Do I need to be using a product like Dr Cleaner?

No one here has said that Macs are invulnerable. However, most "cleaning" programs are still worse than the malware out there.

And no, KeRanger is not a virus. It is, I believe, a trojan. It cannot be propagated from machine to machine. It is acquired by downloading compromised software.

If you want good advice that is not based on a profit motive or fear mongering, start here:

Effective defenses against malware and other threats

Mafoo7 wrote:

Yeah...Not true.

I remove viruses from Mac's almost every day.

If you get a pop-up, yes, it is a scam, but you probably should worry that you're infected.

Total nonsense is right, you cannot name one virus you have removed for OS X or Mac OS because none exist.

The only way you MIGHT be getting viruses is if you are running Microsoft Windows on your Mac.

Otherwise No.

There are no viruses on OS X. Some malware/adware, yes.

But no full blown computer viruses attacking OS X or macOS.

Uh...

I don't teeenk so!

The only way yewd be gettin' viruses on a Mac is if you a running Microsoft Windows on a Mac without any Windows virus software.

There are no full blown viruses attacking OS X or mac OS and none on iOS.

There are some malware/adware/garbage software issues on OS X, but generally, there is a small percentage of these compared with Windows and other mobile OSes and this type of adware/malware don't severely attack OS X or macOS.

But viruses on Mac OSes? None, NADA!!!

Everyone here is correct in one way or another. One can say that there are no Mac viruses, in the strictest technical definition of the word, but there is definitely Mac malware. One example is KeRanger, which some claim is a virus and some claim is generic malware, but either way, it's a nasty ransomeware bug! Anyone who thinks their Mac is invulnerable is fooling themselves. I agree with everyone who recommends keeping the OS and everything else updated and staying in the Apple walled garden, because doing so means one will likely never have to worry about an infection. They only way you'll be infected is by a zero-day because Apple is very good at patching holes as soon as they are found.

jkollars wrote:

Mafoo7 is partially right. You can say that there aren't Mac viruses, in the strictest technical definition of the word,

Keep it clear, are there or aren't there viruses that infect Apple Products.

jkollars wrote:

I did keep it crystal clear. I said "... there aren't Mac viruses ...".

Actually, you said "One can say there aren't any Mac Viruses in the strictest definition of the word", "One is KeRanger which some claim is a virus..." Both statements are excellent examples of equivocation.

No. The so called cleaning apps are nothing but scams.

There is no need for them on a Mac running OS x.

NO! OS X runs best if left totally alone. Never use any cleaning, antivirus, or other third party maintenance utilities with OS X. To keep OS X running well it is very simple:

• Never use a torrent site to download anything
• If you get an ad, pop-up, e-mail or phone call advising you that your computer has been compromised it is a SCAM.
• Keep OS X up-to-date

If you follow these three simple rules, under most circumstances you will be rewarded with years of trouble free operation.

DO NOT USE ANY SO CALLED APPS CLAIMING TO "CLEAN", "OPTIMIZE" OR "SPEED UP" YOUR MAC!!!! EVER!!!!

Apps like MacKeeper, MacSweeper or any other maintenance apps like CleanMyMac 1 or 2, TuneUpMyMac, SpeedUpMyMac, MacCleanse or anything like these apps, installed on your Mac, while they appear to be helpful, can do too good a job of data "cleanup" causing the potential to do serious data corruption or data deletion and render a perfectly running OS completely dead and useless leaving you with a frozen, non-functional Mac.

Plus, these type of apps aren't really necessary OR needed. They really aren't.

There are manual methods to clear off unnecessary data off of your Mac that are safer and you have complete control over your Mac and not just leave a piece of auto cleaning software in charge of clearing off data off of your Mac. Their potential of causing OS X issues outweighs the implied good and benefits these types of hard drive or memory "cleaning" apps are written to do.

These types of system 'cleaning" apps are very poorly written and are really a scam to rob newbieand novice Mac users of their hard earned cash for a poorly written maintenance program that will do much more harm to a perfectly normal running OS X system than the good that the app developers purport these types of apps will do.

Plus, the software companies that write these apps make it hard to easily uninstall these apps if something DOES go wrong and these apps work in a way where you have no recovery or revert function to return your Mac back to its former, working state in the event something does go wrong.

It is best to never, EVER download and install these types of apps.

The risk to your system and important data is too great a risk!

Yeah...Not true.

I remove viruses from Mac's almost every day.

If you get a pop-up, yes, it is a scam, but you probably should worry that you're infected.

Mafoo7 wrote:

Yeah...Not true.

I remove viruses from Mac's almost every day.

If you get a pop-up, yes, it is a scam, but you probably should worry that you're infected.

Total nonsense.

Hmmm, can you name a few???

And what you used to remove them?

Or even just one.

I did keep it crystal clear. I said "... there aren't Mac viruses ...".