Malware mshelper is overwhelming Macs worldwide; learn how to identify and remove it

Macs they are, in general, relatively more immune to threats than PCs, but the time is past when Apple computers were truly impenetrable fortresses and not even targeted by hackers and malicious agents. Of course, with minimally conscious and safe habits of use, you will basically never have to worry about a possible infection on your machine (which goes for any system, incidentally); in any case, it is always good to check for possible strange behaviors or possible signs of invasion.

Recently, a malware has been spreading relatively far across Macs around the world. The call mshelper it has already been registered in several support forums for macOS users, but it is not yet clear what its real nature is; it is speculated that we are talking about a clandestine cryptocurrency miner (like Bitcoins) or a simple adware.

The fact that it is spreading quickly and quietly, and its process is overloading infected Macs, abusing the machine's processing power and draining its battery mercilessly. Needless to say, this is just as bad for your day-to-day use of the Mac as it is for your overall useful life, so while Apple doesn't add the malware your blacklist (feature present in the Gatekeeper), make a healthy check-up on your precious computer to identify the problem and, if it exists, send it into space.

Below, we explain how:

First, open the Activity Monitor on your Mac and click on the CPU tab. Click on “Process Name” to sort them alphabetically and go to the letter “M”, looking for the item mshelper. If he is not there, congratulations, your machine is clean (of this threat, at least)!

How to remove mshelper malware from Mac

If the damn process is running, you don't have to run out over the hills. Interrupt it in the Activity Monitor when it does not work, as it starts running again afterwards; instead, we need to take a brief trip to the Finder to delete two files.

How to remove mshelper malware from Mac

First, go to your Mac's storage root (usually named Macintosh HD) and enter the Library folder. Once there, select the LaunchDaemons folder and delete the file com.pplauncher.plist.

How to remove mshelper malware from Mac

Then go back to Library and v Application Support folder. L inside, delete the folder pplauncher.

There, you are free from the intruder inconvenience!

Don't forget to never click on suspicious files or access strange websites so you don't have to deal with the problem again and, in any case, check your presence over the next few days to make sure everything is under control. After all, care in digital life and chicken soup never hurt anyone, right?

via AppleInsider