Check Mac For Virus
Sep 06, 2013 So to answer the question, there are many antivirus tools for mac and many of the main well known AV companies now make products for macs, so download and do a full sweep with a trusted tool. I have the same problem as you with some websites being re-directed so today i will do a full scan.
Though it's not easy to hack into or break through a Mac's security, it is possible, especially if someone accidentally installs malware without realizing it. If your Mac is running slow or you're seeing unusual advertisements within your web browser you might have accidentally installed malware at some point. Don't worry. It happens to the best of us (not me, of course). There are things you can do without having to burn it all down.
The problem: Mac malware in the Library folder
Serenity Caldwell writing for iMore in 2017:
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My father-in-law's MacBook Pro had been running into curious slowdowns for a two-year-old laptop and he kept on seeing weird sites taking over his Safari and Firefox search bars. It was clear to me that his browser had been hijacked.
Avira Free Antivirus for Mac. The software is equipped with standard spyware and adware protection, along with the ability to intercept harmful websites and block tracking. Plus, it comes bundled with 5GB of online storage in addition to one-click deletion of malicious files. However, if you suspect that the device is infected by some viruses or malware, then you can run a virus scan on your device. Otherwise, this guide can help you on how to check for virus on Mac. This article can help you by providing a details idea on how to recognize the symptoms of a virus infection on the Mac. So, let’s begin.
We got rid of the browser hijack pretty quickly — I suggest using Cella's excellent how-to if you ever run into a browser hijack yourself — but the slowdowns were more curious. Upon further investigation, I found a couple of self-professed 'Mac security programs' that popped up, demanding money to 'clean your Mac from junk'.
Spoiler: These programs were the junk. And worst of all, they'd seemingly added a bunch of nonsense files into this computer's Library folder, with random folder names like 'prestidigitation' and 'beeswax'.
Now, I want to preface: I'd never seen an attack like this on a Mac before in my life, and finding this kind of full-Mac hijack is very rare. It's likely that he accidentally installed one of these 'security' programs (or had it installed), which spiraled out of control from there.
These hijacks didn't appear to be able to do much beyond slow down his machine with endless failed attempts to run a program — the process didn't have admin permissions, so it couldn't execute a thing from the library. But because they were there, they were constantly crashing aspects of his Mac. I knew I had a malfunctioning laptop on my hands, so I turned to my age-old troubleshooting checklist.
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How to fix a corrupted Mac
If you're working on a computer that has slowed down beyond reasonable aging or is otherwise acting beyond the pale, here are my favorite tactics you can take to try and restore it to its former glory.
Update the system software
This is almost always the first thing I do when troubleshooting Macs: Chances are, the user hasn't installed a security update or other software updates that may be slowing their computer to a crawl.
- Click on the Apple menu icon in the upper left corner of the screen.
Select App Store to open the Mac App Store.
- Click on the Updates tab at the top of the Mac App Store window.
Install all relevant updates. (You may need the Apple ID and password for the machine.)
If the computer is running macOS Sierra, you can avoid having to do this troubleshooting step in the future by turning on Automatic Install in System Preferences, which can automatically download newly available updates in the background, and install them overnight.
- With the Mac App Store open, click on App Store in the upper left corner of the Menu bar.
Click on Preferences.
Under Automatically check for updates, check the following boxes:
- Download newly available updates in the background
- Install app updates
- Install macOS updates
- Install system data files and security updates
Check the disk for errors
If software updates aren't doing the trick, the next thing to check is the hard drive itself. With Apple's Internet Recovery partition, fixing a cranky drive is an easy process.
- Restart your Mac.
- During reboot, hold down Command-R until it starts up.
- Once rebooted, you should be in the Internet Recovery Partition. Select Disk Utility.
Click Continue.
- In Disk Utility, click on the First Aid button,
Click on Run to execute.
Your Mac will then run a cursory check on its hard drive to determine if there's anything wrong — and if so — if it can fix it.
Reset the NVRAM/PRAM and SMC
If neither app updates nor disk repair are helping, sometimes a good cache flush can get your Mac running just a bit more smoothly.
To reset the NVRAM (or, on older Macs, PRAM), reboot the Mac and hold down the following keyboard command during startup for at least twenty seconds: Command-Option-P-R.
After you reset your NVRAM, you may be required to reconfigure some system settings (like sound and time zones), which are stored in that cache.
An SMC reset is a bit more complicated, and Apple recommends it only after all other troubleshooting avenues have been exhausted.
