Help! There's malware on my Mac

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Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2010 2:11 am

I know that it's not common but I definitely have something going on. Earlier I couldn't load Eater and then was signed out of my email (baiting account) 3 times. Also every once in a while my computer suddenly goes to another website without me clicking anything. I googled about removing malware on a mac but there's conflicting posts. So, any Mac experts around? Would you please give me some guidance?
Thanks!
Fartina

Moved this here from Main - Connie Wink

Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2010 2:37 am

Fartina

What OS are you using? Snow Leopard? Leopard? Tiger? What browser?

Have you tried to clear your browser's history?

Did you repair permissions (application folder > utilities> disk utility)?

Do you keep your computer on 24/7 or shut down when not in use. The OS runs scripts at certain times to clear caches and stuff. Have you downloaded Onyx and run that?

You can always try to boot into safe mode and clear ALL caches (apple ones). Boot up with the shift key held down. It could take 10 minutes. Once booted, restart.

Did you try to log-out and log-in again

Did you try to reboot from a recent backup of your system (I'm hoping you back up religiously as I'm a stickler on that) and see what happens?

Just a few suggestions for now. I'm ready to hit the sack as I've gotta get up in 5 hours.

I'd try to clear your browser history first, then download and run Onyx. And repair permissions. I'm not sure your knowledge of the mac, but if you're a power user, you can check your activity monitor and see if anything strange is running.

Oh--glad to see another Mac user Smile

Oh--the browser thing does sound weird. It could be history and caches, but I'm not sure. I use Intego software on my mac. I know I probably don't need it, but I've used it for a few years.

{edit: sorry for all the questions and maybe stupid questions but I don't know how familiar you are with the Mac).

Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2010 6:22 am

Thanks for all your suggestions Dwatina! I'm pretty much computer retarded but I did manage to clear the browser so far.
It's OS X, 10.4.11 and we use Firefox. I'm fairly certain that the problem is as a result of my children going to a site and watching movies online. Apparently the laptop is doing the same thing where it just goes to another website on it's own. The Onyx I believe is for a more powerful computer? My husband is going to help me with the rest of your suggestions tomorrow after work. I appreciate your help! Very Happy

Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2010 11:17 am

So far as Onyx, I use it all the time (about once a month). It's good for system maintenance and only takes a few minutes to run. And it's free Smile

Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2010 12:01 pm

Hi,

iMac & MacBook user here, Snow Leopard on both. Don't know what your problem is, but I have two antivirus apps on my Macs, and I've never found a virus. You can download each free. Try http://www.iantivirus.com/ and http://www.clamxav.com/. My guess is that you can download one or the other, possibly both, scan your machine, and if you find nothing, then the problem is not a virus. I leave my iMac on constantly, and put it to sleep each night. The only time I restart it is when I do an update that requires restarting. The Macs are much less trouble than the two PC's in the house, one XP and one Vista. They constantly want updates to plug exploits.

Posted: Wed Aug 18, 2010 12:38 am

^^^Pilgrim

I've heard it's pretty dangerous to run two anti-virus apps on a computer because they can conflict with each other.

How are you making out, Fartina?

Posted: Wed Aug 18, 2010 12:49 am

^^

Re: two antivirus apps on the same machine. True, I've heard the same thing. But I only invoked one at a time, and while I did that, there's been no problem. As of right now though, I've only got the one, the iAntivirus app, because I hadn't used the other one for ages, so I blew it away.

Posted: Wed Aug 18, 2010 4:27 am

So far all that I've managed to do is erase my browser history and cookies and caches. Every time I try something there's a step that I don't have a clue about. I thought that my husband would have time to help after work today but there wasn't time.
Thanks again for the suggestions! Laughing

Baiting Guru Joined: 19 Mar 2007 Posts: 2628

Not sure about macs but my son and some friends have got rid of malware/ransomware by starting in safe mode and downloading http://www.malwarebytes.org/

Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2010 10:39 pm

Fartina--has hubby had a chance to look at it yet?

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