But it’s still worth checking anyway, one big reason being trojans. After all, most malware wants to remain hidden and difficult to access. The Applications folder might not seem like the best place to check for Mac viruses. You should find information that confirms whether or not it’s malware Check for unwanted applications If you see a process that looks suspicious, do a Google search on it.

Click the % CPU column to sort high to low, and look for high CPU useĤ. Go to the CPU tab, if you’re not already in itģ. Open Activity Monitor from Applications > UtilitiesĢ. How to check Activity Monitor for Mac viruses:ġ. Here, you’ll be able to see background processes and apps that are running – including malware. If you suspect your Mac has been infected with a virus, one of the best places to look is Activity Monitor. And XProtect is a passive solution - you can’t run a scan to check your Mac for malware. Apple isn’t a dedicated security company, for start, so XProtect doesn’t detect as many viruses as dedicated security.

If you download malware and try to run it, XProtect can detect it and stop it from running.īut XProtect, although better than nothing, is limited in a few key ways. This is enabled by default, so you don’t need to do anything to use it. macOS includes a technology called XProtect, which scans your Mac for malware using a database of virus signatures maintained by Apple. Using built-in tools to check for malware on your MacĮvery Mac comes with antivirus software built in. You’ll get a demand to pay a ransom, and you’ll find your files or drives have been encrypted and can’t be opened. Either way, there are certain symptoms you can look out for.Īnd if your Mac gets infected with ransomware, it’ll be pretty obvious. Sometimes, this is a deliberate feature of the malware other times, it’s a side effect. In many cases, malware makes itself known by affecting the performance of your Mac.

Download it today, and you can try each of them out for free. That’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to MacKeeper’s features. In MacKeeper, select Update Tracker from the menu.To help you keep on top of that, you can run MacKeeper’s Update Tracker. Most of the time, it’s caused by mundane problems, like out-of-date software. Poor Mac performance usually isn’t the result of malware. That’s why it’s so important to check your Mac for malware regularly. If that happens, you need to know it’s there, so you can work on removing it. But viruses, worms, ransomware and other digital threats can sometimes get through anyway. Being careful and using antivirus software can help you avoid malware infections most of the time. As more people buy Macs, cybercriminals take an increased interest in targeting them with malicious software. Malware is a growing problem for Mac users.

How to search mac for viruses