Ransomware is nasty. This especially invasive form of malware encrypts your files and demands a ridiculous sum to get them back, essentially holding your computer at ransom. It's awful, but thankfully, you can combat it.

Malware isn't as much of a problem on Mac as on Windows, but it's not unheard of to run into security issues. If you want to be on the safe side, the free tool RansomWhere? will halt any processes that attempt to encrypt your files and alerts you of its happening.

You can choose to allow the process to continue if you deem it a false positive (make sure to double-check this) or immediately kill it should it be rogue.

To install, simply download the ZIP file from its website, then launch it and type your system credentials to authorize it (since it needs administrator access). If you decide you'd like to uninstall the utility, just open the APP file from the ZIP you downloaded again and choose to uninstall it.

Hopefully you never run into ransomware for Mac (and you should be backing up anyway to minimize its harmful effects), but this is a great way to reduce the threat of this headache.

Already having an issue with ransomware on your Mac? Learn how to remove the threat.

Have you ever had an encounter with ransomware? Let us know if you'll use this tool below!

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