Windows has traditionally been the operating system most threatened by cybercriminals, mainly due to its high penetration rate on desktop computers around the world. However, more and more people are buying Mac computers, which are powered by the macOS operating system, so it is not surprising that attacks by cybercriminals have increased on Apple devices in recent years. One such example is Silver Sparrow, a malware that infected more than 30,000 macOS devices in 2021.
There is a popular belief that Apple devices are immune to viruses and malware. Although it is true that the devices of the American company have advanced technologies that reinforce the privacy and security of the Mac and its integrated apps, Mac computers are vulnerable to any computer virus and malware. In fact, a simple click on a link in a phishing email is enough to infect your Mac in a matter of minutes. Luckily, there are multiple options for scan virus online and protect your macOS.
How to know if your Mac has a virus or malware
In most cases, viruses and malware affect the performance of the Mac, causing various problems:
- Mac runs slower than usual: Some viruses and malware overload the Mac’s CPU, leaving little capacity available for it to run the tasks you’re doing. One sign that your Mac is running slower than usual is the spinning color wheel, which indicates that your computer is trying to do too many things at once. Also, your Mac may behave erratically, freezing and rebooting suddenly.
- Browser home page has changed: Another symptom that your Mac is infected is that the home page of the browser has changed. The browser may also start to crash regularly or even become unresponsive.
- Ads and pop-ups appear frequently: The appearance of ads and pop-ups every time you perform an action on your computer is another sign that you need to scan your Mac for viruses and malware.
Although these are some of the most common symptoms to tell if your Mac is infected, viruses and malware can run silently in the background. This makes them more difficult to detect.
How to check if your Mac has any viruses or malware
As we have mentioned before, there are multiple options to check if your Mac has any virus or malware. Next, we will tell you which are the most effective methods and what each of them consists of:
Check the Activity Monitor
He Activity Monitor It allows you to check, among other things, all the applications that are running on your Mac, as well as the background processes. This tool is a good way to detect viruses and malware. These are the steps to follow to run the Activity Monitor:
- Go to Applications > Utilities > Activity Monitor.
- Open Activity Monitor, select the CPU tab at the top, and click the % CPU column to check the apps and processes with the highest CPU usage. Close these applications and processes by clicking the X button in the upper left corner.
- Look for any other suspicious apps and processes and check on Google if it is a virus or not.
Uninstall suspicious apps
Many times, Viruses and malware hide inside apps, where they remain hidden. For this reason, it is important to check your applications folder for unwanted apps:
- Go to the Applications folder.
- Look through the list of apps and look for any suspicious apps that you don’t recognize or remember installing.
- Check on Google if it is legit or not. If it isn’t, either delete it and then empty the Trash.
Remove suspicious login items
Most viruses and malware are loaded automatically when you log in to your Mac. For this reason, they often appear in the list of startup items. These are the steps to follow to stop any suspicious application from autostarting:
- Choose Apple menu > System Settings, click General in the sidebar, then click Startup Items on the right.
- Review the list of apps and select any suspicious apps.
- Click the minus sign at the bottom to remove the startup item.
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