Grave security problem - Screenshots of everything I ever searched

It depends upon how you deleted them. Surely the most prominent job of software recovery is to find deleted/damaged files?

vladimirfromtuebingen wrote:

Well I didn't create them and I didn't delete them.

Ok, well was the drive secondhand?

Why would I make 30 000 screenshots of my browsing history with Safari?

I don't know whether you'd have reason to or not.

So my question is: do I have security problem? Is this some kind of spyware installed on my Mac making screenshots?

Again, no idea. Maybe you can run ClamAV or similar and see what turns up? Do you also run Windows on that Mac?

vladimirfromtuebingen wrote:

No the drive was new when I bougth it. I am using it to backup my Mac so these files ca,e from my Mac. I am not troubled because of the drive. I am troubled that someone was making screenshots of my entire browsing history on my Mac and my question is simple: does anyone know if there is some spyware program doing this and how I can remove it?

I don't know about that. Try the ClamAV. It's possible that you have spyware I suppose though I know of none like this. You have enabled all the necessary security measures?

(Stealth mode/Secure virtual mem/Firewall...etc).

vladimirfromtuebingen wrote:

I will try Clam AV.

Let us know how it goes.

I dont, know if this can help but I just found out that the files were copied from the folder /private/var/gk

Nope, someone with more brains than me will need to address that.

You have enabled all the necessary security measures?

(Stealth mode/Secure virtual mem/Firewall...etc).

Note that none of that will protect you against malware. See Do I need a firewall?

I think a computer with security features enabled is a safer one that has none, but I take your point.

There is some Mac malware known to take screenshots... see More broken Mac malware and New variant of Revir/Imuler. Also, for more general advice regarding malware, see my Mac Malware Guide. (Note that my pages contain links to other pages that promote my services, and this should not be taken as an endorsement of my services by Apple.)

If you have Imuler.A, there are some removal instructions here:

http://www.f-secure.com/v-descs/backdoor_osx_imuler_a.shtml

I think a computer with security features enabled is a safer one that has none, but I take your point.

Not necessarily. Often, people enable security features without a full understanding of what they do, and then behave as if they were "safe" when they actually are not. If enabling a security feature which is only useful in limited circumstances causes you to behave dangerously, it's actually worse to turn it on.

With regard to malware, there is NO software or security feature that can protect you 100% of the time, even when used appropriately.

Thomas A Reed wrote:

Not necessarily. Often, people enable security features without a full understanding of what they do, and then behave as if they were "safe" when they actually are not. If enabling a security feature which is only useful in limited circumstances causes you to behave dangerously, it's actually worse to turn it on.

With regard to malware, there is NO software or security feature that can protect you 100% of the time, even when used appropriately.

We have a slight difference of opinion here which is fine, but as I said. I take your point.

There's this: http://www.macnn.com/articles/11/09/23/malware.currently.just.minor.threat/

Safari keeps a snapshot of every web page you visit so that it can give you a preview when looking at your bookmarks or history. These aren't available to other users on your machine, but depending on how you are backing up your data they may be visible (Time Machine backups keep access privileges). Personally I don't use these snapshots, and if you don't want them around either you can empty your user's ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari/Webpage Previews folder and then set the permissions to read only so snapshots don't get saved.