Best to be sure… reinstalling Mac OS is the easiest way to give complete piece of mind when you don’t know what’s been done to the system before it’s in your hands. Except from receiving the laptop new.
You are correct that any website CAN deploy malware on your Mac. There is a big difference between can and will. Legitimate websites are not going to intentionally do this. It will quickly be found out, and then the website will lose all their traffic. This means they won’t make money.
Well, if you didn’t go to that website yourself, that means someone else has access to your computer. that’s your problem right there not the fact that you might have malware. Removing whatever is not going to do you any good if someone else can just login again.
Using an ad blocker is not going to make you invulnerable to malware. The way to not get malware is stay off random unknown websites and don’t click links in emails. If you really need to go to some crazy website's because curiosity is burning a hole in you then use a Chromebook.
Yes, new operating systems require new hardware at some point. Apple will update older operating systems to a point, but they still can have security vulnerabilities.
It happens all the time. There was a news article about this not too long ago. Much of this is just to steal information. They will install malware or more correctly. The user will install the malware and then it will collect keystrokes or whatever to gather usernames and passwords.
I agree they’re not very good. I don’t use any type of anti malware. No type of security can make up for user error.
If you’re trying to keep obsolete hardware running then yeah you don’t want to update it all the way. If you have modern hardware, then it’s fine. I like older hardware to play around with, but I’d rather use modern stuff for my day to day use. You’re always going to be more secure with an updated operating system.
You can definitely set it up so the old AppleID is just for email. I have multiple Apple addresses I monitor. Not sure what the message is you’re getting, but you should be able to troubleshoot this. I’d try the Apple Support Community forums.It was my mistake to allow someone in my household access to my computer without supervision. I NEVER do that... except this one timeIt will never happen again, and I'm pissed at myself for letting it happen. I am extremely vigilant when it comes to my digital life. I'm "that guy" that wears the tin foil hat. Unfortunately, my guard was down this time.
I appreciate the uninstall info on Malwarebytes.
I didn't get the info about the OF site using history. It was confessed to me AFTER the visit.
It seems that I have confused some helpful posters, so I need to clarify that I didn't actually use the old, recovered .me account, by signing in through OS system settings or the Apple mail app.
When I tried to add the old ID as an account in Apple Mail, using the iCloud option, there was a prompt stating that I would be using the old ID as the Apple ID for the system. I wasn't going to risk having the old account messing up my settings, docs etc.
I was surprised that adding a mail account to Apple Mail wanted to replace my Apple ID on my MBP.
What I did was recover the ID, then signed in to iCloud using the browser.
It's definitely possible that this is a "whoops, everything is behaving a little strange because AppleID has changed" moment. More than that, it's the timing of the Only Fans discovery/confession, built in keyboard / forced reinstall of USB-C hub / external keyboard not working that has me worried. One of the first things I thought of was malware, and that's what has thrown me, and prompted my posting this thread.
I have always used one account as I'm (up until now) the only person using this machine. I need better digital hygiene, and I will create a different user, without admin permissions, if I decide to use the old ID for anything other than mail.
My history has not been synced with the old Apple ID. I was told about the OF access - I may not have been clear about that.
You can have a primary Apple ID enabled and then use another Apple ID in the App Store on the same user account.
...which you only got to because uBlock Origin and Adblocker Ultimate weren't on your Safari to make that page element invisible to your inadvertent click. (Malware doesn't hide in "normal"-looking ads; it's linked by fake stuff that looks the normal content you're trying to read.)
Sure, it's important to get right on that because exactly 0.00% of Mac-specific malware comes in email.
You don't understand: security-theater panic-mongering is the new marketing zeitgeist at Apple, where you are to live in abject terror that your computer become three years old and its installed OS fall off the currently-supported list (but not to worry, as they'll have new OSes that make your previously fast machine run like its legs are stuck in a pot of glue).
