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trojan

L

legalgrl

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 16, 2010
2
0
i posted on another mac forum, which i am sure some of you are also members of. i was told that mac does not have any viruses out there, but i just don't understand why my norton antivirus would then find a virus and quarantine it. it has to be something. it can't be nothing at all?

my safari froze and then i couldn't get back online even though i had an interet connection. it was very unusual and suspicious. once i cleared the cache and reset safari, i was able to get back on. however, i would get random failed pages trying to tell me i wasn't connected to the internet. then after refreshing, it loaded.

i ran a norton antivirus scan tonight after having the problem and it found a trojan byteverify (i think). it was very quick and once i told it to fix it, it quarantined it, but i am almost positive that is what it said.

norton quarantined the file. it was in my library cache - in the java and is a zip file. the name of the file is user/library/cache/javapil/v1.0/jar/gsb50.jar - 112aa26 - 46386e8.zip. all norton says in the quarantine folder is that it is a file and is infected.

i did a second scan and it says there are no viruses found. however, the scan is unusually fast. (which happened to me on a pc that had a trojan virus i could not remove).

i also scanned with macscan and it says there is no spyware.

i was just wondering how to know if the virus or malware is completely gone. i have seen debates between some people who say macs cannot get viruses and then others who say they can. i just know the computer was acting weird and then norton found the trojan, so it just seems strange to me.

thank-you for any help you can provide. a couple of you may have helped me already and i really appreciate it. i am just confused about this whole thing. again, thanks so much!
 
If it's a virus, it's a Windows virus, which can't run on Mac OS X and would have no effect on your system. Mac virus scanners detect Windows viruses, to help prevent you from sending them to PCs.
 
Mac OS X can get viruses, all of them if they want, but NO (0, nada, zero) have any effect on them.

There are some trojans and other malware though, which you have to install manually and enter your password to do so.

It's a Windows trojan btw, which will not affect your Mac OS X system.
http://www.symantec.com/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2003-090514-4048-99
http://macosx.com/forums/mac-os-x-s...byteverify-infects-installerapplet-class.html

The AV software scans only for known viruses and other malware and as almost all viruses are made for Windows, they will find Windows viruses.
 
thank-you very very much for the help guys!

if someone accidentally installs malware to the mac, are there certain file names to look for? would an anti-virus pick it up? how do you know if it is a mac walware or a virus restricted to windows?

one more question... now that this virus is in quarantine, can i pass it to windows through an external hardrive or to friends through e-mail of files or is it quarantined and out of the way?

thanks again! trying to learn about the mac operating system!
 
Angra-mainju said:
so are you saying that i don't need to have any anti virus software?
Click to expand...

Yes, as there are currently no known and published Mac OS X viruses.

As said before (here and in many, many, many, ..., many other threads), the AV software scans only for known threats, and thus looks mostly for Windows threats.

Unless you have friends, colleagues or family members who use Windows and don't have AV software on their computers and you exchange files with them a lot and you feel responsible for the well being of the computers of other people, there is really no need to have AV software clog down YOUR system.
 
spinnerlys said:
Yes, as there are currently no known and published Mac OS X viruses.

As said before (here and in many, many, many, ..., many other threads), the AV software scans only for known threats, and thus look mostly for Windows threats.

Unless you have friends, colleagues or family members who use Windows and don't have AV software on their computers and you exchange files with them a lot and you feel responsible for the well being of the computers of other people, there is really no need to have AV software clog down YOUR system.
Click to expand...


aye thanks mate, This iAntiVirus was a pain in the arse, thx again
 
Hmac said:
I've never run anti-virus software on any Mac I've ever owned since my old Macintosh SE-30.
Click to expand...

I've known plenty of Windows users that have said they've never run anti-virus software either. It doesn't mean they didn't have viruses, but without the software, how would they know they're there? The same is true for Macs. Unless you have software to detect them, how do you know you're clean?

And virus software detects more than just viruses (most software), they also check for trojans and malware.
 
Its a windows virus, as said above it cant hurt but its still there. Arent you glad you arent using a PC?

