I’ve read in a few articles that if a Mac gets a Windows virus, or some other form of malware, it can pass it on to a Windows computer if there’s on in the network. I have 3 Windows computers in my network and 3 Macs, I am worried about my Windows computers getting infected.
— Dylan Hesom
Macs cannot get a Windows virus.
However, if a virus comes packed in a trojan file (a bad Windows .exe file, for instance) and that file comes as an attachment to an email to a Mac user. And then that Mac user passes that file on to a Windows user by sending it to them, then yes, technically the Mac can pass a virus on without it ever affecting the Mac. The same would be true for Linux, or another Windows computer.
To protect your Windows machines, simply run good anti-virus on them, don't download any software that you don't trust, and keep it completely up-to-date. But you don't need to do anything in particular on your Mac to keep your Windows computers safe.
Thanks Gary, I do have Microsoft Security Essentials on my XP desktop and my Vista Laptop, each does a scheduled scan and removes any malware found automatically, I however, do not have one on an old Win2000 I have in my workshop, I will see what malware scanners I can get because I'm not too sure about whether or not MSE works on 2000
Again, thanks Gary!