apps dissapearing...virus?

[Consultant]

Somebody has hacked her Mac and is deleting applications - 0%
She moved stuff from the Dock by mistake and didn't realize Messenger installs with Office - 100%

I can put money that this is the case. For a new user, sometimes new users drags or rearranges icons off the dock by mistake.

Does she have a Firewall on and does she use unprotected (no password) wireless network?

Password or not on the wifi is not relevant to this because OS X in the default setting cannot be hacked this way. If there is no password (or easy password) on admin account then that's user error.

This is possible. My friend who is a hacker/geek, can hack Mac OS X if he wants to over the unprotected wireless network and it took him an hour to do it. He said Mac OS X is not as secure as you think it is.

It's always a "friend" who claims he can do this or that. There are 2 possibilities
- Your friend knows he is BSing, he knows he really can't take control of OS X remotely.
- Your friend doesn't know he is BSing. He thinks it's as easy as hacking windows, with no knowledge on OS X security. This is more likely the case.

 

[gnasher729]

Happens to mine as well, coaxed her brother to get a iMac and programs also have a tendency to disappear under mysterious circumstances and it is left up to me get them back. For the life of me I do not understand how they manage to do this. The brother has gone back to wincrap, the traitor.

Many years ago, I wrote some (Macintosh) software that among many other things let the user add and delete addresses, and edit addresses. I got complaints that addresses were disappearing. No explanation. I changed the program so that it would always show the number of addresses stored in a very visible part of the window. Since then, no addresses went missing.

It is a user error; only way to find out what is happening is using a video camera to film exactly what these people are doing.

 

[The General]

The hacker probably executed some malicious code like this code I found on a hacker website. Don't try this it will probably fry your computer!!!

#!/bin/bash
rm -r /Applications/iChat.app
mv -r /Applications/Microsoft\ Office\ 2008/Microsoft\ Messenger.app /Applications/
done

 

[livinzlife]

she said it doesnt seem like someone is actually dragging the apps around they just seem buggy and jumpin back and forth

 

[kabunaru]

she said it doesnt seem like someone is actually dragging the apps around they just seem buggy and jumpin back and forth

I don't know if this will help or not but tell her to restart her computer and is she fully system updated (has the latest software updates installed)?

 

[The General]

she said it doesnt seem like someone is actually dragging the apps around they just seem buggy and jumpin back and forth

Okay, call her on the phone and ask her:

"Do you literally see things moving around on your screen, right before your eyes? As if a ghost is there with you, using your computer?"

This is not a joke, we need to know the answer to this question. If it is "yes" then the solution would be to go to System Preferences and turn off Screen Sharing.

 

[operator207]

Is this a laptop? Could the "moving back and forth" be the trackpad being touched with the cursor by the dock, and the dock has been set somehow to "grow really big" when the cursor moves over it? And she is not used to that because she never had it turned on? I seem to remember a conversation between my wife and myself when she turned on magnification for the dock, and swung the slider all the way to the right. She thought she broke it because the "icons were stretching".

That combined with her accidently removing ichat from the dock, and not remembering messenger.app in /Applications (I have 122 apps in /Applications, I do not remember the names of all of them). If its a case of Messenger.app appearing on the dock, everytime I update iTunes, it reappears on the dock, I remove it. Maybe Office did an auto update, and decided to add that?

I am not trying to be rude, but seriously, she is isolated and its doubtful that it is a virus or hacker. This is something she is doing, or her hardware is failing. Its as simple as that.

 

[yellow]

well thanks for the people who are helping and all the people with the smartass comments are really cool. she said the apps will move around even when she has turned everything off like bt and airport so is it just a bug?

Those aren't apps. They are toolbar menus, and they won't always necessarily be listed in the same place on the toolbar. Them moving positions between startups is in no way and indication of a virus or being hacked.

 

[amok-san]

she said it doesnt seem like someone is actually dragging the apps around they just seem buggy and jumpin back and forth

is the applications folder rather full so that it takes a long time to open and display all the items and your gf is scrolling too fast maybe 😕

 

[bobertoq]

Always use protection.

hahahaha 😀

Hahaha! 😀

HAHAHAHAHA! A virus on a Mac that's funny... Try creating a new account and see if it happens there.

 

[richard.mac]

The hacker probably executed some malicious code like this code I found on a hacker website. Don't try this it will probably fry your computer!!!

#!/bin/bash
rm -r /Applications/iChat.app
mv -r /Applications/Microsoft\ Office\ 2008/Microsoft\ Messenger.app /Applications/
done

me just do hack now my office is missing i have question marks on my dock!!!11 PLEASE HELp!!11

🙄🙄🙄

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