Does my Macbook have a virus?? PLEASE HELP!!!

knew2mack · Aug 3, 2010

Hi everyone....I'm back....with yet, a frantic mind and pleading for help!!!
All of a sudden, my yahoo account has been sending emails to my entire address book, which I now know is a virus!!!!!!!!
HELP PLEASE!!!!!!!

Is this a computer issue or a browser?? I have absolutely NO IDEA how to go about fixing this problem. The link sends people to some random pharmacy site. About 6 months ago, I received a similar link, from a friend, and opened it, not thinking my friend would try to sabotage me.....now I understand that she really did NOT send it.....

Remember, for those of you that can help me, please write in newbie terms...please please please tell me this is fixable.

I THOUGHT MACS WERE PROTECTED????? Yeah, naive, I know!!!

thank you
Dawn

GGJstudios · Aug 3, 2010

There ARE no viruses in the wild that run on your Mac. Someone simply hacked or spoofed your yahoo account. Change your password. It has nothing to do with whether you're using a Mac or Windows PC.

Mac Virus/Malware Info

stridemat · Aug 3, 2010

It's not a virus! More likely is that your account has been compromised. Change the accounts password and see if that sorts it.

Xenophon · Aug 3, 2010

Download a virus scanner, update it and scan everything. True, there are no mac viruses in the wild. Everyone is quick to point this out. But there ARE trojans that run on a mac and that you might have installed while downloading something and not thinking when you were asked for your admin password.....
these could compromise your mail and other stuff.

If that scan is complete and you removed any threats that might have been there, change your mail account's password.

I think people are a bit too quick in proclaiming you don't need a scanner on a mac.

GGJstudios · Aug 3, 2010

Xenophon said:
But there ARE trojans that run on a mac

A trojan doesn't act like the symptoms the OP described. What was described is clearly someone hacking or spoofing their yahoo account.

Xenophon · Aug 3, 2010

A trojan doesn't act like the symptoms the OP described.

From the google page on trojans:

Trojan horses may allow a hacker remote access to a target computer system. Once a Trojan horse has been installed on a target computer system, a hacker may have access to the computer remotely and perform various operations, limited by user privileges on the target computer system and the design of the Trojan horse.
Operations that could be performed by a hacker on a target computer system include:
Use of the machine as part of a botnet (e.g. to perform automated spamming or to distribute Denial-of-service attacks)

I'm not saying this case definitely is one, just that you shouldn't discount the possibility out of hand.

GGJstudios · Aug 4, 2010

Xenophon said:
From the google page on trojans:
I'm not saying this case definitely is one, just that you shouldn't discount the possibility out of hand.

No existing Mac trojan does what the OP described. Hacking/spoofing mail accounts, however, does exactly what was described, most frequently with yahoo and hotmail accounts. Besides, the OP would know if they had downloaded and installed something questionable, as they would have had to enter their admin password to install it.

knew2mack · Aug 4, 2010

Great....thank you all for yr help.

Now, my new question is, should I change my admin password as well as my yahoo one? I have installed a couple of things, cannot remember them, am I able to just look at my recent downloads??

Also, we have a system that is open to our apartment, along with 6 other tenants on property...it does not require us to sign in using a password.....could this also be an issue? If so, is there a way that I can block my computer from others having access?? Do others, in fact, have access to my machine in this instance?

I'm headed to yahoo to change my password, as you all have suggested.
Thanks again
(i know u may be sitting there, thinking, 'why does this girl even havea computer....' I'm still learning!!!

GGJstudios · Aug 4, 2010

knew2mack said:
Now, my new question is, should I change my admin password as well as my yahoo one?

If your admin password is easy to guess, that's not a bad idea.

knew2mack said:
I have installed a couple of things, cannot remember them, am I able to just look at my recent downloads??

Not necessarily. Some users have the download list cleared after successful downloads. Just look at your Application folder and you should be able to recognize which apps you downloaded vs those that came preinstalled on your Mac. You can use the List View in Finder and sort your apps by "Date Modified" to give you an idea of what was installed/modified/updated most recently.

knew2mack said:
Also, we have a system that is open to our apartment, along with 6 other tenants on property...it does not require us to sign in using a password.....could this also be an issue?

