Shocked to see my post / request for help on Mac OS cancelled / deleted???

[philappleton]

Hi Jake & Patrick,

Thanks for your replies and time.

Patrick, thanks for the info.

Jake, my set up is fairly simple. I live alone and have BT Fibre Optic Connection on a Homehub 6. When my strange problems first started on my MacAir I was at the same house however the phone number was different and I had a Homehub 5. The reason for the change was when BT's first 12 months discounted rate finished and the price went up and they wouldn't do me a deal so I disconnected and reconnected as a new customer to get the good deal. This ended up with me getting a new number and a Homehub 6. Both Homehub's have the firewalls on and so did my old MacAir and current MacPro.

I've also had problems at my parents with their BT Homehub 4. They have 2 iPads, an iPhone and my iPhone was also connected to their Hub however when I tried to connect my Air their it said I was too far from the router even though I was only a few meters away and so then I moved the Air right next to the router and used my iPhone 6 as a video recorder and filmed it clearly showing other devices including Apple were connecting without problem yet my Mac was saying move closer when physically it couldn't get any closer!

I work as an Electro Technical Officer offshore and some of my duties include IT so I do run things quite secure especially as it's only myself in the house. I have no media sharing on etc and until about the start of the year I was having no problems with my Apple products and have been a fan for many years and still am which is why I upgraded to a Pro. Working in IT I know that the MacOS is far more secure than a windows system and I was also very surprised to see all the strange stuff going on!

Again with the MacAir the "Unexpected Behaviour" as Apple themselves quoted came back almost immediately after having the MacOS reinstalled (Twice) with drive wiped both times and on one occasion having the partitions removed before formatting the drive. I have had it on one occasion with my Windows laptop I was using it and suddenly it came up all virus and firewall protection was switched off even though I had done nothing, and I had an IP checker running as an extension in Chrome and suddenly it would change IP address for no reason whilst at home hence my thoughts and the fact the attacks seem very targeted that it can only be a person! I don't know for any reason why I would be targeted because i'm just an average guy and its not like i'm a big organisation like a bank.

Interestingly you ask about how long do the attacks take to start. Well if I only use the Mac for a few hours then generally it seems okay however if I've been on it all day and maybe not switched it off when it's not being used then this is when my problems start. a rough figure is if I've been on it / switched on over 8hrs.

Previously with my MacAir I did try at one point to disconnect from the internet to see if my problems stopped and even though my Mac said it was disconnected it was still actually connected. Maybe the person / hacker is simulating what I was seeing as opposed to what was actually happening. One time I actually had to quickly run to my front room and disconnect the router from the power. Since then if I'm honest I leave everything connected and am trying to get as much evidence by the way of screen recordings and screenshots to Apple in order that they can finally work out how someone is controlling my machine and put a stop to it. I'm figuring hopefully more proof / instances will help them more to pinpoint the problem.

With all the problems on my MacAir never did we find any Virus or Malware, hence again why I'm suspecting a person. Several times I have disconnected my Mac from my home wifi and connected to my iPhone hotspot where the problems seemed less but they didn't completely go away. In fact it started problems on my iPhone!

For example on my iPhone 7 I wanted to "Make Available Offline" some of my screen recordings that are stored in my Google Drive before going out whilst I was on my home 50Mb Fibre Connection because later that day I had a call set with apple and so if they wanted to screen share with my phone they could watch the clips. I tapped on each clip I wanted to download on my phone and then the message "Making Clip 1 Available Offline" etc would come up and I sat there waiting for the next message "Clip 1 is now available offline" and done that for every clip before leaving home. About 20 minutes after leaving home I felt my iPhone getting very hot in my pocket and took it out for a look and then noticed that it was now downloading the clips over my 4G connection! Luckily I have 20gb a month so it didn't cost me anything however that shouldn't of happened!

