How To Stay Safe When Downloading Software For Your Mac

Hi this is Gary with MacMost.com. Today let's talk about how to avoid malware when downloading software for your Mac. 

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So the only way to get malware on your Mac is if you actually download and install malware. But, of course, a lot of people want to install software. They need apps that can do various things on their Mac so they'll download things. If you do that and aren't careful you can end of downloading a piece of malware. So let's talk about how to safely download software for your Mac.

First let's recognize that there are two different ways to download software for your Mac. One is to use the Mac App Store. The other is to download off of websites. Now these are really completely different in terms of safety. It's almost completely safe to download from the Mac App Store. You see, to be in the Mac App Store a developer has to be registered with Apple, their identity is verified, and they're paying a fee. It's not complete impossible for somebody to slip a piece of malware into the Mac App Store but Apple does do some checks for software that is uploaded to the Mac App Store. Plus, of course, developers are held accountable. Chances are if a piece of malware were to get into the Mac App Store Apple would discover it long before you ever found that software. So downloading from the Mac App Store is pretty risk free. 

It really is all about risk versus reward. The reward being whatever functionality is app adds to your Mac. The risk being the chance of getting malware. So what you want to do is you want to make sure reward is high and risk is low. 

So the first thing you want to do is look at the reward. Is it really worth downloading this piece of software. What does it really do for you. In the past you may have downloaded a piece of software that looked kind of fun or neat. But that's a pretty low reward. So you want to avoid that. Instead think about how this is going to improve your productivity or the enjoyment of your Mac. If it's going to do so in a significant way then the reward is pretty high. But if it's just something you want to see, you want to look at how it works, or somebody told you it was kind of neat download it and give it a try. Really ask yourself do you need this software. Is it worth even a small risk. 

If it passes that test the next thing you want to do is you want to do some research on the software. It's really easy to do. All you need to do is research on the internet. Search for the name of the software. Search for the name of the software with the word malware after it or virus after it. See what comes up. Search for the name of the software with the name review after it. Keep looking though different sites. Try to avoid sites you've never heard of. But read articles and posts to sites that you may have been to before. Also pay attention to what people say in comments. If you get a lot of people talking about specific features of the app or how useful it is then that's a pretty good sign. If, on the other hand, you get lots of people talking about their Mac running slow or causing trouble for them that's a bad sign. 

Basically you're going to end up with one of three results. One is an overwhelming amount of information saying this is a good piece of software. Perhaps full reviews at legitimate websites. In that case you probably know that the risk is pretty low and you also learn, probably, that the reward is high. On the other hand you may have seen lots of bad things about the software. People complaining about it in various ways. In that case you know the risk is very high and you should probably avoid that. If you don't find hardly information or the information looks kind of fishy or promotional online then you may want to think this is actually an app that a lot of people don't use or haven't tried. So the risk is a little higher and the reward is probably a little lower.

Now if it passes that test the next thing you want to think about is where you're downloading it from. Software can be completely legitimate. We all know Microsoft Word and Adobe Photoshop for instance. But what matters even more than the software itself is where you download it from. If you're downloading it from someplace other than the official site, like Adobe or Microsoft, you could be getting anything. You could be getting a plain piece of malware or perhaps the software with malware attached to it. Always look for the official website of the company or developer that makes it. 

Simply do a search for the company name and the software name and see what comes up. You should be able to quickly and easily find the actual official website for that developer. If you can't then that's a bad sign. If you can go to that site and only download from the link at that official site. 

Now another thing you might want to do is also search for the name of the software and the word Uninstall. See what comes up. First are a lot of people complaining about the software and asking how to uninstall it. That could show a lot of risk. Also, for the people that do ask how to uninstall it are they finding a clear easy answer. Like a link to the developer's site showing exactly how to uninstall the software. Don't install a piece of software without seeing clearly how to uninstall it. It could be as simple as just dragging the app to the Trash or running the uninstaller that comes with the software. But if you find a lot of people that are frustrated by trying to figure out how to uninstall it, that tells you a lot of people want to uninstall it first of all. And that perhaps the software isn't quality software if there is no clear way to uninstall it.

Another thing to think about is are there any safer alternatives. Now that you've gathered all this information that weighs the risks and rewards for this particular piece of software ask yourself is there another app that you could use instead that has higher reward and lower risk. Is there something in the Mac App Store, for instance. If you search for another solution do you come up with another piece of software, maybe one you recognize. Or maybe one that fares better on these tests. Or maybe another one that you should be researching to see if that actually has a higher reward and lower risk.

Once you download something from the web macOS is still going to protect you in a number of ways. It's going to warn you if an app isn't properly signed by a legitimate developer. It's also going to do its own checks to see if it notices any malware. But you shouldn't rely on these. That would be like driving recklessly just relying on your seatbelt  and airbag to save you. You want to drive safely to begin with, right. Plus a lot of software falls into a gray area. It's not technically malware but it will slow down your Mac and it will show you ads and do things that you don't want it to do. Even though technically the software isn't breaking any rules it's still not something you want on your Mac. That's why you want to do your own research and your own risk reward analysis and not just rely on macOS to keep you safe.

Now if this seems like a lot of work to go through to download software for your Mac, and it should be that way.  You should think about everything that you install. You probably have friends that have Macs and never run into any trouble and other friends that have Macs and always seem to be having problems. One of the differences between those two types of people is how cautious they are with downloading third party software. You want to be the type of person that thinks about every download and weighs the risks and rewards before adding anything to your Mac.