Virus / malware and how to fix it

[guido.coza]

Hi Guys
Don"t know where it comes from but I guess I must have picked it up on my last trip on one of the pay internet providers.
When ever I open a internet site( MacRumors, flickr, photobucket) some of the text( photo, close, home, etc) is highlighted blue and is a link. if clicked on it i get redirected to some spam/ sales sites. Even legitimate links are corrupted like this. I cleared my history incl. all cookies, ran a scan with magician and avast and some anti Trojan software but all in-vain. My browser is Mozilla.
what else can I do/ what anti malware software can you recommend.
Thanks in advance
Guido

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after posting the above thread the word software is now the link to a credit site

 

[justperry]

It is definitely not a virus, there are no (known) viruses for OS X.

What about a different browser, Apple's own Safari is fast, overall it works well.

 

[SMDBill]

It's only on Firefox and works fine on Safari? That helps narrow it down. I would disable any extensions, add-ons, browser toolbars, anything you may have changed from stock Firefox. If that works, narrow down to which of those disabled items was causing it and remove.

 

[guido.coza]

It is definitely not a virus, there are no (known) viruses for OS X.

What about a different browser, Apple's own Safari is fast, overall it works well.

I'm a the victim of the power of habit. Very happy with mozilla for the last 10 years and got used to it and sort of know my way around. But still thanks for the reply

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It's only on Firefox and works fine on Safari? That helps narrow it down. I would disable any extensions, add-ons, browser toolbars, anything you may have changed from stock Firefox. If that works, narrow down to which of those disabled items was causing it and remove.

Hi SMDBill
Nothing I can think of that i installed since I left on the trip. At one stage I had to get one of the internet coupons with username and password and Firefox asked if it I realy want to use it because it could not be trusted ??? or something of that sort. As I needed to check my mail and it was sold by the hotel i used it. Otherwise I use mozilla as I got it and also didn't ad any bookmarks or updates on this trip.
I just now started Firefox in safe-mode with ad-ons disabled and this has solved the problem! (-: Sorry for my ignorance but how do I find the ad-on that coursed all this?? )-:

 

[SMDBill]

I'm a the victim of the power of habit. Very happy with mozilla for the last 10 years and got used to it and sort of know my way around. But still thanks for the reply

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Hi SMDBill
Nothing I can think of that i installed since I left on the trip. At one stage I had to get one of the internet coupons with username and password and Firefox asked if it I realy want to use it because it could not be trusted ??? or something of that sort. As I needed to check my mail and it was sold by the hotel i used it. Otherwise I use mozilla as I got it and also didn't ad any bookmarks or updates on this trip.
I just now started Firefox in safe-mode with ad-ons disabled and this has solved the problem! (-: Sorry for my ignorance but how do I find the ad-on that coursed all this?? )-:

I'm not on a machine running Firefox so I can't walk through the menus, but it should be under preferences or similar. You may need to look at plugins, extensions, or anything else that could be an add-on to the browser.

 

[GGJstudios]

If you haven't already done so, try changing your DNS servers on your Mac and your router to OpenDNS servers. This will show you how: Why am I being redirected to other sites?

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. 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. Also, it is not recommended that you install more than one antivirus app, as they can conflict with each other and cause false positives. Read the What security steps should I take? section of the Mac Virus/Malware FAQ for tips on practicing safe computing.