how to check for malware or viruses on Mac

Helpful Links Regarding Malware Protection

An excellent link to read is Tom Reed's Mac Malware Guide.

Also, visit The XLab FAQs and read Detecting and avoiding malware and spyware.

See these Apple articles:

Mac OS X Snow Leopard and malware detection

OS X Lion- Protect your Mac from malware

OS X Mountain Lion- Protect your Mac from malware

About file quarantine in OS X

If you require anti-virus protection I recommend using ClamXav.

Ejcook72 wrote:

I was recently a victim of a phishing expedition and fear I might have some virus or malware on my Mac. What is the best way to check and/or remove?

I see by your profile that you are using an iMac with OS X 10.8.3, which means you are fully protected against all currently known malware that can impact your OS and it's applications. All that is required is that you pay attention to the warnings given. It would also be wise to disable Java in all your browsers to prevent a new Java vulnerability from being exploited, which is almost inevitable these days..

The greatest danger for phishing expeditions is the revelation of privacy information, not malware. If you could give us the details of what you saw and did, we might be able to give you a more detailed answer.