Common sense

Connecting a PC to the Internet using factory settings is like leaving your front door wide open with your valuables out on the coffee table. A Mac, on the other hand, shuts and locks the door, hides the key, and stores your valuables in a safe with a combination known only to you. You have to buy, configure and maintain such basic protection on a PC, but it all comes included on a Mac.

See things for what they are

People attempting to break into computers may disguise a malicious program as a picture, movie or other seemingly harmless file. You might download such files from the web or get them via mail or chat. A PC just blindly downloads them without a peep. A Mac, however, will let you know that you may be getting a wolf in sheep’s clothing. The Mac web browser, Safari, can tell the difference between a file and a program, and alerts you whenever you’re downloading the latter.

Community of protection

A Mac gets much of this out-of-the-box protection from its open source UNIX heritage. The most critical components of Mac OS X are open for review by a worldwide community of security experts. Their input helps Apple continually make Mac OS X ever more secure. And it’s simple to update a Mac with the latest advances. By default, a Mac checks for updates weekly. For pure peace of mind, you can set a Mac to download security updates automatically. Apple digitally signs the updates, so you can be sure they come from a trusted source.