If you're using a laptop:
- Shut down your Mac and plug it in.
- Restart the computer by pressing the Power button along with the keyboard command Shift-Control-Option.
- Release these keys, then just press the Power button to properly start your computer.
If you're using a desktop:
- Shut down your Mac.
- Unplug it and wait for at least 20 seconds.
- Plug the Mac back in and wait 5-10 seconds.
- Restart your Mac with the Power button.
Partition your disk (or erase it)
After exhausting all other avenues, this was the solution we came across to properly fix the broken laptop. The hard drive had been so corrupted by these 'security' programs that there was nothing I could do to fix it. When Safari launched over the login screen after a reboot, I knew my usual fixes wouldn't work: It was time to bring out the big guns.
In most cases, I'd grab an external drive, back up the corrupted disk, then wipe the drive clean with the Internet Recovery partition and start over. But there were a couple of reasons that wouldn't work here:
- We were on vacation, and lacking any sort of external media.
- With a semi-corrupted disk, we couldn't just clone the user folder and restore the new disk from a backup — we'd have to do a clean install, which meant moving files over one by one. If we'd missed something and moved all the old files to an external drive, my father-in-law would have had to carry it everywhere just in case.
Given that this laptop had a 500GB hard drive — only 40GB of which was being used — I had an alternate idea: I'd partition the drive, again using Internet Recovery, and install macOS Sierra on the new partition. Essentially, it would be a 'clean' new computer for my father-in-law to work on, but all the original data would still exist on the old partition in case he needed to grab a file.
Note: In order to partition your drive, you'll need enough free space on your drive to do so — at least 30GB. If you're light on space, you may want to back up your corrupted disk to a USB drive, instead.
Run Virus Scan On Mac
How to create a partition on your Mac
- Open Finder from your dock.
Select Applications.
- Scroll down and open the Utilities folder.
Double-click to open Disk Utility.
- Select your hard drive in the Disk Utility window. It will be the first drive on the list. It might be named 'Fusion,' or 'Macintosh HD.'
- Click on the Partition tab.
Click the plus (+) button.
- Change the size of the partition you wish to use by dragging the resize controls. The used space is represented in blue.
- Name the new partition.
Click apply.
Disk Utility will check the disk and make changes. This will take several minutes.Disk Utility will then make the changes. After that's completed, quit Disk Utility to return to the main Internet Recovery menu.
- Click on Reinstall macOS.
Click Continue.
- Click Agree to agree to Apple's licensing agreements.
- Choose the New Mac hard drive as the disk you'd like to install macOS onto.
Press Install.
- The Mac will download a fresh copy of your operating system from the App Store and will install it. The speed of this process entirely depends on your Mac's connection speed to the Internet. You can wait an hour or longer on a slower connection.
- Your Mac will restart automatically into the new partition once the software has downloaded, then the installation of the operating system will continue.
After you finish setting up the new hard drive, it's time to move your files over. Because of the way partitioning works, your old hard drive partition will show up next to your currently-active partition, just like an external drive; you can then grab any files you need from it.
- Launch a Finder window.
- Under Devices in the sidebar, locate your original Macintosh HD.
Copy any files you'd like to keep from your old hard drive to the new machine.
Note: If you want to copy over applications, I'd strongly suggest redownloading them from the source — the Mac App Store or the company's website — rather than trying to copy them over from the old partition.
From here, you can follow instructions for setting a Mac up from scratch when it comes to installing and customizing anything else.
I generally recommend keeping the old drive partition around for at least a few months in case you or your family member forgets to move something over; after that period, however, you can easily delete the old partition and move to the new partition full time.
Consider additional anti-malware protection
While malware on the Mac is rare, it does crop up, as we've demonstrated. Having the right tools to get rid of malware can be an important part of keeping your Mac safe and secure. There are a number of tools that you can choose from, including popular programs like BitDefender and Kaspersky, that will help you keep malware from infecting your Mac.
Questions?
Do you have any must-follow troubleshooting steps? Let us know in the comments.
Updated July 2019: Added a sub-section regarding anti-malware protection.
Serenity Caldwell contributed to an earlier version of this guide.
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The majority of us believe that if you’ve got an Apple computer, you do not need any virus protection for Mac, right? However, as my experience shows, that is not true. Indeed, the myth that Mac computers do not require any malware protection has recently been busted. Today, every computer, including your Mac, can catch viruses, Trojans, spyware & adware. Hence, it is obvious that any computer, including Macs, should be checked, cleaned and updated on a regular basis. Moreover, according to Bitdefender’s Senior E-Threat Analyst, Bogdan Botezatu, “Mac OS X software these days suffer from more high-risk vulnerabilities than all Windows versions put together.” That is why a good Mac virus scan performed on a consistent basis is essential for your Mac. It should be added that typically, apart from finding Mac malware and viruses with ease, such apps help you keep your Apple computer at the most powerful state.
