Updated: November 15, 2024Published: January 29, 2021
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Despite what some people think, Macs can and do get viruses and other malware. If it happens to your Apple computer, you might notice it working slower than usual. Mac malware might also cause system instability or other unpredictable behavior, including issues with your web browser.
If your Mac is infected, how do you get rid of malware and give your system a clean bill of health? In this guide, we’ll explore some of the most practical Mac malware detection and removal measures you can take.
Continue reading to find out how to remove malware from Mac.
Before we start
The longer a virus is on your Mac, the more damage it can do and the more data it can steal. To rid your machine of potential threats fast, use MacKeeper’s Antivirus tool. As well as constant, real-time protection, you can run on-demand scans at any time.
Here’s how to protect your Mac with MacKeeper’s Antivirus:
Open MacKeeper, and click Antivirus in the sidebar
Click Start Scan
If the scan finds anything suspicious, select it from the results list
Click Delete, and then Delete to confirm.
MacKeeper can handle viruses, trojan horses, spyware, and more. Download it today, and try these and other features out for yourself.
In this article you will find the following:
How to tell if your Mac has a virus
Sometimes, malware will do its best to remain undetected. Other times it will be more obvious, and that can be by design or a side effect that the virus coders never intended. Either way, there may be warning signs that help you delete viruses on your trusty Macintosh.
Signs of malware on Mac
Whether you have an iMac, MacBook, or Mac mini, malware can result in these kinds of symptoms:
These symptoms can be caused by legitimate things, like background downloads or software conflicts. If you’re looking to clean viruses from your Mac, you need a reliable way of checking the cause of unwanted behavior.
How to get rid of viruses on Mac
Now that you know about detecting viruses on your Mac, it's time to discuss the best steps for removing malware. Here's how to get rid of viruses on Mac:
1. Disconnect from the internet
Malware is often designed to connect to the internet—sending stolen information to criminals, using your machine to send spam emails, or just spreading itself further. If you’re trying to get rid of a potential threat detected on your Mac, it’s a good idea to disable your internet connection.
Here’s how to disable Wi-Fi on a Mac:
In System Settings, click Network
Select Wi-Fi
Click the toggle to turn off Wi-Fi.
Step 1. Select Network in System SettingsStep 2. Open Wi-Fi settingsStep 3. Turn off Wi-Fi
How to disable Ethernet on Mac:
In System Settings, click Network > Ethernet
Click Make Inactive.
Step 1. Go to Network > Ethernet in System SettingsStep 2. Click Make Inactive
To be doubly sure you’re not connected to the internet, you could unplug your Ethernet cable.
2. Reboot into safe mode
Sometimes, malware is difficult to remove, because it loads up as soon as macOS starts. But if you boot into safe mode, you might be able to remove this malware, because it’s designed to load only the files and apps macOS needs to run. Safe mode also deletes some system caches, so they can be rebuilt again automatically.
How to boot into safe mode on an Intel Mac:
Hold down Shift as soon as your Mac turns on or restarts
When you see the login window, take your finger off the Shift key
Log in using your usual details
You should see Safe Boot in the top-right corner of the login screen.
How to boot into safe mode on an Apple Silicon Mac:
Shut down your Mac. Press and hold the power button for 10 seconds
Release it when you see the startup options window
Choose your startup disk, then hold down Shift
When prompted, click Continue in Safe Mode and release the Shift key
Log in, and you should find your Mac in safe mode.
Hint from our team:
To check safe boot is on, follow these steps:
Click the Apple logo in the top-left of your screen
Go to About This Mac > More Info > System Report > Software
Check Boot Mode says Safe. Be aware, this process is slightly different in older versions of macOS like Catalina.
If your Mac is now running normally, then there’s either malware on it that doesn’t load in safe mode, or you have some other kind of software-related problem. If you know what you’re looking for, you can try deleting suspicious files, extensions, and so on. Reboot your Mac normally and see if your problem has been fixed.
3. Find suspicious processes in Activity Monitor
If you suspect malware on your Mac, start by checking Activity Monitor. This built-in macOS tool shows you what’s running on your Mac, including in the background. If anything is taking up a lot of CPU cycles or RAM, it could be malware, and Activity Monitor can help with finding it.
Here’s how to check Activity Monitor for macOS malware:
Open Activity Monitor from Applications > Utilities. Click the CPU tab, then click the % CPU column to sort processes by most CPU used. Look for processes you don’t recognize that are using a lot of processing power
Do the same with the Memory column in the Memory tab, Bytes Written in the Disk tab, Sent Bytes in Network.
Take note of anything that seems suspicious and Google it. If it’s malware or something else you don’t want, double-click on it in Activity Monitor and click Quit. Then click Force Quit to kill the process.
