Keyloggers are malware designed to track your keyboard and mouse inputs. It records every keystroke and clicks to spy on your system. For example, your bank account details, pin etc. can be intercepted by keylogerrs. Given a chance, these malware connect to Internet and transmits sensitive information to its source.
If you’ve been considering Mac as a safer device, it’s probably the time to re-consider your belief in Mac’s impregnable security. It still is the more secure secure option if you pit it against Windows. But it has its fair share of issues too. So, let’s acquaint you with ways to identify and terminate keyloggers on Mac.
How to Detect Keyloggers on Mac
1. Activity Monitor:
Activity Monitor contains a list of real-time events occurring on your Mac. Click the Finder icon in the Dock, select the “Go” menu and choose “Utilities”. Double-click “Activity Monitor”. Click the “Process” column label to sort your activity by processes. If you spot any unusual process, check it using Terminal. You can open Terminal from Utilities and type ‘man’ followed by a space and the process name, e.g. “man sysmond”.
2. Examine the Hardware:
Many keyloggers are hidden within the tools that connect to your keyboard. This primarily occurs in offices where more people have access to your machine. If you doubt a keylogger presence but couldn’t find it with Activity Monitor, check the connection between your keyboard and computer. If you see any unnecessary wiring, fitting or a sub-box, remove it.
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See Also: 14 Best Android Security Apps
3. Virtual Keyboards:
If you find it hard to identify and terminate keylogger on Mac, you can use the virtual keyboard. Keyloggers track your keystrokes. Using a virtual keyboard would prevent the detection. Though this step wouldn’t help in recognizing and neutralizing the keylogger, it would help you be safe. Open System Preferences, select “Keyboard” and check the “Show Input Menu in Menu Bar” box. Click the Input icon in the menu bar and select “Show Keyboard Viewer” from the drop-down menu. Use this keyboard until you get your computer checked for keyloggers.
Also Read: How To Take Screenshot on Macbook Pro Touch Bar
4. Professional Security Tools:
A few security software run advanced scans that may detect Keyloggers. One way of doing this involves checking files for changes and blocking suspicious connections. There’re plethora of tools available to help you detect and vanish keyloggers. Simultaneously, you can use TuneUpMyMac to clean your Mac from various unnecessary entries. Its handy and free to download. You can run a complete scan every once in a while, to avoid sheltering the unwanted and trashy items.
Download TuneupMyMac here-
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5. Reset (Reinstall macOS):
When a keylogger is too impulsive to be taken out and other options have failed to remove it, you can clear and reinstall your operating system to get rid of software-based keylogger. Be informed that hardware-based and keyloggers in the firmware won’t get away by a reset. Create a backup, restart your Mac while holding the “Option” key and use Disk Utility to format your hard drive. Quit Disk Utility and then select the option “Reinstall macOS X.”
Also Read: 27 Cool Mac Tips & Tricks You Probably Don’t Know
Overall, keyloggers are evasive. There are strong chances that you fail to identify and terminate a keylogger on Mac due to their property of being camouflaged. However, practicing the above steps would significantly help you get the ball in your court. If you face difficulties, you may contact your technical support provider.
Every device, whether it is a MacBook Pro or iMac, eventually slows down after a certain period of time. It usually happens as when you turn on your device, it needs to load the system OS along with some hard drive system settings. Usually, it takes a couple of seconds, depending on whether you’re using a solid-state drive or hard drive on it. If it takes more than that, then definitely, there is something wrong with your Mac.
Wondering what to do when Mac takes forever to startup? Read further to know the best ways to fix Mac slow startup issue.
What Is Booting?
The term Booting a device refers to the process of a system’s startup. Boot time takes longer after a certain period of time. This happens because of multiple software installed and various hardware connected to your computer.
Ways To Boost Up Your Mac’s Slow Startup
We have a list of tips and tricks to help you fix Mac slow startup. Some tips work better than others, but we have listed here many of them. You can check with one or the other to resolve your Mac slow boot issue.
1. Clean Up Your Hard Drive
Cleaning up your hard drive is not as easy as it sounds. Cleaning up old movies, an old stack of pictures, organizing desktop and searching your Mac for old and obsolete files and folders you do not need anymore.
