Don’t worry. Mac owners are still (currently) immune from the plagues of the internet, but Apple has issued a curious update to it’s Knowledge Base article concerning Mac anti-virus software:
Apple encourages the widespread use of multiple antivirus utilities so that virus programmers have more than one application to circumvent, thus making the whole virus writing process more difficult. Here are some available antivirus utilities:
It goes on to list the usual system-killing utilities (seriously, don’t install any of these unless you really know what you are doing) that are available for OS X. But why? So far, Macs have remained blissfully virus-free. Apple even touts this in its Mac vs PC ads, as you can see above.
Our guess is that, while it still believes that Macs are perfectly secure without any such software prophylactics, Apple has posted these guidelines to ward off moronic lawsuits if a virus should affect OS X. It’s easy to imagine the stupid customer’s words: "What? You didn’t tell me I needed an anti virus." Curiously, the article mentions the Mac OS, not Mac OS X, although the software suggestions are very much up to date.
And remember. PC power users (ie. people smart enough not to click on links in email) don’t bother with anti-virus software on their Windows machines, either. As my Dad used to say to me, before it was too late: "If you can’t be good, be careful."
Mac OS: Antivirus utilities [Apple via Apple Insider]
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