You might think that connecting anonymously to a public Wi-Fi network doesn’t reveal much about you. You might be using a VPN (virtual private network) to protect everything you do. But even if you aren’t, the vast majority of websites and email servers (and pretty much all those run by companies) use client-to-server encryption. But what if you could be tracked anyway?

Apple has a solution for this as it does for many tracking systems. The company’s trick lies in how Wi-Fi (and ethernet) adapters identify themselves over a local network when connecting wirelessly or via an ethernet cable. Every network adapter has a factory-assigned unique address baked in at the time of manufacture. It’s called a Media (or Medium) Access Control address; the abbreviation is MAC, confusingly enough, but it has nothing to do with Macintoshes.

Where an IP (Internet Protocol) address defines your machine’s location on the internet, a MAC address defines it on your local area network (LAN). The MAC is in part how devices on a LAN all communicate with one another, whether over Wi-Fi or ethernet.

Apple recognized that any fixed identifier could be used to track someone if it were tied to records captured beyond the local network. When you connect to a wireless hotspot, your Wi-Fi MAC address gets transmitted because it’s part of that connection. If that MAC address doesn’t change over time, the backend of a hotspot portal could build up a profile of you (or your device) using a variety of clues that includes any Bluetooth broadcasts, credit cards you use at a retail location, and other network and broadcast identifiers that only prove trackable when paired with a fixed network ID.

While a MAC address is factory assigned, it’s not necessarily immutable. For instance, you may have had the experience of connecting to a Wi-Fi gateway and seeing an option buried in advanced settings to modify the MAC address. (This can sometimes be helpful when you’re replacing a router, and your ISP’s broadband modem or adapter is registered to that older device’s MAC address.)

The ability for a MAC to change and the potential for a fixed Mac to be tracked is why Apple introduced Private Wi-Fi Address as a feature nearly three years ago in iOS 14, iPadOS 14, and watchOS 7. It’s enabled by default. You can view the setting only for individual networks:

• On an iPhone or iPad, go to Settings > Wi-Fi and tap the i (info) icon for the active network. Starting in iOS 16/iPadOS 16, you can also tap Edit at the top of Wi-Fi settings and tap the i icon to view or change the Private Wi-Fi Address option for that network.
• On a Watch, go to Settings > Wi-Fi, tap the name of the network, and the Private Address setting appears.

With Private Wi-Fi Address enabled, your operating system invents a MAC address for every network you join and uses that address for that network unless and until:

• Six weeks has passed since the last time you joined the network with that device.
• You rejoin a network more than two weeks after you used the Forget This Network option for that network.
• You erase the device’s settings to reset your network settings (in iOS 15 or later: Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone/iPad > Reset > Reset Network Settings; in iOS 14 or earlier: Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings.)

(You might ask: what if Apple generates a MAC address already in use? The number of possible addresses is vast–over 280 trillion possibilities–and unlike a global IP address, it only needs to be unique on the local network.)

There’s no particular reason to disable this privacy feature unless you want to have a persistent MAC address for a personal or work network; some networks control access or assign IP addresses based on a MAC address, and ensuring the MAC address remains static could be helpful. You might also disable it if you think you’re experiencing problems with a hotspot network that keeps losing your login. I’ve seen this with airplane Wi-Fi and haven’t yet diagnosed whether it’s an issue with the airplane’s authentication system or private MAC addressing.

This Mac 911 article is in response to a question submitted by a Macworld reader.

Ask Mac 911

We’ve compiled a list of the questions we get asked most frequently, along with answers and links to columns: read our super FAQ to see if your question is covered. If not, we’re always looking for new problems to solve! Email yours to mac911@macworld.com, including screen captures as appropriate and whether you want your full name used. Not every question will be answered, we don’t reply to email, and we cannot provide direct troubleshooting advice.

Internet, iOS, MacOS

Microsoft has released details on a security vulnerability that the company discovered in macOS Ventura. The vulnerability, which Microsoft dubbed “Migraine,” involved Apple’s Migration Assistant and allows a hacker to get by macOS’s System Integrity Protection and get access to the data on the Mac.

