No Worm in My Apple?

If you own an Apple Macintosh computer, should you worry about viruses, worms, and Trojan horses? Yes, but not to the same extent as on a PC. Viruses have been written for Apple computers, but they haven't proliferated to epidemic proportions in the same way they have on Windows-based PCs.

So why not? Well, for one, Apple has designed its operating systems really well, especially the latest one called Mac OS X.

Before the operating system came along, there were about 6080 Mac viruses in the wild that threatened Mac computers. Since, there's been none that have been able to assault Macs running OS X. Apple has had to fix security holes in the operating system and issue patches, however.

By comparison, McAfee reports there are more than 100,000 viruses that can attack PCs.

Arguably, contrarians would say there are far fewer Macs in the world than there are Windows-based PCs. The impact of a Mac virus wouldn't have the same cachet for a virus writer looking for attention, so they don't bother.

Ultimately, it doesn't matter. Arguing either way will inevitably deteriorate into an angry , futile debate. The reality is that viruses are not currently a problem on Mac computers, but that could change if a virus writer exploited a newly found security hole.

There is one exception Mac users should be aware of. A PC virus can still live inside a file stored on a Mac or if a Mac is running Windows emulation software. If an unsuspecting Mac user sent an infected file to a PC-using friend, she might not be a friend for much longer.

Antivirus programs are available for the Mac. Symantec, Sophos, and MacAfee all make them. And there's a free Mac antivirus program called ClamXav that can also be downloaded from http://www.clamxav.com (see Figure 1.15).

Figure 1.15. ClamXav is a free antivirus program for Apple computers.