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I found two Flash Plugins on my desktop that I don't recall downloading.
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<blockquote data-quote="Randy B. Singer" data-source="post: 1835477" data-attributes="member: 190607"><p>In the past 33 years, after hearing from thousands and thousands of Mac users, I've yet to hear a single believable instance of someone's real-world Mac being hacked. *Not a single one.* That despite the fact that most Mac users seem to run without their firewall turned on. I can almost guaranty you that you haven't been hacked.</p><p></p><p>There have been instances of Flash installers that were malicious. Here is what I recommend that you do to make sure that you are in good shape:</p><p></p><p>Uninstall the copy of Flash that you have installed with this uninstaller:</p><p><a href="http://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/uninstall-flash-player-mac-os.html" target="_blank">Uninstall Flash Player for Mac OS</a></p><p></p><p>Download the full Flash installer from this Adobe site:</p><p><a href="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/flashplayer/latest/help/install_flash_player_osx.dmg" target="_blank">Adobe Flash Player End of Life</a></p><p>Use it to install a fresh copy of Flash Player.</p><p></p><p>Now...FROM NOW ON, there are only two ways that you should EVER normally update Flash. (YOU SHOULD NEVER UPDATE FLASH FROM A POP-UP THAT APPEARS ON YOUR SCREEN):</p><p>1) Via the Flash Player pane (under the Updates tab) in System Preferences on your Mac</p><p>or</p><p>2) Directly from Adobe:</p><p><a href="https://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/end-of-life-alternative.html" target="_blank">Adobe Flash Player Download</a></p><p></p><p>If at any time you are wondering if you already have the latest version of Flash installed, you can check in the Flash preferences pane, or you can find out which version of Flash you currently have installed, and what the latest version is, here:</p><p><a href="https://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/end-of-life.html" target="_blank">Adobe - Flash Player</a></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The overwhelming majority of Mac users do nothing. Yet you can check this Web site and see that no one is reporting that their Mac is infected with anything. But if you are paranoid, here is an excellent free anti-virus program:</p><p></p><p>VirusBarrier Free Edition (free)</p><p><a href="https://www.intego.com/mac-security-blog/intego-launches-virusbarrier-scanner-free-mac-antivirus/" target="_blank">Intego Launches VirusBarrier Scanner — Free Mac Antivirus | The Mac Security Blog</a></p><p><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/VirusBarrier-Scanner/id1200445649" target="_blank">Intego VirusBarrier Scanner</a></p><p>(This is a full version of Intego's anti-virus program VirusBarrier [usually $40/year] minus some [but not all] of the automated scanning features in the commercial version. For those who don't know, Intego's VirusBarrier is the only anti-virus [AV] program that comes from a company that only creates software for the Macintosh, and it consistently wins all the believable comparison tests [there are lots of shill sites on the Web].</p><p></p><p>Do you need AV software? No, the Mac has it's own built-in, and there is very little malware for the Macintosh in the wild to be concerned about. The value in having this free AV program is that if you are the paranoid type, you can now use the best program available to satisfy yourself that you aren't infected with something. Also, this free version is sandboxed and it isn't deeply embedded in your system, like other AV programs, so it shouldn't impact your Mac's overall performance as just about all the other AV programs do.)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Randy B. Singer, post: 1835477, member: 190607"] In the past 33 years, after hearing from thousands and thousands of Mac users, I've yet to hear a single believable instance of someone's real-world Mac being hacked. *Not a single one.* That despite the fact that most Mac users seem to run without their firewall turned on. I can almost guaranty you that you haven't been hacked. There have been instances of Flash installers that were malicious. Here is what I recommend that you do to make sure that you are in good shape: Uninstall the copy of Flash that you have installed with this uninstaller: [URL='http://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/uninstall-flash-player-mac-os.html']Uninstall Flash Player for Mac OS[/URL] Download the full Flash installer from this Adobe site: [URL='http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/flashplayer/latest/help/install_flash_player_osx.dmg']Adobe Flash Player End of Life[/URL] Use it to install a fresh copy of Flash Player. Now...FROM NOW ON, there are only two ways that you should EVER normally update Flash. (YOU SHOULD NEVER UPDATE FLASH FROM A POP-UP THAT APPEARS ON YOUR SCREEN): 1) Via the Flash Player pane (under the Updates tab) in System Preferences on your Mac or 2) Directly from Adobe: [URL='https://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/end-of-life-alternative.html']Adobe Flash Player Download[/URL] If at any time you are wondering if you already have the latest version of Flash installed, you can check in the Flash preferences pane, or you can find out which version of Flash you currently have installed, and what the latest version is, here: [URL='https://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/end-of-life.html']Adobe - Flash Player[/URL] The overwhelming majority of Mac users do nothing. Yet you can check this Web site and see that no one is reporting that their Mac is infected with anything. But if you are paranoid, here is an excellent free anti-virus program: VirusBarrier Free Edition (free) [URL='https://www.intego.com/mac-security-blog/intego-launches-virusbarrier-scanner-free-mac-antivirus/']Intego Launches VirusBarrier Scanner — Free Mac Antivirus | The Mac Security Blog[/URL] [URL='https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/VirusBarrier-Scanner/id1200445649']Intego VirusBarrier Scanner[/URL] (This is a full version of Intego's anti-virus program VirusBarrier [usually $40/year] minus some [but not all] of the automated scanning features in the commercial version. For those who don't know, Intego's VirusBarrier is the only anti-virus [AV] program that comes from a company that only creates software for the Macintosh, and it consistently wins all the believable comparison tests [there are lots of shill sites on the Web]. Do you need AV software? No, the Mac has it's own built-in, and there is very little malware for the Macintosh in the wild to be concerned about. The value in having this free AV program is that if you are the paranoid type, you can now use the best program available to satisfy yourself that you aren't infected with something. Also, this free version is sandboxed and it isn't deeply embedded in your system, like other AV programs, so it shouldn't impact your Mac's overall performance as just about all the other AV programs do.) [/QUOTE]
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I found two Flash Plugins on my desktop that I don't recall downloading.
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