A Mac owner found a hidden cryptominer after the machine kept overheating, and the case shows why odd heat or slowdowns deserve a look.
An AI developer who posts on Reddit as UntilHEX found a hidden cryptominer on a Mac that kept running hot. Claude Code, an AI coding tool, spotted it while helping build a temperature monitor. Macworld reported the story.
A cryptominer is software that secretly uses a computer's power to earn digital currency for someone else. This one pushed the Mac to 112 degrees Celsius (233.6 F) and 1175 percent CPU use. Modern Macs count CPU use per core, so numbers above 100 percent are common.
Claude traced the miner to a LaunchAgents folder, which holds programs that start on their own. The owner says it was there before they built anything. Claude offered to quarantine the software in a folder. It could not reach one part of macOS, so the owner removed that piece by hand. A third-party security scan followed, and the Mac ran normally again.
How the miner got onto the Mac is still unclear. Some Reddit users suspected Claude itself. The report does not confirm that.
If your Mac runs hot for no clear reason, check Activity Monitor, and install apps only from the Mac App Store or the developer's own site.
Code in an iOS 27.3 beta suggests Apple's HomeView smart display could run AI chatbots such as ChatGPT next to Siri. Nothing is confirmed.
Read more: Apple's smart home screen may soon let you talk to ChatGPTA How-To Geek writer has Claude read his Todoist list each weekday morning and brief him, with read-only access and no changes unless he says yes.
Read more: He set up Claude to read his to-do list and brief him every morningBloomberg reports Apple's CEO is pushing the head of its software team to take bolder steps on AI, which could shape features on your iPhone and Mac.
Read more: Apple's CEO pushes its software chief toward bolder AI plans
