Anti-Virus

A friend of mine told me I don't need anti-virus for Mac OS X.

Is this true?

My school offers a free McAffee Anti-Virus download for Mac OS X. However, if I don't need anti-virus, then I'm not going to get it so it can just eat up my RAM.

you can have one is you realy want i been with mac for alost 1year and never used a virus checker and never will use one

I have Virus BarrierX4, cos I was wary of being on the net without a virus checker, but its never found one!! (touch wood!!)

Anti-virus programs for the Mac are a waste of money. Why you ask? Because there are NO viruses for Macs. Sounds like a crazy idea, doesn't it? But I assure you, you are not going to get viruses on your Mac.

The only viruses that could ever infect a Mac were proof-of-concept, and even then, they were very complicated and could never propagate in the wild. Also, Windows viruses don't affect OS X, so even if you open an email with a virus attached, you have nothing to worry about.

I suggest saving your space and RAM and just enjoy the security that comes with Mac OS X. :black:

Most Mac owners will tell you they feel very secure without an anti-virus program. A virus is not impossible, but not very likely. Ya gotta make your own decision about how secure you feel without one.

Over the last several years of owning a Mac running OS X, I've had the occasional antivirus installed. and NEVER has it found a virus.
Any Windows viruses were seen immediately as email attachments (always in emails sent to ME by someone. In a sense I was their antivirus!).

I would stay pro-active if I were you. If there is in the unlikely event, a Mac virus, then at least you know you are safe (if you keep it up-to-date).

Also it is good to have one as an act of goodwill. If you got emailed a Windows virus, yes it wouldn't effect you, but detecting it and killing it there and then will make sure you don't forward it on you any of your Windows friends.

It is by no means necessary though, and if RAM is an issue then you can live safe in the knowledge that you will be safe. The very rare Mac viruses are fixed in Apple updates anyways.

I downloaded a free AV program for use in parallels. I don't have one for the mac side of things.

No need for anti-virus; unless of course you're running something like a server etc. and you want the extra security. No viruses is one of Mac's big selling points -- aka no need for anti-virus.