I just recieved a virus notification, what do I do about this?

You all speak as if you know what Avira did, in order to eradicate the threats that it found. How can you be so confident that they did the wrong thing? I'm confident the engineers at Avira have studied their trade a lot more than we have and probably have a pretty good idea of how to remedy the problem. But thanks for the continued warnings about potential problems. I'll let you know if I ever experience any repercussions. Honestly, though, it sounds like you're all attempting to inject fear into the equation, to prevent the tarnishing of Apple's reputation, as if that will get you brownie points. I'm not suggesting anything revolutionary, here. If Apple Support recommends installing Malwarebytes to eradicate malware, I'm simply adding to that the notion that Avira might actually be even better in some cases. And Malwarebytes has always supported the notion of co-existence with other security software, making sure to play nicely with all of the other players, so adding protection seems safe, as well. Maybe you have never experienced having a computer that is basically useless because of malware but I have and these companies are the only solutions that are actually able to get your computer back to a useful state, after that happens. If there are other solutions, please share them. But trying to add fear, by imagining potential problems, to prevent people from trying to solve the problem with tools from experts, does not add any value in these circumstances. Computers have security threats. It took a little longer for them to get to Apple than Windows but they're here, now. We need to face the problem and deal with it with the best tools we can find.

I came here to post results from my success in eradicating security threats from my computer, to share those results with the larger Apple community in a discussion forum, so others might benefit from that knowledge. But the discussion forum already had this relevant topic, so I replied to it. I'm not seeking any advice. It seems like you have most likely not had security threats, which are compromising the integrity of your computer, so you haven't been in the bind of having to decide what to do, under those circumstances. The choice becomes either buying a new computer or trying software that claims to be able to fix these types of problems. The latter is much more efficient and infinitely cheaper. But unless you have people who share their results in trying to use this type of software, it can be very discouraging. All I intended to share is that Alvira and Malwarebytes are potential solutions to this problem, as they have both saved my computers in the past. If you have other solutions to this problem, please share them.

When I have called Apple Support about this, in the past year, they have advised me to install Malwarebytes. I didn't think that was legal for them to do but there you have it. At any rate, I found today that I had 4 security threats, which Malwarebytes was not able to eradicate but Avira was able to eradicate when using the Computer Scan (not the default Quick Scan): 497840.emix trojan, FedEx_invoice.zip trojan, cbsidlmsp1_0_881-SuperDuper-SEO-46651.dmg virus, Adobe Flash Player-2.dmg adware. For this reason, I would advise using Avira for security threats, in addition to Malwarebytes. For clarity, I ran a Malwarebytes scan before the Avira Computer Scan and it did not find anything. The symptoms of the problem were loss of control of the volume (there was no volume for a flash video on the web, for example, and the volume buttons had no effect) (another example was that a song started playing, which I did not start and could not figure out where it was playing from), actions on the screen like the mouse cursor moving around which I was not moving, a loud fan and slow response time when trying to do anything. Since Avira is not yet available on the Apple Store, you would have to get it from the Avira website (www.avira.com). Caveat: since Apple does not recommend installing software that is not on the Apple Store, because it has not been properly certified by them, I would not recommend installing Avira unless you run into the symptoms I have listed above and Malwarebytes does not solve the problem. Hopefully, Avira will have a version of their product available on the Apple Store, soon.

Correction: since Malwarebytes is also not available on the Apple Store, I would recommend installing Avira, even if you don't have these symptoms. I have had both products installed for months without incident. But note that Avira did not actually prevent these threats from becoming installed, in the first place. So you may have to run Computer Scans manually, when you notice problems.

Hello Hot Potato,

MalwareBytes will never be available in the Mac App Store. That is not a factor of be approved by or recommended by Apple. Apps in the Mac App Store must run with very restricted permissions and capabilities. Most apps don't need that so they can be in the Mac App Store if the developers agree to Apple's 30% cut of revenue and heavy control of business model, marketing, and release schedule. It simply isn't possible to have a legitimate anti-virus or anti-adware tool in the Mac App Store. That doesn't stop people from taking other people's money anyway.

