virus - brazil

Hi. I am using osx version 10.5.8. My macbook is about 5 years old. I live in brazil and I am using the latest version of clamxav.

My browser works fine however I can not access facebook. I am redirected to a site call Hostup.INF.BR. I have tried to reach facebook through google or on any number of links to different parts of facbook and get this message: Not Found The requested URL /find-friends/ was not found on this server. Apache/2.2.3 (CentOS) Server at www.facebook.com Port 80.

I assume I must have a virus. Other people in my house are having the same problem with their laptop. Also a mac. We have shared movies on a pen drive. I also noticed that other Brazilians are having trouble accessing a similar social netowrking site called orkut. These people are also getting taken to the same site as me - Hostup.INF.BR.

When i run clamx it finds nothing.

Any ideas?

There are no MacOS X viruses.
Go to the Safari in the top menu bar and make sure you have "Block Pop Up Windows" turned on.
Go to Safari menu and click reset Safari.
Go to Safari, preferences, security, and click on the top 6 options.
Click on accept cookies only from sites I visit.
Click on show cookies and click on remove all cookies.

Now try again.

Also, do a search for "DNS redirect" either on these forums or on Google. It'll help you understand what it is and what to do about it.

As mentioned, no such thing as a Mac Virus.
"A Virus is not a computer problem I don't understand."

saybo2000 said:

I assume I must have a virus.

Any ideas?

Click to expand...

I assume you also use Windows.

Virus is another word for 'I don't understand what is happening'.

In addition to what previous posters have mentioned the fact that other users are having similar issues suggests to me that this is something other than a virus. Probably some type of DNS redirect as has been suggested.

Let me quote something from the FAQ I posted above because I think some in this thread need reminding:

And an important note for those who consider themselves anti-antivirus or computer language purists....

There will obviously be differing opinions on whether you need an antivirus program, however you need to respect those who think differently.

Also, many laymen and new computer users use "virus" to refer to all malware. It is not your place to belittle them because they don't use the exact right terminology.

So rather than getting on a soapbox and proving your superior computing knowledge, take a moment and actually try to help them. Explain the difference if you must, but do it in a respectful way.

Click to expand...

schweb said:

So rather than getting on a soapbox and proving your superior computing knowledge, take a moment and actually try to help them. Explain the difference if you must, but do it in a respectful way.

Click to expand...

Gotta say I have read this a few times and it is a brilliant post schweb. I admit it is very easy to just say "there are no viruses for Macs" and be done with it. Heck I do that myself sometimes, and if anything it leaves the OP or even the person i'm talking to directly more confused.

I certainly need to take more time to try and explain the difference or go into more detail about how it cannot be a virus, but then also what it could be instead and why.

Cheers for the reminder

- Simon

Thank you for your responses. The concenus seems to be that a DNS redirect is the culprit. So, now what do I do?

dns redirect

An update. Recently I downloaded a copy of photoshop from a torrent site. More than one person online describes the same problem I am having (not being able to access facebook or more correctly being redirected to a different site when I type in facebook.com) and they also downloaded torrents from photoshop. They suggested that I download the demo version of macscan. I did this and I ran a scan. Nothing was found. I have also emptied my cache, deleted my cookies, blocked pop ups, and reset safarii.

Unfortunately, I am still having the same problem.

Could it be my router? Any other ideas?

Did you search for "DNS Redirect" on the forum as suggested? That will give you things to look at.

And for the record, downloading illegal software is not only wrong and stupid, but we don't like that here.

dns redirect

I searched all over for dns redirect but I didn't find anything that will help me solve the problem.

I'm sorry you are offended by my use of a torrent site. I have a different opinion regarding the use of these sites, but that is not important. Suffice to say I have learned it is not worth the risk.

What do I do now? Is there a specific link you can direct me to?

You may have installed a Trojan when you used the crack app to bypass photoshop licensing. I'd recommend a reformat and OS X re-install if that's the case.