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R-men

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 28, 2007
6
0
Yerevan, Armenia
Yesterday I suddenly got a firewall message asking to allow incoming connection for "distensible" which, of course, I denied. the name sounded very strange to me and I tried to locate it on my Mac. the search revealed a folder "distensible" in Library folder. the folder was created the same day.

DistensibleinLibrary.jpg


It seemed a bit strange to me that this folder was not capitalized ... all other Library folders start with capital letter and I never created anything in Library folder. so i decided to delete it. when I tried to empty trash after moving "distensible" folder to trash, I got this other message:

TrashBinEmptyingerrormessage.jpg


As far as I understand, QtCore is Quicktime which i never used yesterday.

Here is a screenshot of my Firewall permissions in regards with this infamous "distensible"

Firewallincomingconnectionsrequests.jpg


So my question is: should I worry about this "distensible"? what is it - a malware or a regular system file? can I safely remove it from my system if it's an unnecessary file/folder?

i'm using MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2012), OS X Yosemite (10.10.5) if it matters.

Thanks
 

Queen6

macrumors G4
I would run a scan with Malwarebytes for Mac and Bitdefender Antivirus Scanner (Apple Store). Malware is continuously evolving nor is OS X immune. I too would be concerned and investigate the same, "distensible" is not on any of my Mac`s, it may very well be benign, equally I would dig into it, especially as the software is requesting for external connections.

For those of you who don't need or want an "active" solution, try Bitdefender Antivirus Scanner from the App store; it`s free, nonintrusive, and runs only when you want it to. The scanner does not offer much in the line of protection being very much an on demand tool, equally for the majority of OS X users, most just want to validate that the drive is free of malicious code be it related to OS X or Windows. Where Bitdefender`s Scanner excels is detection & simplicity having no daemons or start up agents etc.

You get Bitdefender`s top notch detection in a basic package that you control, however this is not for those who are looking for a set & forget solution, as all scans are manual, and updates only occur when you open the application. That being said an Apple Script, Calendar can easily trigger the application at a given interval. The scanner learns and only scans new & modified files, so in general running a scan for malicious code is swift & painless, once the first pass is competed. Custom scans and Drag & Drop area all present.

Depending on usage/workflow an "active" Malware application is not always the best solution, and there is also the argument that such "active" solutions can be a double-edged sword potentially increasing the "attack surface" against sophisticated threats. Security is very much a multifaceted beast, malware prevention/detection is for both OS X & Windows just one aspect, which is always worth thinking on

Q-6
 

Riwam

macrumors 65816
Jan 7, 2014
1,095
244
Basel, Switzerland
Yesterday I suddenly got a firewall message asking to allow incoming connection for "distensible" which, of course, I denied. the name sounded very strange to me and I tried to locate it on my Mac. the search revealed a folder "distensible" in Library folder. the folder was created the same day.

View attachment 610797

It seemed a bit strange to me that this folder was not capitalized ... all other Library folders start with capital letter and I never created anything in Library folder. so i decided to delete it. when I tried to empty trash after moving "distensible" folder to trash, I got this other message:

View attachment 610798

As far as I understand, QtCore is Quicktime which i never used yesterday.

Here is a screenshot of my Firewall permissions in regards with this infamous "distensible"

View attachment 610799

So my question is: should I worry about this "distensible"? what is it - a malware or a regular system file? can I safely remove it from my system if it's an unnecessary file/folder?

i'm using MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2012), OS X Yosemite (10.10.5) if it matters.

Thanks
******
Sometimes I cannot delete things in my trash with an info it is being used by something.
However I cannot find that "something".
Running a tool which includes emptying the trash solves that for me.
I like very much the free tools of Titanium Software.
Onyx or Maintenance include at the end emptying the trash.
Ed
 

Goatllama

macrumors 6502a
Jun 24, 2015
627
658
Mountaintop Lair
I see your thread on Apple discussions as well. ;)

Can you 'Command I' any further info from this file that might point us in the right direction? Google is no help, even with quotation marks, so I'm assuming this was installed by an application that is not called distensible.
 
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Reactions: Weaselboy

Weaselboy

Moderator
Staff member
Jan 23, 2005
34,171
15,691
California
I see your thread on Apple discussions as well. ;)

Can you 'Command I' any further info from this file that might point us in the right direction? Google is no help, even with quotation marks, so I'm assuming this was installed by an application that is not called distensible.
Yeah... I Googled the heck out of this also and found nothing.

OP> Can you show us what is in those Frameworks and Plugins folders also?
 
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