I have not had any symptoms of a virus or anything but I want to make sure my Mac is not infected. Is there any good way to check? Most people will probably say "Impossible to get virus on Mac" but others say that it is possible.
Please let me know how I can check for virus on Mac.
theMacincheese wrote:
So, if there was some malicious program or something that shouldn't be, malwarebytes would just remove it?
You seem to believe that junk apps somehow materialize on your Mac.
Apps don’t materialize.
You—the user—acquires and downloads and installs the app.
Again: You install the app. Potentially, you get hacked.
So here, you are asking for a tool which either asks you “do you really want to install this?” (and Gatekeeper already asks that), or that somehow discerns whether an intentionally-installed app is sketchy or not—and various of free apps will incorporate telemetry and tracking, and some well-known add-on anti-malware packages have uploaded user browser history and purchase history—details around actions and intents which is effectively impossible for an app to differentiate.
How can an add-on app differentiate the intent of other add-on apps?
This also gets into a false-negative-false-positive mess.
And as was mentioned, it’s common to see folks with two or three add-on anti-malware packages, installed, sometimes warring, and all of those still missing add-on malware. And some lack any backups. And they’ve re-used their passwords, or exposed their credentials.
And various of the add-on dreck that does get installed does change its names and characteristics with each campaign, and quite possibly with each install, making it that much harder to identify.
There’s no magical answer here.
There’s set-up work. On-going maintenance. And skepticism.
What does that mean? Backups. Two-factor authentication. Don’t install junk. Don’t install stuff you didn’t go looking for. Don’t install cracked apps or torrented apps. Use unique passwords. Did I mention having backups? Stick to the Mac App Store, where you can. Otherwise, the vendor’s own site. Avoid app aggregators, other than Apple.
Few of these security considerations and factors are even in the purview of add-on anti-malware add-on apps.
Again:
Effective defenses against malware and other threats - Apple Community
Recognize and avoid phishing messages, phony support calls, and other scams - Apple Support
Yes, it’s work. Not magic. But you’re going to want to (have to) do this work, even if you install add-on anti-malware.
Ok, thanks!
Will do, thanks for you recommendation!
Thanks for the information. So is there any way using the Disc Utility App to check if I have a virus?
Well, I have been normally using the web as a normal person. I then suddenly started thinking maybe clicking on links are giving me malware or something? I'm just trying to be on the safe side.
Alright, so what do you think about Malwarebytes?
Apple anti-malware? Apple has their own program?
Can you tell me more about it?
So, if there was some malicious program or something that shouldn't be, malwarebytes would just remove it?
What do you mean by "Apple Anti-Malware"?
A minor note to Ronasara's response. A virus is malware. Malware is a generic term and is short for malicious software. It refers to anything you don't want on your computer. All of these are malware.
Virus
Trojan
Worm
Virtually everything that afflicts a Mac is a Trojan, which is any malware the user must download, install and run. It cannot get there by itself. Adware is also a Trojan because it gets on your Mac the same way. YOU put it there.
"Apple Anti-Malware" is the protection already built into the OS. It's meant to be invisible to the user. It can, and will automatically prevent the installation or use of quite a few types of known malware. But like any other such protection scheme, the user can easily defeat it by installing malware the system isn't aware of.
This all comes back to MrHoffman's notes. I don't bother with any type of protection. They're all pointless. If a person isn't going to take the effort to be careful where they acquire their software from, then nothing you try to use to prevent an infection is going to help. It just won't. An OS can't be so locked down that it tells you what you can and can't do, and not the other way around. A computer is supposed to be a tool you control and configure to your liking. That makes it literally impossible for any protection scheme to be 100% effective.
So as MrHoffman said, your best defense is three-fold:
How to check Mac for malware/virus, etc
