I think I have malware.. but nothing seems to help

[Azamato]

Hey guys

I got the Macbook Pro 13 from late 2015 and I love it since it's perfect for my studies.

Yesterday I was grinding my studies as usual since it's exam period and as I was typing in Word a weird message came up saying mmy computer is running low on memory but it looked really weird and contrasty, because I was typing a lot I accidentaly pressed space or enter so it went away with another message that I could not read. Weird but ok.

Then I wanted to google something so I went to Safari, typed it in the browser and pressed enter. It went to google for like 1 second and then suddenly it went to Bing.
This kept happening until I search for it again and then it allows me to stay on google.
I did some research in the free time that I have and I thnk it might be malware of OSX Genio

It's a "Search Baron" type of virus, I don't know how I could get it. But I tried MalwareByte and it said It removed it but after restarting my computer it happened again.. I don't know how to delete it as I can't find anything under extensions. I don't know if it's related to each other but also in the center of my screen I have a small square glitching out when I move my homescreens from 1 to 2.


If nothing helps.. can I use a factory reset and just reinstall MacOS as a last resort..? I really can't afford losing the laptop and getting a new one.

Thanks

 

[KALLT]

Have you run MalwareBytes again to confirm that it cannot find anything anymore? Have you checked your Safari preferences and made sure that your home page and search provider are set correctly?

It can be helpful to run EtreCheck and post the report here. It will show if there are programs installed that launch in the background.

 

[IowaLynn]

Are you watching Activity Monitor?
Used. So step one to wipe clean before using.
Does it have 8GB? How about free space?
Safari Extensions?

 

[Lars B.]

Can you make backups of all your important files (on an external drive or some cloud drive)?
If so, then erasing the Mac and reinstalling macOS is the best way to be absolutely sure that the malware is gone.
After creating the backup (if it's on a cloud drive, make sure you really know the login details – passwords saved on your Mac will of course be erased, as well), reboot your Mac and immediately hold down option, cmd and R. Your Mac should then start a recovery OS over the internet. When it has loaded, open Disk Utility first. Then follow this guide and erase your startup disk. Then quit Disk Utility and use the "Reinstall macOS" option.
Finally, copy your data back from your backup.