You may have heard it's said that Macs don’t get viruses. That there’s no Apple virus. You may even have said it yourself. Sadly, it’s not true. The latest State of Malware Report by Malwarebytes describes a significant rise of Mac threats of over 400% in 2019. The report claims that cybercriminals now target Macs severely, due to increasing market share. So, do you still believe that Macs don’t get viruses? Continue reading to discover how to remove a virus from your Mac and protect your files from getting infected.
Can Macs get viruses?
Macs have been considered safer than Windows PC for a long time. Macs are indeed secure, thanks to various built-in features, such as GateKeeper, that doesn't allow installing anything not approved by Apple. But, as the Apple security features have improved, so is malware. According to the State of Malware report mentioned before, Macs are mostly attacked by adware and potentially unwanted programs (PUP), which macOS has no counteraction against. So, answering the question, yes, Macs do get viruses, and they may impact your sensitive file and data seriously.
Apple’s built-in security system does a reasonable job keeping malware at bay, but you should still consider beefing up protection by installing antivirus software. In this post, we discuss why you need to consider using antivirus with a Mac computer and reveal some of the best antivirus software to help.
- Sorry to say so, but we're long past the days when Apple could claim in its TV ads that Macs never get infected. The last few years have seen an onslaught of notorious Mac malware, such as Shlayer.
- The malware installed an app called Advanced Mac Cleaner, LaunchAgent or a Safari extension, checked for antivirus software, and then exploited unprotected machines. OSX/CrescentCore was signed with a developer certificate, so it infected machines for days before Apple caught it.
- Back up your Mac. If you do have malware, it might already be too late, but the first step is to back up your Mac to prevent any data loss. You should back up your Mac regularly, using the 3-2-1 strategy, and you can back up your Mac using Apple’s Time Machine or Intego Personal Backup. No matter which option you choose, you should ensure.
How do I know if my Mac has a virus?
Before you remove a virus from a Mac, you need to be sure it actually has one. We’ve covered that in more detail in this article but here are a few pointers.
- Your Mac starts behaving erratically and doing things you don’t expect;
- Your Mac starts running very slowly as if something is hogging the processor;
- You start seeing adverts on your desktop;
- You find software or applications you didn’t install.
- An app asks for your administrator password
These symptoms may mean your Mac has a virus, although there could be other explanations.
How to remove a virus from a Mac manually
Thankfully, there are lots of ways to do it. And Mac virus removal doesn’t have to cost money.
1. Delete browser extensions
One of the most common types of malware comes in the form of browser extensions. Even extensions that aren’t particularly malicious can be annoying, and if you didn’t deliberately install them, they’re malware. Here’s how to get rid of unwanted browser extensions.
Safari
- Launch Safari.
- Click Safari in the top menu, then choose Safari Extensions.
- Look down the list and click on any extensions that look suspicious. Read the description of the extension. If you don’t remember installing it, click Uninstall.
- Repeat until you’ve removed all the extensions you don’t want.
Chrome
- Launch Chrome.
- Click on the 3-dot icon in the upper right corner.
- Select More Tools and choose Extensions from the menu that appears.
- Look over the extensions in the browser window and click Remove on any that you don’t recognize.
Firefox
- Launch Firefox.
- Click the 3-line (hamburger) icon at the top right corner.
- Choose Add-ons.
- Click the Extensions tab and remove any you don’t recognize.
2. Uninstall apps
Malware comes in lots of different forms. And it even comes disguised as security software to help you get rid of viruses! Devious, huh?
If you’ve inadvertently downloaded an app that turns out to be a virus, you need to uninstall it immediately. There are a couple of ways to do this. Here’s the hard way.
- Go to your Applications folder and drag the app to the Trash.
- Go to
~/Library
folder and look in the Application Support folder for any files related to the app and drag those to the Trash. - Look in the other folders in ~
/Library
, especially Launch Agents and Launch Daemons and remove any files related to the app from there. But be careful, if you remove files used by legitimate apps you could cause lots of problems. - Repeat Step 3 for your Mac’s main Library folder.
The easy way: Uninstall apps in a few clicks
- Download and launch CleanMyMac X.
- Click Uninstaller.
- Check the box next to the application name.
- Click Uninstall.
If you don’t know the name of the application, it’s more difficult. But if you use CleanMyMac X, all you have to do is scroll through the list of applications and look for any you don’t recognize or don’t need and remove them. CleanMyMac X removes every trace of an app, including files that you may overlook when you remove applications manually. This is particularly important for viruses, so it’s much better to use CleanMyMac X.
What makes this method even better, is that CleanMyMac X also shows you app leftovers that remained after the main app is gone.
What makes this method even better, is that CleanMyMac X also shows you app leftovers that remained after the main app is gone.
3. Escape the virus: Create a new user profile
Usually, viruses are attached to a particular user profile on your computer. In this way, they are able to seize control of your admin profile. But you can start if from scratch and create a new user on your Mac. Don't worry, you will be able to transfer all your important data from one user to another.
Go to Apple menu > System Preferences, click Users & Groups. 10 5 leopard download apple.
- Click the lock icon , then type in your admin password.
