I opened an email attachment from what I thought was a friend. He never sent it. I deleted the email immediately but now I'm unsure whether to bank online in case a bug has been planted in my system. Advice please.
MacOS shares a lot of the lock-down mechanisms developed for the iPhone. Applications are all sand-boxed with a list of the resources they require, and they cannot ask for anything outside their sandbox without crashing. Signed Applications are checked that they are from legitimate Developers, and Notarized Applications are delivered with the assurance that they have NOT been modified since their release by the Developer.
Recent versions of MacOS completely changed how you should think about malware.
From MacOS 10.15 Catalina onward, the system is on a Separate, crypto-locked System Volume, which is not writeable using ordinary means. Any unauthorized differences that appear to the crypto-locked volume are quickly detected and you are alerted.
So you could store just about every malware known to mankind on your Mac, and your Mac would not get infected spontaneously. Scanning for virus-like patterns might make you feel a little better now, but it is outdated nonsense.
Nothing can become Executable Unless/Until you supply your Admin password to "make it so".
razmee209 is correct.
Your Mac is not subject to infection just by downloading something bad, or by opening an email from bad guys.
What version MacOS?
<<. I ran the program to check my Mac and it came up with two major problems. >>
for additional help, you can POST the (pre-sanitized) report on the forums using the standard procedure I described above and/or the essentially similar instructions inside the Utility.
Vessel123 wrote:
I opened an email attachment from what I thought was a friend. He never sent it. I deleted the email immediately but now I'm unsure whether to bank online in case a bug has been planted in my system. Advice please.
No, you would need to do more than just open a link.
10.15.7
My Mac is very slow and sluggish and I wonder if this is anything to do with opening this suspicious attachment. Is there any way to speed it up? Downloading stuff takes ages. Grateful for your input.
<<. My Mac is very slow and sluggish >>
you should have opened with THAT!
Consider downloading and running this little "discovery" utility, Etrecheck. It changes NOTHING. Etrecheck was developed by senior contributor here, and uses system calls to collect often-needed information.
it contains little tests for speeds of devices, CPU utilization, memory usage, energy usage and a digest of recent problems, in one easy to use package. it does not even need to be Installed. Because less can be learned when your Mac is running great, best time to run is when your problems are actually occurring, if possible.
if you follow the directions faithfully, its report (pre-laundered of all personally-identifiable information) can be "Shared" to the system ClipBoard, then Pasted into an ‘Additional Text’ window in a reply on the forums.
How to use Etrecheck pro for free
http://etrecheck.com
...
I would have done if I'd known it was relevant. I was more concerned with a possible breach of security; the slow Mac was an afterthought. But thank you for your advice about speeding it up, which I shall implement. I am not computer savvy as you will have gathered, know just enough to have written 10 novels and several radio plays on the Mac. I really appreciate your input -- and others who have responded.
Be sure you are making backup copies of your files.
"You don't need a copy everything, only the files You EVER want to see again."
A poster recently put up a story of his Mac dying with three years of thesis drafts on board. It was very sad, but there was nothing that could be done for them.
Many thanks, Grant, for your help. I ran the program to check my Mac and it came up with two major problems. Battery needs servicing and hard-drive requires SSD replacement. How do I resolve these and is there a cost involved? I assume so with the second one (I don't know what SSD means).
You strongly recommend making copies of essential files. Do you mean on a separate stick? Apologies for the profound ignorance.
USB sticks are great for moving files around, and making temporary copies of things. USB sticks are not considered adequate for long term storage or real backups. Any 'found' external drive larger than your built-in drive can be used in a pinch, but it will quickly become annoying if it is too small.
Recommended size for an external drive for this purpose is larger than 2.5 times the size of what needs to be stored, for long term, trouble-free operation. Time machine (already built into your Mac) does its work at low propriety in the background, and does not get extra benefit from a drive that is fast.
Time machine works quietly and automatically in the background, without interrupting your regular work, and only saves the incremental changes (after the first full backup). Time machine backs up every connected drive that is in a Mac compatible format. it can not back up Windows format drives.
Time Machine's "claim to fame" is that it is the backup that gets done. It does not ruin performance of the rest of the computer while doing its backup operations. You do not have to set aside a "Special Time" when you only do backups. When you need it, your Time machine Backup is much more likely to be there.
How to use Time Machine to Backup or Restore your Mac:
Back up your Mac with Time Machine - Apple Support
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Can opening email attachment plant bug?
