Viruses & The Mac

What's a Virus on a Mac?

Well, in short, the Mac is not threatened by viruses, spyware and other nasties that plague the windows world. Almost all viruses are programmed to exploit security holes in Microsoft Windows. 
The operating system the Mac uses is far more robust.

The questions we're asked a lot then is 'do you need security and anti-virus software your Mac'. The short answer no. Unless of course your company requires it in which case although your Mac cannot be affected by them, you can pass them on in your email for example. Your Mac already has very advanced intrusion detection software built into it and very powerful features that simply 'do their thing' and don't bother you all day every day.

Increasingly, in a world where anti-virus software is so well known and the companies that manufacture it, [ much in the same way as anti-smoking medications that prey on the placebo effect do ], create a demand when it's not there implying that you must protect yourself under all circumstances - which is true on one level, but exercising common sense is probably the best defence - but it doesn't mean you need to install all manner of security software on your Mac- or your PC for that matter.

Still. they're all out there - raking in vast sums of money sponsoring Formula 1 and the link wiht all of that spare cash from their success in creating absolute paranoia about Viruses and Spyware and the like that you pay for!.

Probably to worst Mac offender we see from customers installing supposed anti-virus on their Macs is MacKeeper. An horrendous piece of software that not only slows your Mac down but continually installs new bits to assure you that it's working extremely hard to clean your Mac all the time, discovering new viruses, spyware and all sorts of things that aren't there and continually reminding you to buy new add-ons to fix problems as you go.

Most problems arise for user error and bad judgement.. we all do it, but that moment when you're busy doing other things and you receive an eMail that looks so legitimate and you respond to it is how perceived viruses or problems start usually - ending up on a website that tells you you're infected.. click here to fix.... Other Mac issues that can be perceived this way are customer service calls who claim to be for Telstra, the ATO, or Microsoft who say they've identified a problem on your Mac and they can fix it over the phone. you're still safe here until they tell you to install software such as GoToMeeting or Teamviewer - with your permission. they can then access your computer whilst pretending to help you... in some cases steal information, in others lock your computer and ransom you.

So, next time a website says you're Mac is infected or has a virus or you have a problem that can be fixed via a remote session. it doesn't and it won't.

Check our Facebook for a few images you may find on the internet trying to convince you to buy MacKeeper...