Mr. D is mostly correct that Mac users are fairly free from virus issues.
What you need to understand is that those who write malware do it with the intent of reaching as many machines as possible.
Therefore they go after the largest use base, PC's running Windows and Outlook and Internet Explorer.
PC users can move to a smaller target by changing one or more of their platforms:
Move away from Windows to anything else.
Move away from Internet Explorer to firefox or opera
Move away from Outlook to web based email like hotmail or yahoo
But to be totally honest, the problem with Windows and virus/spyware is not a software problem. Instead the problem is normally found between the keyboard and the chair.....
An informed windows user can go months without any av/as protection if they are careful. (I know because I ran a 6 month test personally and ran a clean scan after I was done).
Sorry, computer geek here
I agree with rock, although I'm not a "Geeky" as he is ...
Currently I run two boxes on Win XP Pro, one on Win2K and another one alternately on one of three Linux OSs', PCLinuxOS,Kubuntu and Unbuntu.
Obviously, the Linux boxes are the least likely to be infected, however since they are networked via wireless to the Win systems it entirely possible to pass infected files to Billy's stuff. Linux doesn't know its a Windows virus, its just another file to them.
Linux by the nature of its architecture is the least likely to be infected. On the extremely rare occasion it may happen, simply remove or reload the infected module. Clamv or the GUI frontend Klamv for Clamv is manually run to detect and identify any gremlins.
The trick to keeping a system clean isn't detection, but prevention. A manual scanner detects the "scene of the crime". We want to prevent the virus from entering the system all together, blocked during the process of downloading.
The answer to that...real time scanning-updating for us forgetful, lazy or risk taking folks.
Even real time scanners aren't perfect. When a new virus is detected in the wild, it may take a while till the signature detection is created, downloaded and used. Some scanners download new or updated signature files automatically, others you need to manually download the latest and greatest. It may also take a day or more until the provider writes and includes the new signature file. If you recall the "Love Letter" virus, its was 4 days until every major provider had a detection and a method to remove/repair it. I was in our IT section at the time, manually running detection-removal software on 200+ desktops and 6 NT servers wasn't fun. It was a Loooooooog day.
A real time scanner not only needs to detect, stop and remove a threat, but also have a small footprint(system load) and update automatically.
There are quite a few out there that meet those requirements. Spybot setup to run native at boot time will block 99% of spyware and malware, but you need to manually update it and manually add any new immunization detection/blocking.
Avast(free) can detect,block, remove and update signature/ program files automatically without user intervention.
A firewall is alway a good item to have, locally or enabled via the router on a local networked system.
Backups are a good failsafe insurance policy. I prefer a imaged backup, a complete identical copy of the running system disk. If the system disk is infected,corrupted or just dies, I unplug the running sys disk, set the backup as the master, plug it in and I'm up an running to the point I created the image. I can then either re-ghost the sys disk or build a new replacement. It also makes going to a larger disk a snap. I use Acronis. to do incremental or a full image backups.
http://www.acronis.com/
In the end, you need to do routine maintenance to stay virus,malware, adware and spyware free. You maintain you vehicle, oil changes, check tire pressure and etc, why not your computer?
Another good program is Autoruns to explore you system, but be careful using it. If you like to play, have you restore disks or have a ghosted disk handy!
Bill
