should I use anti-virus or anti-malware

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Level 1

8 points

should I use anti-virus or anti-malware

Mac Mini late 2014. OS X El Capitan 10.11.4

Yesterday when I visited this site (web draft?) ****://www.theatreguys.net/webdraft_000006.htm ( which I use regularly and know the people)

I clicked on image for Hobson’s Choice and instantly up popped this webpage ad

****://microtechnoid.com/system-file/error-code-nmasdg564s/****** which was difficult to remove as the usual X or red dot were not there. I contacted the theatre guys people who checked every aspect of their site but could not find anything.

They replied

It would appear that a virus has attached itself to our website on your computer, but it may well be just coincidence that the virus pops up when you access a page on our website rather than another website. I am not aware that the 1&1 hosting service, a large reputable company, could be responsible for the vulnerability. And it cannot be the theatre as our website has no connection with the theatre.

I suggest you run an anti-virus and anti-malware scan on your computer to see if that finds anything, and ensure that your protection is up to date.

I have never used an anti-virus or anti-malware scan on my Mac. Should I? Which ones do I use?

Mac mini (Late 2014), OS X El Capitan (10.11.2), null

Posted on Apr 21, 2016 2:10 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

seventy one

Level 7

27,424 points

Apr 21, 2016 2:46 AM in response to doctoraway

You don't need anti-virus; you may need a way to remove malware once it shows itself. Usually recommended here is Malwarebytes which is a free download for Mac users. You are more likely to attract malware if you inhabit microsoft links.

The particular link you quoted has two warnings in itself. It popped up and it is from an Indian company. No wish to get racist ... it is a fact of life that most of the spam we encountered here in the forums was from India ... and here in the UK, most of the spam telephone calls emanate from India or Pakistan.

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Answer 2

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

Apr 21, 2016 9:21 AM in response to doctoraway

I have never used an anti-virus or anti-malware scan on my Mac. Should I?

Absolutely not. The information you were given by the site operator was false.

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Answer 3

Rysz

Level 8

44,391 points

Apr 21, 2016 10:15 AM in response to doctoraway

Yyou do not need any anti-virus software. All the protection you need is built into OS X.

What you experienced was adware, not a virus. Malware like this is attached to ads on the site. Ads are served seperately from the site, that's why the site operators would not necessarily know about it. They should, however, after your report stop dealing with that ad agency.

To read more about malware/adware see these links:

http://www.thesafemac.com/mmg-defense/

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