Also now when trying to connect my iPad Air2 to my iPhone 7 hotspot it always comes up with the message "Remote Hotspot Failure" Unable to start personal hotspot "iPhone 7" even when I have the hotspot switched on and other devices are connected to it and both have had the recent software updates!. On another occasion when my MacAir kept failing to upload one of my screen recordings to Google Drive I Airdropped it to my iPhone 7 and then when I tapped on the recording and then on the bottom left box with an upwards arrow to forward it to my Google Drive when normally I get about 10 options on the top line including Google Drive they had all gone except one which was YouTube. Apple say the iPhone is in-hackable however this seemed too coincidental to me as I really needed to get the recording safely to Google Drive because otherwise they strangely corrupt on my Mac.

I've had iPhone 3,4,5,6,7 Apple Airport Express * 2, Apple TV, iPad 2, iPad Air2, MacAir and now MacPro and have to say this is the first problems I've ever had with my Apple products, in fact my Father still has my iPhone 4, Brother-In-Law has my iPhone 5 and I have my 6 & 7.

I am now 10 months on, 2 fresh MacOS installs on to my Air and now a Pro all acting strangely, so i'm very much hoping that Apple will take this more seriously especially with all the screen recordings and Screenshots I'm sendng them, or even any experts on here?

Earlier I also forgot to mention I had my TV connected to the Mac and was watching some movies and the mouse cursor would just disappear for no reason and when I moved the mouse I had to move it around and around several times before it would reappear which was strange. Ive just connected the Mac to my TV now to see if that is still happening and its not, now the cursor stays where you put it.

Also with Elmedia player I had a few movie clips in my playlist and the playlist wouldn't play through. It would get so far and then just jump back to either the start or just higher up the list.

Thankfully even though all the issues waste a lot of my time it has never actually cost me any money like my Bank being hacked etc, however I just want full control of my machine and return to using as I used to with lots of Apps and not keep running in to problems.

Thanks again for your time and questions and any suggestions are gladly received. I will continue to keep this updated

Best Regards
Phil

 

[pm-r]

Phil, can I ask what are your living accommodations? That is, do you live with others, or on your own? Do you have close neighbors? Do you share the Internet provider with anyone? How are you connecting to the router/modem for the Internet? Do you have alternatives for that connection?

Good valid questions, especially if sharing with others who just might like "pulling one's crank" or doing a bit of mischief!!!




- Patrick
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[philappleton]

Hi,

As promised a few more screen recordings. Nothing major today however still things are happening that shouldn't

https://youtu.be/9wr19g83M9U

In this first recording you will see I try to activate "Sticky Keys" in System Preferences and as I tick the box the tick in the box gets removed. Just to confirm I am the only user and Administrator.


https://youtu.be/VE8NC7770Lo

In this second recording my main Administrator password was refused at first so I actually type it in the User name box so it can be seen and is 100% correct. I then cut and paste it in the password box and it is again refused. I then double check by pasting it back to the username box and it shows as the correct password, so why is my Administrator password now not working even though I’m the only user and Administrator?

Because so many things we acting strangely I tried to do a System Diagnostics and even this then crashed as you see the error message pop up at the end.


https://youtu.be/SG5ODt6X0oM

In this next clip I just do a voice over 2 crash reports. I had Quicktime doing screen recording and never had it crash before and now when I have a good screen recording suddenly it crashes for no apparent reason. Next ElMedia Player crashes 21 minutes later for no reason. Not major issues however losing screen recordings then loses me the ability to forward the recordings to someone to help me and see it how it is actually happening.


https://youtu.be/5chUTnDLhJM

In this last clip I have actually used a finder window to blank out the movie playing as it's 18 rated and I'm uploading it to youtube. The main thing to note though is at the end of the clip for no reason Elmedia player jumps back down the playlist for no reason. There were more movies in the play list but for whatever reason it went from clip 155 to 138. Not a major issue however again it feels like someone else is in control of my Mac

I will keep this updated as more issues arise and thanks again for all the advice and support.

