I would say that it means a scanner running in the background all the time isn’t necessary. Read Howard’s posts for the technical details and instructions on how to check if XProtect Remediator is running on your Mac manually-you could also use the latest version of his Mints tool or his new XProCheck utility.

(XProtect has seemingly subsumed Apple’s original MRT-Malware Removal Tool-since one of those modules is MRTv3.) It’s unclear as yet what the user will see, if anything, when XProtect “remediates” (removes) malicious software, but it will likely happen silently in the background. XProtect Remediator consists of 12 modules that briefly but regularly scan your Mac for specific nasties during periods of low user activity. On his Eclectic Light Company blog, Howard Oakley has published an analysis of XProtect Remediator, a modular malware scanner that Apple built into XProtect in macOS 12.3 Monterey and backfilled into macOS 10.15 Catalina and macOS 11 Big Sur (see “ Apple Releases iOS 15.4, iPadOS 15.4, macOS 12.3 Monterey, watchOS 8.5, tvOS 15.4, and HomePod Software 15.4,” 14 March 2022). MacOS’s New XProtect Remediator Now Regularly Scans for Malware

#1651: Dealing with leading zeroes in spreadsheet data, removing ad tracking from ckbk.

#1652: OS updates, DPReview shuttered, LucidLink cloud storage.

#1653: Apple Music Classical review, Authory service for writers, WWDC 2023 dates announced.

1654: Urgent OS security updates, upgrading to macOS 13 Ventura, using smart speakers while temporarily blind.

#1655: 33 years of TidBITS, Twitter train wreck, tvOS 16.4.1, Apple Card Savings, Steve Jobs ebook.

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