In a blog post, Microsoft provides the technical details on how Migraine works. Apple’s SIP provides security for macOS to stop unauthorized root access, but the Migration Assistant app has a privilege that allows it to have unrestricted root access. Microsoft created a modified version of Migration Assistant that takes advantage of this exploit, but the modified app had to be used while the Mac’s Setup Assistant is in debug mode. Microsoft’s researchers were able to use the exploit and then run an AppleScript that mounted a Time Machine backup with infected data, which was transferred to the Mac.

Documented as CVE-2023-32369 in the CVE.report database, Apple fixed “Migraine” with the macOS Ventura 13.4, macOS Monterey 12.6.6, and macOS Big Sur 11.7.7 updates released about two weeks ago and is noted in Apple’s security notes. It is customary for security researchers to publish their findings after Apple has fixed the vulnerability. In the Impact section, Apple says the flaw could allow an app to modify protected parts of the file system.

To see if the update is installed, check Software Update in System Settings/Preferences. You can also install the update from there. Installation requires an internet connection and the update is over 2GB, so you need to set aside some time to download, install, and restart your Mac.

Apple has protections in place within macOS and the company releases security patches through OS updates, so it’s important to install them as soon as possible. Macworld has several guides to help keep your Mac safe, including a guide on whether or not you need antivirus software, a list of Mac viruses, malware, and trojans, and a comparison of Mac security software.

MacOS, Security

Thanks to Apple’s move to its own chips, the Mac has been on a roll recently, after a frustrating spell of bad keyboards, poor ports, and overheating with pre-M1 Macs. But not all of those old Macs are bad–many of them are actually still cherished by their owners. For example, the Intel-equipped 13-inch MacBook Pro and MacBook Air were tremendously popular and held down the fort on the affordable end of the MacBook lineup for many years.

These laptops may not be considered “modern” by the new standards set by Apple, but they are still supported with the latest version of macOS. They were somewhat upgradeable, easy to fix, and had tons of spare parts available. Within the secondhand community, even Macs with soldered-down components are looked at as having value, and ingenious tinkerers are repairing, upgrading, and adding software support to old machines long after Apple moved on to something new.

YouTuber Collin Mistr, known as dosdude1, demonstrates his skilled approach to upgrading and modifying older Macs on his channel. The videos are far from polished but show off how modifications and soldered-on upgrades can give old Macs new life. “The first machine I ever got was some water-damaged MacBook off of eBay for really cheap. One day I just decided to learn how to fix those. Then I got good with surface mount soldering and over time, got different equipment for [ball grid array chips],” Mistr said. Whether it’s upgrading soldered RAM or CPU beyond factory specifications, Mistr does it all with a combination of tweaked custom firmware and chip swaps.

“[The 2015 MacBook Airs] are actually pretty straightforward because Apple actually, when they were developing it, intended those to work with 16 gigs of RAM… you don’t have to modify the system ROM.” Mistr says his wildest upgrade was to a 2015 11-inch Air, the last year for that body style. “I took the CPU and RAM from a 2015 MacBook Pro with the top spec and soldered them on and made a 3.1 GHz Air.”

Mistr cited pioneering work from a small firm in Malaysia that sent him parts to test. iBoff, run by a man who goes by the name Bo, keeps Macs running longer due to user demand. Bo’s craziest modification replaces the Thunderbolt chip on 2011 and 2012 MacBook Pros. Newer storage technologies like NVMe SSDs can increase performance meaningfully, but not all Macs from the past can natively support these devices because of the Thunderbolt chip.

“Customers started asking if we can add NVMe SSDs to the MacBook Pro…after much studying, prototype trial & error, testing stability, we successfully released the NevBolt.” NevBolt runs a cable from where the Thunderbolt controller would otherwise sit and adds a high-speed M.2 slot and a SATA 2.5-inch drive in the optical drive bay–even offering an option to connect an external GPU (something that Thunderbolt 1 Macs didn’t quite support).

Other iBoff products add M.2 drives to devices that had only soldered-on storage. “The whole story changed when Apple started to solder SSDs to the [logic board] for MacBooks 2016 and above,” said Bo. “The soldered SSD [has a finite life], so we found a way to replace the dead soldered SSD, pushing us to do more homework regarding this issue, and we are able to install NVMe SSDs [in these models].”