MalwareBytes only scans for adware that could actually be running on your system. It doesn't do that kind of full disk scan since such software is harmless unless you install it. The current version of MalwareBytes will prevent said malware from being ever being installed. To make matters worse, sometimes that harmless software is in some kind of internal database, like your email database. If you use some 3rd party tool to remove it, you could corrupt your email.

It can be very difficult to evaluate security software. If you only gauge it by how many "threats" it finds, whether or not they can hurt you, then what would stop some fraudulent company from just showing you longer and longer lists of fake malware? That is exactly the business model of a thriving industry of fake security tools. Avira is not one of those, but it is also not identifying anything that is actually installed or running on your machine.

Note: I forgot to mention another symptom: I have been noticing in my email, when people reply to me, there is other email that looks like it came from me, which has been attached to our conversation thread. I'm not sure whether that symptom has been resolved, yet. But at least the loud fan and slow response time have been resolved. I'm not sure whether anything was installed or running but it seems like something was installed and running, given the previous symptoms. But I agree with etresoft that there is plenty of room for improvement for software that detects and removes software threats, in terms of identifying the culprits more specifically, in terms of programs running (though the files are identified). Malwarebytes does a lot more than you are giving them credit for, though. They remove a lot more than adware. They also should have detected and removed the trojans and virus that Avira removed. Thanks for the explanation about why security software isn't on the App Store, though. That makes a lot of sense.

Hot Potato wrote:

I found today that I had 4 security threats, which Malwarebytes was not able to eradicate but Avira was able to eradicate when using the Computer Scan (not the default Quick Scan): 497840.emix trojan, FedEx_invoice.zip trojan, cbsidlmsp1_0_881-SuperDuper-SEO-46651.dmg virus, Adobe Flash Player-2.dmg adware.

497840.emlx is an e-mail message file for a message in Mail. An e-mail message, in and of itself, cannot be malware. (It can be a phishing e-mail, or can have an attachment that is malware, but the message itself cannot be malware.) By deleting it, Avira has corrupted one of your mailboxes in Mail. E-mail messages in Mail should never be deleted in this manner, as it will corrupt the mailbox and won't properly remove the message from the e-mail server, so it may get re-downloaded at some point. You probably ought to rebuild all your mailboxes.

FedEx_invoice.zip is a known piece of Windows malware that is frequently attached to e-mail messages. It cannot harm your Mac, and if it was attached to an e-mail message - as it undoubtedly was - then once again, Avira has corrupted one of your mailboxes.

The other two may have been Mac adware installers, which Malwarebytes for Mac does not currently attempt to look for, since there's HUGE variability in those installers but not a lot of variety in the adware they install. However, it should block any attempts by those things to install adware, if you're using the real-time protection feature, and detect anything installed by them if you're not.

I have not noticed any symptoms, which indicate my mailbox has become corrupted. In fact, all of the previous symptoms have stopped and there are no new symptoms. I believe Avira has successfully eradicated the threats, as their software has indicated, without any damage to my mailbox, as suggested.

Malwarebytes and Avira are both very reputable companies that are providing vital services to the Mac community, as well as Windows and Android. They have both removed grave security threats from my computers, after it seemed all hope was lost. Perhaps others will also find them useful.

Hot Potato wrote:

I have not noticed any symptoms, which indicate my mailbox has become corrupted.

Do you know what those symptoms would be? Be aware that you probably wouldn't notice at first... over time, though, mailbox corruption can cause messages to go missing, messages to display the wrong content, etc.

Deleting a .emlx file is never the proper way to delete an e-mail message.

Install whatever you want on your computer. It matters not to us. You came here asking for advice and you got it. Follow the advice or not. I would not install any third party app that claims to protect, clean, manage, boost performance etc. regardless whether or not it is in the app store.

Hot Potato wrote:

If there are other solutions, please share them. But trying to add fear, by imagining potential problems, to prevent people from trying to solve the problem with tools from experts, does not add any value in these circumstances.

Pretty much the only activity in this thread has been people trying to clear up the misinformation that you keep adding. The original poster just encountered a tech support scam. It wasn't adware or malware at all. I don't think anyone has really discussed Apple's role in the problem other than preventing legitimate anti-malware apps from the Mac App Store while supporting the fraudulent ones. I don't see how pointing that out is trying to prevent the tarnishing of Apple's reputation. If anything, it is the opposite.