Unsecured networks are always a higher risk. The network should be password protected, preferably WPA2.

knew2mack said:
If so, is there a way that I can block my computer from others having access?? Do others, in fact, have access to my machine in this instance?

Go to System Preferences > Sharing and make sure you don't have anything checked, like File Sharing.

knew2mack said:
(i know u may be sitting there, thinking, 'why does this girl even havea computer....' I'm still learning!!!

We all start somewhere!

TopHatPlus · Aug 4, 2010

knew2mack said:
Great....thank you all for yr help.

Now, my new question is, should I change my admin password as well as my yahoo one? I have installed a couple of things, cannot remember them, am I able to just look at my recent downloads??

Also, we have a system that is open to our apartment, along with 6 other tenants on property...it does not require us to sign in using a password.....could this also be an issue? If so, is there a way that I can block my computer from others having access?? Do others, in fact, have access to my machine in this instance?

I'm headed to yahoo to change my password, as you all have suggested.
Thanks again
(i know u may be sitting there, thinking, 'why does this girl even havea computer....' I'm still learning!!!

haha you are a little hard on yourself >_< some people do get out of the house (like myself) and have more knowledge of waxing a snowboard then phishing scams >_< hehe but once you know it you tend to retain =D haha

sounds like a simple yahoo password issue to me as well i think 15% of the people in my contact list have that currently happening and i just simply delete them.

knew2mack · Aug 4, 2010

Ok, now I'm wondering if I have a trojan, after reading the link you sent GGJstudios.

[[[There are, as of this time, trojans that can affect Mac OS X, but these must be downloaded and installed by the user, which involves entering the user's administrator password. Also, Mac OS X will give you a warning when you first launch an app you downloaded from the web. Trojans can easily be avoided by the user exercising common sense and caution when installing applications. A common source of trojans is pirated software, typically downloaded from bit torrent sites.]]]

How can I tell if my machine does have one? If I do, what's my next move? I'm so worried that I have been compromised and there is no way out, except taking it to a Mac store.....which, i am certain costs a pretty penny...probably prettier than the penny that I have.

Ok, I'm holding my breath for good, no great news on this issue!!!!

TopHatPlus · Aug 4, 2010

hahaha good anti virus software should work quite well, i do no have any recommendations because i do not use or have any =D hahaha 4 years no issues. Do you have any apple care left on it maybe that could cover it?

ARF900 · Aug 4, 2010

Not a computer or browser issue, all your contacts are in your yahoo account, just change the password of your yahoo account and problem solved.

knew2mack · Aug 4, 2010

I forgot to mention, GGJ, that all of my email 'friends' have been sent this thing, without me actually doing anything????? Is that a worm? Trojan? Is there a way for me to do a scan that will allow me to tell whether or not one/any of these things that I don't want, are in fact, present??

GGJstudios · Aug 4, 2010

knew2mack said:
I forgot to mention, GGJ, that all of my email 'friends' have been sent this thing, without me actually doing anything????? Is that a worm? Trojan? Is there a way for me to do a scan that will allow me to tell whether or not one/any of these things that I don't want, are in fact, present??

As I said in post #7 in this thread, "No existing Mac trojan does what the OP described. Hacking/spoofing mail accounts, however, does exactly what was described, most frequently with yahoo and hotmail accounts." How many times does it have to be said before it sinks in: your yahoo account was hacked/spoofed, most likely because your password was easy to guess. No existing Mac trojan does what you described. You don't have a trojan. If you want more proof, copy and paste here the exact text of the spam message being sent to your contacts.

knew2mack · Aug 4, 2010

GGJstudios said:
As I said in post #7 in this thread, "No existing Mac trojan does what the OP described. Hacking/spoofing mail accounts, however, does exactly what was described, most frequently with yahoo and hotmail accounts." How many times does it have to be said before it sinks in: your yahoo account was hacked/spoofed, most likely because your password was easy to guess. No existing Mac trojan does what you described. You don't have a trojan. If you want more proof, copy and paste here the exact text of the spam message being sent to your contacts.