Older Macs, newer software

As old Macs are dropped from Apple’s supported list, the Open Core Legacy Patcher project swoops in, using tricks learned when running macOS on non-Apple hardware and gives its utilities away for free. “The goal is to extend the life of Macs Apple no longer wants to support. For me it’s really important for people of lower income, people from other countries…in Brazil [Macs] are four times the price [of elsewhere],” says Mykola Grymalyuk, the project leader. “With the current scope of the project, we’re only targeting 2008 or newer Macs…we want to support every Mac that has been dropped since then. We support 88 models, if I recall correctly.” 

Open Core Legacy Patcher lets unsupported machines run newer versions of macOS but sometimes with reduced functionality and it makes routine updates potentially tricky for novices. “You couldn’t give [an OCLP-enabled device] to a 6th grader and say, ‘Here’s your laptop for school.’ Just because there is something, like when you do an OS update, Apple nukes all our patches, so you have to repair the operating system. We do have mechanisms in place that try to notify you…but that can only go so far for end users.”

Future hurdles may be too high

A hard reality may be coming up for these savvy hardware and software hackers. With the advent of tighter security, things like Apple’s T1 and T2 chips, along with device management software, can turn older Macs into trash, with little hope of resuscitation or repair. “I know Apple claims [Activation Lock] is mostly for anti-theft, which it does prevent, but they try to hide from you that most locked devices you find out there, on eBay or in surplus sales, are locked not because they were stolen, but because the organization that had the devices didn’t know the lock exists in the first place,” opines Colin Mistr. “[Apple] doesn’t care…they’d rather the device be destroyed than reused.” 

People like Bo, Mistr, and Mycola, have their work cut out for them. Older Macs still browse the internet just fine, can run newer operating systems with a little bit of work, and can even get hardware boosts well beyond what they were designed for. With a lot of Intel Macs hitting retirement age, there’s never been a better time to pick one up and spiff it up for casual use. “It saves people money, it means there’s less e-waste, and more people have an opportunity to get into the Mac for a lot less money,” says Mykola. “Especially if you see a Mac on the side of the road…just pick it up, adopt it, and give it some love.”

Mac

No map is perfect; all are approximations. But it’s galling to business owners when a modern digital map lists the wrong address, has incorrect business hours, or even says the business is closed when it’s still open. Many, many people email Mac 911 asking for help with this when customers can’t find them, or, to take real examples I’ve received when an address listed offered a dangerous turnoff that wasn’t the main entrance–or when all the people living in a newly-issued U.K. post code were directed to their rural driveway.

(Clarification: When people find the Mac 911 email address they think we’re Apple. “Mac 911? That must be help!” We do aim to try. Apple doesn’t offer direct support via email.)

Apple Maps offers a correction feature that’s changed and expanded slightly in recent releases for iOS/iPadOS and macOS. You don’t have to be a business owner to suggest changes or request a correction. Mistaken addresses and routes of course affect homeowners and renters, too, as well as non-profits, schools, and other organizations. (Google Maps years ago placed my house four miles west for about six months, which was a constant problem for deliveries, service people, and parents trying to bring their kids over for playdates and birthday parties.)

Follow the steps below to report errors or add places that aren’t listed. Note that human beings do review the additions and changes; they’re not made higgledy-piggledy.

If you don’t have access to an Apple device or don’t want to use a Maps app to report, you can use a little-known form to report the problem. Apple also says you can call their helpline, AppleCare (1-800-APLCARE), to report map problems, though I know no one who has.

Correct and add in iOS/iPadOS

Launch Maps. To correct a listing:

1. Tap a location.
2. Tap the three-dot menu to the right of the estimated time of arrival.
3. Tap Report an Issue.
4. Tap the issue you want to correct.
5. Edit the information.
6. Tap Submit.

To add a listing:

1. Hold down on the map to create a Dropped Pin.
2. Tap the three-dot menu.
3. Tap Add to Maps.
4. Tap what you want to add (address, place, transit stop, etc.).
5. Fill in details and ensure the pin is over the correct location.
6. Tap Send.

