Here’s what Apple said about this...
“’We have removed the KnowledgeBase article because it was old and inaccurate,’ Apple spokesman Bill Evans, told Macworld. ‘The Mac is designed with built-in technologies that provide protection against malicious software and security threats right out of the box.’”
Now, I can confirm that over about 22 years of my use of Apple Macintosh computers, and using all sorts of data, from floppies, to hard drives (when they finally came out), to bulletin boards (back when they were popular), using modems, and later the Internet (when that became cheaper and affordable), to exchanging a lot of data in many different ways, over many generations of machines and many different operating system upgrades and revisions — that in *all that time* and *all that usage* (which was extensive and continuous) — that I *only ever found one virus* — and that was back in 1990 — *only* one — ever....
My own personal usage was such that I would have several models of the Macintosh at one time, be continuously changing and upgrading and many of my friends swore I would have a computer attached to me, if I could... LOL. I’m sure that the majority of people don’t even use their computers as much as I do (and did). So, others would run into *less viruses* than I did — on the Macintosh (and that was *only one* for me). Many people on the Macintosh don’t know what the “big deal” is about — concerning viruses. They’ve never had any problems or concern about it.
And my “results” (concerning viruses) was from my first beginnings and all the way up to the present. And..., I’ve continuously run anti-virus software from way-back when, too..., although it’s *not* been necessary. I’ve gone through several different versions and companies that made it. I had Virex at one time and now have Intego.
But, I really don’t think it’s doing me any good and I don’t think it’s every done me any good... LOL...
I don’t get any alarms (and haven’t in the past), although one time I got a couple of e-mails that alerted me to a Windows virus — which does *absolutely nothing* on a Macintosh computer.
The Apple spokesman is right, the Macintosh computers are built secure from the “git-go”... You really don’t have to worry — at all — about viruses or worms or any of that stuff with Macintosh. It’s a *non-starter* and will probably continue that way for a very log time.
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Get a Mac and you won’t have to be concerned about viruses. It’s the answer from over 22 years of experience...
If dumb people run as root they can always accidentally “install” a virus. No software is more secure than the users. They always have been and always will be the biggest security hole. Assuming the install base grows eventually Apple will have to contend with the “always root double click on anything” crowd. As long as you’re not in that crowd you probably don’t have to worry, truth to tell Windows users that stay out of that crowd can stay pretty worry free too.
The OS helps, certainly Mac doesn’t encourage people to run as god as much as Windows used to (Vista and 2K8 severely discourage it, of course they still make life very annoying when you don’t), but you still could (because sometimes you have too, life with computers) and if you double click the wrong thing when you are...
I’ve been on Windows forever, and I’m even lazy and tend to be god, I don’t get viruses. It really doesn’t take much smarts, even on the OS with the worst security rep (mostly earned) ever.
Like I've always said, if you can't run a computer, you should get a Mac.
Why should I buy something I already have ?