What's the best way to check for virus or malware?

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Level 3

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What's the best way to check for virus or malware?

My son has a MacBook Air running High Sierra. The other day he asked me how to check for a possible virus. I've always heard on the forum not to use any virus scanning software like Clean My Mac, etc. Not sure what the current recommendations are. Is there a good resource for what to check for? I assure things like login items and browser extensions. He said that he was on his University website and clicked on a resource link on the site and it took him to a weird "scammy" site. Clicking on the link again, took him to the correct location. Just weirdish stuff. Any suggestions? Thanks.

MacBook Air

Posted on Jul 6, 2021 9:04 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

D.I. Johnson

Level 7

32,651 points

Jul 6, 2021 9:09 PM in response to Alfredo Jahn

You should download and run Malwarebytes.

It’s a popular scan tool among veteran users here in the Community, and it’s the only one recommended by Apple tech support folks. See if it can identify any malware you may have accidently installed. The free version is probably all you need at this point.

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Answer 2

Owl-53

Level 10

102,439 points

Jul 7, 2021 1:41 AM in response to Alfredo Jahn

As previous person posted regarding Malwarebytes from a Trusted Developer and Respected ASC Contributor the application for Adware and Malware

There are no known Viruses in the wild that self replicate and affect macOS. There are Malware and Adware that does affect macOS and are often times downloaded as part of an Application from Third Party UnTrusted Site and get installed along with the Application.

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What's the best way to check for virus or malware?

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