Is this true about Macs?

It's fanboy talk. All computers are vulnerable. Apple has, without fanfare, installed an antivirus program into OSX. It was recently updated. A Mac can get hit by browser vulnerabilities, flash malware and others.

Mac and Linux merely have less problems than Windows and less attackers. If a stable platform is all that matters, anything NEW will do. Mac, Linux, Win7 all work fine.

I have had Macs for 8 years and have never had a virus I got a new netbook last spring (PC) and got a virus the first month.

For whatever that is worth.

Macs can get viruses like any other machine. The difference is that PC's have been out in greater numbers, at cheaper prices, for a longer period of time. There is more in depth information on windows available than their is on the MAC o.s.

That means that it is a lot easier for someone who is so inclined to make a virus to find a platform to learn on in the windows world than there is in the MAC world. But as macs start becoming more popular and more people have them, more of the little tards that make viruses will have them, be able to learn about them and end up making viruses.

Plus...for the most part more people have important stuff on widnows based machines than they do on macs. Banks, lawyers, law enforcement, government use windows based machines almost exclusively. Why go through all the trouble to create a virus for a machine that is likely housing nothing more valuable than stolen music

Any machine can get a virus.
Why would PCs get more than others? Market share.
If I was going to write a virus, I would write it for the machine that has the most market. simple logic.

Thanks guys, this makes sense. I did read an article that explained the fact that Macs are less vulnerable because of market share... and it does make sense.

I think the problem is, fanboys have blown it out of context by claiming it's impossible to get viruses.

I think we've got a long time before Macs catch up in terms of Market Share, so there's a strong possibility I'll be getting a Mac.

If I have the same experience as Jenn (no virus in 8 years) then I'll be happy.

I have to change PCs every 2-3 years because they get too ill.

Nick, a pc can lasts for years with some care.

I'm typing this post on one I built about 2003. I'm using it because my most recent build,the one I did in 2005 when I opned my shop, has a bad hard drive and I haven't replaced it yet IN other words,because I'm lazy,lol.
There are many advantages to a PC over a MAC, and I know many people feel vice versa, but bottom line is what works best for you.

It's not impossible and there are Mac viruses/malware/spyware/etc. out there. Sometimes, though, I almost wonder if some of them were created by the anti-viral software companies to get sales because some viruses/malware/spyware gets "caught" before they were ever found "in the wild."

At any rate, Macs are not invulnerable. But, as others have said, market share keeps the virus/malware/spyware writers focused on Windows. Most of the successful Mac infections that I have heard of came from people downloading software and installing it. Namely, pirated software or software to view porn. There have also been recent reports of Mac spyware being hidden in screensavers.

Also you have to be aware of scripting exploits that are cross-platform, such as can happen with Flash, PDFs, etc. I keep plug-ins "off" on my browser unless I'm visiting a trusted site. I'll also turn off JavaScript if I'm wary about a site. I keep Java off at pretty much all times.

Came across a link on WF the other day that had me concerned:

#1# Top Secret BBQ Sauce Recipe

That's a crazy one there. The site has iframes in it with links to Romanian site and it redirects to a site with a suspicious URL that's registered in Romania. That site has a ClickBank link but if you click the link as if trying to buy, you get taken back to the first site which then redirects you back to the Romanian site. Very fishy, if you ask me. I checked that with SiteAdvisor and Google Safebrowsing (though Google won't do a live check and its data is almost a month old) and it came up clean, but you have to wonder if those sites check for Mac malware. I don't like it when sites behave crazily like that; I wound up running two full scans on my computer to look for stuff. (Scans came out clean.)

The bottom line is that you still need to be careful and don't get a false sense of security. And, if you run a dual-boot system, you'll still need to be careful on the Windows side.

Just from my personal experience - macs are basically invincinble. I've had a mac book pro for two years now and have never had any problems unlike my bloody XP which kept getting viruses like once every week lol.

Funny how people like to push blame away from themselves. I'm a Linux user now, but I used XP from the day it was released up until a few months ago and never had a virus.

No luck involved.

Truer words were never spoken Lawrh.
I even posted a post saying basically the same thing in the latest anti-virus thread.
I actually wrote it in response to the above,but decided not to hijack the thread, but what the heck.

yes and no. There's no reason why they can't get a virus. The people who write/propagate viruses don't really bother with the Mac platform since it's still such a small portion of the market. They get more impact on PCs.

there are some viruses for mac. but it's still very rare. i used mac for almost 3 years and never had a virus until now

ok... Should I buy a Mac or a PC for my next laptop??

John,
If I remember correctly it turned out to be thought a brute force attack on my EBay account which was connected to my PayPal. Luckily Paypal saw an "unusual purchase" (an extreme;y large dollar amount) on my accout and actually contacted me by phone to verify I had made it. There was never anything on my machine.One of the very few times I actually got anything on my personal machine was when I was stupidly looking for the lyrics to a song and went to a bad site that managed to download a virus onto my machine.
Talk about a pain in the behind!

In 2006, the Leap-A virus, also known as Oompa-A, debuted. It uses the iChat instant messaging program to propagate across vulnerable Mac computers. After the virus infects a Mac, it searches through the iChat contacts and sends a message to each person on the list. The message contains a corrupted file that appears to be an innocent JPEG image.

The Leap-A virus doesn't cause much harm to computers, but it does show that even a Mac computer can fall prey to malicious software. As Mac computers become more popular, we'll probably see more hackers create customized viruses that could damage files on the computer or snarl network traffic