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Are Mac's affected by Viruses...

V

VFXToby

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 16, 2008
10
0
London
Sorry if this is a repeat, i cant find anything useful through search.

I'm a long term PC user, but my current work is all on Mac's and have fallen for them. Since my home PC is on its way out I'm considering replacing it with a MBP so have been doing research.

But i cant seem to find anything definitive about Mac's and Viruses..

Do they get them? How common are they? Are there virus checkers for Mac's? etc...

(if its been answered before please post the link)

Ta.
 
There are no virii currently in the wild for Macs, there are a couple of trojans, but they require your admin password to install. Best advice, be careful about what you install.
 
Yes they are greatly affected, probably even more so than PC's.

How? The more people are tired of being infected, the more they'll be willing to buy a Mac so they won't be. :eek::eek::eek:

HA (little before work joke there)
 
kkat69 said:
Yes they are greatly affected, probably even more so than PC's.

How? The more people are tired of being infected, the more they'll be willing to buy a Mac so they won't be. :eek::eek::eek:

HA (little before work joke there)
Click to expand...

It's too early for that kind of humor.
 
The only way you are going to get a virus on it is if you install windows on it.

And then it'll only affect the windows partition. (So if you are running bootcamp or something similar, you might want to run something other than Norton to keep it safe.)

So to answer your questions;

Do they get them? No
How common are they? see above
Are there virus checkers for Macs? Yes, but.. see above.

This link should help.
 
windowpain said:
The only way you are going to get a virus on it is if you install windows on it.

And then it'll only affect the windows partition. (So if you are running bootcamp or something similar, you might want to run something other than Norton to keep it safe.)

So to answer your questions;

Do they get them? No
How common are they? see above
Are there virus checkers for Mac's? Yes, but.. see above.

This link should help.
Click to expand...

That's why boot camp shouldn't be used....

Windows on a Mac is just not right.....
 
I'm a recent switcher, and one of the main reasons I switched was the reputation of Mac for security. Over a year ago, while trawling a BBC tech site, I came across a report (verified by the BBC) which stated that no Mac had ever been infected by a virus. As other posters have pointed out, virii can indeed be found via Windows programmes.

Likewise, when I was a Windows user, I was inundated by spam, spyware. adware etc and this despite having invested in a pretty robust anti spam/anti virus package (McAfee for the record), which did reduce the daily deluge to a manageable small, but steady flow. With Mac, I can thankfully report that spam is exceedingly limited - and is dutifully deposited in the spam folder immediately upon arrival by the computer itself.
Good luck and cheers
 
This question appears about every 18 hours. Can someone write a thorough treatise on malware on the Mac and make it a sticky?!?!?
 
Thank you all for your replies!

Its nice to know i can forget all that hassle when i switch.

As the main reason I like the Mac's is the OS i wont be installing windows on it!!

...Counting the days to release of the new MBP...
 
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