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iMac can get viruses ? If yes, any free protection software available ?

1) My iMac says that this computer is infected with three viruses. Is it true that Mac can get viruses ?


2) Also, it took me to the page of McAfee anti virus page where it guided me to install the software. Now McAfee says to pay money to remove viruses. Is there any free option ?

Posted on Sep 7, 2019 10:36 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Sep 7, 2019 11:28 PM

Orion009 wrote:

1) My iMac says that this computer is infected with three viruses. Is it true that Mac can get viruses ?

As Kappy said what you saw is a scam.

See: Avoid phishing emails, fake 'virus' alerts, phony support calls, and other scams - Apple Support

11 replies

Sep 8, 2019 4:28 AM in response to Orion009

Orion009 wrote:

1) My iMac says that this computer is infected with three viruses. Is it true that Mac can get viruses ?

2) Also, it took me to the page of McAfee anti virus page where it guided me to install the software. Now McAfee says to pay money to remove viruses. Is there any free option ?

FWIW, this is a total scam and is nice and neatly wrapped as

coming from McAfee and if you installed anything, your best

bet is to save any data externally and totally wipe your drive

and re-install everything. These scams can be very impressive

and extensive and official looking. These days it doesn't take

much talent to "scrape" a website and recode it with links

to malicious sites.


This sort of scam is akin to Adobe Flash malware scams, recent

"Apple Support" scams, etc. Their goal at a minimum is to relieve

your wallet of your hard earned money and at worse to totally

compromise your identity.

Sep 8, 2019 3:23 AM in response to Orion009

I dont believe it has a name, for a program of any sort to be able to do things like copying itself to other programs on macOS it would require the program to get a verification as in a popup dialog requesting your administrator password

if you supply it with that enough it can do whatever it wish

much like https://irisharoundtheworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Irish-virus-Irish-Memes.jpg


we've come to a time where the weakest link is the user, which is why you're reacting to a random internet popup telling you that you're infected if you wish to know more

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phishing

Sep 8, 2019 3:35 AM in response to Orion009

Uninstall McAfee Internet Security on your Mac


Close your browsers (Safari and Chrome) during removal to ensure that the McAfee browser plug-in is removed correctly.

In the Dock, find and open the Applications folder.

Double-click the McAfee Internet Security Uninstaller.

Click Continue.

Type your administrator password and click OK.

Click Finish.

iMac can get viruses ? If yes, any free protection software available ?

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