Virus ??

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Sorry for the length but here is the story.

My MacBook Pro started running slower and I noticed that Avast was taking up more and more resources. (Avast blocked one piece of malware last month and has given me a couple of warnings lately that I wasn't able to figure out) Finally I noticed Avast was taking up %100 of the CPU for extended periods so I ran a "Tune up my Mac" app and dumped everything it found. I then verified my disc permissions and repaired the exceptions. I verified the disc and the read was the disc was corrupt and recommended reinstall.

I reinstalled the OS but did not erase the data.

Two days later I noticed it started running slowly again after I used Firefox. I dont know if it was coincidence but things were going well with Safari. My system runs best on safari because I have a flash blocker on it. Firefox does not have a flash blocker.

I verified my disc permissions again and found many exceptions the day after the reinstall including one that could not be repaired in the ARDAgent file. Disc verify found no exceptions.

The exception was system/Library/core services/Remote Management/ARDAgent.app/contents/MacOS/ARDAgent

I tried to read up on it but the info on the web seems conflicted.

I moved the ARDAgent file to the trash and now things are working better. I still get altered pemissions on the disc however the system does not say "the cant be repaired". The exceptions do however return after each permission repair.

Today my phone browser is running slowly today after syncing.

Does anyone know if this sounds like malware or is it a Mac glitch ? Is it possible that malware could now be affecting my iphone 4S version 6.1.1?

Mac OSX 10.6.8
2.4 GHz Intel core 2 duo
4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3

Thanks very much for your efforts.
 
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Your Mac's Specs
Mac Mini (Late 2014) 2.6GHz Intel Core i5 Memory: 8GB 1600MHz DDR3
The malware you are dealing with here is Avast and the "Tune up My Mac" software. You should dump these immediately. There is no such thing as a virus affecting Mac OSX. And your Mac cleans up after itself. If you're compulsive about keeping it "clean" because of your Windows experience, download Onyx and use it once a month or so.
 

bobtomay

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Your Mac's Specs
15" MBP '06 2.33 C2D 4GB 10.7; 13" MBA '14 1.8 i7 8GB 10.11; 21" iMac '13 2.9 i5 8GB 10.11; 6S
There are well over 100 permissions that will not be repaired and the ARDAgent is only the first of them you'll see after a clean install. These should be "ignored" - don't go about deleting system files because permissions were not repaired.

One of the Apple kb articles below.

Mac OS X: Disk Utility's Repair Disk Permissions messages that you can safely ignore


Avast taking up 100% CPU - the problem is not a virus, the problem is Avast.
 
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Agreed. If you "MUST" use an antivirus app use ClamX.
 

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