"copy protection" virus destroys iTunes

I have picked up a virus a second time that disables most functions of iTunes in an aggressive way. It must have come in on an audio file from the internet. The virus has three functions: 1. It prevents updating your ipod with your updated itunes list, giving instead the error message: 'Attempting to copy to the disk "ipod name" failed. The disk could not be read to or written to.' Sometimes the message comes in the form: 'Attempting to copy to disk "ipod name" failed. An unknown error occured (-36). It blocks all updates to the ipod, including podcasts, but you can still download podcasts to iTunes. 2) It prevents copying a song folder to a song list on itunes, blocking your computer drive copy function for songs only and gives the message: 'Can not copy folders. Some data can not be read or written.' Finally, 3) it prevents you from copying songs from a song CD to your itunes library. In this case you don't notice the problem until you do playback of those new songs. You discover that it skips and jumps from track to track never completing any music. Your other songs already in iTunes are not affected. I have not tested if it destroys songs attempting to be downloaded from the iTunes store. I got rid of the virus once before by reinstalling iTunes and putting my ipod back to factory settings and running Virex, which found a virus. The second time I got infected it was not sufficient to only reinstall itunes. I still have the virus but I am not going to redo my ipod since I have over 4000 songs on it and it takes a day to do it. I can still play itunes and play my ipod as is. I just can't update it anymore or add songs or podcasts. Has anyone discovered this virus? I hope Apple comes up with a fix so we can clean out viruses. I suspect a recording studio may have hired someone to write this virus to start making iTunes unusable.

imac G4 Mac OS X (10.4) using a maxtor supplemental hard drive

imac G4 Mac OS X (10.4) using a maxtor supplemental hard drive

Posted on Jun 15, 2006 8:03 PM

19 replies

Jun 20, 2006 1:26 PM in response to robphoton

Rich beat me to the punch. I agree with everything he says. At this point in time using anti-virus protection on a Macintosh is a waste of money and system resources. There are people who disagree on this point, but our disagreement is a, hopefully, respectful one. 🙂

In addition to the links to good articles Tom gave you, you should also read this article from the MacFixIt discussion boards.

Jun 20, 2006 2:03 PM in response to robphoton

Bob, not to get too far off the original topic, you should try the tip Charles has given you. If you come up information similar to what he is showing you then we can assume you may have a bad block on your internal HDD. This type of problem can frequently be solved by Disk Utility.

Additionaly if you would share with us the trouble shooting steps you've already taken that would be very helpful.

robphoton Author

Level 1

20 points

Jun 20, 2006 7:15 PM in response to Michael Allbritton

Problem has been solved! I do not totally understand why, but everything now works. I do have some answers.

First, Tom was right in that the first time I was having problems copying to my ipod the message "Attempting to copy to the disk "ipod name" failed An . An unknown error occurred (-36)" was indeed caused by overflowing the ipod storage space. I will go back and mark his comment as a solution so he can get points for it. Turning off photo copying to the ipod was part of that solution, but I did not realize it. That action opened up more music space.

The second time I had the problem the iTunes healed itself. I know this is not a satisfying answer but that is what happened. I left my ipod alone for a few days and when I went to use it again it started from its little Apple screen, apparently rebooting its program. This eliminated the problem. So, instead of a virus it must have just got a bit in the wrong register or something.

Thank you for the comments about the virus status for macs. I do not think this is that widely known.

I am most impressed that the program healed itself. This iTunes rocks!

Bob

Jun 21, 2006 6:50 AM in response to robphoton

Bob I'm glad you were able to get the problem worked out.

Just for good measure I suggest you run DIsk Utility's "repair disk" and "repair permissions" features on the iPod.

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"copy protection" virus destroys iTunes