Mycrazyiphone wrote:
Answers to related questions from several to many years ago consistently say the Mac does not need antivirus software. Assuming this is still true (?), what about problem issues like: Malware, Adware, Tune-Up, Spyware, Web Protection, Block Phishing Websites, Real-Time Protection, and other protections/functions offered by well known Antivirus Software apps out there?
Is there something that my Mac could use to keep it running fast without strange things happening, like Safari and other apps freezing up , or programs being difficult to open up
Sounds like you have some issues, and a couple things come to mind to sort these issue—
(certain system caches get cleared and rebuilt, including dynamic loader cache, etc.)
- You can get a good look at your System config. and reveal conflicts or issues w/ third party apps, you can download/run this trusted utility https://etrecheck.com ( If you need help interpreting the report you can post it here in its entirety in the "Additional Text" box in the editing toolbar below, in your reply.)
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Apple uses its Software Update service (which also drives system software updates that show in the App Store or via the softwareupdate command-line tool) as a mechanism for installing “background and critical” updates that are installed silently in the background with no notifications to the user.
XProtect, is the anti-malware system on the Mac.
Third party AV is not recommended— it typically does nothing but add issues to the macOS and competes directly with Apples own built in security:
macOS - Security - Apple https://www.apple.com/macos/security/
Apple Platform Security - Apple https://support.apple.com/guide/security/welcome/web
Recognize and avoid phishing messages, phony support calls ...
If you suspect you have adware/malware that got past Apples defenses—
and adware/malware got installed:
>System Preferences>Profiles click into it and then remove all the suspicious things from the list. (This Preference pane will not be present if no profiles found.)
Adware Removal Guide—Manual removal of : http://www.thesafemac.com/arg-identification/
or
Try running this trusted utility https://www.malwarebytes.com/mac/
also Verify you are not using SOCKS proxy:
>System Preferences>Networks>Advanced>Proxy uncheck the box
[ Adware/malware launch daemons can set SOCKS proxies without user participation.
(SOCKS is an Internet protocol that exchanges network packets between a client and server through a proxy server.) ]