Step 1. Use Activity Monitor to detect suspicious CPU usageStep 2. Check memory, disk, and network use tooStep 3. Quit any suspicious processes
Stopping a process doesn’t eliminate it. It might start up again immediately or when you restart your Mac.
4. Remove malicious programs
If an app is causing suspicious activity on your Mac, you should remove it by uninstalling that app. This might not remove malware from a Mac completely, but it's an important step. If you suspect an app is unsafe, check out our guide on how to remove a trojan virus.
This is the normal way of uninstalling apps on a Mac:
In Finder, navigate to your Applications folder. If you see anything suspicious, right-click it and select Move to Trash.
Now right-click your trash, and select Empty Trash.
Step 1. Move unwanted apps to your trashStep 2. Empty your trash
Note from our experts:
You can also uninstall apps with MacKeeper’s Smart Uninstaller. Our tool will also delete files that would normally be left behind, which is vital when doing a virus cleanup. Download MacKeeper and try it yourself.
A warning on manually removing malware
Be very careful when manually deleting malware from your Mac—you may delete the wrong thing and make your Mac worse.
If in doubt, you may want to contact Apple support. You can also get support from MacKeeper’s Premium Services—as an alternative to quickly solve your user's concern.
5. Delete Mac malware from your Login Items
Malware is often designed to launch when computers start up. On a Mac, you may find these are listed in the Login Items part of System Settings. Follow these steps to check:
Open System Settings, and select General > Login Items
Look through the list for anything suspicious. Select what you want to remove, and click the minus button
Restart your Mac, and then check to see if the suspicious Login Item didn’t reinstall itself.
Step 1. Go to General > Login ItemsStep 2. Select a login item and remove it
Unfortunately, the standard Login Items tool doesn’t show absolutely everything that starts with macOS. To find and stop these hidden items, use MacKeeper’s Login Items tool to find a wider variety of startup processes.
6. Run an antivirus app
A good antivirus app can scan your entire Mac quickly and check every single file against a vast database of threats and suspicious behavior. MacKeeper Antivirus is one such app, which makes it easy to find and get rid of Mac malware.
How to run an antivirus scan on Mac with MacKeeper:
Select Antivirus from the sidebar
Click Start Scan, and wait for the virus scan to complete
Check the results, in case of false positives. Then click Delete > Delete.
Step 1. Select Antivirus and start a scanStep 2. Select malware and click DeleteStep 3. Confirm that you want to delete malware
How to clean viruses from Mac automatically
Although it’s possible to manually identify and remove malware from your Mac, it’s not the best way to deal with the problem. It’s time-consuming and difficult, and there’s a chance you might delete something you need. With the right tools, you can find and remove malware automatically in just a few minutes.
7. Verify your browser’s homepage
A favorite trick of malware creators is taking over people’s web browser homepages. Doing so, they can serve you ads or notifications that they get paid for—or in worse cases, direct you to other sites, which may install even more malware.
Using Safari, there are a few things you can do to check your homepage hasn’t been affected:
Click the address bar to reveal the full URL and make sure it’s accurate
In the menu bar, select Safari > Settings
In the General tab, check what it says next to the Homepage. If it’s wrong, change it.
Step 1. Click the URL to check itStep 2. Go to Safari settings
Checking your homepage with Chrome is similar:
Double-click the address bar to reveal the full URL, and verify it
Select Chrome > Settings from the menu bar
Click Appearance, and under Show Home button, check the URL.
Step 1. Click the Chrome search bar to see the full URLStep 2. Open Chrome's settingsStep 3. Check the homepage is right
In cases of serious infection, your homepage may still get redirected, and it won’t be fixed until you delete the virus from your Mac.
8. Clear your cache
There are various caches on your caches. Individual apps and web browsers have their own caches, but there’s also system cache. Clearing these temporary files out can help you remove all traces of malware from your desktop or laptop Mac.
Follow these steps to manually clear caches on your Mac:
In Finder, select Go > Go to Folder from the menu bar
Type in ~/Library/Caches/ and press return
You can now see cached files for many of the apps on your Mac
Delete the contents of a folder to clear the cache.
Step 1. In Finder, select Go > Go to FolderStep 2. Use Go to get into your Mac's cachesStep 3. Look through the different app cachesStep 4. Delete anything you know is safe to remove
While manually deleting cached files manually may work, it’s not always clear what you’re deleting, so there’s a risk you could mess something up. Avoid that risk with MacKeeper’s Safe Cleanup—in just a few clicks process to find and remove cached data.