If you really want other solutions, how about nothing at all. While I'm not a fan of Apple's Mac App Store policies, I am a fan of the the anti-virus software that comes built-in to macOS. Really, when you are talking about malware on the Mac, you are talking about adware and nothing else. Yes, before anyone starts, technically it is theoretically possible to have true malware and viruses. But they are exceedingly, exceptionally, fish-falling-from-the-sky-type rare. What few do exist are effectively blocked by the multiple levels of malware protection that Apple builds into the operating system.

If you want to tak about selling fear, then you are talking about the malware industry. They succeeded in convincing you that a Windows virus in your junk mail folder is a threat. True malware is simply not a threat that any Mac user has to worry about. Corrupted databases and poorly performing computers due to misbehaving 3rd party security software are much, much bigger risks to the average Mac user. Right now we are bickering in a forum filled with millions upon millions of reports of such problems. A pretty significant percentage of those problems are directly attributable to 3rd party security software.

One of the few malware problems that Mac users have to worry about is adware. This is because Apple does little to stop adware, so it flourishes. These forums are full of people reporting problems with adware. In many cases, they have adware installed right alongside 3rd party security software. One of the few tools that has proven effective is AdwareMedic, which was then purchased by MalwareBytes. Unfortunately, the most recent version of MalwareBytes now includes "real time" protection. While MalwareBytes is still very effective, it also now suffers from some of the same kinds of stability and performance problems that plague other brands of security software. Hopefully they can work out those bugs in the future. But regardless, you definitely don't want to run MalwareBytes with any other 3rd party security software. Apple's built-in security software works differently, so there is no conflict there. In some respects, MalwareBytes's approach is better than Apple's.

But the problem is that security software is a major can-o-worms on this forum. You are welcome to join the discussion. But if you spread the kind of outdated or invalid information that you have so far, you can expect to be swiftly challenged on it.

I figured that was coming. First, you attack the applications that are successfully helping people when they have problems with malware on Macs. Then, you attack the reporter of malware on Macs. I do not deserve to be attacked for my comments. All I have said is that these applications have helped resolve security threats, from personal experience, so others might benefit from knowing that, if they run into similar problems. Alvira reported that what it solved was one adware, two trojans and one virus. There is nothing outdated or invalid about that. The topic of this question is regarding virus detection and the symptoms of being "very laggy, and not working properly" were the same, though I also noted some others I noticed. It seems like a perfectly valid place to make this statement. In fact, the Discussion forum suggested this topic, when I started to type information about the topic I wanted to report.

You're confusing "attacks" with a logical and thought out discussion. It's called debate. Each side presents their findings. Each side either agrees with or points out flaws in each other's statements.

Alvira reported that what it solved was one adware, two trojans and one virus. There is nothing outdated or invalid about that.

And that's where Alvira is automatically wrong. Yes, there is adware on the Mac. We all know this. Yes, there are Trojans for the Mac, which is how virtually all malware gets installed - the user put it there. There are no viruses, period. Not in the Mac OS. Reporting a Windows virus that tagged along with an email is zero threat to you. It can't run. AV companies never tell you that, though. They just want to show you they found a virus so you can believe you paid for something useful.

Avira for Mac is currently still free. I never paid anything. That's why it's infinitely cheaper than purchasing a new computer, when you run into malware on a Mac, which makes the computer useless. That's a very compelling reason to try it, as well. And it works just fine with Malwarebytes. I have never had any problems with them both being installed. I don't have anything further to add to this discussion. I think I've made the point I intended to make. It seems there are the faithful who want to try to force others to drink the Apple cool-aid and I ain't drinkin'. There is malware on the Mac and Alvira and Malwarebytes help eradicate it.

Hot Potato wrote:

That's why it's infinitely cheaper than purchasing a new computer, when you run into malware on a Mac, which makes the computer useless.

Why post such nonsense. There is not now, nor has there ever been malware that would cripple a Mac to the point that purchasing a new computer is the only option. Your sense for dramatic over exaggeration is not helping your argument.