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Jedi5

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 16, 2009
573
33
North Burbs, IL
Buddy calls me up telling me that his email account started sending
out random emails to his contacts. He asked if it was a virus and I said
doubt it as you have an iMac. Could be a trojan/malware.

He said his kids downloaded a game and that's when it all started.
Told him to install clamxav and run it.
Is there anyway to know when it is completely gone?
anything else he should run or do?
 

GGJstudios

macrumors Westmere
May 16, 2008
44,539
941
It's far more likely that the email account was compromised, which can be done without involving the user's computer in any way. They should change their email passwords to long and complex passwords, to make them harder to guess.

It's not very likely that malware is involved at all. 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 12 years ago. The only malware in the wild that can affect Mac OS X is a handful of trojans, which can be easily avoided by practicing safe computing (see below). 3rd party antivirus apps are not necessary to keep a Mac malware-free, as long as a user practices safe computing, as described in the following link.
Read the What security steps should I take? section of the Mac Virus/Malware FAQ for tips on practicing safe computing.
 

Jedi5

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 16, 2009
573
33
North Burbs, IL
Yep, thanks for those links!

Eh, he ended up going to Office Max and buying WebRoot?...
Never heard of it.

Thanks for the help!
 
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