A media storm created by a note on the Apple website has proved to be one in a teacup.

The note urged Mac owners to use anti-virus software which commentators saw as a change in strategy for a firm that had regarded itself as virus-proof.

Media outlets and blogs, including the BBC, saw the advice as a response to the growing and changing cyber threat.

But it emerged the advice was old and Apple has since removed it completely saying it was “inaccurate”.

The note appears to have been an update of one that first appeared on the site in mid-2007.

The advice has now returned to the more familiar Apple mantra.

“The Mac is designed with built-in technologies that provide protection against malicious software and security threats right out of the box,” an Apple spokesman said.

Full artcicle on the BBC News site