9. Delete suspicious browser extensions
If you’re experiencing problems with your web browser, they could be caused by a rogue extension. Remove any recently installed extensions and any that don’t come from reputable sources. Here, we’ll look at removing extensions from Safari and Chrome, but the process is similar for other browsers like Firefox.
How to remove extensions in Safari:
In Safari, click Safari, from the top menu, and select Settings. In the Extensions tab, select an extension, then click the Uninstall button
Click Show in Finder
Delete the extension like would any other file.
Step 1. Select an extension and then UninstallStep 2. Click Show in FinderStep 3. Delete the extension
How to remove extensions from Chrome:
In Chrome, select Window > Task Manager
Sort the CPU column to see if any extensions are using a lot of processing power. Do the same with the Memory footprint and Network columns
Now select Window > Extensions from the menu bar
Look through the installed extensions, and click the Remove button on any that seem suspicious.
Step 1. Open the Task ManagerStep 2. Check Task Manager for suspicious extensionsStep 3. Go to Chrome's extensionsStep 4. Click Remove to uninstall an extension
MacKeeper’s Smart Uninstaller doesn’t just remove apps—it’ll also delete extensions, including those installed by malware.
10. Get rid of pop-up ads on Mac
Another symptom of malware infection is an increase in unwanted pop-ups, which can affect browser performance. Thankfully, you can do something to get rid of these annoyances.
To prevent pop-ups in Safari:
In Safari, select Safari > Settings in the menu bar, and go to the Websites tab. In the sidebar, click Pop-up Windows
Use the drop-down menus to block pop-ups.
Step 1. Find pop-up in Safari's settingsStep 2. Choose which pop-up to block
Follow these steps to block pop-ups in Chrome:
In the menu bar, go to Chrome > Settings, and then Privacy and security > Site settings
Scroll down and select Pop-ups and redirects
Look through the list under Allowed to send pop-ups and use redirects. Click the three dots next to an entry, and select Block.
Step 1. Go to Site settings in ChromeStep 2. Choose Pop-ups and redirectsStep 3. Select a site and block pop-ups
MacKeeper’s Adware Cleaner makes it even easier to remove the malware that causes unwanted pop-ups. In just a few minutes, this adware remover can get your Mac free of unwanted apps.
11. Resettle the system and restore from a backup
When you’re trying to remove a virus from a Mac, you may want to restore from a backup. Using the Time Machine function built into macOS, you can return your machine to a previously saved snapshot, taken before you picked up the malware.
Assuming you already have Time Machine activated, here’s how to restore from a backup:
Go to System Settings > General > Transfer or Reset
Click Erase All Content and Settings, then follow the on-screen instructions to erase all your user data
When your macOS has been reset and restarted, open Applications > Utilities > Migration Assistant. Click Continue, and enter your system password.
Select From a Mac, Time Machine backup or Startup disk, and click continue
Select your Time Machine backup and click Continue
Choose a backup to restore from, and click Continue. Follow the on-screen instructions to finish the restore.
Step 1. Select Transfer or ResetStep 2. Click Erase All Content and SettingsStep 3. Open Migration AssistantStep 4. Choose where you want to transfer information fromStep 5. Choose the drive to restore fromStep 6. Select a backup to restore
12. Wipe your Mac and reinstall macOS
If all else fails, you can wipe your Mac and reinstall macOS. Certainly if you’re unable to boot into macOS at all, this may be the only solution left to you to get a virus off your Mac. To reinstall the OS, you’ll need to get into macOS Recovery.
Enter Recovery on an Apple silicon Mac like this:
Shut down your Mac
Press and hold the power button until you see Loading startup options
Choose Options > Continue, and follow the instructions.
Use these steps to get into Recovery on an Intel Mac:
As soon as you turn your machine on, press Cmd + R
In the Recovery app, select Reinstall for your macOS release, then Continue
Prevention is, of course, better than cure. If you take the right precautions, you might never have to get rid of viruses on your Mac.
Here are a few ways to protect your Mac from viruses and other malicious software:
Don’t open email attachments from people you don’t know
Don’t visit websites you don’t trust
Avoid piracy websites and services
Use unique, strong passwords
Buy apps from the App Store where possible
Use antivirus with real-time malware protection for Mac
Use an ad blocker to stop your web browser downloading dangerous files
Just in case, back up your important files regularly.
Best way to remove malware from Mac
Without a doubt, the best way to remove malware is with an automated checker like MacKeeper’s Antivirus. Removing viruses manually is slow, and you need to know what to look for.
With MacKeeper, you can scan your entire Mac quickly and safely delete malware, while keeping the rest of your data untouched. Thanks to its real-time protection, our tool can also help you prevent malware from ever getting on your Mac in the first place.
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