You can also tap Mark My Location at the bottom of the screen to quickly drop a pin at your location and then follow the steps above.

Correct and add in macOS Big Sur and later

Launch Maps. To correct a listing:

1. Click a place’s icon.
2. Tap the three-dot menu next to the right of the location name.
3. Scroll down to Report an Issue at the very bottom and click it.
4. You can then modify and detail, including location, and click Submit.

It’s not at first obvious that there’s more to the dialog in some cases, as the map may appear to be the only thing you can select. Jiggle your pointing device to display the scroll bar or use a trackpad or scroll control on a mouse to scroll down to uncover categories, hours, and other details.

To add a listing:

1. Control-click and select Drop Pin.
2. Click the pin, then the three-dot menu, and select Add a Missing Place (Big Sur to Monterey) or Add to Maps (Ventura).
3. Fill out details and click Submit.

Correct and add in macOS Catalina and earlier

Launch Maps. To correct a listing:

1. Select a place’s icon.
2. Click its info (i) icon and then click Report an Issue at the very bottom of its panel.
3. Select the kind of issue. In Mojave, these options appear: Location on Map, Place Details, Place Closed, or Other Issue. In Catalina, only Edit Place Details appears.
4. Click Continue.
5. Perform the necessary action associated with that choice (see below).
6. Click Send.

Each of the four actions has a separate process:

• Location on Map: Move the pin to the correct location.
• Place Details or Edit Place Details: Revise information or add it.
• Place Closed: Write a description providing documentation.
• Other Issue: In freeform text, explain the problem.

To add a new item in macOS Mojave and earlier:

1. Control-click and drop a pin and then select it.
2. Click its info (i) icon and then click Report an Issue.
3. Click Add a Place and click Continue.
4. Move the pin to the correct place, and then click Continue.
5. Choose the type of place, like Business or Landmark, fill in the details, and click Send.

The only way to add a listing in macOS Catalina, which also works in Mojave and earlier:

1. Choose Maps > Report an Issue.
2. Click Add a Missing Place (Catalina) or Add a Place (Mojave and earlier) and click Continue.
3. Move the pin to the correct place, and then click Continue.
4. Choose the type of place, like Business or Landmark, fill in the details, and click Send.

This Mac 911 article is in response to a question submitted by Macworld reader Anne.

Ask Mac 911

We’ve compiled a list of the questions we get asked most frequently along with answers and links to columns:
read our super FAQ to see if your question is covered. If not, we’re always looking for new problems to solve! Email yours to
mac911@macworld.com including screen captures as appropriate, and whether you want your full name used. Not every question will be answered, we don’t reply to emails, and we cannot provide direct troubleshooting advice.

iOS, MacOS, Personal Software, Professional Software

Macs may be a far less tempting target for malware and viruses, but they’re not immune from attack. Even if you don’t care about adware or being used as means to infect users on other platforms, it’s still possible to fall victim to ransomware, or password theft.

Accordingly, good antivirus for Mac software will protect your Mac on all of these fronts. It’ll catch malware that’s still spreading or in circulation; block ransomware; protect older systems with out-of-date software from security vulnerabilities; prevent your Mac from acting as a carrier for malware aimed at other operating systems; and keep infected files off of any virtual machines you’re running.

As to the question of which Mac antivirus software you should choose, our current top pick is Intego Mac Internet Security. However, you will find several other recommendations below that may suit you better, depending upon the type and number of devices that need protection and also how much you want to pay.

Our top contenders in our best Mac antivirus round up dominate by posting perfect (or virtually near perfect) scores from security research labs, passing our own malware detection tests with flying colors, offering well-designed interfaces, and even throwing in extra features like a firewall or password manager.

For some great discounts and deals see our best Mac antivirus deals round up.

Updated May 5, 2023 to update the F-Secure review.

Best antivirus for Mac reviews

Best Mac antivirus at a glance comparison

Here is an overview of the top Mac antivirus software tested above.

