As many of you are already aware I currently own a 2018 MacAir (Purchased in the fall of 2019) that is clearly nearing the end of its lifespan it is a decent machine that does what I ask of it, but it is nowhere near as good as the 2015 MacBook Pro, 13 inch, that the 2018 Air replaced) and I am looking to replace it with a new MacBook Pro (either 13-14 inch). However, until that time, I am still relying on my current model. I owned one PC laptop before my first MacBook and I will never go back. Clearly the MacBook is the superior machine, especially regards to my work and studies.
With this in mind, I pose the following question and I am relying upon the kindness of posters on this forum to help me navigate what is for me highly unfamiliar territory as I am the type of individual that breathes a sigh of relief when the computer boots up successfully. I am usually that I did something or hit some button that would prevent this from happening. (I am seeing therapist for this and will probably discuss it once my other issues are resolved.) But I digress
As my machine is nearing the end it has started acting strangely in ways that make me think it maybe infected with a virus or malware. While I do not get the usual popup windows, this might be due to the adblocker I have installed, I have noticed that it behaves differently at times, including getting really hot while the fans remain stubbornly silent. Moreover, it has trouble connecting to WiFi and will sometimes drop the connection. Furthermore, when I enable certain settings, the computer refuses to recognize the parameters I set. For instance, enabling the screen to switch from normal mode to dark mode at a certain time of the day. My Mac does not make the switch unless I restart the laptop and then refresh the browser. Lastly, some of my songs downloaded from Apple Music disappear, including stuff I uploaded from my physical music library. Perhaps most disconcerting is that some of the word documents and files I have saved on my laptop have simply disappeared. There is no evidence that they were deleted but when searching for them they are nowhere to be found. (I admit that I have a ton of word documents and pdf's and I realize that I may have deleted them, saved over them, or simply forgot the name I actually saved them under and my ADHD and Aspergers only compounds the issues.) Lastly, this past June, my bank account was comprised (and the individual took nearly $8,000 slowly overtime before I even realized this was happening) and I have often wondered if my computer was compromised and that is how the thieves originally gained access to my email and passwords and were able to get in to my account and proceed to sell them on the dark web. About the only thing I recognize as being normal for a dying laptop is the battery no longer holds a charge for as long as it used to and tends to shutdown my laptop when I have approximately 30%, according to the battery indicator.
I have ran the usual diagnostics, including scanning my MacAir with antivirus software and everything seems normal. No memory seems compromised and nothing is eating up a ton of energy.
So is this normal behavior for a dying MacAir? And if not, what is the best antivirus and malware detection and removal tool that I can use to help my computer not struggle through its final months? My 2015, other than the battery no longer holding a charged worked exceptionally well and none of my files disappeared and the computer was still pretty fast. If I hadn't spilled a liter of water on the keyboard, due to mental exhaustion from taking may comprehensive exams (Spring 2019), which are just as severely mentally and physically taxing as taking them, I would still be using that machine and we would probably be having a different conversation altogether.
In any event, thank you for taking the time to read and respond to this message. I really appreciate it.
With this in mind, I pose the following question and I am relying upon the kindness of posters on this forum to help me navigate what is for me highly unfamiliar territory as I am the type of individual that breathes a sigh of relief when the computer boots up successfully. I am usually that I did something or hit some button that would prevent this from happening. (I am seeing therapist for this and will probably discuss it once my other issues are resolved.) But I digress
As my machine is nearing the end it has started acting strangely in ways that make me think it maybe infected with a virus or malware. While I do not get the usual popup windows, this might be due to the adblocker I have installed, I have noticed that it behaves differently at times, including getting really hot while the fans remain stubbornly silent. Moreover, it has trouble connecting to WiFi and will sometimes drop the connection. Furthermore, when I enable certain settings, the computer refuses to recognize the parameters I set. For instance, enabling the screen to switch from normal mode to dark mode at a certain time of the day. My Mac does not make the switch unless I restart the laptop and then refresh the browser. Lastly, some of my songs downloaded from Apple Music disappear, including stuff I uploaded from my physical music library. Perhaps most disconcerting is that some of the word documents and files I have saved on my laptop have simply disappeared. There is no evidence that they were deleted but when searching for them they are nowhere to be found. (I admit that I have a ton of word documents and pdf's and I realize that I may have deleted them, saved over them, or simply forgot the name I actually saved them under and my ADHD and Aspergers only compounds the issues.) Lastly, this past June, my bank account was comprised (and the individual took nearly $8,000 slowly overtime before I even realized this was happening) and I have often wondered if my computer was compromised and that is how the thieves originally gained access to my email and passwords and were able to get in to my account and proceed to sell them on the dark web. About the only thing I recognize as being normal for a dying laptop is the battery no longer holds a charge for as long as it used to and tends to shutdown my laptop when I have approximately 30%, according to the battery indicator.
I have ran the usual diagnostics, including scanning my MacAir with antivirus software and everything seems normal. No memory seems compromised and nothing is eating up a ton of energy.
So is this normal behavior for a dying MacAir? And if not, what is the best antivirus and malware detection and removal tool that I can use to help my computer not struggle through its final months? My 2015, other than the battery no longer holding a charged worked exceptionally well and none of my files disappeared and the computer was still pretty fast. If I hadn't spilled a liter of water on the keyboard, due to mental exhaustion from taking may comprehensive exams (Spring 2019), which are just as severely mentally and physically taxing as taking them, I would still be using that machine and we would probably be having a different conversation altogether.
In any event, thank you for taking the time to read and respond to this message. I really appreciate it.
