Three weeks ago we began a series of primers for new Mac users, to help ease the transition for those who have decided to take the leap, and serve as reassurance for those who may be considering it.

You’ll remember that in our last episode Ed, the self-described “PC expert” neighbor who held your hand through the last few excruciating Windows system cleanings and eventual hard drive reformats before your computer “rebirth”, has come over to offer guidance as you unbox, set up, and start up your iMac for the first time. He knows how important it is to promptly and properly configure the many security programs and settings required to protect a PC from the denizens of the Internet.

Today, unfortunately, Ed is the “Maytag repairman”. If you’re not a Baby Boomer, “back in the day” (which was a Wednesday, by the way – I checked on it) Maytag made household appliances. Their TV commercials featured a Maytag repairman who whiled away the day, waiting for the service call that never came, due, of course, to the dependability and reliability of Maytag’s products. But, I digress.

So, you start up your iMac for the first time, go through the short series of “Welcome” screens where you register, set up email accounts, etc., and then you get a quick cup of coffee while a few updates are downloaded and installed. One of them is probably entitled “Security Update”, as Apples seems to provide them about once a month.

Of course, Ed’s interest is piqued when he sees an update that contains the word “Security”. Finally, something right up his alley. He springs into action.

OK”, says Ed. “Here’s where you make sure you install and enable Windows Defender, and here’s a list of some other programs to help protect you from viruses, spyware, and other malware. It’s kinda off the top of my head, so I might miss a few. There’s Trend Micro Housecall, Trend Micro Sysclean Package, Spyware Detector, Spyware Doctor, Avast! Home Edition, Trend Micro’s PC-Cillin, ZoneAlarm Firewall, GRC Shields Up!, MacAfee, and Norton Antivirus”.

He pauses to catch his breath, then continues. “There’s STOPzilla, CWShredder, SmitFraudFix, SpywareBot, VundoFix, NoAdware, Error Killer, XoftSpy, Spyware Nuker, MalWareBot, PCDocPro, XP-AntiSpy, CCleaner, CleanUp!, and Disk CleanUp.”

You get the point. Here’s the ten words you need to know about Mac OS X security: There’s never been malware “in the wild” on Mac OS X. There have been a couple of “laboratory” concepts that have made headlines, but Apple has exterminated (patched) them with haste.

Why is Mac OS X secure? Some pro-Windows apologists claim its because there are far fewer Mac users than Windows users, so the bad guys (whoever they may be) ignore the Mac. Uh-uh.

Here’s the truth. Mac OS X is built on “open source” UNIX code, which has been poked and prodded by hackers and other programmers for literally decades. Holes are identified, and filled in.

The first time you turn on a Mac, the system is set up securely, ready for the Internet and other networks. Mac OS X, unlike many operating systems, ships with all communication ports fully secured. Communication ports (as the name implies) enable your Mac to communicate with other systems on a network, which, in a broad sense, includes the Internet.

A Mac “wakes up” with all of these ports closed, allowing only an “Administrator” (which is you) to open them as needed. Once open, the interaction of the ports with the operating system is highly secure, again benefiting from years of review by security experts.

Simple, eh? Next time we’ll see how Mac OS X’s “permission-based” security leads to more worry-free computing.