Hi.. I downloaded 4 or 5 torrented movies (silly mistake), and I originally had 120 gb just before. After the movies finished I had about 90, but when I downloaded one more, and left it on overnight, I awoke to my storage being 110gb.. This concerned me. Did the movies install malware on my computer that may have deleted important core files?
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Possible malware?
- Thread starter flimzy
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Nah... if you just downloaded some movies it would not give you malware. It is possible what you thought was movie could be an app that installs malware, but that would not happen on its own. You would need to launch the file then provide your password to allow the install.
It's possible one or more of your downloads didn't complete, or the estimated space was incorrect. Simply downloading files won't delete anything from your computer.
Macs are not immune to malware, but no true viruses exist in the wild that can run on Mac OS X, and there never have been any since it was released over 12 years ago. The only malware in the wild that can affect Mac OS X is a handful of trojans, which can be easily avoided by practicing safe computing (see below). 3rd party antivirus apps are not necessary to keep a Mac malware-free, as long as a user practices safe computing, as described in the following link.
Read the What security steps should I take? section of the Mac Virus/Malware FAQ for tips on practicing safe computing.