How to Remove Malware on Mac?

Contrary to popular belief, Macs can and do contract viruses and other types of malware. You could notice that your Mac is operating slower than usual if it experiences this. Mac malware may also result in browser issues or other unusual behavior, including system instability.

How can malware infiltrating your Mac be removed, leaving your machine malware-free? This post will look at some of the most useful Mac virus cleanup techniques.

What is Malware?

The safest course of action is to place the item in the Trash and then clear the Trash if you get a warning informing you that something you got from the internet is a virus.

Viruses, worms, trojan horses, and other potentially harmful software, known as malware, can harm your Mac or invade your privacy. When you download files from emails, messages, and websites, malware may also be installed.

Some spyware is just obtrusive. Most frequently, its goal is to take control of your Mac to gather financial and personal data, illicit host content, distribute spam, or damage other networked machines.

Warning signs your Mac has a virus

Malware occasionally makes every effort to avoid detection. If thieves are using it to steal your data, they won't make it evident since they don't want you to find out too quickly. But occasionally, malware is created to bother you and cause you trouble. And sometimes, malware indicators may be an unintended consequence of the virus's coding.

Typical indications of malware include:

• An exceptionally slow Mac, primarily if the slowdown occurs unexpectedly.
• Your Mac suddenly restarts or freezes.
• Your web browser modifies the default home page or search engine.
• Not opening any files or directories.
• On your Mac, frequent error warnings appear.
• One or more processes use all your RAM and CPU resources.
• The strange disappearance of disk space.

However, although viruses and malware on your Mac may cause these symptoms, that isn't the primary cause. There can occasionally be justifiable explanations, such as background downloads or program problems. Therefore, before trying to remove malware from your Mac, you should determine whether there is anything to draw.

How to remove a virus from a Mac?

There are various competing strategies for removing malware from a Mac, ranging from expensive malware removal programs to cheap virus eradication solutions. However, employing a specialized virus eradication tool is the most dependable option and the one we advise. Mac antivirus software is designed to locate and eliminate viruses from your system with the least amount of collateral damage to your priceless files and applications.

1. Uninstall recently added apps

Mac users are less likely to get infections via software installs than PC users because they typically download most apps directly from the App Store. However, there is still a potential that software could be wrapped with a cute little piece of malware, especially when downloading straight from third-party developers.

If you believe this may have happened to you, you can try to cure the viral infection by deleting any more recent applications that appear to be the issue. On a Mac, uninstalling programs is a relatively simple procedure. What you should do is:

Choose the offending software and drag it to the Trash after finding your Applications folder in Finder. If you right-click it, you may choose to Move to Trash from the menu.

You’re nearly finished. Go to your /Library folder at this point. Follow these instructions if you’re unsure how to locate it:

In Finder, select Go > Go to Folder.

Enter ~/Library in the search field.

Choose “Go” (or hit Return).

Find the folder associated with the app you just deleted from this point on. Drag any associated files to the Trash after that.

Look around the Library for more files associated with the target app, and drag those.

When you're through, don't forget to empty your Trash!

2. Use a virus removal tool for Mac

As already noted, the most efficient way to remove malware from your system is by employing a Mac virus cleanup. The additional techniques listed in the next section may also be helpful, but they're more of troubleshooting techniques than actual fixes. Use a Mac virus removal tool if you want to be sure that you have eradicated your troublesome viral infection.

3. Delete unwanted browser extensions

Browser extensions are another typical vector for virus infections in addition to odd programs. Inadvertently downloading Mac browser infections may happen when users add extensions. Others can discover that a virus infection has already caused the installation of unwanted browser extensions on their computers.

A browser hijacking virus, which modifies a user’s browser settings to change how it operates, is frequently made possible by these harmful extensions. Users might be switched to the hacker’s selected homepage or search engine instead of their preferred one. For Mac users, removing the harmful plugin can aid in browser hijacker eradication.

4. Boot into safe mode

Malware can occasionally be challenging to eradicate because it starts as soon as macOS. Safe mode, however, is intended to load only the data and applications that macOS requires to function, so if you boot into it, you might be able to delete this infection. Some system caches are also deleted in safe mode so they can be recreated automatically again.

Whether you have an Intel CPU or one of Apple’s new ARM-based M1 chips will determine how you enter safe mode.

How to start an Intel Mac in safe mode:

As soon as your Mac starts up or restarts, hold down Shift.

Leave the Shift key alone after you see the login window.

Log in with your standard information.

You should see Safe Boot in the top-right corner of the login screen.

5. Run an antivirus app

Although manually locating and removing spyware from your Mac is doable, it’s not the ideal solution. It takes a lot of time, is challenging, and there’s a danger you’ll erase anything important.

A decent antivirus program can quickly scan your entire Mac and compare each file to an extensive database of threats and questionable activity. One such tool that makes it simple to discover and remove Mac viruses is MacKeeper Antivirus.