Snow Leopard may contain antivirus

The next version of Apple's OS X, which is due out on Friday, may bundle antivirus capabilities.

Mac security firm Intego said that the latest version of Snow Leopard would have an antimalware feature, according to reports, in a blog post on Wednesday.

The company published a screenshot which it said was of the security feature detecting a Trojan in a download, made via Apple's Safari web browser.

Intego pointed out that the most recent Mac adverts compare Mac security favourably to PCs. However, security experts have historically been divided over the relative security of Microsoft and Apple code, while some point out that any comparison is further complicated by the differing market penetration of Macs and PCs.