Before everyone runs away with the idea that Macs are the answer to thwarting the omnipresent tedium of a viral life with Windoze, then I ask you to think again.
It is very true that a few years ago the Mac OS was virtually free from "production" type virus/malware, most of it being "proof of concept". In other words if this code is used it will create this problem and thats as far as it went. But the people who produce this stuff are aiming to cripple the majority not the minority. So with Apple only having a relatively small market share it was not targeted by those who produce this stuff.
That has now changed somewhat with the advent of Apple adopting the the Intel processor over the long used Motorola processor. Longtime Mac devotees were horrified at this move and it has had the effect of giving rise to more malware being written for the Mac but it remains nearly all proof of concept type stuff. The hackers concentrating on the "bugs" introduced into the code as the OS was ported from one processor to the other.
As with all of these things that will change as Macs become more popular (market share) then there will be a natural increase in malware because it becomes worth doing. Of course unwittingly Apple may have accelerated that process by trying to be too clever in the marketing and control of the iTunes - iTouch - iPhone products. For those unaware of such things the iTouch/Phone run a cut down version of OSX, a bit like Windows Mobile in effect. Now the iTunes market is becoming huge and is becoming adopted by more and more 3rd parties as a marketing vehicle. On the back of that will come the malware because the numbers will say its worth doing. The downside of course is that more hackers will learn more about exploiting the vulnerabilities of OSX. The upside of this, is the benevolent side of hacking as demonstrated by what is known as "jailbreaking" your iTouch/Phone. This allows you to do all manner of things Steve Jobs would whole heartedly disapprove of but thats the penalty of trying to become Master of the Universe. Ask Bill?
So enjoy your Mac while you can because there will no doubt be a can of worms to be opened soon near you.
Peter
An Apple Mac & iPhone devotee ............ for the present.
Now where did I put that Linux manual? :lol:
Incidently Apple Computers were the first to be infected by a virus. You can read more here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elk_Cloner