Kind Regards
Phil

 

[philappleton]

Hi Everyone,

Just an update as to what is going on.

The last Senior Adviser I spoke to call Luis sent me a link 2 weeks ago to upload the screen recordings to him and promised to get back to me. After still not getting a reply I have called his direct number that he sent to me 0080027752775 Ext 100311000132 on Sunday, Monday and today (Wednesday) and he has not replied or returned any of my calls.

I will keep trying but don’t want to just call the normal number and get a new Senior Adviser because since my problems started at the beginning of the year I have spoke to many senior advisers and all promise to get back to me and about 90% never did and each time I get a new Adviser I have to start a fresh.

There is obviously an issue with the security of MacOS I honestly believe due to the fact of all the unexpected behaviour I’ve been having over 2 different Mac’s and my latest I have kept it pretty much only MacOS and 2 Apps which are Screen Recorder Pro and Elmedia Go player from the App Store and Apple agreed they were good working apps without any issues. You can clearly see in the screen recordings I have posted throughout this thread from my earlier MacAir and now MacPro that something is not right and I think Apple are just shying away from it as they sometimes do with product faults.

I have a question i’d Like to ask here and that is does anyone know of a higher department I can contact? I asked a Senior Adviser before and they told me they are as high as I can get. However due to the fact i’m not getting any replies or help from Apple and it’s a new machine plus I took out Apple care then I feel they have a duty to help me, otherwise I’m left with a new laptop that cost over £2000 that I don’t seem to be in control of and not sure if I can trust! Plus if i’m Being hacked in to then they have a duty to improve the security of MacOS not only for me but the millions of other Mac users.

Any suggestions please?

Thanks
Phil

 

[pm-r]

I have a question i’d Like to ask here and that is does anyone know of a higher department I can contact? I asked a Senior Adviser before and they told me they are as high as I can get. However due to the fact i’m not getting any replies or help from Apple and it’s a new machine plus I took out Apple care then I feel they have a duty to help me, otherwise I’m left with a new laptop that cost over £2000 that I don’t seem to be in control of and not sure if I can trust! Plus if i’m Being hacked in to then they have a duty to improve the security of MacOS not only for me but the millions of other Mac users.

Any suggestions please?

Just a thought or so Phil, so you can carry on and get something accomplished with you life:

- unplug and disconnect that Mac from any Internet stuff, or just turn it off and do something else with your time.

- purchase and use a used Mac from someone who did the same sort of stuff as you did that had absolutely no problems with it at all.

- purchase a new router or use some other method with a super firewall to access the Internet if you have to.

PS: The Senior Advisers you have spoken to may have retired or quit as they don't last long when dealing with such problems.

Sorry for all your troubles and sorry I don't know of any other way for you to solve your existing problem.

Regards,
Patrick
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[philappleton]

A quick update -

Just had some very strange things going on today with my iPhone 6 and 7 and iPad Air 2

https://youtu.be/caN5mo3HhEE
Starting with my iPad Air 2 I had no red bar at the top to say a screen recording was going on yet when I swiped up clearly the red button for screen record was flashing. When I tapped on it then it continued to flash and I had no way of stopping it if it is running or even starting a new one for myself. If I can't stop the recording it also means I can't save the recording. These recordings are very valuable to me at present to show what is happening on my devices.


https://youtu.be/fAd6wfc8CMU
Next I was going to use my iPhone 6 as a video recorder however due to so many strange things going on I thought I would activate the screen recorder on the iPhone 6 first. When I tap the Screen Recorder the 3,2,1 countdown starts but it doesn't go on to the red flashing circle to say it's on screen record even after pressing several times. Then when I go back to the main screen a red screen recording bar appears for a split second at the top of the screen and disappears by itself! Very strange how I need to record my screens to get evidence to Apple and now I have the Screen Recorders go down on my iPad and iPhone!!!!


https://youtu.be/EQKtf2JalMI
Next I try to send the video I took on my iPhone 7 to Youtube in HD and once uploaded I tap on View on Youtube and I get the error message "This Video Is Not Playable".


https://youtu.be/oDTX5FZd5ZI
I try again to send it this time in Standard definition and still get the same error message saying the video wasn't playable? Again it would appear someone is trying to stop me collect evidence of all the unexpected behaviour I'm now having!

