How To Check If Your Mac Has The Flashback Virus

The Flashback Virus is one of the largest-scale virus attacks to ever hit the Mac. As a long-time Mac user I am not used to the concept of viruses, we usually think those are left to the PC users of the world! Most Mac users don’t use any kind of virus protection software and if you’re one of them you probably have no idea how to check if your mac has the Flashback Virus.

First let me save you some money, you don’t have to buy expensive virus scanning software. The kind folks over at Mashable have created two AppleScripts that will check your hard disk for any offending files that might be associated with the virus. These two tests should complete without finding the files they are looking for, if they do, then your computer is most-likely infected. You can download the Flashback Detection Scrips here.

If you do find-out that your computer is infected, don’t panic. F-Secure offers a completely free tool for removing the Flashback Virus, you can download the Flashback Removal Software here.

Once you have either determined that you don’t have the virus, or removed the virus, make sure to update to the latest version of Mac OS. To stay safe make sure to never ever open an email attachment from someone that you don’t know. The days are gone where having a Mac means not having to deal with viruses, Apple has gone mass market and that means viruses-makers are coming to the Mac.

Morgan Linton

Morgan Linton