Can you get spyware or malware on mac without downloading anything?

Also do some sites just say that you have spyware or malware just to get you to download something? Also how can you tell if mac is infected?|||"Can you get spyware or malware on mac without downloading anything?"





No, you can't. It's not impossible, but it is highly improbable and would have to come through an unpatched flaw in your web browser, Flash plugin, or other plugin connected to the network. If you're really that paranoid about it, you should use Firefox with the NoScript extension and turn off all network services in OS X's System Preferences.





Unlike Windows, Mac has proper privilege level separation. So even when you have a so-called "administrator" account, you're still operating as a limited user almost all of the time, and you have to password-authenticate to temporarily gain root privileges to make system-wide changes.





In Windows, you're total administrator by default. You can secure Windows by using a limited user account, but Microsoft hasn't made it easy to operate as limited user full-time, since the "Run as..." feature is crippled in Windows.





You'll see that almost all Mac malware either requires user intervention (trojans, for example) or an unpatched system.





It doesn't mean Macs are invincible. It means Macs have a pretty strong default security, and it means you still shouldn't do anything stupid.





"Also do some sites just say that you have spyware or malware just to get you to download something?"





Definitely. And, as you can see from all the Yahoo! Answers users trying to get rid of "Antivirus 360" and "Antivirus 2009," clearly that strategy works.





"Also how can you tell if mac is infected?"





Well, there's no way to know 100%, just as there isn't in Windows. Clever malware writers design malware to be undetectable and stealthy. Stupid malware writers write malware to slow down your computer or bombard it with pop-ups.





Again, if you're really that paranoid, then reinstall OS X every week. Reinstalling is the only way to be 100% sure no malware is on your computer.





I guess it's also possible that I and everyone I know could be struck by lightning in the next month, but I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.|||You can avoid risk by using a limited user account not the administrator one and by be careful what you install.





Worse comes to worse if your user account ever gets corrupted you can just delete it and create a new limited user account delete the old.