Worried your Mac has a virus? That worry may be the biggest danger.
We get a lot of calls from Mac users who are worried they have a virus, or are concerned they might get one without investing in special protection software. Good news! Viruses on Macs are incredibly rare, and the spammy problem software that can slow your computer down is easy to avoid.
If you’re wondering about how to stay malware-free on a Mac, just follow the 3 steps below!
Three things you can do to keep your Mac safe:
- Ignore bright, flashing pop-up windows on websites that claim you have a virus. 9 times out of 10, doing whatever they’re yelling at you to do is what will give you the virus. These windows are just spam. Ignore them, and avoid websites that make them appear.
- Don’t install any “Mac Cleaner” apps. Macs don’t need third party virus scanners like McAfee (Apple’s software updates include regular security improvements), and they certainly don’t need any apps like MacKeeper that claim they will clean your Mac for you. Ironically, those apps will actually make it slower, and are more like viruses themselves, than anything they will ever actually find.
- When asked for your password, stop and think. Nothing, whether it’s a virus or otherwise, can be installed on your Mac without asking you for your admin password – the one you login with. If your computer is asking for your password, stop and evaluate what the reason is. If it’s trying to install something, and you don’t understand what it is, say No. Virus denied!
If you keep to the above guidelines, you can be sure that if something is slowing your computer down, it’s not a virus. It might be the Mac’s age, or maybe just normal software wear-and-tear.
Give Macinhome a shout and we’ll tell you more!
Thanks to the mighty Kenrick Block for the amazing videos.
