Sophos has just released Anti Virus for Mac Home Edition. This is interesting for two reasons and the first is that it is free of charge. As the name implies, it is for home users and it can't be used in a business environment, at least for free anyway. Browse the website and you will find editions for businesses that can be purchased. The second point is whether the Mac needs anti virus software in the first place. Are there any types of malware out there that are targeting the Apple Mac? Yes, but still there isn't much and it is not on the scale of what is around for Windows, so is it necessary?
It is free software and therefore it's not going to cost you anything to protect your Mac, so why not go ahead and install it. I've been using a Mac for years without any anti virus or anti spyware software and haven't been infected by any malware yet. That doesn't mean that it doesn't exist or that I won't get caught tomorrow. However, there are a lot of unprotected Macs like mine and they don't get viruses. I think it's still too early to think about anti virus software.
One thing that might concern you is that you might pass on viruses to others. For example, you could download some software that is infected with a Windows virus. It would be inactive on the Mac, but you could pass on the file to a Windows user who then gets infected. Even more easily, an email you receive and forward to someone else could infect their computer. You might therefore want to install Mac anti virus software to protect your Windows friends (or maybe not!).
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