Section 83. Virus Protection

83. Virus Protection

As of September 2006, macvirus.org's Mac virus database has 26 entries. Most of these are rated "low risk" to home users and corporations; some are no longer in circulation.

By contrast, in the same month, symantec.com's PC virus database listed 72,846 entries. (Now there's a reason to switch!)

Even though your risk of infection, damage, and data loss is greatly reduced on a Mac, it's still a good idea to install virus protectionespecially because one of the most trusted Mac virus scanners is free!

Open-source ClamXav (www.markallan.co.uk, free) can be set to scan automatically for infected files. Brand-name shoppers can always pay for Norton AntiVirus for the Mac (www.symantec.com, $49.95), which, like its counterpart on the PC, automatically updates protection, scans files, and monitors systems for unusual activity.