what is macdefender and is it needed for macbook pro

It's a trojan. Delete it.

Judy

There was just another incident of MacDefender downloading to someone else's computer. It seems your browser is being redirected to a link to download Mac Defender. What browser are you using? Do you remeber what site rediirected you? Did you install Mac Defender? I'm sure you don't have a virus, but to give you some ppeace of mind you cann always install ClamXav which id preferred if you must you an AV program. It is free to use and has been around a long time. If Mac Defender installed itself open your Activity Monitor and look for the process Mac Denfender. Force quit the application. Look in your apps folder and move Mac Defender to the trash. Also look for any assocaited files. You can search in the finder toolbar, or you can do a spotlight search. Also open sys preferences and go to accounts and look in the login items to see if there is anything related to Mac Defender and remove it by clicking on it and hittin the minus sign. Hope this helps. Any info you can provide about what site redirected you, and the browser you were using would help in tracking down the issue. Hope this helps!

Joseph

judyfromspring wrote:

I was looking at some stock photos that said they were royalty free when the process started.

What site please, we need to add this malicious site to our block database and warn the security community, look in your history and post a reply.

Please post in this fashion.

malicioussite DOT net

so it's not a link, thank you.

Judy

Your son is correct sooner or later someone will write a virus for Mac. Let's hope it's later! There is perhaps forms of malware that can get to a Mac, but from what more knowledgable than me said it's not likely if one is careful where their surfing, and the malware would have to be clicked on or downloaded. As I said you can download and intstall ClamXav it's free to use and has been around for a long time. If that's give you peace of mind then by all means do so. Actually I run it. You said you were looking at stock photos? Is that a website? I apologize I'm not familiar with. I know flickr. As for browsers I use Chrome as well, but a knowledgeable member of the forums said it is has security issues according the the siteThreatPost. suggesting Firefox was a better choice. However FF 4 has a huge memory leak affecting the Mac version. But I'm comfortable running Chrome. I'm running the developer verision ofChrome. Hope this helps. Thanks for the info.

Joseph

Trojans are not quite the same thing as viruses. A trojan is a malicious program that spreads by tricking a computer user into installing it. A virus spreads automatically, without help from the user.

There are currently no known Mac viruses, but trojans do pop up occasionally. That's nothing new.

I'm not sure why your son thinks Chrome, which sends identifiable data about you to Google, is safer than Safari. Open Safari preferences and click on the Security icon in the toolbar. Check the boxes labeled "Warn when visiting a fraudulent website" and "Block pop-up windows." Uncheck the box labeled "Enable Java." Next, click on the General icon, and uncheck the box labeled "Open safe files after downloading." That will make it impossible for a website to automatically download a file and open it without your intervention.

NEVER NEVER NEVER type your password when prompted to do so by any application or installer unless it comes from Apple or another source that you trust implicitly.

Linc

With Chrome under privacy setting you can opt out sending usage statistics, will Chrome still send info if you opt out? Thanks

Joseph

I was just using Google on Safari to research a painting by M. King called A Beautiful Woman. There were two listings and as I clicked on a link from one of the sites it also went into that I had Trojan viruses and must install Mac Defender. I started the process and think I entered my password, but when it said install...I quit it. I followed some advice here and did a search on my finder and deleted anything that said Mac Defender, but it's still sitting in the trash as someone else said wait until you make sure everything is working ok before emptying the trash. I can't tell you exactly the website as I'm afraid to go back into it to get it exactly, but in pulling down my history window it says: http://pekikz DOT com/armenia.. and then some more things but I can't see what.

I'm hoping I've done everything I'm supposed to. Still a little worried as to what to do next.

Thanks for any help..

Leslye

Restart you computer and then empty the trash. That should do it. Hope this helps.

Joseph

Thanks Joseph for the response. I will do that now. Just went back into history and also noted that the last web page was: http://antivirus-scanner-2011 DOTceDotms. I hope this helps report this website. Thanks for all your help. Leslye

With Chrome under privacy setting you can opt out sending usage statistics, will Chrome still send info if you opt out?

http://www.srware.net/en/software_srware_iron_chrome_vs_iron.php

We've seen a significant increase in the number of misleading sub domains in .co.cc TLD that were promoting malware called Fast Windows Antivirus 2011

. We usually classify such misleading websites as browser hijackers that pretend to scan your computer for malicious software and reports hundreds of false system security threats. They distribute malware and at least for the last few weeks they were hosting fake anti-virus application called Ms Removal Tool (BestAntivirus2011.exe). If you somehow ended up with this rogue anti-virus, please follow the <ommitted> Although, these browser hijackers or fake scanners are titled "Fast Windows Antivirus 2011", we haven't found any rogue security program with such name yet. Most likely, Fast Windows Antivirus 2011 is only used for marketing of other malware. Anyway, if a window titled Fast Windows Antivirus 2011 pop-ups on your computer screen and supposedly scans your computer then it's certainly a scam. Do not download anything from such misleading scanners as shown in the image below. If you think that your computer has been infected some sort of malware, please run a full system scan with anti-malware software. Good luck and be safe online!

Here's an example of a fake anti-malware scanner tha reports non-existent infections on your computer.