Could I perhaps allowed a trojan?

[greennike2]

Hi there I Know there is not many known Trojans or whatever for mac but I know they do exist. I recently was in need of Microsoft office 2011 so I downloaded a a pirated copy of it. So when I installed this pirated software that i downloaded from piratebay I installed it and during the installation it made me put my admin password in in order to install it. If I recall the only way a trojan can take ahold of my computer as if I installed some program and gave it my admin password. Im very worried about this now as I always handle valuable information on my computer. The software had more than 1000 seeders on piratebay. Could this be a trojan in disguise or keylogger that I gave it permission when i installed it with the admin password it asked me for. Could this bypass my little snitch? or if it was trying to send something out would little snitch inform me? Am I being too paranoid? Should I format my computer or is it not neccesary? Id rather not go thru all that work of formatting just for being paranoid.

 

[miles01110]

You've given whatever you installed full access to your machine. It can do whatever it wants.

Note that if you pay for software you generally avoid this kind of problem.

 

[greennike2]

I feel as if there SHOULD be some type of software out there to protect against scenarios like this (such as not really thinking and installing something with the admin password) in case if this did contain any type of trojan/malware... again am I being too paranoid or who recommends I do a format? So basically would installing a fresh copy of osx mean formatting everything right and then I would undo this error or is there any extra step to formatting?

 

[miles01110]

I feel as if there SHOULD be some type of software out there to protect against scenarios like this

There is. It's called legitimate software from legitimate distributors.

 

[greennike2]

Yes I agree however I was not going to pay 150 dollars for 1 day of work. I don't even need office anymore and will delete it. I'm just worried if I perhaps installed a Trojan and if a format is necessary. But contrary to what you say I really think some one should develop a software offering protection against situations where you could accidentally give admin privileges to a program from an unknown source. Some people just don't know better. Perhaps some one could download a software off the internet which is not pirated software and could simply just be a "free anti virus for mac" for example and really be a Trojan and the person installs it and puts in admin password with out thinking nothing about it and be infected thinking hes getting this cool anti virus for mac if that makes scene. So instead of playing a role as if "you were bad you should always buy your software to avoid problems" im not looking for that type of advice because its not helping my current situation. Im looking for some one to give me an answer telling me that I should either be paranoid or just do a format or whatever action I should take or if I should just not worry about it.

 

[samh]

Yes I agree however I was not going to pay 150 dollars for 1 day of work. I don't even need office anymore and will delete it. I'm just worried if I perhaps installed a Trojan and if a format is necessary. But contrary to what you say I really think some one should develop a software offering protection against situations where you could accidentally give admin privileges to a program from an unknown source. Some people just don't know better. Perhaps some one could download a software off the internet which is not pirated software and could simply just be a "free anti virus for mac" for example and really be a Trojan and the person installs it and puts in admin password with out thinking nothing about it and be infected thinking hes getting this cool anti virus for mac if that makes scene. So instead of playing a role as if "you were bad you should always buy your software to avoid problems" im not looking for that type of advice because its not helping my current situation. Im looking for some one to give me an answer telling me that I should either be paranoid or just do a format or whatever action I should take or if I should just not worry about it.

I have no idea if you have allowed a Trojan onto your system. If it was me, and I handled sensitive data, I would format and reload.

I would also have just downloaded the trial version of Office that's free for 30 days.

And since you know so much about what would be helpful, I encourage you to go ahead and write the software you wish existed. That's the only way to know for sure it's done right, anyway.

 

[miles01110]

Yes I agree however I was not going to pay 150 dollars for 1 day of work. I don't even need office anymore and will delete it.

There's a 30 day trial you could have downloaded directly from Microsoft.

I'm just worried if I perhaps installed a Trojan and if a format is necessary.

Format it if you think you got a trojan.

But contrary to what you say I really think some one should develop a software offering protection against situations where you could accidentally give admin privileges to a program from an unknown source.

I have no idea how such a software suite would work. Comically this program you propose would block giving administrator access to a certain application or process, which in of itself would require them to enter the administrator password.

