I Think My Mac Just Got A Virus

Logan_284 · Apr 10, 2007

Im not sure, but about 5 minutes ago i clicked on another one of those (click here you wont wanna miss it) hyperlinks while chatting on YIM. The page displayed a "forbidden" text and i wasn't able to connect. nevertheless the guy i was talking to told me not to press that link coz it was a virus site and he's infected. He's a windows user.

My question is: do you think i got a virus or are windows viruses incapable of breaching mac? i see no slowness as of yet but im anticipating the worst.

Should i call a doctor already or calm down a bit?

RiDE · Apr 10, 2007

Not a virus for you... Windows viri infect only windows machine.

Carol247 · Apr 10, 2007

Logan_284 said:
Im not sure, but about 5 minutes ago i clicked on another one of those (click here you wont wanna miss it) hyperlinks while chatting on YIM. The page displayed a "forbidden" text and i wasn't able to connect. nevertheless the guy i was talking to told me not to press that link coz it was a virus site and he's infected. He's a windows user.

My question is: do you think i got a virus or are windows viruses incapable of breaching mac? i see no slowness as of yet but im anticipating the worst.

Should i call a doctor already or calm down a bit?

Calm down a bit.

mac57 · Apr 10, 2007

Before you get too worried, is your machine behaving abnormally?

If you are worried, get and install Little Snitch (http://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/index.html), which will show you what processes in your machine are attempting to access the internet. This will tell you for sure whether any malicious new processes are attempting to "phone home" with information from your machine.

In general, I agree with the above posters - the likelihood of getting an infection from most web sites is low. These things are aimed at Windows users, not Mac users.

Brown Study · Apr 10, 2007

Isn't there a $2 million prize for discovering the first Windows virus infecting any Mac OS from 1.0 to 10.4.9? If there isn't, there should be.

skye · Apr 10, 2007

mac57 said:
Before you get too worried, is your machine behaving abnormally?

If you are worried, get and install Little Snitch (http://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/index.html), which will show you what processes in your machine are attempting to access the internet. This will tell you for sure whether any malicious new processes are attempting to "phone home" with information from your machine.

In general, I agree with the above posters - the likelihood of getting an infection from most web sites is low. These things are aimed at Windows users, not Mac users.

very good program, fixed link also. (you had a ")" in the hyperlink)

http://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/index.html

I use little snitch religiously, it is amazing, but it is possible to use it for aiding in copyright infringement. I have hear of some people using it for that, actually, the person who sold me this laptop had it preloaded with software and little snitch(I have since then removed the software). I use it for other programs on my computer though.

Brown Study · Apr 10, 2007

Any app that phones home every time it starts — Stuffit, Photoshop, Real — deserves no consideration whatsoever. None of them care about privacy infringement. They're as evil as do-no-evil Google: We're just checking for updates. Yeah, right.

jaster · Apr 10, 2007

If you clicked on it while using yahoo messenger, I would immediately go and change your yahoo messenger password. There are a large number of false links that steal your yahoo account. They don't actually load onto your machine, they steal the id when yahoo mesenger signs into the link automatically aftet a link is clicked through messenger, whether on a mac or pc, it doesn't matter. Many, many many people, myself included have lost yahoo accts due to this, and I was on an ibook. I hit a link in yahoo and my acct was stolen a day later. Go change your yahoo password asap.

stonysleep · Apr 10, 2007

*step back*
You have not got a virus
How do I know this?
Because there are no OSX viruses and certainly no viruses you can get from clicking a website link. Also, I'd add that a virus intended for windows cannot affect OSX
Problem solved

jaster · Apr 10, 2007

jaster said:
If you clicked on it while using yahoo messenger, I would immediately go and change your yahoo messenger password. There are a large number of false links that steal your yahoo account. They don't actually load onto your machine, they steal the id when yahoo mesenger signs into the link automatically aftet a link is clicked through messenger, whether on a mac or pc, it doesn't matter. Many, many many people, myself included have lost yahoo accts due to this, and I was on an ibook. I hit a link in yahoo and my acct was stolen a day later. Go change your yahoo password asap.

Just to clarify, yahoo accounts are NOT stolen by a virus. When you click on a link in messenger it takes you to server which steals you yahoo cookie, or something like that. I am no computer whiz. I do however know that it is not a virus, and DOES absolutely work on a mac. Do yourself change your yahoo password, you may not have had your yahoo id stolen, but better safe than sorry. You need to beat the thief to it before they change your password and lock you out of your acct.

Canadatron · Apr 10, 2007

I would think that having a 2 million dollar reward on a Windows based virus that is capable of infecting Mas OS would be a very bad thing. Becoming a virus programming legend would be incentive enough, nevermind a 2 million dollar prize.

Brown Study · Apr 11, 2007

I's a Windows virus by definition, though. If it could infect a Mac or both, it would not be a Windows-only virus. MS viruses hit Word on both platforms, but they're MS viruses.

Whew. I just saved myself two mill. I think.

fleurya · Apr 11, 2007

Logan_284 said:
Im not sure, but about 5 minutes ago i clicked on another one of those (click here you wont wanna miss it) hyperlinks while chatting on YIM. The page displayed a "forbidden" text and i wasn't able to connect. nevertheless the guy i was talking to told me not to press that link coz it was a virus site and he's infected. He's a windows user.

My question is: do you think i got a virus or are windows viruses incapable of breaching mac? i see no slowness as of yet but im anticipating the worst.

Should i call a doctor already or calm down a bit?

That's funny, I just got an email from you with a link to a website stating I "wont wanna miss this"!

Just kidding. You don't have any worries.

Alexis · Apr 11, 2007

Becoming a virus programming legend would be incentive enough, nevermind a 2 million dollar prize.

Exactly. The number of people who say 'there aren't Mac viruses because there are not enough Macs' when the reality is you'd get much more publicity if you got a destructive OS X virus out there than just writing another Windows one. Virus writers are egotistical by definition.

Windows has so many open doors that Macs don't have - a registry, ActiveX, the same insecure system it's always had since Vista is based so much on XP etc. And with the over the top allow or deny questions they have now, people just click allow for anything now.