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heard 2 days ago first mac virus

PC friends tell me first mac virus discovered last week


True?

macbook, Mac OS X (10.7.1)

Posted on Feb 11, 2012 1:20 PM

Reply
85 replies

Feb 20, 2012 12:55 PM in response to Alias_alas

I read one headline in a mac magazine (3.5 mice out of 5).


The reviewer probably didn't try to uninstall MacKeeper until after the article was published, or it would have been much lower. He/she was probably also completely unaware of some of the unethical things the comapny behind MacKeeper has done. They even tried to pay me to change my blog post!

Feb 20, 2012 2:26 PM in response to Alias_alas

Alias_alas wrote:


Would you mind posting some alternatives to MacKeeper please?


I was surprised to read your harsh criticism of this considering all the positive reviews and ad space it receives. What are you basing this opinion on?


Thanks


Did you read this?


Further opinion on it and how to uninstall MacKeeper malware:


http://applehelpwriter.com/2011/09/21/how-to-uninstall-mackeeper-malware/


Do NOT download or use the ‘MacKeeper uninstaller’ from the Zeobit site, as this will cause even more damage to your operating system.


This is also worth reading:


http://www.reedcorner.net/news.php/?p=245

Feb 20, 2012 3:03 PM in response to Kurt Lang

but I wasn't endorsing it either.


my initial comment was one of surprise. and it didn't seem to me that there was any supporting evidence in the post for the claims.


thanks to everyone who pointed out the dubious nature of the company behind this bloated piece of sap ware.


in fact I just followed phil Stokes's excellent "how to" dig out all the various files that mac keeper left behind after trialing it (for about 3 minutes a few months ago).


easy find rocks!

Feb 20, 2012 3:27 PM in response to Allan Eckert

Allan Eckert wrote:


I would be interested in where you found those positive reviews.

Just Google "MacKeeper reviews." You will find lots of hits on the first page of results, all with glowing reviews & user comments raving about how great it is ... & all from sites you have probably never heard of before, many of which include a disclaimer page (if you look for it) stating that the reviewers and/or site 'may' receive some form of compensation for their 'opinions.'


The MacWorld review that gave an early version 3.5 stars is there too, but easy to overlook among all these pretty obviously paid reviews.

Feb 20, 2012 3:47 PM in response to Alias_alas

Alias_alas wrote:


in fact I just followed phil Stokes's excellent "how to" dig out all the various files that mac keeper left behind after trialing it (for about 3 minutes a few months ago).

Stokes' method is a bit over the top. You do not need to remove the indicated caches, logs, receipts, or preferences to 'neuter' the utility, although doing so won't hurt anything & will save a bit of HD space. Just removing the executable & especially the LaunchDaemons files will prevent it from runningor having any other influence on your Mac.


You also don't need to securely empty the trash -- there is no way for the trashed files to somehow 'untrash' themselves once the trash is emptied normally.

Feb 20, 2012 8:43 PM in response to R C-R

R C-R wrote:


Alias_alas wrote:


in fact I just followed phil Stokes's excellent "how to" dig out all the various files that mac keeper left behind after trialing it (for about 3 minutes a few months ago).

Stokes' method is a bit over the top.



I prefer to think of it as 'thorough' in order to return a machine to the state before MK. The BOM's are arguable, but I see no reason to leave anything at all on there.


Securely emptying the trash ensures the data space gets written over rather than MK being actually still on your system but unrecognized. I haven't looked in the MK package contents to see what if, any, personal user info is written/copied there. Secure trash is just a precaution to make sure that nothing related to MK remains readable on your disk.

Feb 20, 2012 10:17 PM in response to keith contarino

PC friends tell me first mac virus discovered last week


Mac OS X, with its Unix-based file system and kernel, is harder to infect with a self-replicating program.


Unlike Windows, Mac OS X applications don't share a common registry. Mac OS X applications use individual preference files, thus the types of global configuration changes which enable so much of Windows malware is simply not as feasible on a Mac.

Feb 21, 2012 6:46 AM in response to softwater

softwater wrote:


Securely emptying the trash ensures the data space gets written over rather than MK being actually still on your system but unrecognized.

If the file space freed up by a regular erase is somehow recognized by the file system or OS as containing something it should execute or otherwise refer to then you have more serious systemic issues to deal with than a secure erase could cure.


In fact, if such an issue existed, a secure erase would risk overwriting file space actually in use by the file system, causing data loss.

heard 2 days ago first mac virus

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