Why you should still consider antivirus for MacĮven if you don't let a piece of malware run, we have found that macOS' built-in security scanning doesn't always detect dormant viruses just sitting on the hard drive. If you stay within Apple's walled garden, you'll decrease your chances of picking up malware. But Apple does allow you to do so via the Security & Privacy menu within the Settings app. If your Mac has completely blocked you from opening an app because it isn't signed or notarised, you might want to think twice about opening it. While this doesn't necessarily mean a program will contain viruses, not being checked by Apple also means that the software won't have gone through basic privacy and reliability checks, either. Whenever you download a program from the web, you'll be presented with a warning to remind you that it won't have gone through Apple's checks. Indeed, macOS is pretty explicit about apps that haven't been authenticated (signed by a registered developer and notarised by Apple). Malware Removal Tool This automatic tool will get rid of malware that hasn't been picked up by XProtect and, if you have automatic security updates switched on (we recommend you do), will get rid of files that are malicious.Īpple also treats software downloaded from the web differently to software downloaded from its own App Store.If XProtect detects you've downloaded malware, it will let you know and move the file straight into the Bin. XProtect is kept up-to-date independently of system updates, so you won't need to restart your Mac to get the latest signatures. Signatures are telltale signs that a file is in fact a malicious virus, and means it doesn't need to be intensively scanned to work out that it's harmful. XProtect This is a detection tool built in to macOS that is kept up-to-date with the very latest virus 'signatures'.There are two ways MacOS looks to defend against malware:

That isn't to say that it's impossible to catch a Mac virus, but the number of different strains is much smaller. Our lab tests Windows antivirus software with several thousand Windows-specific viruses each year, but tests only a few dozen on Mac computers. While the adage mentioned above isn't strictly true, it is fair to say that there aren't many viruses for Mac computers, which makes them hard to come by.

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