Do Macs Get Viruses? How to Deal With Them?
It was in Mac OS 10.6 (Snow Leopard) when Apple introduced Mac OS malware detection capabilities. Such system, called File Quarantine, verifies each program downloaded and it approves it only if it has been downloaded from a legit source. Apart from checking the source, File Quarantine provides security updates, which can check databases of known malware targeting the Mac OS.
Therefore, File Quarantine, or as it is also often called XProtect can do the following:
- Remind you in a dialog window the program’s exact source, asking you, therefore, if you’re sure that you do want to open it.
- Notify you that the app can’t be opened because of your settings (when for instance, you come across a program without code signing certificate). If you are sure in the software you are going to download, you can ignore this message by control-clicking the program and then in the contextual menu you should hit Open)
- Restrict you from opening such programs, which are already known as malware. In such a case, you will see a message, which will propose you to send this risky utility to Trash.
To tell you the truth, File Quarantine, or as it is also often called XProtect is the reason why the majority of Apple computers can remain virus and malware free. Still, bear in mind that to ensure that your Mac malware database is always up to date, check that your Apple computer automatically installs security updates and related system data files on a consistent basis.
This is what you should do to check this:
- Enter System Preferences
- Choose the App Store preference
- Put a tick to the following: Automatically check for updates, Install app updates, and, of course, install system data files and security updates.
- Hit Check Now.
By doing this you will keep your Mac free from the majority of malicious software programs. But please do notice that this will not protect your Apple computer from all possible malware.
Moreover, if you hear such questions as, “Do Mac get viruses?”, “Can we delete all viruses forever?” the answers are obvious: today, you cannot find such antivirus software that is capable to detect everything. Consider this: once the novel malware has been recently released and you have just downloaded and launched it, you have managed to do this only because Apple’s databases could have been not updated yet. Hence, it is smart to check what you download from unknown sources.
Check Mac For Viruses And Spyware
The other interesting issue is that your Apple computer may not run any malware, but it might come across a more pernicious matter: it is likely to become the so-called “Typhoid Mary Windows viruses.” In other words, the viruses on your Mac will not greatly affect you, but they are likely to bring a number of problems for any Windows users. Yep, you read this correctly. Simply check the following icon:
Can you guess what this is? Yep, that is a list of at least twenty-five potentially harmful programs for Mac. Please note that there is also a Windows virus there.
Thus, we do have to know how to get rid of virus on Mac and it is also advisable to make sure we keep our Apple computers from relaying Windows viruses to Windows users. Below we’ve prepared a wise solution, let’s check it.
ClamXav.
So, why exactly ClamXav? The answer is pretty obvious – this app does only one job and we have to admit that it does this job at very high level. It is neither too intrusive, nor overcomplicated, a perfect solution, I would say. By the way, when you host your email via Apple’s Server app, it’s what Apple uses to scan all incoming mail for any possible viruses.
Being similar to AdWare Medic, ClamXav is donationware and it is really awesome. As usual, ClamXav can be downloaded from the Mac App Store or directly from the official ClamXav Website.
After downloading and launching this program, it is highly recommended setting its preferences ( by default, this program will only scan for all possible viruses, but please notice that it is not programmed to delete or quarantine them. Thus, you should definitely change these settings.)
Typically, ClamXav includes five configuration features:
- General: It is used to set up alerts and, if needed, to scan for malware and phishing in all your email messages
- Quarantine: It is used to determine where you want to quarantine risky documents
- Exclude Files: It is used to select the types of the files that should not be scanned
- Log Files: It is used to set whether or not the log files should be stored and viewed
- Schedule: It is used to define the time for the latest virus definitions to be downloaded. Plus, you can set the time for regular scans to take place.
Macbook Virus Check
When the setup is complete, hit Start Scan. Yep, scanning may not be so fast, but after that you can be certain that your Apple computer is viruses free, or in other words, clean.
Scan My Mac For Viruses
Therefore, your Mac can definitely be infected with malware; hence it does require regular virus scanning. That is why using a reputable Mac malware scanner app, which finds and blocks malware and other malicious emerging threats on Mac systems is essential.