That’s because on TV and in newspapers, I wrote primarily about personal computers running the Windows operating system.

Then, prodded by reader e-maii, I decided to try a Macintosh computer for a review.

It rocked my world and turned PC Mike to Mac Mike.

Now in full disclosure, I should tell you that, for professional reasons as a technology columnist, I still have to sometimes use PCs. And NBC-TV segments that I do still sometimes call me “PC Mike.”

But in my personal computing life, it’s all Mac… pretty much all the time.

As I look back on those four years, I can identify 10 overwhelmingly positive experiences have kept me strongly in the Mac fold:

#1 No spam -There is no better spam filter than Spam Sieve. It’s a Mac-only product and it catches 98 percent of my junk mail.

#2 No worms or viruses – None. Zip. Zero. Not a single one in four years now.

#3 No adware/spyware – Same thing. These are non-issues on my Macs.

#4 No crashes – It just doesn’t happen with OS X. I had one crash in December 2002, but I was running OS 9 at the time and it was a very old program (from 1994-ish) and I was curious to see if it worked. It didn’t.

#5 Total integration – Apple’s iSync application keeps my calendar, address book, Web bookmarks and to-do list automatically and flawlessly synchronized on my desktop and laptops. And it backs it all up on my .Mac account, meaning I can access it from any computer with a Net connection.

#6 iTunes and the iPod – Need I say more? Granted, these also work with Windows. But on Macs, they work the best.

#7 Total freedom – Airport Express lets me set up a wi-fi network anywhere I want in seconds and it extends my wireless network at home as I need it. This summer, I’m using it up out back by the pool. I take it on business trips and vacation, instantly setting up wi-fi in hotel rooms and condos.

#8 Mac software – I mentioned SpamSieve and iTunes. But then there’s other special Mac apps like the RSS-reader NetNewsWire, GarageBand, Safari and Final Cut Pro. I can not imagine computing without these apps.

#9 Compatability – I realize this is a PC world. So I use Microsoft’s Office for the Mac. Truthfully, it’s been my experience that it works better than Office for Windows. And Entourage makes Outlook look like a poor cousin. I use Word all the time and there are no issues with my PC-using pals. Same with Excel. Quicken comes for the Mac. So does QuickBooks. Then there’s the MacBook Pro. Blazingly fast. I have Windows running via Boot Camp on one of thhem. Truthfully, other than the novelty of having Windows run on a Mac, I don’t know why I installed it. But it’s there if I need it. Which I haven’t.

#10 Community – When I was all PC, I used to laugh at the Mac zealots. Now that I am one, I understand why they love their computers. I never heard a Windows user say that. The Mac community is for the large part caring, supportive, creative and amazingly well-informed. That’s not to say that Windows people aren’t the same. But I’ve never felt as connected to an affinity group as closely as I am to my fellow Macheads.

Your precious eye candy Macintosh computer is still able to be attacked by viruses and hackers and lots of important data may be lost and destroyed in the process. The Mac hard drive may even crash. Also, some simple mistakes on your part will always lead to loss of data. Then there are also those inevitable physical shocks or damage to the PC that may causes data loss.

In fact when you look inside your Mac, you might be surprised to see many familiar parts that are also being used in any PC. There are viruses that target these specific parts. If that happens, your precious computer becomes infected. There are also specific viruses that will be able to infect specific applications in any kind of OS.

To protect your computer from such kinds of attacks, you should always keep a steady lookout for anything you are downloading as well as watching out for email attachments from unknown people. You should always make sure that you have a working and regularly updated anti-virus program. Finally, always backup your files.

There isnt much difference between the process of recovering data from a PC and a Mac. In both, FAT or NTFS files in the hard drive can be retrieved. When deleting a file unintentionally, you can do a scan for these deleted data. Free data recovery software for Mac is also available online.

There are some data recovery software that is solely for the Mac operating system X. There are also those that have no specialization and can be used anywhere. Just make sure that you get the right one for you computer and for your needs. One can always call the Macintosh customer service in order to inquire on this subject and get leads on it. The manufacturer will of course always have the best of knowledge on these matters.

You should stop using the damaged or problematic computer. Download your Macintosh Data recovery software somewhere else. You will want to keep that computers data storage untouched so as not to overwrite on your lost file before you can retrieve it.