How to fix 'Moo virus' causing zoomed-in screen, inverted colors, and mooing sound on iPhone?

Lawrence Finch wrote:

Mac Jim ID wrote:

Lawrence Finch wrote:

Less destructive than the “prank” that told people they could fast charge their iPhone in their microwave oven. But just as pointless.

Correct! It amazes me how many people will just blindly do what they are told because they saw it on a TikTok video, or even consider that a source of factual information. It was on TikTok so it must be true, right?

There have been a number of suggestions like this that make devices (not just Apple devices) useless or actually damage them. At least with Apple devices none of these destructive options have compromised security. Less true for Android devices that (until very recently) allow unrestricted side loading.

I wouldn’t bet against some shortcuts doing something nefarious though, particularly given far too many people are being… unwise… about loading and running shortcuts they just learned about on social media.

(Far less seriously…) I mean, some future social-media script might even actually ship folks a free cheap 🫟 printer, and where would that leave them? Besides paying for expensive 🫟 ink, that is. (And yes, there are things much worse than free printers.)

😉

Lawrence Finch wrote:

There have been a number of suggestions like this that make devices (not just Apple devices) useless or actually damage them. At least with Apple devices none of these destructive options have compromised security. Less true for Android devices that (until very recently) allow unrestricted side loading.

The insanity is not limited to pranks like the "Moo 'virus'" or to more destructive Trojan Horse software meant to actively vandalize a device. There have been social media sensations that are dangerous to the health and life of those who try them.

One pf these was a challenge that resulted in adolescents requiring hospitalizations and ventilator support to treat collapsed lungs." One of many videos outlining this worthless challenge was viewed nearly 20 million times!

Just because someone on social media says that it's a good idea to play Russian roulette doesn't mean that it is!

weeklycod wrote:

moral of the story: stop clicking random links you find

That’s nice in theory, however clicking on “random” links is at the foundation of the entire internet.

More than a few jobs roles are explicitly involve clicking on random things, and opening attachments from random people, too.

We are all targets for scams, including ever-evolving phishing and spear-phishing efforts.

Not downloading and running apps from untrusted sources used to be a fairly clear line, but even that is now getting entirely murky.

And much of IT would probably prefer not to notice the shifting mess too, probably because even working toward fixing this mess is hard. Much less fixing it.

IdrisSeabright wrote:

weeklycod wrote:

moral of the story: stop clicking random links you find

No, that's not the moral of the story at all. Generally speaking, clicking on a link to a website, by itself, is not the problem. The morals of the story are "Don't install random shortcuts you find on the internet" and "Don't use random terminal commands you find on the internet."

Also, possibly, "Stay away from social media. It's bad for your mental health."

after I typed "moo virus", I saw it came from an" hh school fights" named link which took you to shortcuts where it will install itself and do random stuff and repeating itself forever.

Yes this is the name of the shortcut, I did not wanted to type it because people could easily search for it...

The way it works is that a friend sends you the link to prank you... So yeah be aware of links even from friends !

weeklycod wrote:

after I typed "moo virus", I saw it came from an" hh school fights" named link which took you to shortcuts where it will install itself and do random stuff and repeating itself forever.

You have to install it before it will do anything. Now, a website can do a lot to trick you into installing it which is why you need to be careful.

IdrisSeabright wrote:

weeklycod wrote:

after I typed "moo virus", I saw it came from an" hh school fights" named link which took you to shortcuts where it will install itself and do random stuff and repeating itself forever.

You have to install it before it will do anything. Now, a website can do a lot to trick you into installing it which is why you need to be careful.

I did not install

I agree, moo moo victims are actually lucky because it's not a dangerous thing, just annoying but hackers/scammers could try to do a similar thing an exploit you ! So be careful with shortcuts everyone !

You are only repeating what we already said...

Also saying that every /shortcut link is suspicious is false since every shortcut link has /shortcuts on it. Just be aware of the shortcut that you are adding.

AntiMoo wrote:

Hello

To fix the Virus ( not really a virus ) you can use three fingers on your phone and drag you fingers to the shortcut app and click on the shortcut and delete or deactivate all the shortcuts that is put on your phone this will turn off all the shortcuts the easy way.

Another way to turn off the virus is using Siri and saying out loud “hey siri, turn off all shortcuts.

Also if you turn off all the shortcuts some might stay on like the color invert or smart invert so all you have to do is go to settings then display and text size and turn off either of those that are active.

That you for repeating what has been posted in the past 5 pages, for people who don’t read threads before posting.

Kate3sdffg wrote:

Please help! This happened and my phone is locked out and I can’t enter the password because it’s zoomed in and I don’t know how to like turn it off

Have you considered actually reading the information already posted in this thread?

Kate3sdffg wrote:

Please help! This happened and my phone is locked out and I can’t enter the password because it’s zoomed in and I don’t know how to like turn it off

Think of this as a learning experience. NEVER download anything or click any link in social media app.

Lawrence Finch wrote:

Think of this as a learning experience. NEVER download anything or click any link in social media app.

That’s all assuming this particular version of the latest Rickroll isn’t actively malicious, too.

I hope people got their lesson, I can’t believe how people press on random links like that… You are supposed to learn to not press on random links as a kid…

And guys please read the post, I can’t believe it’s still going on 🫣

MrHoffman wrote:

Lawrence Finch wrote:

Think of this as a learning experience. NEVER download anything or click any link in social media app.

That’s all assuming this particular version of the latest Rickroll isn’t actively malicious, too.

Hello~ +1

~Katana-San~