Next I reboot all 3 devices, iPhone 6 & 7 and iPad Air 2. After starting them I check all of them for screen recorder as this is a very good feature for me to be able to document and show what I am experiencing. On the iPhone 6 when I initially started it after the 3,2,1 countdown it didn't go to a red flashing circle, however when I returned to the home screen there was a red bar at the top. So I thought all was good and tapped the red bar to stop the recording and then clicked "Stop" however it just kept going. I tried a few times and was unable to stop it which would also mean I am unable to save the valuable recording evidence!!

Because even I as a very "Apple Loyal" would probably not believe half of what I have experienced then I know the Screen recordings are the best way to ensure others can see it first hand and eventually Apple will get this resolved. The pure fact I'm now having problems with screen recorders on several Apple devices now is of great concern!!!!

If you have followed the thread from the start and watched all the screen recordings along the way then I'm sure you would agree it is too targeted to be anything other than a Hacker getting in to my Mac. And the scary thing now is it would appear my other Apple devices are having strange problems which for me is too much of a coincidence.

https://youtu.be/FHKH5hTt-8Y
Last but not least my iPad will not join my iPhone 7 Hotspot. They are both logged in to the same Apple Account and with Bluetooth and Wifi on then the iPad should activate the hotspot even if it's not already switched on, which it doesn't. Then even if I activate the hotspot and then try to join it it still fails to join


I will to give up, I will keep chasing Apple and providing screed recordings / logs / whatever they want and I will keep this post updated honestly and accurately.

If anyone has any ideas what could possibly be happening to my Apple products or any ideas how someone can be getting in to my devices I'd very much appreciate and ideas.

I don't mention it here because it's a Mac Forum, however I've also had a lot of issues on my Windows PC. As I mentioned before one time when using it suddenly all the firewalls and virus protection switched off! It felt like someone was controlling my PC then and as we all know Windows is a much weaker system and hence that's why I moved to Apple Laptops.

I've also had strange problems on my TV's in the house to the extent now that I do not leave them connected to the internet.

All these problems on various devices don't come from viruses / malware etc and hence why I'm convinced it can only be a person! Why they are doing this to me I do not know, however I just hope Apple do the responsible thing ASAP and find out how someone is accessing my Apple products and secure the MacOS ad IOS. I have suggested we send my MacPro back to the guys that actually write the MacOS so maybe they can extract what is in my Mac and see if and what has been changed. No disrespect to the Senior Advisers they are not programmers!

Best Regards
Phil

 

[philappleton]

Hi Patrick,

Thanks for your reply with ideas. I have certainly thought about changing the router and maybe I will have a look around for a different router.

Unfortunately changing to a used Mac I don't think will fix my problems because I've already had a Mac Air with the original OS and then 2 fresh Installs of OS to no avail. Now a new MacPro and still having problems and just done an upgrade to High Sierra. Im the one obviously being targeted so even if I bought a used one from someone who hasn't had a problem then I'm guessing they haven't been targeted by a hacker like I have and as soon as I bring it home the hacker would get in to it the same way they have my other Mac's. Hence all I can do is keep gathering evidence and sending it in to Apple and hope that one day they finally do the right thing and investigate this properly.

Going back to a Windows machine would probably be a nightmare and whilst Google say their Chrome Books are not hackable and offer rewards to hackers to actually hack them, I do have a Chrome Book however as you are probably aware they are only good for some light internet searching due to the lack of power and memory.

Thanks again for you time and replies!

