Mac Malware Removal: No Help from Apple Support

Even though our focus (at least for now) is on Windows antivirus software and malware removal, we've had a few people contact us asking about the malware known as Mac Defender¹ (previously discussed in our blog on Mac antivirus software).

Here's the short version: it does not automatically install itself onto your Mac. It does require you to manually install it to be infected. And, the main way it's getting installed is when people are tricked into installing it.

How do you get rid of it?

Well, apparently, even though it's not that hard, you can't turn to Apple Support for help, as according to ZDNet there's No Help from Apple Support Reps Removing Mac Defender, although there is now an official Apple help article on Removing Mac Defender.

Although we've not tested the removal steps ourselves, given that the removal instructions come from Apple itself, you can be sure they work and are legit.

And, yes, all the top Mac antivirus software is already detecting and removing the malware.

^{MacDefender is known alternately as MacSecurity or MacProtector}