Developer

Product name

USB scan

Ransomware protection

Adware prevention

Anti phishing  protection

Email protection

Firewall

VPN

iOS version

Parental Controls

Support

Trial

Price

Intego

Internet Security X9

Y

Y

X

Y

X

Y

X

Y

Y

Y

7 days

$49.99/£49.99 / ye ($24.99/£20.99 /yr deal)

Clario

Antivirus 1.5 for Mac

Y

Y

Y

Y

X

X

Y

Y

X

Y

7 days

£107.88/£107.88 / ye (currently $50/£50 /ye); ($4.17/£4.17 / mo for a year, or $8.99/£8.99 /mo billed monthly)

AVG

AntiVirus for Mac

X

X

X

X

Y

X

X

Y

X

X

60 days

Free (Paid for version is $2.49 per month for one year / $2.39 a month for two-years / $2.29 a month for three-years)

Norton

360 Deluxe

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

30 days

$39.99/£34.99/yr

McAfee

Total Protection

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

30 days

$34.99/£34.99/yr

Avast

Premium Security

Y

Y

X

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

X

Y

60 days

$44.99/£39.99/yr

Bitdefender

Total Security

Y

Y

X

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

30 days

$39.97/£34.99/yr

Eset

Cyber Security Pro

Y

Y

X

Y

Y

Y

X

X

Y

Y

30 days

$49.95/£39.95/yr

Trend Micro

Antivirus for Mac

X

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

30 days

$39.99/£49.95

Avira

Prime

Y

Y

Y

Y

X

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

30 days

$99.99/£85.99

Do Macs need Mac antivirus software?

Plenty of Mac aficionados will tell you that Apple computers are inherently secure and don’t require protection. We’d argue that they are wrong – or overconfident, at the very least.

Not long ago, the Silver Sparrow malware was detected on Macs powered by the M1 processor and infected hundreds of thousands of Macs in total. The bad guys, then, are still very much targeting Mac users and they’re getting smarter and greedier. As a result, cyber security is something you can’t afford to ignore, and good Mac antivirus is a very good place to start if you want to stay safe.

Macs are generally more secure than their Windows brethren for two reasons. On the technical side, macOS is a Unix-based operating system. As a Unix-based operating system macOS is sandboxed.

Sandboxing is like having a series of fire doors: even if malware gains access to your Mac, it is unable to spread to other areas of the machine. They are more difficult to exploit than Windows PCs, but Macs are not unhackable.

More general advice can be found in our Mac security tips; and those who have been hit by a malware attack should try how to remove a virus from a Mac.

How to choose the best Mac antivirus

Features fundamental to all packages are two ways to find viruses: on-demand protection and via always-on protection. The former finds viruses by examining one file after another during scheduled scans, or when you choose to undertake a scan, perhaps because you’re worried your Mac might be infected. The speed at which the Mac antivirus app can do this is important, because some take a long time and also hog the Mac’s CPU while they do so. Waiting six hours to find out if your Mac is infected is neither convenient nor relaxing.

Always-on malware protection is what protects the user outside of the times when scans are run. If some malware arrives, perhaps via an email or a downloaded file, then the always-on protection should be able to detect it and either quarantine it (copy it to a safe folder so the user can decide what to do with it), or simply delete it. Usually a notification is shown when malware is detected in this way, but not all antimalware apps show the same amount of explanation of what’s happened – and this was one of the factors we examined in our testing.

Outside of direct malware detection, many security suites include additional tools such as ransomware protection. Ransomware is a type of malware that, once it’s infected a computer, encrypts all the user’s files and then demands a fee to decrypt them. To protect against this infection, anti-ransomware features typically block any app from writing to a user’s home folders, such as Documents or Photos, unless the app’s pre-approved (a process called whitelisting). Lots of apps come already pre-approved, of course, such as Microsoft Word, or Apple’s own Photos app. But you can add others.

Several products also include virtual private network (
VPN) add-ons. These protect an internet connection by encrypting it, and this is useful when utilising unsafe open WiFi such as that provided by a café or hotel. In our experience, these are not replacements for separate paid-for VPN services as many do not unblock video streaming services and some are cut-down versions which constantly nag you to pay extra for the full, premium versions.

