I was mortified last night on behalf of the tech-savvy Apple user community. Much to my horror, I actually saw a commercial on TV for Mac and OS X starring two two men in business suits, one of whom represented Mac and the other PC (anyone else find Anthropomorphism humorous?); PC man was afflicted by a common cold. Mac man touts his prowess as being generally immune to such viruses.

Now, as a Mac user of several years and counting, I've never encountered a computer virus. However, with the media and tech communities all abuzz with proof-of-concept viruses, and making statements that Apple has been lax in implementing appropriate measures to ensure their OS is virus free, running a 30 second commercial proclaiming your immunity is the dumbest thing you can do.

Apple's OS X is, in my opinion, generally more secure than Windows in an out-of-box configuration simply because of it's roots in the BSD world. However, no operating system or computer installation could ever be immune to viruses. The simple fact of the matter is if you don't want to get a computer virus, you must take the following precautions:

• Never connect your computer to the internet.
• Never insert media into your computer from a third party.
• Never allow a computer that has ever violated either of these rules to be networked to your computer in any way.

It's that easy!

Further, I'd like to point out that many viruses in the world take advantage of flaws in the software you run on top of your operating system - not the operating system itself. Therefore, even if it were valid to state that an operating system is entirely immune, it's still a completely meaningless statement! We all run software on our computers, and virtually every piece of software you run will expose some level of security threat to your computer.

What Apple needs to do is step down from their high horse and openly admit what the tech community already knows; no computer is safe. OS X tends to be safer for a variety of reasons, the most significant being lack of interest in attacking the platform. With the ever growing popularity of OS X, though, that level of interest in the malware community is going, and will continue, to grow... attacks will be made, viruses written, and our computers will be compromised... OS X, Windows or otherwise.

It's also worth noting that in all the time I've used Mac OS X and not gotten a virus, I've also been using PC's running either Linux or Windows and have never been comprimised on those platforms either. It's all about taking good precautions, running virus scanning software, sitting behind a firewall (built into most network routers you can pick up at the local Best Buy, Office Max, Staples, etc), and updating your software with the latest security patches.

So to close, I repeat, someone should be fired for approving that ad. It was a terrible idea, and will only further peak the interest of those who now wish to do harm to the platform that's touted as immune among the naive.