Tip:

Responses to Malicious Software

Antivirus for Mac will first try to remove (or "clean") any malicious software found during a scan.

If unable to remove the malicious software, Antivirus for Mac will quarantine the file. Once quarantined, the malicious software can cause no harm, but you also can no longer open the file.

In rare cases when Antivirus for Mac cannot clean or quarantine the malicious software, Antivirus for Mac will delete the file instead.

You can change how Antivirus for Mac will respond to malicious software in the Scan Settings window.

Scan Responses

Antivirus for Mac can respond to malicious software in four different ways. It will normally try each response in the order shown below.

Response

Description

Clean

In many cases, Antivirus for Mac can remove malicious software, like computer viruses, from files where it was hidden. After cleaning, these files no longer pose a security risk, so you can freely open, edit, or share them.

Note:

You should always let Antivirus for Mac try to clean unsafe files.

Quarantine

Some forms of malicious software will not hide inside a file, but instead pretend to do something useful. Antivirus for Mac cannot clean these files, and must isolate them instead. Once quarantined, malicious software cannot cause any harm.

Delete

Antivirus for Mac can almost always clean or quarantine malicious software successfully. Only if unable to clean or quarantine a very risky form of malicious software will Antivirus for Mac try to delete the file instead.

Detected

If unable to clean, quarantine, or delete the malicious software, Antivirus for Mac will just make a record of the threat in the logs. You can then try to delete the file yourself.