The safest place to get apps for your Mac is the App Store. Apple reviews each app in the App Store before it’s accepted and signs it to ensure that it hasn’t been tampered with or altered. If there’s ever a problem with an app, Apple can quickly remove it from the store.
If you have a lot of apps, when you do your first synch, uncheck the Synch Apps Automatically, then you can choose which apps to synch and organize them in iTunes. BEFORE DOING STEPS 3 AND 4, TAKE SOME SCREEN SHOTS OF WHERE YOUR APPS ARE SO YOU CAN PUT THEM BACK WHERE YOU WANT THEM. Shut down your Mac. Load macOS Recovery by holding ⌘ and r (two fingers) while you start your Mac with a third finger. At the macOS Utilities screen, release those two fingers. Choose Get Help Online. Safari will launch, but it will lack your bookmarks, favorites, history and other preferences. Determine if you can open those websites while.
If you download and install apps from the internet or directly from a developer, macOS continues to protect your Mac. When you install Mac apps, plug-ins, and installer packages from outside the App Store, macOS checks the Developer ID signature to verify that the software is from an identified developer and that it has not been altered. By default, macOS Catalina also requires software to be notarized, so you can be confident that the software you run on your Mac doesn't contain known malware. Before opening downloaded software for the first time, macOS requests your approval to make sure you aren’t misled into running software you didn’t expect.
Google duo app on mac.
Running software that hasn’t been signed and notarized may expose your computer and personal information to malware that can harm your Mac or compromise your privacy.
Running software that hasn’t been signed and notarized may expose your computer and personal information to malware that can harm your Mac or compromise your privacy.
View the app security settings on your Mac
By default, the security and privacy preferences of your Mac are set to allow apps from the App Store and identified developers. For additional security, you can chose to allow only apps from the App Store.
In System Preferences, click Security & Privacy, then click General. Click the lock and enter your password to make changes. Select App Store under the header “Allow apps downloaded from.”
Open a developer-signed or notarized app
If your Mac is set to allow apps from the App Store and identified developers, the first time that you launch a new app, your Mac asks if you’re sure you want to open it.
An app that has been notarized by Apple indicates that Apple checked it for malicious software and none was detected:
Prior to macOS Catalina, opening an app that hasn't been notarized shows a yellow warning icon and asks if you're sure you want to open it:
If you see a warning message and can’t install an app
If you have set your Mac to allow apps only from the App Store and you try to install an app from elsewhere, your Mac will say that the app can't be opened because it was not downloaded from the App Store.*
If your Mac is set to allow apps from the App Store and identified developers, and you try to install an app that isn’t signed by an identified developer or—in macOS Catalina—notarized by Apple, you also see a warning that the app cannot be opened.
If you see this warning, it means that the app was not notarized, and Apple could not scan the app for known malicious software.
![Mac Mac](/uploads/1/3/4/2/134262043/391085086.png)
You may want to look for an updated version of the app in the App Store or look for an alternative app.
If macOS detects a malicious app
If macOS detects that an app has malicious content, it will notify you when you try to open it and ask you to move it to the Trash.
How to open an app that hasn’t been notarized or is from an unidentified developer
Running software that hasn’t been signed and notarized may expose your computer and personal information to malware that can harm your Mac or compromise your privacy. If you’re certain that an app you want to install is from a trustworthy source and hasn’t been tampered with, you can temporarily override your Mac security settings to open it.
In macOS Catalina and macOS Mojave, when an app fails to install because it hasn’t been notarized or is from an unidentified developer, it will appear in System Preferences > Security & Privacy, under the General tab. Click Open Anyway to confirm your intent to open or install the app.
The warning prompt reappears, and you can click Open.*
The app is now saved as an exception to your security settings, and you can open it in the future by double-clicking it, just as you can any authorized app.
*If you're prompted to open Finder: control-click the app in Finder, choose Open from the menu, and then click Open in the dialog that appears. Enter your admin name and password to open the app.
There are many ways in which your Mac logs and displays your recent activity to make it easier to find things you’ve been working on. This is usually very useful. However, if you share your Mac with other users, work in a communal area, or just don’t anyone to see your Recents, you may want to clear that recent activity. In this article, we’ll show you how to do that.
