Possibility of Virus Infection on Intel Macs w/ Boot Camp/Windoze?

Question

I have never run anti virus software on my Macs whereas I would not dare run my windoze computers unprotected. But are there not viruses that are capable of trashing a hard drive to the point where the computer is un-bootable? So what happens if you are running Windoze under Boot Camp and your system gets hosed? Could that effect the computer's ability to boot OSX as well? Or is the windoze system sufficiently isolated from the OSX "side" to prevent this?

Answer 1

If you run Windows via Boot Camp then your Mac is exposed to all the viruses that can affect Windows as well as other Windows-based security threats.
See my "Detecting and avoiding malware and spyware" FAQ for my recommendations as well as a list of some recent Mac OS X security threats that have emerged, including Trojans, rootkits, and spyware. The FAQ also addresses some of the usual arguments against installing an anti-virus solution on a Mac that often arise in discussions of this topic.
While some believe that anti-virus solutions are not required on a Mac, I feel that's ignoring the fact that threats are emerging and that security exposures continue to be found, albeit eventually closed, in Mac OS X, as in any other operating system. Even Apple now recommends that one should "check for viruses."
Good luck!
Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X
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