WOW ggj, althoug I have to thank you for yr suggestions, or info, but I prefer to deal with people that are....well, ar least nice. Absolutely NO reason for you to come off to me with "HOW MANY TIMES DOES IT TAKE.....

There are plenty of us out there who are just learning how to use computers & don't have any $$$ to take any classes. We come to these sites, not to be ridiculed or insulted.

With that said, I have the link that my contacts are claiming I sent, below.

http://butlerquti.cfun.fr/lykigu.html

Thanks so much
Dawn

GGJstudios · Aug 4, 2010

knew2mack said:
WOW ggj, althoug I have to thank you for yr suggestions, or info, but I prefer to deal with people that are....well, ar least nice. ....

I'm not trying to be unkind, but you have been told the same thing by several people in this thread, and you continue to act as if you don't believe us. If you're not willing to accept what everyone is telling you, what's the point of asking for help?

knew2mack · Aug 4, 2010

Ooooppppsssss

I also wanted to add/ask if there is anything on a Mac, that allows you to do what defragmenting does on a pc???

again, thanks everyone

GGJstudios · Aug 4, 2010

knew2mack said:
Ooooppppsssss

I also wanted to add/ask if there is anything on a Mac, that allows you to do what defragmenting does on a pc???

again, thanks everyone

The file system used on Macintosh computers is designed to work with a certain degree of fragmentation. This is normal and does not significantly affect performance for the majority of users. You should not need to frequently defragment the computer's hard disk.

About disk optimization with Mac OS X

You probably won't need to optimize at all if you use Mac OS X. Here's why:

Hard disk capacity is generally much greater now than a few years ago. With more free space available, the file system doesn't need to fill up every "nook and cranny." Mac OS Extended formatting (HFS Plus) avoids reusing space from deleted files as much as possible, to avoid prematurely filling small areas of recently-freed space.

Mac OS X 10.2 and later includes delayed allocation for Mac OS X Extended-formatted volumes. This allows a number of small allocations to be combined into a single large allocation in one area of the disk.

Fragmentation was often caused by continually appending data to existing files, especially with resource forks. With faster hard drives and better caching, as well as the new application packaging format, many applications simply rewrite the entire file each time. Mac OS X 10.3 Panther can also automatically defragment such slow-growing files. This process is sometimes known as "Hot-File-Adaptive-Clustering."

Aggressive read-ahead and write-behind caching means that minor fragmentation has less effect on perceived system performance.

For these reasons, there is little benefit to defragmenting.

knew2mack · Aug 4, 2010

I am not here to argue OR be insulted. It has nothing to do with 'believing' any tips or suggestions....it's doubt in myself. I do not have $$ to fix any little or stupid thing that I mess up, purely out of ignorance.

ggj, you said if i needed/wanted more proof to copy/paste message being sent....i did so.....now, how does that help?

once again, I do appreciate what everyone has had to say, you guys have helped me a lot. Anytime I have any uncertainties or concerns, I immediately come running to you all.

So, please, can we all try our best to treat one another with respect?? i'm just asking for help!!! regardless of how many times i have been told.....

GGJstudios · Aug 4, 2010

knew2mack said:
I am not here to argue OR be insulted. It has nothing to do with 'believing' any tips or suggestions....it's doubt in myself. I do not have $$ to fix any little or stupid thing that I mess up, purely out of ignorance.

ggj, you said if i needed/wanted more proof to copy/paste message being sent....i did so.....now, how does that help?....

No one insulted you. My question was a natural one, given the fact that you continued to act as if you didn't believe the answers you were given.

The link you pasted doesn't help. I was looking for the text of the email message. It's likely the link, which is a redirect, is different in each email. The subject line and the body of the email message will likely be the same, and make it easier to identify the spam.

Just so you know, there's no reason for any of us to misdirect or misinform you. If your symptoms sounded like you had a trojan or other malware on your computer, we would advise accordingly. Your situation is very common and is attributable solely to hacking/spoofing an email account. The fact that the account in question is a yahoo account is further proof.

Does my Macbook have a virus?? PLEASE HELP!!!

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