Virus-Like Behavior

[blvdeast]

Alright. I have my mac for a little over a month now and love it, but recently there has been some problems. Randomly, the timer showing how much time is left for the battery freezes, when I wake it up from sleep, the clock and ichat status in the menu disappear. And now I was playing a song with the visuals on in itunes and had to shut it off so i just closed the ibook so it will sleep (do it all the time). It shut down and I had to restart. When I tried to open itunes again, it said my library was invalid. I then deleted the library file and imported the songs again. Then went to safari and the tabs preferences and the pop-up blocker was disabled, and I had a style sheet installed to block adds, that disappeared. And finally, mail made me set up my email again. My mailboxes are there and my old emails too, but I had to enter the pop servers, and all that info. I posted this on apple's board, but I was told the problem was sidetrack, so I uninstalled, but nothing changed. I ran fix permissions, and mac janitor, no luck. I thought it might be a freak virus, but I scanned with virex, and got nothing. Anyone know what might be going on, or how to see some kind of log that might tell me what programs I installed recently? This is not a good mac exprience :(

[varmit]

you know, when in Windows 98 or whatever, and a random file gets lost for no reason, then error messages pop up for everything you do. First, do a back up, get some CD-RWs and make sure all your information you want to keep is backed up. Then start the process of deleting programs if you have installed any programs that might tweek or change anything in the OS, such as a skinner or dock remover, uninstall them. If not, I would say the OS is messed up and may need a reinstall. Hopfully its not a bad hard drive, that is the worst thing that I can think of right now.

As of now, virii aren't a problem, the Virex just checks for windows virii that a mac can pass on to another windows computer.

[dukemeiser]

Reset the VRAM. Repair permissions.

[titaniumducky]

Alright. I have my mac for a little over a month now and love it, but recently there has been some problems. Randomly, the timer showing how much time is left for the battery freezes, when I wake it up from sleep, the clock and ichat status in the menu disappear. And now I was playing a song with the visuals on in itunes and had to shut it off so i just closed the ibook so it will sleep (do it all the time). It shut down and I had to restart. When I tried to open itunes again, it said my library was invalid. I then deleted the library file and imported the songs again. Then went to safari and the tabs preferences and the pop-up blocker was disabled, and I had a style sheet installed to block adds, that disappeared. And finally, mail made me set up my email again. My mailboxes are there and my old emails too, but I had to enter the pop servers, and all that info. I posted this on apple's board, but I was told the problem was sidetrack, so I uninstalled, but nothing changed. I ran fix permissions, and mac janitor, no luck. I thought it might be a freak virus, but I scanned with virex, and got nothing. Anyone know what might be going on, or how to see some kind of log that might tell me what programs I installed recently? This is not a good mac exprience :(

Generally Repair Permissions and Restart fixes these issues, but since you've tried that, I would say there's a serious issue.

Try the below (hopefully they'll fix/reveal any problems):

1. Restart and hold Cmd-s while starting up to boot into Cmd-Prompt. Once in there, type "fsck -yf" or "fsck -y -f" without the quotes. Let this run. If it finds problems, run it until it finds none. When your done type "restart" (again without the quotes).

2. Pop in your Hardware Test CD (or DVD) included with your computer. Restart holding down the letter 'c' button to boot off the cd. Run the through/advanced/full test (I can't remember the exact name but it's the bigger/more important one). It should check RAM, VRAM, HD, etc. If it reveals a problem call AppleCare immediately.

3. :( Reinstall the OS... This is a last resort.

I'm sorry you've had to go through this - most Mac experiences never call for this kind of "WindBlows Labor."