husband downloaded an app called spider solitaire +...virus??

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sherri1969 Author

Level 1

0 points

husband downloaded an app called spider solitaire +...virus??

Duh I didnt fill the top portion out correctly. My husband downloaded this app from the app store for me and it went into iphoto and relaced all my pictures with the imges of the playing cards. When I went to applications there was a secondary app that looked exactly the same, only it sat above a line above all other apps and it was really hard to scroll the screen to finally view it. The info button said it was created july 17, 2012 when the other said July21, 2012. Anyway Geek Squad said they found and removed removed a flashback virus that was downloaded to my mac book air about a year ago and something else called the B1 archiver. I purchased a new Mac Book Pro and signed in to the app store and proceded to install past purchases. The spider solitaire + from the minute it started to download turned black when the icon is red. I can not remove it and when I drag it to the trash it reappears the next day. it sits above a line above all other apps virtualy hidden. Now my screen is flashing small white square sections in various places. when you click the info button it says it was created in 2004. The original was purchased on july 21, 2012.

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Nov 14, 2012 11:06 PM

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Answer 1

HACKINT0SH

Level 5

5,804 points

Nov 15, 2012 12:07 AM in response to sherri1969

No such thing as a virus for Mac OS X. Flashback was not a virus either. Though news media in America who only understand hype may tell you otherwise (and other nonsense).

Mind showing us some screen shots?

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Answer 2

thomas_r.

Level 7

31,989 points

Nov 16, 2012 3:43 AM in response to sherri1969

Many, many comments here...

First, anything downloaded from the App Store is not capable of making the kinds of changes you describe. Due to the sandboxing restrictions imposed by Apple on App Store apps, they can only access their own files and files that you explicitly give them access to.

Second, you should really never take a Mac to the Geek Squad, as they usually aren't the most knowledgeable when it comes to Macs.

Third, if you still had a copy of Flashback on your Mac recently, you are not installing software updates often enough. Apple released an update that both closed the vulnerabilities Flashback relied on and removed Flashback (if present). It is very important for security reasons that you keep your Mac updated properly, by allowing it to install updates when it alerts you to them. For more information on keeping your Mac secure, see my Mac Malware Guide.

Finally, with regard to the problems on your new machine, did you import anything from the old machine? If so, you may have imported some kind of junk third-party software that did not come from the App Store. See the part about checking third-party software in my Mac Performance Guide... what do those tests show that you have installed?

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