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Do I Need Antivirus Software If Get “office for Mac”?

I hope to switch to Mac mid year,
I think I will need access to some Windows programs and am thinking of parallels as well
Considering the iMac would now have “Windows”, would I now be exposed to virus?
Regards,
Gary W
—–
Gary

Comments: 6 Responses to “Do I Need Antivirus Software If Get “office for Mac”?”

    11 years ago

    So it seems you are considering two paths:
    The first would be to simply get Office for Mac. These are Mac apps and run in OS X and have nothing really to do with Windows. Getting those Office for Mac apps wouldn't change your risk for security threats like viruses. You are still just running Mac OS X, not Windows at all.
    The second option is to get a virtual environment like Parallels. In this case you are running Windows at the same time as you are running OS X. Think of it as having two computers in one box. Yes, the Window part would be vulnerable to viruses just as any Window box might be. No more or less, really. So you may want to get virus protection for that.
    But it really doesn't affect the Mac side of your computer. Malware targets one or the other, and a Windows virus wouldn't have any way to infest your Mac because OS X and Windows are different environments.

      Gary W
      11 years ago

      Thank you Gary R,
      If I have understood correctly, If I just get the Office for Windows app, and not parallels, I will not need an antivirus program
      Except that, if I want to access office, I will have to re-start in windows?
      The more I read, the less I want to hang on to the "apron strings of windows"
      I guess the only apprehension is not being able to communicate with windows users, or open word or exel docs
      Can we just live without windows?
      Regards,
      Gary

        11 years ago

        No. I don't think you understand. If you get Office for Mac you won't have Windows at al. You will just have several apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc) that are MAC apps, not Windows ones. They will look very much like the Windows apps and should be 100% (probably 99%) compatible with Office for Windows apps.
        It is your statement "Except that, if I want to access office, I will have to re-start in windows?" that is very confusing. If you don't have a virtualization environment (like Parallels) or are not using Boot Camp, then you cannot "restart in Windows" as you will not have Windows.
        Maybe episode 371 will help you understand:
        http://macmost.com/running-windows-on-your-mac.html
        And also: You can open Word or Excel docs in Office for Mac. You can also open Word or Excel docs in other apps, though not with 100% compatibility. For instance, Word docs open in Pages and TextEdit. Excel docs open in Numbers.
        And not all Windows users use Word and Excel, so saying that you are "not able to communicate with Windows users" isn't correct. Most typical computer users are not using pro office software at all.

          Gary W
          11 years ago

          My apologies for the confusion,
          As you can tell, new "switcher" here!
          Sorry for my dumb question and confusing grammar
          Will go back to my local apple store and "re-ask" the questions
          They told me that if I got "Office for Mac", I would have to switch off and re-start in windows? Then they said, if get Parallels, I could switch between formats?
          Sorry for holding up your website with confusing information,
          Will do some more research
          Regards,
          Gary

    roberta
    11 years ago

    my experience: Parallels allows you to be a virtual Windows machine. It is cumbersome, awkward, and hinders the simplicity of Mac. Some decades ago 2 young men set out. One, Bill, wanted to make a gazillion dollars, the other, Steve wanted to make a good operating system. Both were successful. Now in the advanced stages Bill's machines imitate some of the features of Steve's and the lines start getting vague.
    Switch, don't straddle.

    Simon
    11 years ago

    Roberta you should try using Bootcamp, if you still need Windows. Windows runs beautifully on it.

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