   A good reminder comes from Allen Laudenslager. He sends this CNN article, declaring that it might help give a little clarity on the MacDefender malware issue. The article, entitled, "New Malware Revives Mac vs. Windows Security Debate" states that Microsoft recently pointed out that 1 in 14 downloads on Windows are malicious. And the fact that there is just one piece of Mac malware being widely discussed illustrates how rare malware still is on the Mac platform. The writer concludes, " . . . the moral of this story is to be wary that Mac malware is in the wild, and be cautious about installing sketchy software from unfamiliar sources."
   This evening several news reports discuss the malware. AppleInsider, states that Apple will release an update to Mac OS X to automatically find and remove the malware. The article concludes, "The scam site is also unable to install the malware without the user supplying an administrative password. Even so, hundreds of users have been duped by the scam, although the outbreak appears to be more of a nagware annoyance than a serious security problem."
   First thing this morning, (5-25) Allen passes on this Apple Support information which lists the authorized steps to take to remove the malware if you happen to inadvertently download it. Once the Mac OS X software update is here we'll have "no more concern about the only widespread Mac malware that we have to worry about" because it will automatically find and remove the MacDefender malware and its known variants.
   Joining in with helpful info now is Art Gorski, recommending this from MacWorld.
   This afternoon (5-25) we found this in ComputerWorld: "Mac users running Safari can stop avRunner from automatically opening its installer screen by unchecking the box marked 'Open 'safe' files after downloading' at the bottom of the General tab in the browser's Preferences screen." Read the whole article.
   Here's the 5-26 article from Computer World with more details.
   What else are PMUG members saying about malware, security, anti-virus issues? On the right side of this newsblog scroll to the Labels list and look up those keywords, and any other keywords you're interested in researching. Our PMUG members do a good job of finding out -- and passing along -- all kinds of Mac information.