I'm a newbie, not knowledgeable about Macs. But can you tell me...

[CTyankee]

are Mac's less vulnerable to viruses than PC's? My daughter tells me that they are. All 3 of my grown kids have Macs. They all say the same thing.

My husband and I are NOT techies! But we are tired of paying for a service to clear our PC of viruses! Would it be more cost effective for us to get a basic MAC and not have viruses?

How much does a basic Mac cost anyway). We are seniors and don't want any bells and whistles...

[Stinky The Clown]

1. Mac viruses are rare, but not impossible.

Most Mac users don't run antivirus software, but it is available.

The Mac Mini is the entry level Mac, starting around $700, with no monitor, keyboard, or mouse. You need not use Apple peripherals, so you might be able/probably will be able to use your current monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

As to cost effectiveness, that's hard to say. For pure ease of use and general reliability, the Mac's the way to go.

[cbayer]

2. Macs are very user friendly. Both of my parents (80) have them and love them.

I have never bought any virus protection and never had any problem at all with viruses. Though not impossible, it is much less likely.

Mac sends regular updates that I think include protection against known viruses.

There is very little that a PC can do that a Mac can not. Some people bristle at needing to use mac programs for things you want to do, but for the basic user, that actually makes a lot of sense.

[struggle4progress]

3. This doesn't really have anything to do with hardware. The Linux operating systems were designed

with better security than Windows and so are less vulnerable to virus attacks. The Mac operating system OSX is derived from a Linux distro, so it's generally regarded as safer than Windows

About the cheapest Mac you can get new is the Mac Mini @ $700: http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/mac_mini?aid=AIC-NAUS-K2-BUYNOW-MACMINI-INDEX&cp=BUYNOW-MACMINI-INDEX

I have several Macs which I use and like. But you'll pay a design and name-brand premium to buy one: you can usually get comparable hardware for a lot less. And Mac has a stinking rotten habit of using proprietary connectors: if you buy a Mac, you may need to spend additional money to buy an adaptor to connect (say) the screen you already own to your new Mac

If already you have a perfectly usable machine, and are just sick of Windows insecurity, don't just throw your machine away: try installing a version of Linux. Lots of folk like Ubuntu; it's free and it's pretty user friendly

http://www.ubuntu.com/

I've put Ubuntu on several machines, and I usually think highly of it

[CTyankee]

4. Thanks. That's helpful information!

[pokerfan]

5. might be splitting hairs here

but OSX is derived from FreeBSD, not Linux.

[struggle4progress]

6. Thanks. I should have known that.

[pokerfan]

7. No problem

It's a common meme out there. I have a buddy that's always claiming his Mac is based on Linux. For one thing, it can't be or OSX would be subject to the GNU General Public License.

[bullimiami]

14. I dont think thats right. There are other unix based OSs that are licensed.

Solaris, AIX, IRIX and others.
Linux has them too. ie Redhat.

Parts of an OS being open-source doesnt subject the entire OS to public licensing.

[Tesha]

11. FYI: MacOS/X *IS NOT* derived from Linux.

This is a nit, and I'm late to this particular
party, but MacOS/X isn't derived from Linux.
MacOS/X is an honest-to-dog NetBSD Unix system.

(Linux is "Open Source Software" that was
written to behave just like Unix but avoid
all of the old AT&T (etc.) patents and
copyrights that used to encumber Unix.)

Either way, Linux or Unix, both take advantage
of decades of development and both are less
vulnerable to "malware" of all sorts than are
the variants of Windows.

Tesha

[struggle4progress]

12. pokerfan chewed my ass about that last month

[Tesha]

13. Sorry! ;-) (NT)

[onehandle]

8. Yes. Personally I have never run anti-virus software on my Macs and never encounter viruses.

This is over more than two decades and many, many Macs.

You many want to consider the new iPad if you want Really simple. Are you anywhere near an Apple Store? They will help you and will not pressure you to overbuy.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

9. Get a top of the line refurbished model, and you will smile

I gave my old laptop to my son. It was so much better and healthier than his HP, that he will never go back. He did upgrade the hard drive to 500 gigs, and they transferred all the programs and data for him.

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. I have a FREE antivirus on the Macbook

that I have yet to run. I keep forgetting.

Now the Windwos machine... I had to end up taking it to have it fully reformatted... and all that. Yes, it's got antivirus and still got infected.

It is at the OS level. Unix is far more secure than Windows. Also windows has back doors by design.