Mac OS or Windows

Oh, Macs have viruses too. They're just less common because less people use Macs. Mac OS also has a tougher shell design than Windows, but that's no replacement for quality security software. Idlewild? Interesting username. There's a street with that name right in my neighborhood. :)

Viruses are a lot less common on Macs mostly because their architecture is different and the OS doesn't have all the security holes that Windows does. I've been using Macs for more than 10 years and have never had a virus (except for the Windows viruses that come in email attachments, but don't affect my Macs).

Correct. By design, most of the core components in Mac OS are already well guarded. But there's third-party software that does exactly the same thing for Windows. When you learn to implement such measure, you get the best of both worlds. I'm a tech; it's sort of my job to know these things. :) I'm using XP and IE6, yet I assure you that my machine is every bit as tough as yours. And because it's Windows, my machine can do more. Here's how I score in one of the best rounded security tests I could find: http://www.mylot.com/w/image/1488078.aspx I have an antivirus/antispyware/IPS firewall suite, an invisible registry guard, and an invisible file guard that locks the system directories to ROM. Nothing ever touches my machine except cookies, which I want to have in order to go where I want to go.

I am not really too interested in Vista. I have looking into upgrading my XP and I don't see anything that I am interested in with Vista. To each their own I guess. I too have only used windows. I have had ME and XP only.