I have a macbook air, and I think it might have a virus. The computer seemed to be working just fine, but all my desktop icons had disappeared. I found them in the trash, and when I went to drag them back to the desktop, the computer began to open every file on the harddrive. I held down the power button and turned it off. I tried turning it back on, but it started opening more files, at which point I turned it off for good. Has anyone heard of such a thing? I have almost all my files backed up, but am worried about the hard-drive. Will take it to the genius bar tomorrow...
Mac virus
- Thread starter rwcecon
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What you're suggesting is akin to telling someone whose car won't start to go ahead and rip out the motor and drivetrain and replace it. While I'm sure that would do the job, it isn't exactly practical.
Please make sure you understand the problem before you make suggestions on how to correct it.
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Have you changed anything on the computer recently? Installed any new software, added any new hardware (like a new mouse)? Does anyone else have physical access to the machine?
Once we understand those questions, we can probably give you some better direction.
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MacInWin
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Let us know what the Genius bar folks end up doing. That's a very strange problem.
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I know of someone a few years back that had a similar problem and he said it ended up being a virus of some sort. But since you are using a Macbook Air and I am new to Macs I really have no suggestion for you. As other members have said it also could be power supply, memory, or hard drive. When I was using my last PC I had an issue where my computer would shut off unexpectedly. After I checked all my software and knew for sure my computer had no virus then I started checking the hardware. I eventually figured out that one of my memory chips was bad.
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It could easily be a RAT (Remote Administration Tool) - which is not actually a virus, but a Trojan - either way, it's just as mischievous. Unfortunately, without the answers to my questions above, it's going to be hard for us to tell. However, RATs do exist for OS X and there is a culture of hackers who exploit them and this is sometimes evidenced by the hacker messing around with the user.
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That should be easy to confirm by disconnecting from the wireless network or powering down the router to see if the problems cease.
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MacInWin
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The OP was going to go to the Genius bar today, so at this point further suggestions could wait, but one thing to do is to open in either the Recovery mode or Safe mode, or even Single User mode. From there he/she could try to figure out what's going on, or to restore from a good backup. It will be interesting to see what the Genius says/does.
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chas_m
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This sounds EXACTLY like what might happen when someone who is not very good at mousing tries to throw something away but accidentally selects all and thus moves everything into the trash.
Subsequently when trying to "drag them back to the desktop" (there's your problem right there -- NOTHING BELONGS ON THE DESKTOP BUT YOUR HARD DRIVE ICON) he double-clicked on them (or pressed command-o) and since everything was selected, everything began to open.
I've seen this many times, mostly with people who don't have good mouse skills.
So no, you don't have a virus. What you do have (most likely) is a "selection" issue.
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Gosh, I must have missed that very important rule on how to use my computer...thanks so much for the enlightenment.
[/sarcasm]
I guess someone should tell Apple....
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2472
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Just a note, just because apple shows icons on the desktop does not mean you have to follow that example. The more junk on the desktop the slower it will load. ask any GOOD windows tech and they will tell you the same thing.
Do what you want but what Chas said although maybe a bit much is a good rule to follow if you can. A few things will not hurt you but if you do what my late friend did and have 1000's of things there it BOGS down the system and the load times also.
Do what you want but what Chas said although maybe a bit much is a good rule to follow if you can. A few things will not hurt you but if you do what my late friend did and have 1000's of things there it BOGS down the system and the load times also.
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Watch the Tude. Was just trying to help as was Chas. 100 files can slow it down. Used my friend as an example. Have a great day.
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Lets put some real world to work here shall we.
I just put 651 folders, containing over 20,000 items, 7.7 gbs of data, on the desktop of my 2012 mini.
I ran xbench before and after...
The scores were identical.
Shall we try again?
Added on edit.
So I ran the test again, same number of files and folders on the desktop.
Fresh boot, nothing on the desktop 1min, 35 seconds to boot. Xbench score of 211
Fresh boot , all the folders on the desktop 1min, 43 seconds to boot. Xbench score of 212.
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A single test bench doesn't do it for real world usage over weeks of keeping a whole bunch of stuff on the desktop. There's not a single individual whom I know, that has been doing tech support for a few years and familiar with fixing folks slow machines that are going to keep stuff on their own desktop and for good reason. We've all seen what happens. Particularly for those with low VRAM in their machines. It is just a bad practice - period.
Keeping 3 or 4 items in the Desktop folder likely will not cause an issue and am sure most all of us do it from time to time. There is no reason, however, for any of us experienced in attempting to assist others to not provide "best practices" during any troubleshooting attempts. And "best practice" among the vast majority of tech support, you don't keep a bunch of stuff on the desktop if you want to keep your machine running as fast as it is capable.
And yes, I've read on forums all over the place there is nothing wrong with it and it does nothing because they're just files stored in the Desktop folder, etc., etc... That's not what I've seen from experience and as long as I am making recommendations, not storing a bunch of stuff on the dekstop is mine also.
Keeping 3 or 4 items in the Desktop folder likely will not cause an issue and am sure most all of us do it from time to time. There is no reason, however, for any of us experienced in attempting to assist others to not provide "best practices" during any troubleshooting attempts. And "best practice" among the vast majority of tech support, you don't keep a bunch of stuff on the desktop if you want to keep your machine running as fast as it is capable.
And yes, I've read on forums all over the place there is nothing wrong with it and it does nothing because they're just files stored in the Desktop folder, etc., etc... That's not what I've seen from experience and as long as I am making recommendations, not storing a bunch of stuff on the dekstop is mine also.
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MacInWin
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Craig, interesting numbers. Are you sure that what's on the desktop are the actual files and folders and not aliases? Aliases, of course, don't impact performance very much, which is what your test is showing. Actual files, on the other hand, have been reported to impact performance.
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Then post some real world evidence instead of anecdotal evidence and then maybe you might have something.
We just saw what really happens.
A "best practice" is great as long as its based on reality and not a wives tale. On those computers the techs were trying got fix, how many were loaded with virus and malware, compounding the problem?
I'll be more than happy to listen when you provide something more than hand waving.
The facts I posted remain.
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Oh I'm sure, I copied and pasted an entire image folder to my desktop and then pulled the individual sub folders from the main folder onto the desktop. Then I deleted the original folder.
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MacInWin
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Craig, so it's folders and not files themselves? I've also read that putting files in folders diminishes the impact of having stuff on the desktop. Apple recommended doing that in the two articles on the Desktop. It would be interesting to put the 20,000 files on the desktop and then do the test, but getting them back into the 651 folders would be painful.
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