So instead of playing a role as if "you were bad you should always buy your software to avoid problems" im not looking for that type of advice because its not helping my current situation.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Im looking for some one to give me an answer telling me that I should either be paranoid or just do a format or whatever action I should take or if I should just not worry about it.

You downloaded and installed a program with administrator privileges from an untrustworthy source. If this makes you nervous, reformat it. Instead of waiting for someone to tell you what to do when you clearly have a suspicion (as evidenced by your asking the question), why not just stop wasting your own time and do the reformat?

 

[greennike2]

I guess I will just format to be on the safe side. However seriously a lot of you guys need to lighten up. I don't see why in life you must treat others this way. Im just asking for what you think I should do. Also I don't know how to write a software at all. All I can do is make a webpage. I was just saying I THINK it could be a good idea if some one were to come up with some type of protection software like I was mentioning and no I do not know anything on the subject you were treating me as if like im a "Know it All". Jesus lol can I not have a thought for maybe a good idea and be willing to express it and not have people bash on me about it and just perhaps talk about it as an idea. Hell maybe some one can make some software like that and become rich off its software. You never know but I was not implying to be a know it all. Also

"Burn your computer with fire, just to be on the safe side.
Next time, put a condom over your head before engaging in risky computing. "
Are you serious? Just another post which was not helpful. Seriously people I did nothing to disrespect you guys to just sign up here and be welcomed this way. If i did say anything which you guys don't find appealing I'm sorry but I really think some of you should lighten up a bit.

 

[neko girl]

On a more practical note, do you know whether you need Office itself? iWork is a cheaper alternative, and OpenOffice for Mac is free:
http://porting.openoffice.org/mac/

Most people really don't need Office like they think they do..

Same as Photoshop, I think.

 

[greennike2]

I am going to format now but I just wanted to confirm if this is the correct process to format everything and be malicious software free and have my privacy protected. So I have my OS X install disk I just pop it in and push install clean version right and thats it? or are there any other steps to completely getting rid of everything and starting fresh?

 

[dXTC]

I am going to format now but I just wanted to confirm if this is the correct process to format everything and be malicious software free and have my privacy protected. So I have my OS X install disk I just pop it in and push install clean version right and thats it? or are there any other steps to completely getting rid of everything and starting fresh?

Clean Install indeed wipes everything.

The other options leave previous files of some type intact on your hard drive.

 

[GGJstudios]

I recently was in need of Microsoft office 2011 so I downloaded a a pirated copy of it.

This was your first mistake. You don't have to worry about malware on a Mac, if you educate yourself and exercise some common sense.

Mac Virus/Malware Info​

 

[greennike2]

if malware dosent exist for the mac why should I have to format my computer then.

 

[bobr1952]

I guess I will just format to be on the safe side. However seriously a lot of you guys need to lighten up. I don't see why in life you must treat others this way. Im just asking for what you think I should do. Also I don't know how to write a software at all. All I can do is make a webpage. I was just saying I THINK it could be a good idea if some one were to come up with some type of protection software like I was mentioning and no I do not know anything on the subject you were treating me as if like im a "Know it All". Jesus lol can I not have a thought for maybe a good idea and be willing to express it and not have people bash on me about it and just perhaps talk about it as an idea. Hell maybe some one can make some software like that and become rich off its software. You never know but I was not implying to be a know it all. Also

"Burn your computer with fire, just to be on the safe side.
Next time, put a condom over your head before engaging in risky computing. "
Are you serious? Just another post which was not helpful. Seriously people I did nothing to disrespect you guys to just sign up here and be welcomed this way. If i did say anything which you guys don't find appealing I'm sorry but I really think some of you should lighten up a bit.

I'm sorry but you are just not going to get a lot of sympathy here for downloading pirated software and then looking for advice on what it may have done to your computer. The best thing you can learn from this is not to do it again if it is going to make you paranoid.

 

[dejo]

if malware dosent exist for the mac...

I don't believe anyone is saying that.