The only difficulty is to clean up your device by figuring out all non-useful stuff. The stuff you choose to delete should create space on your Mac. To figure this out you can use a tool to speed up Mac for your help.
The Mac care tools induce to clean your Mac device without hampering other important stuff. Get an all in one tool to keep your Mac healthy and secure. Look for a tool that removes adware, malware, unwanted junk files and privacy threats.
2. Update Your Mac OS
Updating your Mac OS is one of the simplest ways to resolve your slow mac boot issue. Always follow a good tactic of keeping your device updated with the latest OS. If you think that updating the OS is similar to adding more junk to your already slow device, then you are wrong. Device once updated, fixes most of the issues and helps your device run smoothly. Head to Mac Store and search for the latest Mac version.
Update your device, and if you still feel that your Mac is working slow after update too, don’t panic, it might be because the disk permissions are broken. Repair disk permissions using any of the Mac Care tool.
3. Manage Startup Items
When you start your Mac, a lot of apps and software runs in the background that leads to slow startup. To fix this, give your device a clean start and make your Mac OS run smoothly and faster. When multiple apps run in the background, your device takes longer to startup. To get your Mac to start faster, remove unnecessary apps.
For this, go to System Preferences > Users & Groups > Click on your username > click login items > choose the application you do not want to launch. Then, click on Dash (-) symbol located below the list to the left. It will help you remove an application. Always keep fewer applications for better and speedy Mac.
4. Clean Your Desktop
To resolve Mac slow boot process, always check whether your desktop is cluttered. Although a cluttered desktop shows a person’s creativity but when it comes to a device’s performance, it could slow your it down. This is because the system has to load each and every file/folder on the desktop during the startup process.
Get rid of all unnecessary files and folders by either removing or moving them to any internal drive. The more icons the more boot time your device will take. This is why it is vital to make your desktop clutter-free and speedup its booting process.
If your Mac takes forever to startup, resolve the issue by keeping lesser items on your system desktop.
5. Multiple Apps Running In The Background
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One of the most common reasons behind your slow Mac startup is apps that are running in the background. When your Mac system first turns on, a few of the apps are automatically loaded along with some little add-ons. To fix this, you can end some processes through Activity Monitor. Using this will show you the processes that are using a lot of your system resources.
To check out these processes, open the Applications folder > Utility folder > Activity Monitor. Have a look at the processes that are currently running on your Mac. Now see what can be troublesome for your Mac. Evaluate reasons and try to fix this up. Stop all apps that are taking more space and power to allow your Mac boot faster and enhance its performance.
6. Upgrade Your Hardware
Your Mac might have been working slowly because it is too old and is no longer able to handle apps and software of large size. After trying all the tips and tricks and if still, your Mac is taking forever to startup, replace your current hardware with the brand new one. Also, replace your hard drive with an SSD disk.
Make sure you reach out for higher storage space so that you can easily and timely update applications. Along with this, also think of buying more RAM. 4 GB RAM is no longer sufficient, hunt for at least 8GB RAM whereon having 12 GB will be a pretty good option.
7. Use Smart Mac Care
Over and above everything, if you do not find any suitable trick to fix your Mac slow startup, try using Smart Mac Care. It is an efficient tool that keeps your Mac secure and prevents it from malicious content. Its effective scanning process scans and removes all the possible infections and threats from your system.
Go to Login Items tab to resolve mac slow boot issue. It has a list of apps that launches during Mac startup. With this feature, you can remove unnecessary apps to improve system performance and reduce startup time. All you need to do is to remove the apps that launch during the system boot/login for startup time improvement.
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Smart Mac Care features into different genres such as Malware scan, Junk scan, Privacy Scan along with some additional tools such as Uninstaller, Duplicate Finder, Failed Downloads. These different scan processes help the user to remove all kinds of infectious content including apps and software from the device.
Conclusion:
In this article above we have compiled the best ways to fix Mac slow startup. You can opt for any or all of these ways above to boost performance of your Mac. use various inbuilt processes like Application Manager to end and remove unnecessary apps running in the background. Other than pre-installed software, you can take help from an efficient Mac care tool to enhance your Mac speed and performance.
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