There is an easy way to clear recent activity on your Mac, whether it’s Recent Items on your Mac or websites you’ve visited recently in any web browser. CleanMyMac X’s Privacy module can do all of that and protect your privacy in lots of other ways, such as revoking permissions for apps that have access to your webcam or microphone.
What is the Recents folder on your Mac?
As we said, there are several ways in which your Mac allows you to access things you’ve been working on quickly. One of those is the Recents folder that appears in the sidebar of Finder windows, and which, when your Mac is new, is the place where new Finder windows open.
That folder is what’s known as a Smart Folder. It doesn’t exist as a real folder with contents; it contains shortcuts to files according to the smart search parameters used to create the folder. In this case, those parameters are recently-opened files.
You can’t delete the Recents folder since it doesn’t exist. However, you can remove it from the Finder sidebar so that it’s much more difficult to access (Note that it will still be accessible from the Finder’s Go menu or by pressing Command-Shift-F).
How to turn off recents in Finder
- Open Finder from the Dock.
- From the Finder menu, choose Preferences.
- Select Sidebar in the tabs at the top of the window that opens.
- Uncheck the box next to Recents.
- Click the red button to close the Preferences window.
Now, the Recents tab will disappear from Finder.
How to clear Recent Items on your Mac
Recent Items may sound similar to the Recents folder, but it is completely different. It’s accessible from the Apple menu and tracks the most recently-opened applications and files, and the servers to which you have most recently connected.
Clearing the list of recent items is easy:
- Go to the Apple menu and select Recent Items.
- Move the pointer down to the bottom of the list and click Clear Menu.
That will remove all items from the menu. However, it won’t stop the list from filling in again as you use your Mac. You just have to remember to clear it when you’re finished.
How to delete recent searches in a web browser
Your browsing history also gives out your recent activity. So, it’s better to clear the history before someone else will take over your Mac.
- Launch Safari and click the History menu.
- Mouse down to Clear History and select it.
You can also clear history in Safari, by choosing Show History from the History menu and pressing the Clear History button. And you can remove individual items by right-clicking or Control-clicking them and selecting Delete.
![Open Open](/uploads/1/3/4/2/134262043/111678188.png)
Chrome
Allow Unsecure Apps Gmail
- Launch Chrome and click the History menu.
- Choose Show Full History.
- Select Clear browsing data from the sidebar.
- In the window that opens, select Browsing History and press Clear Data.
Alternatively, to remove individual pages, check the box next to the page in the History tab and press Delete.
Firefox
- Launch Firefox and click the History menu.
- To clear all pages from your History, choose Clear Recent History, or
- To remove individual pages, select Show All History.
- If you want to delete a page from your history, right-click or Control-click it and choose Delete Page. To remove all the pages associated with a particular site, choose Forget About this Site.
If you use a web browser other than those listed above, the process is very similar. Locate the history menu and look for an option to delete recent sites, or view all history and look for the option there.
You can also remove recent files from Apple apps like Text Edit and Pages.
- Click the File menu.
- Choose “Open recent.”
- Select Clear Menu.
Some-third party apps offer similar features, so if you want to clear recent files in an app, start with the File menu and look for an option to open recent files. There should also be an option to clear them.
How to clear recent files the easy way
CleanMyMac X’s Privacy module has several tools to help you prevent others from tracking your activity on your Mac. Here is how to use it.
- Download CleanMyMac X, install and launch the app.
- Choose the Privacy module and press Scan.
- Quit open browsers, if asked.
- Check the box next to the Recent Items Lists.
- To clear browser history, click each browser listed and check the box next to Browsing History.
- When you’re done, press Remove.
Google Unsecure Apps
You will have noticed that the Privacy module also allows you to revoke application permissions to access your camera, microphone, or particular folders on your Mac. You can also clear the list of Wi-Fi networks you’ve connected to. This will prevent your Mac from automatically connecting to the unsecure open hotspots.
Allow Unsecure Apps
Clearing recent items isn’t as simple as it sounds. Those recent items are stored and logged in multiple places on your Mac, depending on what apps and browsers you use. However, by following the steps above, you can clear up most of your activity traces, preventing others who have access to your Mac from tracking your activity. If you use CleanMyMac X, it’s even easier, and you’ll have access to several other privacy tools.