Sometime in the next few months, Apple will release the long-awaited follow-up to its Lion operating system, OS X 10.8, or Mountain Lion. However, while this news is likely being met with anticipation by avid Macbook Air and Macbook Pro users, the experts at PC World say that Apple's policies could be putting Mac owners at risk for viruses that cause them to replace their computers. 

In the past, PC World says that the major computer manufacturer has stopped issuing security upgrades for its older operating systems before the release of a new OS. While this may have been an acceptable policy in the days when Macs weren't the target of many viruses, reports have indicated that due to their increased use in the business world, Mac users may no longer enjoy this benefit.

"If Apple continues this policy, Snow Leopard users will stop seeing patches about the time Mountain Lion ships," the news source says.

PC World suggests that if Apple stops issuing upgrades for its Snow Leopard OS and its earlier OS versions, roughly 48 percent of all Mac users would be without security updates, which could make them increasingly susceptible to viruses, spyware and other threats if they don't upgrade.

The source indicated that unsupported Leopard macs were infected with malware disproportionately after the subsequent Snow Leopard OS release, meaning that those who are unable to upgrade to Mountain Lion may need to be served by third-party solutions that can mitigate these potential issues.

As of yet, Apple has not outlined a migration path for its Snow Leopard users, though the source indicated it has dropped hints that they would be able to skip the Lion OS upgrade and go straight to downloading Mountain Lion.