Whether you need virus protection for Mac computers or not is an issue that is regularly discussed by the owners of the Apple personal computers and laptops. As it is common with Apple users there are two groups with very strong belief. The first group is absolutely certain that there never was and never will be any need for a Mac user to install virus protection, because there are no viruses for the OS X, only for Windows. And then there is the second group who will tell you that although the risk level with Mac computers is considerably lower than with the Windows boxes, you should still have some virus protection otherwise you have a very good chance to get infected. So, which groups is right?
Virus protection for Mac is not absolutely necessary …
If you are a Windows users or if you ever were one, you are certainly well familiar with all the horror stories that can happen to your computer, if you don’t use virus protection. You’ll get infected, your computer will start acting weird, you’ll be sending email viruses to all the contacts in your mail client and in the end, your data will get scrambled and deleted beyond repair. Right?
This may be a bit of exaggeration, but if you don’t use virus protection on a Windows box, you actually have a good chance to see it happen. In the Windows world you need some antivirus, period.
But in the Mac world things actually are a bit different. The architecture of the OS X is much more closed, you and the programs you download (or are downloaded themselves) have a much harder time doing anything bad to your system. Original security level of a Mac computer is considerably higher than of a Win computer.
… but even on a Mac you can still get infected
Wait a minute, you just said Macs are ok! What is this now about getting infected? While OS X is much less vulnerable to virus attacks, it is not impenetrable. There are viruses, Trojans, dialers and other malware that will happily take the opportunity to infest your Mac if given half a chance. Just try surfing the more suspicious and darker corners of the web and you may have enough of bad luck to catch a virus. Again, the chances are slimmer than with the Win computer, but statistics won’t give you much solace when you are desperately trying to rescue your data.
“There are no viruses for Macs!”
And for all those Mac users who are still one hundred percent sure that no malware actually exists for Macs I’m sorry to break the dream. Malware for OS X exists and it can infect your computer. This is the actual quote from the Apple forums: “There are X-rated sites popping up on my laptop that I did not go to nor authorize. I just want them gone/off. Please help!!!”
I’m not saying you will get infected and that it will do any damage to you, but believing that there are no viruses and other harmful programs for OS X is unfortunately a mistake. The chance for a Mac user to get infected is considerably lower than with a Windows computer but are you willing to take that chance? Sometimes it’s better to prevent than to heal and all in all it may still be a good idea to get some virus protection for Mac.
Do YOU actually need virus protection for your Mac?
This is a hard one, you’ll have to decide for yourself. Let me give you a few examples. If you have come to Mac from Windows, you are probably a bit nervous without some antivirus running on your new box. To help you sleep better, install the virus protection for Mac on your machine. If you are a business person and you use your Mac for work and have valuable data stored on your computer, you may want to check for additional protection. If you use computer for a bit of safe surfing and mail correspondence with people that you know and trust, you are on the safe side and probably don’t need one. If you are an IT specialist who knows where dangers are lurking on the Internet and in the e-mail, you don’t need virus protection either.
Has this helped you a bit? I hope so. There are more useful tips, how-tos and guides available on this site, so you may want to check them out before making a decision.