- Use the plus sign to add a new user profile.
To move your important information from one user to another, you will need to access the Shared folder.
- Click on the Finder > Go to Folder..
- Paste in this:
/Users
Can you see the Shared folder? Here you can copy the needed files from your old user account. Hurray, you've started a clean, virus-free life!
Bonus tip: Clean up your login items
Login items are apps that launch automatically upon startup. Malware programs would often sneak into your login items without you knowing. How to prevent them from launching?
- Go to Apple Menu > System Preferences.
- Click Users & Groups.
- Click on the Login Items tab
From here you can manage them using the [+] and [—] buttons.
How to remove a virus from Mac automatically
While the above steps work very well in lots of cases, sometimes the Mac virus removal means using a dedicated application to scan and remove malware from your Mac.
Scan your Mac for viruses
There are lots of these applications available, and many of them are either free or allow you to at the very least scan your Mac for free to find out whether you need to take action. Be careful, however. It’s important to choose a tool from a reputable vendor. If you just google ‘Mac antivirus tool’ some of the results may well be for tools that are themselves malicious and instead of removing viruses from your Mac will infect it. We recommend using CleanMyMac X.
It can identify thousands of malware threats, including adware, spyware, ransomware, worms, cryptocurrency miners. And if CleanMyMac finds something suspicious, it will offer immediate removal. Besides, it ensures real-time Mac virus protection, informing you when you’re about to install something harmful. Here’s how to perform a full system scan:
- Download CleanMyMac X (free download) and launch the app.
- Click on the Malware Removal tab.
- Click Scan.
- Click Remove.
Disable the invisible agents
Some small supporting applications never show up in the Login items. They are called the Launch agents and may as well be hacked by viruses. You can find them with the universal Mac cleaner, CleanMyMac. This app is notarized by Apple, so you are safe using it.
- Launch the app and go to the Optimization tab.
- Click Launch agents
How many apps do you see there? Remove any flash players, automatic updaters, or everything else that you find suspicious. Even if you deleted the main app itself, its launch agents may still occupy your drive. Here is what I have:
How to get rid of a virus on a MacBook Pro (or any other Mac) if all else fails
![Macbook Macbook](https://images.idgesg.net/images/article/2018/04/mac-antivirus-hub-100754948-orig.jpg)
If you’ve run through all the steps above and are still having problems trying to remove a virus from a Mac, the next step is to restore from a Time Machine backup. The benefit of restoring from Time Machine is that you can do it quickly and easily by booting into the recovery partition and you can choose to backup to a state just before your Mac started behaving erratically.
The downside of this option is that any work you’ve done since the backup you restore from will be lost. You could manually copy files from your Mac to another drive or cloud storage service before you restore and then copy them back afterward. However, if one of those files is infected, you risk contaminating your Mac all over again. If there are documents you really need and that aren’t backed up elsewhere, use one of the antivirus tools above to run a scan on them before you copy them to another disk. That way you’ll know they’re safe.
Here’s how to restore from a Time Machine backup
- Make sure you’re connected to your Time Machine backup drive.
- Restart your Mac, holding down the Command and R keys until you see the Apple logo. When the macOS Utilities screen appears, choose Restore from a Time Machine Backup. Click Continue.
- Choose the last backup before your Mac started misbehaving or you suspect you were infected with a virus.
Your Mac will now return to the state it was in when you made that backup.
If you don’t have a Time Machine backup to restore from, the last resort is to reinstall macOS. This is a ground-zero approach. You’ll need to wipe your startup drive completely clean and start again. That means reinstalling all your applications and copying all your data back to your Mac afterward. If you have a recent backup of your data, from before your Mac became infected, you can use that to copy data from after you re-install. If not, you’ll need to back up important files now — but scan them with an antivirus tool first to make sure they’re not infected.
To perform a clean install of macOS, you’ll need a bootable installer disk. Creating one is beyond the scope of this article, but there is a comprehensive guide here.
Once you’ve made your bootable installer, plug it into your Mac, go to System Preferences, choose Startup Disk and select the disk you just plugged in. Restart your Mac, holding down Command-R and do the following:
- When the macOS Utilities screen appears, select Reinstall a new copy of macOS. Click Continue and then Continue again when the next window appears.
- Agree to the terms and conditions and select your Mac’s internal disk.
- Click Install. Wait for your Mac to restart.
- Your Mac will start up as if it’s a new Mac and you’ll need to go through the process of setting it up from scratch.
- Once you’ve set it up, copy back the files you need from the backup and that you know aren’t infected.
As you can see, there are many different ways to remove a virus from a Mac, depending on how badly infected it is and what kind of virus it is. The main thing to remember is if you suspect your Mac is infected, don’t worry. It can be fixed! Move on to our little Q&A section to find answers to questions many users ask.
FAQ
Do you need an antivirus for Mac?
Most of the antiviruses protect your Mac in real-time, making it apparent for you when an intruder appears. So, with antivirus software, you can be sure no PUP or adware can infect your computer. Antivirus is not a must-have software, but it indeed adds up a layer of protection if you use it.
Can you get a virus from opening an email?
