Suggestions for cleaning MacAir w/ malware

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Level 1

8 points

Suggestions for cleaning MacAir w/ malware

My friend has a MacBook Air with what I think is serious malware issues. He clicks on everything and things keep popping up now. He doesn't have a clean backup to restore to or any idea what he may have clicked on. If I open up the activity monitor there's TONS of stuff going on but I don't know what is third party software or malware and what is supposed to be there. I want to scan the computer for everything that isn't supposed to be there so I don't delete anything important. Help!

MacBook Pro

Posted on Feb 26, 2018 10:52 AM

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Answer 1

macjack

Level 10

111,292 points

Feb 26, 2018 10:56 AM in response to Tm1488

Download and run Malwarebytes. Malwarebytes was developed by one of our own colleagues here in ASC and is about the most proven anti-malware software for Mac.

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Answer 2

macjack

Level 10

111,292 points

Feb 26, 2018 11:28 AM in response to Tm1488

It should catch it all. But possibly if you have any Safari pop-ups or redirects you can troubleshoot Safari also:

Force Quit Safari ( command + option + esc keys). Then restart Safari holding the Shift key.

Empty Caches. You can either choose Safari menu > Clear History Or, if you do not want to remove History go to Safari menu > Preferences > Advanced and check the “Show Develop Menu” in Menubar. Then, on that menu > “Empty Caches”.

If you still have problems, turn off Safari extensions in Safari > Preferences > Extensions > un-checkmark all extensions.

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