nothing talks to the Internet without your express permission.

Last but not least:
7. Don't connect crap to your computer (anything on your USB / Thunderbolt / or even display port that could be dodgy... avoid, including unknown USB sticks from friends)
8. Stop pirating software. Seriously. There is no knowing when great stuff from the pirate bay turns out to be bundled with something that's going to bite you in the ass. An extension of that: dodgy stuff downloaded from the Internet is an instant "nope". Software from makers your recognize only, and from the App Store. That's it.
9. Backups, backups, backups. Whether you use an Apple Time capsule or an external hard drive, time machine isn't optional if you care about anything you do or store on your machine.


If you do all of this, you'll most likely be better protected than 95% of the people around you. Even those using an antivirus

To infect a mac with a virus you have to authorize it to be installed to your system. Stay away from dodgy software and you´ll be fine.

Staying away from dodgy software is a good start, but good computer hygiene is important. See for example the following article. Right now, there's a software vulnerability affecting a lot of applications (chief among them VLC), whereby something as innocuous as updating the app over an untrusted network (say, your local Starbucks) could end up with your computer being owned... just because the developers didn't know or care about delivering updates over HTTPS.

Article: http://arstechnica.com/security/2016/02/huge-number-of-mac-apps-vulnerable-to-hijacking-and-a-fix-is-elusive/