Email viruses do exist, but you can’t catch one just by opening an email. What you need to be cautious with are email attachments. If you don’t know who that email comes from, avoid opening the attachment. It can contain PUP and other things you don’t need on your computer.
How to do a virus scan on Mac?
To do a quick virus scan, inspect your Mac for the software you didn’t intentionally install. Some apps can come in bundles hiding malicious programs that end up appearing on your Mac. For a more thorough virus scan, get CleanMyMac X. All you need to do, is to install the app, go to Malware Removal, and hit the Scan button.
How to remove fake “Update Adobe Flash Player” pop-ups on Mac?
Try to find and delete the last app you installed before you started seeing such fake alerts. Also, remove browser extensions from the web-browser where you see such pop-up ads. Some malicious extensions can be responsible for this. If nothing helps, scan your Mac for viruses using the antivirus of your choice.
These might also interest you:
We design Mac hardware and software with advanced technologies that work together to run apps more securely, protect your data, and help keep you safe on the web. And with macOS Catalina available as a free upgrade, it’s easy to get the most secure version of macOS for your Mac.*
Apple T2 chip.
The next generation of security.
The Apple T2 Security Chip — included with many newer Mac models — keeps your Mac safer than ever. The Secure Enclave coprocessor in the Apple T2 chip provides the foundation for Touch ID, secure boot, and encrypted storage capabilities. Touch ID gives you a seamless way to use your fingerprint to unlock your Mac, fill passwords in Safari, and make purchases with Apple Pay. Secure boot helps ensure that you are running trusted operating system software from Apple, while the Apple T2 chip automatically encrypts the data on your Mac. So you can be confident knowing that security has been designed right into the architecture of your Mac, from the ground up.
Apple helps you keep your Mac secure with software updates.
The best way to keep your Mac secure is to run the latest software. When new updates are available, macOS sends you a notification — or you can opt in to have updates installed automatically when your Mac is not in use. macOS checks for new updates every day, so it’s easy to always have the latest and safest version.
Protection starts at the core.
The technically sophisticated runtime protections in macOS work at the very core of your Mac to keep your system safe from malware. This starts with state-of-the-art antivirus software built in to block and remove malware. Technologies like XD (execute disable), ASLR (address space layout randomization), and SIP (system integrity protection) make it difficult for malware to do harm, and they ensure that processes with root permission cannot change critical system files.
![Virus Apple Macbook Virus Apple Macbook](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/yZIIzOj5fcc/maxresdefault.jpg)
Download apps safely from the Mac App Store. And the internet.
Now apps from both the App Store and the internet can be installed worry-free. App Review makes sure each app in the App Store is reviewed before it’s accepted. Gatekeeper on your Mac ensures that all apps from the internet have already been checked by Apple for known malicious code — before you run them the first time. If there’s ever a problem with an app, Apple can quickly stop new installations and even block the app from launching again.
Stay in control of what data apps can access.
Apps need your permission to access files in your Documents, Downloads, and Desktop folders as well as in iCloud Drive and external volumes. And you’ll be prompted before any app can access the camera or mic, capture keyboard activity, or take a photo or video of your screen.
FileVault 2 encrypts your data.
With FileVault 2, your data is safe and secure — even if your Mac falls into the wrong hands. FileVault 2 encrypts the entire drive on your Mac, protecting your data with XTS-AES 128 encryption. And on Mac systems with an Apple T2 Security Chip, FileVault 2 keys are created and protected by the Secure Enclave for even more security.
Designed to protect your privacy.
The most secure browser for your Mac is the one that comes with your Mac. Built-in privacy features in Safari, like Intelligent Tracking Prevention, help keep your browsing your business. Automatic strong passwords make it easy to create and use unique passwords for all the sites you visit. And iCloud Keychain syncs those passwords securely across all your devices, so you don’t have to remember them. You can also easily find and upgrade any weak passwords you’ve previously used (and reused and reused and reused).
Automatic protections from harmful sites.
Safari also helps safeguard you against fraudulent websites and those that harbor malware — before you visit them. If a website seems suspicious, Safari prevents it from loading and notifies you. And when connecting to unencrypted sites, Safari will warn you. So everything you need to browse without worry is right at your fingertips.
Apple Macbook Air Virus Cleaner
Find your missing Mac with Find My.
The Find My app combines Find My iPhone and Find My Friends into a single, easy-to-use app on Mac, iPad, and iPhone. Find My can help you locate a missing Mac — even if it’s offline or sleeping — by sending out Bluetooth signals that can be detected by nearby Apple devices. These devices then relay the detected location of your Mac to iCloud so you can locate it in the Find My app. It’s all anonymous and encrypted end-to-end so no one — including Apple — knows the identity of any reporting device or the location of your Mac. Apple seagate 1tb. And it all happens silently using tiny bits of data that piggyback on existing network traffic. So there’s no need to worry about your battery life, your data usage, or your privacy being compromised.
Keep your Mac safe.
Even if it’s in the wrong hands.
Virus On Apple Macbook
All Mac models with the Apple T2 Security Chip support Activation Lock — just like your iPhone or iPad. So if your Mac is ever misplaced or lost, the only person who can erase and reactivate it is you.