How to get rid of a virus on Mac? This may sound a very unfamiliar question, but according to reports Mac computers are no longer safe to virus & malware attacks.
Apple platforms and devices are generally very hard for hackers to inject a virus on your Apple device. Mac gets fewer viruses as compared to other operating systems.
However, there are all sorts of malware, viruses that are automatically downloaded, leading to nasty bugs and threats to your personal data.
So how to know if your Mac is infected by a virus, and if yes, how to get rid of a virus on Mac. Let’s see.
How to Know if Your Mac Device has Virus?
Before we get to the solution to fix any virus, we should first ensure and identify the virus. If your Mac device is running slow, it can be due to the age of your device and not any malware.
If you’re facing any of these signs mentioned below, you need to clean up your Mac device now.
- You notice a sudden change in your PCs performance or if your Mac’s fans are running constantly
- You notice adverts on your home screen
- An unwanted software or application is installed automatically
- You find specific browser extensions, plug-ins or toolbars that you haven’t installed
- Your web browsers settings have been changed automatically
- You notice unexpected odd behavior while browsing online
If you are facing any of these issues mentioned above, your Mac device has most-likely become malicious.
How to Remove Virus from Mac PC?
There are three types of virus- Malware or malicious software, Potentially unwanted software and the virus itself.
However, all of them are a type of malware infection. Go through all of these solutions for removing a virus from mac.
1. Close Running Programs
Please note that before removing any malicious programs from your PC, make sure to quit them altogether. This way you can prevent the program to relaunch itself. Let’s do it-
- Launch Activity Monitor on your Mac device and check for any external applications or programs. If you can’t find any such suspicious programs, contact Malwarebyte’s list of current malware and viruses for your Mac
- When you find the malware app, select it and hit the Stop sign “ X” ( to the upper-left corner)
- Also, make sure to close any helping applications that support malware
Now that you’ve killed all the running malware applications let uninstall them from your PC.
2. Uninstall Malicious Apps ‘
You can easily uninstall apps from your Mac device without using any third-party tools as all the apps in Mac are stored at one particular place.
- Check for any programs that you haven’t uninstalled and look for any malware-infected programs
- Uninstall them by dragging them to the Trash
- Make sure that you uninstall all the traces including the files related to the malicious app by dragging them to trash
You can also use a third-party tool to remove any leftover files from your PC. You can now notice a difference in the performance of your Mac device.
3. Remove Any Login Programs
For those who don’t know, login items are programs that open automatically on startup. You can see an application window as soon as your PC boots. Uninstall them using the following steps.
- Go to your System Preferences
- Select User and Groups
- Click on the Login Items option
Now, remove all the unwanted and unfamiliar login items from your PC. Reboot your PC and check if these login items are removed successfully.
4. Clean up your Browser
Malware or adware in your PC can add some kind of browser extensions or even change your browser settings. It can be threatening as it might even steal your personal data or switch your default web browser to a malicious one.
- Go through the installed extensions and add-ons
- Remove any installation that you haven’t installed manually
- Check if there are any changes made in your browser settings. For example, see if malware has made any changes to your search engine and homepage and undo them in the browser’s preference
- Repeat the same steps for all the browser in your PC
Malicious browser extensions can be dangerous, remove them right away from your PC.
5. Perform a Malwarebytes Scan
Once you’ve cleaned up all the malicious applications, login items, and suspicious browser extensions, use Malwarebytes to check if everything is fine.
It’ll scan your entire PC for any malware files and transfer them to the Quarantine section where they’ll be successfully deleted.
Done! These were some helpful, easy tips that can help you remove the virus from your PC. However, if nothing works to remove the virus from your PC, you should restore your system using a Time Machine Backup which is a backup software application for your Mac device.
Have any other issues with your Mac device? Drop down your queries in the comment section below.
See Also:
- How to Block a Website on Mac?
- 3 Simple Ways to Fix “Battery Service” Warnings on Mac/Macbook Pro
- Adding a Printer on Mac (Automatic and Manual Process)