Mac virus, router setting, or something else.....?

[hungry ghost]

Hi, I'm having problems accessing some URLs since my ISP suffered a temporary outage last week. I've checked with them and they confirm there are no restrictions on usage – they suggested it was possibly a virus.

I reset my router and most things are fine. The sites I'm trying to access are not adult/illegal ones but include regular sites. This happens on Safari and Firefox alike. When accessing, I get redirected to the same page each time: http://www.blocked-website.com/ which carries the message "Sorry, but [website.com] is blocked on this network".

Is this likely to be a router setting I can unblock or possibly a virus? Any ideas what to do?

Thanks in advance!

[Running Power PC G5; OS 10.5.8; Safari 4.0.2 with a Netgear DG834G router.]

 

[GGJstudios]

they suggested it was possibly a virus.

It's not possible, as no Mac OS X viruses exist in the wild. You don't need any 3rd party antivirus app to keep your Mac malware-free. Macs are not immune to malware, but no true viruses exist in the wild that can run on Mac OS X, and there never have been any since it was released over 10 years ago. If you practice safe computing, the only malware in the wild that can affect Mac OS X is a handful of trojans, which cannot infect your Mac unless you actively install them, and they can be easily avoided with some basic education, common sense and care in what software you install. Also, Mac OS X Snow Leopard and Lion have anti-malware protection built in, further reducing the need for 3rd party antivirus apps.

Mac Virus/Malware FAQ​

When accessing, I get redirected to the same page each time: http://www.blocked-website.com/ which carries the message "Sorry, but [website.com] is blocked on this network".

Check your DNS settings by reading: Why am I being redirected to other sites?

 

[SkippyThorson]

It's not possible, as no Mac OS X viruses exist in the wild. You don't need any 3rd party antivirus app to keep your Mac malware-free. Macs are not immune to malware, but no true viruses exist in the wild that can run on Mac OS X, and there never have been any since it was released over 10 years ago. If you practice safe computing, the only malware in the wild that can affect Mac OS X is a handful of trojans, which cannot infect your Mac unless you actively install them, and they can be easily avoided with some basic education, common sense and care in what software you install. Also, Mac OS X Snow Leopard and Lion have anti-malware protection built in, further reducing the need for 3rd party antivirus apps.

Mac Virus/Malware FAQ​

Check your DNS settings by reading: Why am I being redirected to other sites?

Thank you for always having this reply ready. I always await your reply to threads which mention "Viruses" around here. I hope that the info you provide is so widely distributed that it's having an impact - I seem to see a lot less "Virus" threads around these days.

 

[hungry ghost]

Thanks for the quick reply, I've never had a known virus problem in 10+ years of mac use so it was a bit puzzling.

I followed the instructions, and it turns out that in my DNS options the first DNS setting is greyed out (it is the number of my router). According to the link http://qmail.jms1.net/djbdns/osx.shtml#dhcp-nameserver I need to amend this but I'm not sure even where to do that? Terminal?

(But, according to the Apple doc https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1660439?start=0&tstart=0 it seems it shouldn't matter what order the settings are in though.....?)

I'm just wary of getting into these tweaks as I'm out of my depth tinkering at this level. Is this the only way?

 

[GGJstudios]

I followed the instructions, and it turns out that in my DNS options the first DNS setting is greyed out (it is the number of my router).

Don't worry about that one. Just add the OpenDNS or Google DNS servers.

I'm just wary of getting into these tweaks as I'm out of my depth tinkering at this level. Is this the only way?

It's not really what I would call a "tweak". It's a pretty basic setting, although many computer users don't even know what a DNS server is or does. It's really perfectly safe to add those settings.

 

[hungry ghost]

Don't worry about that one. Just add the OpenDNS or Google DNS servers.

It's not really what I would call a "tweak". It's a pretty basic setting, although many computer users don't even know what a DNS server is or does. It's really perfectly safe to add those settings.

Great, the Google servers now work. Interestingly, the OpenDNS don't (the latter I already had listed as my DNS settings).

I'm comfortable changing network settings but it was the Terminal changes that looked too much for me! (But, yes, I'm afraid I'm one of those who don't really know what a DNS does... )

 

[GGJstudios]

Great, the Google servers now work.

I'm afraid I'm one of those who don't really know what a DNS does...

That's OK. You don't need to understand it all, as long as your problem is fixed.

 

[Shrink]

That's OK. You don't need to understand it all, as long as your problem is fixed.

He just says that because he has no idea what DNS is.

See, we all think GGJ knows all this stuff, but the truth is that whenever he wants to give an answer, he calls ME and I have to give him all the answers.

Sorry, GGJ, but the truth had to come out sometime!

 

[hungry ghost]

Yup, all seems good now with the Google DNS.

Many thanks for your help!