Is Mac virus-free?

Question

Is the Mac running Leopard as virus free as some say? My understanding is that once a good password is set for the root account, one can download without fear. I've just gotten DSL and I'm worried about being connected 24/7.

Answer 1

Well, I don't have any precise list of viruses, but there are a lot of discussions about it in the net.
Of which almost every bit of it is speculation or users who think they have a virus simply because their Macs aren't running well.
Put this simple search phrase in Google:
"os x"+virus
It returns almost nothing of substance. There's a couple of links loudly proclaiming the first real OS X virus. It's nothing but a gag video showing the desktop items falling all over the place as someone turns the Mac. Very clever, but not a real piece of malware at all.
The only other one that receives any mention at all is the Leap.A virus (and its various names). That one starts out as a Trojan you have to download and install. Once you do that, it acts as a virus and tries to infect buddies in your iChat list. Unless of course someone else you know was the one to download and install it. Then as it tries to infect you from their Mac, to you, it's strictly acting as a virus. It was a poorly written piece of malware and infected a very small percentage of users.
Other than that, there's nothing.
You can never be too careful, imo.
True enough, and applies to any OS. There's no such thing as a bulletproof OS. Read/watch the news, sites like this and other trustworthy, verifiable venues.