Also macs are not totally invincible, you cant get a virus from web surfing however if you download and install an app that has a virus on it and give it permission to execute it could harm your system. So you should always download apps from the developer website.
 
Hey guys, I'm having similar problems, I can't connect to the internet even when it says I'm connected, all other machines can connect. My mac starts acting very weird when I connect to the wireless, the OS starts freezing and if it doesn't freeze whenever I right click it relaunches the finder. Think we may have the same problem!:eek:
 
angelwatt said:
I've known plenty of Windows users that have said they've never run anti-virus software either. It doesn't mean they didn't have viruses, but without the software, how would they know they're there? The same is true for Macs. Unless you have software to detect them, how do you know you're clean?

And virus software detects more than just viruses (most software), they also check for trojans and malware.
Click to expand...

Uh huh. What viruses do you think can be found on Macs? Please name one...

(not talking trojans or worms that require I be dumb enough to click on an unknown link and install such malware out of ignorance).
 
Hmac said:
Uh huh. What viruses do you think can be found on Macs? Please name one...

(not talking trojans or worms that require I be dumb enough to click on an unknown link and install such malware out of ignorance).
Click to expand...

As I said in my post you quoted, anti-virus software detects more than just viruses.
 
angelwatt said:
... The same is true for Macs. Unless you have software to detect them, how do you know you're clean?

...
Click to expand...
No, it is not the same with Macs. A Windows user without antivirus software is a blissfully ignorant victim of numerous infections. A Mac user without antivirus software may be blissfully ignorant, but the Mac user is also not a victim of any infections.
 
MisterMe said:
No, it is not the same with Macs. A Windows user without antivirus software is a blissfully ignorant victim of numerous infections. A Mac user without antivirus software may be blissfully ignorant, but the Mac user is also not a victim of any infections.
Click to expand...

It's the same in that you don't know if you're infected or not unless you have software to do the detection. How many infections is irrelevant.
 
The great mac virus's debate emerges again. :rolleyes:

On Windows, without an anti-virus, I got plenty of virus related problems.
On Mac, without an anti virus, I am fine.

I think we all know the winner here.
 
Still what the hell is happening to our macs? It just seems a bit weird that I'm getting similar problems
 
I run anti virus. I have it scan my downloads, mail downloads, and mail folders. This is partially because I deal with windows computers all the time and I figure it is best to do my part to stop the spread. I also do it because eventually there will be a mac virus or something that I would like to protect against.

use Clam Xav. http://www.clamxav.com/

Lightweight and doesn't interfere. And does catch stuff.
 
angelwatt said:
It's the same in that you don't know if you're infected or not unless you have software to do the detection. How many infections is irrelevant.
Click to expand...

If you want to be ready for the first Mac virus to be unleashed, that can be considered prudent by any reasonable user. But, the way you know there aren't any on your Mac now is that none exist.
 
Gregg2 said:
If you want to be ready for the first Mac virus to be unleashed, that can be considered prudent by any reasonable user. But, the way you know there aren't any on your Mac now is that none exist.
Click to expand...

As I've already stated, anti-virus software detects more than viruses, it detects trojans and malware, and trojans do exist on OSX.
 
angelwatt said:
As I've already stated, anti-virus software detects more than viruses, it detects trojans and malware, and trojans do exist on OSX.
Click to expand...
Fine. But that has absolutely nothing whatever to do with what my post focused on. Saying it again doesn't make it more true that it already was.
 
MisterMe said:
You may scream all you want. You cannot change the facts.
Click to expand...
Uppercase words are screaming, not bold. I used bold because you seem to have reading problems, so I was highlighting the important piece for you.

Gregg2 said:
Fine. But that has absolutely nothing whatever to do with what my post focused on. Saying it again doesn't make it more true that it already was.
Click to expand...
It does have to do with what you said, because trojans do exist on Macs. I've never once said there's any viruses. You just seem to focus on virus, while I'm focusing on malicious file types.
 
angelwatt said:
As I've already stated, anti-virus software detects more than viruses, it detects trojans and malware, and trojans do exist on OSX.
Click to expand...
True, in an academic sense. In a practical sense, it's extremely unlikely that a Mac AV will find a Mac trojan on a computer.
 
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