When it comes to viruses, Microsoft is a victim of its own success. Why write viruses for any other operating system when Microsoft controls the lion’s share?

The low number of viruses for Mac has led Apple to make that fact one of the centerpieces of its “Get A Mac” ad campaign, portraying PCs as sick while good ol’ Mac is fine and dandy.

But as OS X gains market share, surely there will be more viruses written with Mac in mind, especially since Apple’s claims may contribute to a relaxed state of security for some Mac users. This is why Apple–very quietly, it seems–has recommended that Mac users run anti-virus so virus programmers have “one application to circumvent, thus making the whole virus writing process more difficult.”

Vulnerabilities have been discovered by some OS X experts, so it’s not as if the operating system is somehow immune to viruses. It’s just a matter of programmers wanting to spend time writing viruses that account for such a small share of the world’s computer usage.

I’ve not heard of any dangerous viruses making their way through Macs, so I wouldn’t get too worried if I were you. But it’s something to look out for, and it’s better to be safe than sorry.

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