Mac computers rarely have security problems, and most hacker attacks target Windows users. However, this does not mean that there aren’t any issues. In fact, recently many users reported a problem that affected their battery life and fan rates.
It appears that a Mac malware, mshelper, is harmful for these computers. If you are wondering how you can get rid of it and fix your Mac, all you need to do is take a look below.
Check CPU usage
Mshelper is quite hard to detect. In fact, people observed it only when they noticed that there is something on their computers which is using a huge amount of the CPU capacity. You can find this malware if you go to the Activity monitor and click the CPU tab to show you the highest CPU usage. Mshelper should be somewhere in the first positions.
Removing mshelper
When it comes to getting rid to Mac malware mshelper, things are a bit more difficult. This means that you will need to delete multiple files in order to remove the malware from your computer. First of all, you will need to go to /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.pplauncher.plist and delete that file. Secondly you will need to head over and delete /Library/Application Support/pplauncher/pplauncher.
No official solution
While this issue is one that should concern Apple, there has not been an official answer so far. However, Apple does take action usually, so in time we might receive a better solution. The malware should be also added to the macOS blacklist.
Until Apple takes action, you should handle the problem on your own. It is not complicated to delete those two files and you can be sure that your computer will be safer afterwards. In the future also make sure that you download from trusted sources.
Henry Lares is still early into his career as tech reporter but has already had his work published in many major publications including Tech Crunch and the Huffington Post. In regards to academics, Henry earned an engineering degree from Apex Technical School. Henry has a passion for emerging technology and covers upcoming products and breakthroughs in science and tech.