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there appears to be a virus for the mac

K

killwill169

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 3, 2009
31
0
okay, so today i turned on my imac, the 2005 white version, and was downloading a chinese movie. the movie finished downloading, i opened it to check it was working with some subtitles i had downloaded. somewhere during this time i was also updating or doing something with norton antivirus, and it gives me a message that the vulnerability protection is corrupted or something like that. i ignore this for the time being.

then i went to work on a powerpoint. halfway, i needed some pictures so i opened iphoto, but iphoto wouldnt open. iphoto had the question mark in the dock, which means that finder cant find it. as a result, i immediately went to the applications folder and saw each of my applications being deleted.

i have no idea how this happened, but i immediately shut down my mac to prevent other files from being deleted. could this be a potential mac virus, and how do i deal with it?
 
I very highly doubt that is a virus, especially if you are running an 05 mac. No one would write a virus for a PPC machine, as there really aren't that many of them out there.
 
alust2013 said:
I very highly doubt that is a virus, especially if you are running an 05 mac. No one would write a virus for a PPC machine, as there really aren't that many of them out there.
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its an imac. i cant find any other possible explanation for my applications being deleted while i was seeing them being removed. i am rebooting in safe mode right now, but its taking forever.
 
rprebel said:
This part.



And i was kidding. I'm not actually mad about it.
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That's what I figured. I actually am looking at buying a G4 of some sort to have at home for browsing while I am off at school. Not a real necessity, more just because I want one :p

But no, the 30 minute boot isn't normal. Try hard restarting it and see if that works. It just would seem odd that it would do that, although downloading movies is a bit risky. Maybe just wait a bit and see if anyone else has had experience with something like this.
 
alust2013 said:
That's what I figured. I actually am looking at buying a G4 of some sort to have at home for browsing while I am off at school. Not a real necessity, more just because I want one :p
Click to expand...

does anybody have any advice please?? i really really need help.
 
killwill169 said:
any ideas as to what i should do? also, ive been waiting 30 minutes for safe boot. is this normal?
Click to expand...

No, that is not normal. You should try booting from an install disc and running Disk Utility. That'd be my step 1.

alust2013 said:
That's what I figured. I actually am looking at buying a G4 of some sort to have at home for browsing while I am off at school. Not a real necessity, more just because I want one :p
Click to expand...

They're so cool. Upgrading involves opening a latch and plugging in your new hardware. Oh, you do have to close the latch when you're done. That part sucks:D
 
try to find out what was happening in the system log during this mysterious event....
 
alust2013 said:
At startup hold option until you get an image of the hard drive and a disk next to it. click on the disk, and it will boot from that
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its not working, im getting a black screen with text saying something about 2 more failures and it will cause job removal
 
I did some reading, and found a vaguely similar story. That person deleted the plist file of the app that was causing the problem, and the problem went away. So maybe try deleting the plist file of whatever app you were using to view that movie.

Worth a shot.
 
rprebel said:
I did some reading, and found a vaguely similar story. That person deleted the plist file of the app that was causing the problem, and the problem went away. So maybe try deleting the plist file of whatever app you were using to view that movie.

Worth a shot.
Click to expand...

where did u find this? and also i cant even access the computer anymore. it either goes to that black screen and says the system is throttling
 
it should be in /System/Library/LaunchDaemons, and the name of the offending app will be in the file name.

The system is throttling? Okay...you got me. I have no idea what that means. But I'll bet google does:)

killwill169 said:
i cant even access the computer anymore. it either goes to that black screen and says the system is throttling
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You can't boot from an OS disc? Instead of holding Option and clicking the disc, try holding the C key when you turn it on (with the OS disc in it of course).
 
Mac Virus/Malware Info

killwill169 said:
okay, so today i turned on my imac, the 2005 white version
Click to expand...
You don't say what version of Mac OS X you're running.
killwill169 said:
could this be a potential mac virus, and how do i deal with it?
Click to expand...
If you're running Leopard or Snow Leopard, you don't have a virus, as none exist in the wild that run on these platforms.
killwill169 said:
and was downloading a chinese movie.
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This could be part of the problem, as most Chinese movies I've seen weren't very good. The subtitles just ruin everything! :D
killwill169 said:
somewhere during this time i was also updating or doing something with norton antivirus
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Problem #2. Norton AntiVirus isn't going to detect a Mac virus, since there ARE none that exist in the wild that run on Mac OS X. NAV can't detect a Mac virus because it doesn't know what to look for. It does, however, do a great job of needlessly consuming your system resources, making your Mac run slower.
killwill169 said:
i ignore this for the time being.
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It's a bad practice to ignore error or warning messages. Pay attention to them! They're there for a purpose.

As for your other statements:
killwill169 said:
im getting a black screen with text saying something about 2 more failures and it will cause job removal
Click to expand...
killwill169 said:
im getting "localhost:/ i have no name!"
Click to expand...
killwill169 said:
it either goes to that black screen and says the system is throttling
Click to expand...
killwill169 said:
and it gives me a message that the vulnerability protection is corrupted or something like that.
Click to expand...
You make it very difficult for people to help you when you don't offer specific, accurate information. Don't say, "I got a message about something that sounded kinda like...." Quote the exact error message, word for word. In fact, many times you can find solutions if you simply Google the exact error message.

Being vague and general is like going to a doctor and saying, "I've got something wrong with me somewhere", and leaving the doctor to do guesswork to determine if you have cancer or a splinter in your finger.

Maximizing your MacRumors troubleshooting experience. (if you really need help, this is valuable to know!)
 
Files disappearing ... slow or no boot ... It sounds more like your hard drive is dying rather quickly. I hope you have everything backed up somewhere.
 
r.j.s said:
Files disappearing ... slow or no boot ... It sounds more like your hard drive is dying rather quickly. I hope you have everything backed up somewhere.
Click to expand...

Dingdingding! We have a winner!

OP, it sounds to me like your hard drive has taken a dump.
 
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