Ok so I would like to set the record straight once and for all about all these advertisments stating that Apple (MAC) does not get viruses. I personally have absolutly nothing against MAC I think they make a great computer. I am a Windows and Linux user so I am not going to show bias here and I will even include in my statement that Linux is not immuned to viruses as well.

People it is all about the numbers here and what make more sense for the person writing the virus or malware as it is more commonly referred to now.

Over the last 10 years there has been a shift in virus writting and people are no longer in it to destroy someones computers. They are in it to see how far their virus can spread and how much money they can make from it. Sadly I do not have exact figures on this but I know that more than 50% of the spam email out there is comming from infected computers that have some sort of virus on them. Viruses are now about making money not destroying property or doing something just to say you can.

With this being said I think that we can assume that the virus writters these days have the goal of spreading their virus to as many comptuers as possible in order to send spam emails that can in turn make them money money from affiliate links.

The latest breakdown of OS usage from Market share for December 2009 is:

• Windows – 92.21%
• MAC – 5.11%
• Linux – 1.02%
• Java ME – 0.53%

I know that doesn’t add up to 100% but I have left out some very minor ones like the iPhone at 0.44% and Blackberry at 0.03%

So as you can see here Windows wins by a landslide while MAC comes in way behind and linux even more so. Now think of this from a virus writers point of view. Why would you waste your time writting a virus for 6-7% of the population when you can write a virus that could affect 92% of the population?

I hope I have made my point and that MAC and Linux are not immuned from viruses they are just so low on the number of users that most virus writter wouldn’t waste their time with it. I garuntee you that should the number of MAC and Linux users climb to over the years you will see more viruses written for them.

As I would always say you should have some sort of anti-virus on all computers whether it be Windows, MAC or Linux no one is immuned form viruses or malware.

If you feel differently about this topic or would like to include something I didn’t please feel free to leave a post.