virus protection on mac

heloisa224 wrote:

do i need to install a virus protection on my macbook air?

No.

You already have anti-malware installed. It’s built in.

For more info on avoiding problems: Effective defenses against malware and ot… - Apple Community

Viruses were a thing a decade or two ago over on Microsoft Windows, but folks using macOS nowadays are more often getting in trouble with password re-use, and with phishing, or the folks are reading and decide to believe the advertisements offering adware or other junk apps. And more than a little of the junk around claims to be a “security” tool or a “cleaner” or a “VPN privacy” service—and more than a little of that is unnecessary or problematic.

Recognize and avoid phishing messages, phony support calls, and other scams - Apple Support

heloisa224 wrote:

i thought that was the case but I started to receive alerts /pop ups on Google Chrome that my mac had viruses. Just wanted to make sure. I went to Preferences to verify everything, extensions, reading list, etc, and found the source and trashed it.

Those pop-ups are common advertisements. Phishing, as it’s known. Remote websites cannot scan your Mac. Scanning for malware requires extremely deep access into your Mac file system and system context. If remote websites could scan, they’d not need to post up these advertisements and would just upload and steal all of your data and just be gone with it.

No; instead, avoid downloadng software from sources other than the Mac App Store and the developer websites.

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