Up until now, many Apple enthusiasts were surfing the net worry free.  Many thought their Macs were impervious to viruses and malware.  The recent outbreaks of the Mac Defender and Mac Guard have proven that theory wrong.  What’s going on? Why the sudden outbreak of malware infections?  Have the Macs become less secure?  The answer is pretty simple.  Macs have not  gotten any less secure, they have just gained market share in the number of end user computers.  Malware creators are looking to write software to infect as many machines as possible.  With the growing number of Macs online, they have apparently decided that it has become lucrative enough to start writing malware to infect them. Rest assured, the best mac anti-virus is free!

What’s the best way to protect your Apple computer from these recent outbreaks?  The first, and best line of defense you have is not a piece of software written by a security company, it’s you.  Using your common sense, you can avoid 99.999% of all malware on the Internet, even if you’re using a PC!  If it seems strange when a window pops up and says your machine is infected with 99 viruses, it is probably not true. Do not press GO, do not give them $200 or your credit card!  If you close your browser, and make sure not to install any software when prompted, you will successfully remain virus/trojan/malware free.  It would probably be best to avoid the site you were on as well.

Even though you’ve successfully avoided malware infection all on your own, you may still be wondering if there is other protection out there.  Do any companies even make anti-virus programs for the Mac?  Yes, there are a dozen or so companies writing antiv-virus programs for Mac OS X, and you’re in luck yet again because the best one out is free!  Download a copy of Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac and try it out.  Couple this software with your own intelligence, and you should be able to enjoy your web surfing experience virus free.