When the antivirus software runs these signature files tell the main scanner about all the latest malware.

You configure the software with an address to contact, a user name and a password and small signature files are downloaded. Generally speaking, the way it works is that you download and install the main scanning software and then that software has to connect back to a server (provided by the company that sold you the software) for regular updates. It’s a waste of time to run a (possibly lengthy) scan and find nothing because the scanner wasn’t up to date.Īll antivirus software needs to be up to date. I’ll discuss malware in another post (maybe).Īnyway, before I can mention scans I should mention your antivirus has to be up to date. Chances are it’s a Trojan or something else. You may hear a friend say ‘ I have a virus on my computer’.

I wanted to talk about scanning a Mac for malware (I could say ‘virus’ but I don’t want to start the ‘there are no viruses for Macs’ argument.Ī virus is a certain type of Windows malware that is commonly and incorrectly used – by those not-in-the-know – for different types of malware.

Sophos antivirus mac gets stuck