Web protection via browser plugins or extensions is also a common component and aims to stop you (or your children) doing anything you regret online, such as visiting fake or infected websites or handing over personal information.

There are usually different options from each vendor, and you get more extras with the top packages, and far fewer with free ones. They might include password managers, parental controls, cloud storage – the list goes on. Generally, the underlying antimalware engine is the same in all products from the same company, so you can save money if you don’t need those additional features.

Do bear in mind that all antivirus for Mac apps are sold as yearly subscriptions. That’s right, you can’t just pay once and use forever. Often there’s a hefty discount for that first year’s subscription, but this can burn you when automatic renewal occurs a year later and the full retail price is charged: often 100% more. Alternatively, you can purchase several years’ subscriptions at once for a bigger discount.

Some of the best Mac antivirus subscriptions allow you to install the software on more than one computer (including Windows and Android devices), which can sometimes add significantly to the value – all computers, phones and tablets within a household can be protected with one subscription.

Spotting fake Mac antivirus software

Beware that, due to the fact that people are so concerned about malware threats on the Mac, there have been cases of malware disguising itself as an antivirus app, such as the Mac Auto Fixer pop-ups that appeared on some Macs suggesting that software needs to be installed (at a high price). This is similar to another fake antivirus app called MacDefender.

Another Mac antivirus company that is often thought of as unscrupulous is MacKeeper. In the past various reports have suggested it is a scam or at worst malware. In recent times MacKeeper has attempted to transform itself and leave its disreputability behind. It has, for example, gained Apple Notarization – which means the software is checked by Apple for malicious components. The company has also been working to get certifications from various bodies to prove it isn’t a PUP, including an AV-Test certificate. If you have any problems with MacKeeper we do explain how to remove it here: How to uninstall MacKeeper.

How we test Mac antivirus software

Each software package is evaluated creating a clean installation of macOS, cloning it for each AV product, and then booting separately into each one to install a different package. This was to ensure that previous app installations didn’t interfere with new ones – sometimes AV software treats other AV software as an infection.

In addition to visiting malicious websites, downloading known malicious software, and even running said malware on our Mac, we also reference the most recent reports from two labs that regularly cover macOS malware: AV Comparatives and AV-TEST. These laboratories test AV software against sets of known malware as well as products that are grouped as potentially unwanted applications (like adware).

The latter doesn’t damage or expose your computer or its files but may consume power and CPU cycles. Because the testing effectively looks at a combination of virus databases and behavior, they remain good gauges even after many months. When an antivirus for Mac software package lacks a rating from a known security research lab, we do more extensive testing with real malware.

Finally, while we gave props for a lot of different features and behaviors, we marked products down if they lacked any or all of the following:

• A nearly perfect score on macOS malware detection
• Ransomware monitoring
• Native browser plug-in or system-level Web proxy
• A high score on Windows malware detection

Privacy concerns

Using a Mac antivirus product, especially any that includes tools to also improve your online privacy, may lull you into believing you’re safe from personal and private information leaking out. That’s not quite the case. While there’s no reason to panic, you should consider a few reasonable issues.

First, an antivirus for Mac product may upload the complete text of files flagged to the cloud, where it can be analyzed by separate tools hosted there. This practice is normal and sensible: Some malware can detect when a running process may examine it, and will then engage in subterfuge. Antivirus software makers also can access their massive databases to examine files with characteristics that trigger their algorithms—certain elements that match known malware. As a result, security researchers discover new viruses, worms, Trojans horses, and the like.

However, helping the greater good means you’ll have to be comfortable with trusting a third-party with your file contents. Where appropriate, we noted privacy policy issues in individual reviews.

Second, this software may also rely partly or entirely on cloud-based checks of URLs, malware, and the like. Accordingly, an AV package might upload every URL you visit, metadata about files, signatures of files, information about your computer’s hardware, a list of running or installed applications, and more. Companies vary on their disclosure of such policies, and may not let you opt out of this kind of sharing. We note issues in each review as available.

Third, anti-virus software makers also get a sense of what behavior is happening on your computer that’s being monitored or blocked, and may use that information for their own purposes. In some cases, you can opt out of this information gathering.

Antivirus, Personal Software, Security