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Cleaning OS of malware

D

diegobgr

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 22, 2009
340
0
Hi!

A friend of mine has been using my iMac for some days.

I think that he could have infected the system with some trojan or virus. I know that he had downloaded Adobe Flash from a suspicius site.

I also had and external hard disk connected to it so it could have been affected to. if hard disk is infected and I format the iMac and then connect the hard disk to the iMac, can be the iMac affected again?

What can I do to be 100% sure that it is clean?

Clamxav show it's OK, but I want to be sure.

And finally, any advices about security in Mac OS, specially about user accounts?
 
Does your friend have your account's password?
If not, s/he can't install anything malicious.
There are currently no viruses for Mac OS X in public circulation, only a handful of trojans and other malware, which have to be installed manually via entering the administrator password.
The only anti-virus you need to protect your Mac is education and common sense.
Also know, that the term "virus" is often used to refer to other kinds of malware, but there are differences, which you can find out by reading the following:
Mac Virus/Malware Info by GGJstudios​
 
simsaladimbamba said:
Does your friend have your account's password?
If not, s/he can't install anything malicious.
Click to expand...

The fact is I gave it him to I install some apps. I regret now, but now I want to fix it.

That article looks really great, thanks!
 
I think MacDefender and the fake Adobe Flash.

Could it had infected the external hard disk?
 
Anyway, I have just formatted both external and internal disks.

Clamxav show it's clean, so no reason to be worry, right?
 
diegobgr said:
Anyway, I have just formatted both external and internal disks.

Clamxav show it's clean, so no reason to be worry, right?
Click to expand...
Right. In the future, I recommend you don't give your Mac to others or let them install software, and certainly don't give out your admin password. I also encourage you to read the Mac Virus/Malware Info link that simsaladimbamba posted. The best defense against Mac malware is an informed and careful user.
 
I have read the link carefully and it won't happen again.

I use the Lion thumb drive to boot from there and format first the the internal disk and then the external.

It's right?

Can trojans sprend themselves to external disks or pendrives, if the OS is infected?

Thanks!
 
diegobgr said:
I use the Lion thumb drive to boot from there and format first the the internal disk and then the external.
It's right?
Can trojans sprend themselves to external disks or pendrives, if the OS is infected?
Click to expand...
If you booted from your Lion thumb drive to reformat the drives, it cannot be infected. You're fine.
 
GGJstudios said:
If you booted from your Lion thumb drive to reformat the drives, it cannot be infected. You're fine.
Click to expand...

Ok, nice.

Anyway, the new installation of the OS shows it's clean.

If for any reason, I still have some trojan, I can't inffect the OS again without the admin password, right?

Thanks a lot for your help
 
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