Possible virus/OS issue?

[jsw]

Possible new virus?

This thread and this one report very similar issues, both happening recently. Mainly, prefs seem to be getting trashed.

I assume this is just coincidence, but has anyone else seen this? I don't want to raise concern, but, if something is happening, it might serve as a good reminder to backup your stuff.

 

[rainman::|:|]

There's nothing unusual about this problem, or it happening to two people. For a variety of reasons important files wind up trashed. I have not seen any indication in either thread that the person repaired permissions, which can cause the same symptoms to appear, and should have been the first step in both cases. I see nothing to make me believe there's a virus afoot.

paul

 

[7on]

having a nearly full drive is the culprit. OSX if based on Unix and Unix uses swap files and the like. Now most OSes based on Unix create different drives for this swap space, OSX does not (so there is less config and so the common user doesn't have to know how to set up swap space). Anyhoo, OSX likes 10% of a drive to be free (as I've seen). Have a 60GB? make sure you leave 6GB free. Stuff like that. if not, the OS starts deleting the unimportant files like plists. Not really a big deal though, since they're just plists.

 

[jsw]

The first person had repaired permissions without seeing any relief. The second person had a new PB with little on it, so full disk wasn't likely the culprit there.

I assumed there wasn't anything generally wrong in the Mac world. I just wondered if anyone had seen anything similar today. Glad to see that it's not a general problem.

I just occasionally worry that we feel too secure about virus issues, and that the first well-crafted one is going to wreak a lot of havoc. Of course, I guess that's true, by definition.

Anyway, I'm happy it's a non-issue. Except, of course, for the two users in those threads.

 

[upperblue79]

I just occasionally worry that we feel too secure about virus issues, and that the first well-crafted one is going to wreak a lot of havoc. Of course, I guess that's true, by definition.

Anytime I reboot my computer Virex starts up and I quickly tell it to close cause I got tired of it, but it does run in the background and lets me go about my business so I should just let it do its thing.

 

[tjwett]

Virex is wasting clock cycles, screwing up your file system, and causing more trouble than it's worth. there are not any viruses for OS X. period.

and jsw, is that a BeBox in your icon?!? i'm a huge BeOS fan, using it right now.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

When I have File Vault turned on, my menu bar widgets (like resolution, AirPort, iChat, Bluetooth, and battery status,) get messed up. Some disappear every time (Bluetooth,) some appear even if I tell them to go away (PPPoE,) and no matter what, they rearrange themselves. (The clock doesn't always stay farthest right.)

Turning File Vault off fixed the problem. Turning it back on, and the problem came back.