Kind Regards
Phil

 

[philappleton]

Just incase anyone was interested the Windows Laptop I had problems with runs Windows 10 and Paid AVG Virus Protection and the link here to when suddenly all my protection was switched off. The recording here is what I done to send to AVG for help.

https://youtu.be/B9wShrTIuS0

 

[philappleton]

Hi Guys & Girls,

I'm wondering if anyone can help me with a very strange internet speed issue I'm having. If anyone ever went through all the previous posts / or followed it as things developed then you would of seen before all the weird things I was encountering on my Apple products which seemed to baffle Apple Senior Advisors and some very knowledgeable people on here! Well its never gone away completely however instead of everyday my Electronics playing up and crashing then now it comes and goes.

First of all here is a Youtube link to the video clip recording of me actually doing these tests although it might be worth reading on a bit before watching the clip YouTube

And below is a writeup of the problem I'm having.

Now I know this is a Mac forum however I'm kinda hoping the Admin and Moderators don't mind me posting this regarding my iPhone because it does include a link to a Youtube recording I've done which does include my MacBook. Plus I tend to find a lot of guys on here are good with all apple devices, so I'm hoping there may be a solution to my problem.

So using my iPhone 7 as a internet hotspot I don’t understand why it runs so slowly when other devices connecting to the hotspot are getting ten times the speed in a nutshell is my problem.

In this recording I have my iPhone 7 generating a hotspot and I connect my MacBookPro and Samsung S7 Edge to the hotspot.

First I run a internet speed test on my iPhone and only get 3.52Mbps Download and 9.82Mbps Upload which is slow for 4G where I live. Sometimes I can get 60Mbps Download on 4G. Anyway, next I test the internet speed of my Samsung S7 Edge which is connected to the iPhone’s Hotspot. Now here I would only expect slightly slower than the iPhone itself, bearing in mind the iPhone and Samsung need to communicate to one another over WIFI and then iPhone acting as a router then on to 4G, whereas on the iPhone it’s just straight in and out over 4G. So even if the Samsung isn’t slower than the iPhone there is no way it should be faster and maximum speed would be up to the speed of the iPhone itself. Same as a home network, your router will always achieve a faster Internet speed that any device connected to it. So the Samsung S7 achieves 38.9Mbps Download and 24.6Mbps Upload! That is ten times faster download than the iPhone! So next I try the MacBook Pro and first of all the Speedtest App didn’t work at all and needed to be restarted. After the restart the MacBook achieved 27.4Mbps Download and 13.3Mbps upload!

I then test the S7 and iPhone again and get 35.2Mbps Download and 23.9Mbps Upload on the Samsung and the iPhone was still painfully slow and only achieved 4.06Mbps Download and 9.72 Upload.

Are there any Network specialists out there that can explain to me why the iPhone is running so slow? And why is the iPhone got the slow connection when in fact it is in effect the router?

Thanks in advance to everyone who has taken a look even if you are not sure yourself I still appreciate you taking the time to have a look.

 

[pm-r]

Are there any Network specialists out there that can explain to me why the iPhone is running so slow? And why is the iPhone got the slow connection when in fact it is in effect the router?

i'm sure not anywhere close to being a Network specialist, but is there any chance that what the recorded data that the iPhone is receiving is in some sort of a compressed form so in actual fact it is actually receiving and/or uploading much more data than what the speed test is saying.

Just a far fetched thought that just might be happening...

PS: Why not just use the devices that seem to be working at a decent speed and just keep using the iPhone as the hot spot and ignore what speed test results you might be getting when using it. End of problem, no...???



- Patrick
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[chscag]

When your iPhone is connected as a hotspot, it's no longer using WiFi (you should already know that), it's strictly cellular and it has become a router. So, forget about its speed. I don't even know why you're trying to compare two different things? Or maybe I'm misunderstanding you entirely?

How fast is your iPhone when connected to a real router, or when you're out and about? Starbucks, etc.?