Mouse click virus? 2 macs!

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nowsthetime Author

Level 1

26 points

Mouse click virus? 2 macs!

Didn't know where to post this.

I have two macs. A MacBook air & an iMac both running the latest version of the OS

Yesterday the mouse on the iMac stopped working. What I mean is it would move. But it wouldn't CLICK

I tried several different mice. No luck.

So I used the laptop to access the iMac & backed stuff up, etc.

Today the trackpad on the MacBook had the same problem. Move but no click.

I hooked up some mice via USB. No good same problem.

This is just too much of a coincidence.

HAS THIS HAPPENED TO ANYONE ELSE? Is it solvable?

Thank goodness for the iPad with which I'm able to post this.

Posted on Oct 6, 2013 6:47 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

AlRoRo

Level 2

175 points

Oct 6, 2013 7:21 PM in response to nowsthetime

You could try using the Keyboard shortcusts found in http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1343 to trash the mouse plists

~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.driver.AppleBluetoothMultitouch.trackpad.plist

~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.driver.AppleHIDMouse.plist

~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.driver.AppleBluetoothMultitouch.mouse.plist

These three influence mouse activity.

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Answer 2

nowsthetime Author

Level 1

26 points

Oct 6, 2013 7:27 PM in response to AlRoRo

I'll try the link. I was wondering about hot keys. But really 2 macs w/in 2 days! What are the odds?

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Answer 3

Barney-15E

Level 10

112,638 points

Oct 6, 2013 7:58 PM in response to nowsthetime

What did you install on both of them?

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Answer 4

nowsthetime Author

Level 1

26 points

Oct 6, 2013 9:47 PM in response to Barney-15E

Nothing. Nothing.

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Answer 5

nowsthetime Author

Level 1

26 points

Oct 6, 2013 9:56 PM in response to Barney-15E

I upgraded the OS on both

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Answer 6

Barney-15E

Level 10

112,638 points

Oct 7, 2013 3:38 AM in response to nowsthetime

Upgraded? From what OS?

Perhaps you had something already installed that is now incompatible.

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Answer 7

nowsthetime Author

Level 1

26 points

Oct 7, 2013 6:06 AM in response to Barney-15E

I always keep current. Sometimes a mistake but Actually I misspoke. I upgraded iTunes.

I managed to trash all the mouse prefs & everything is working again on both machines (thanks AlRoRo) & also set up the iMac to be controlled by voice. I've also upgraded a few apps but I forget which. I guess I should keep a journal of that stuff.

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Answer 8

Oct 7, 2013 6:52 PM in response to nowsthetime

same exact thing happened to me. I installed all my software upgrades and then the problem occurrected about 10 days ago. itunes was in that patch too.

it's intermittent. but imac is completely unusable right now. sometimes rebooting helps.

I also completely reinstalled the os... worked for 3 days then reoccurred.

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Answer 9

Barney-15E

Level 10

112,638 points

Oct 7, 2013 6:55 PM in response to nowsthetime

Boot into Safe Mode and see if you still have the problem. http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1455

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Answer 10

nowsthetime Author

Level 1

26 points

Oct 7, 2013 9:09 PM in response to Barney-15E

I tried booting in safe mode. Also repaired permissions & reset pram.

Nothing worked. I pulled the plug & removed all peripherals. When I restarted the following day the problem was gone so I quick trashed the prefs as described above by AlRoRo.

Then I ran mackeeper which found 45 instances of malware which I also trashed. We'll see.

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Answer 11

Barney-15E

Level 10

112,638 points

Oct 7, 2013 9:28 PM in response to nowsthetime

Ahhh, the rest of the story.

Get rid of MacKeeper and your Mac will run much better.

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Answer 12

nowsthetime Author

Level 1

26 points

Oct 8, 2013 4:08 PM in response to Barney-15E

I only use mackeeper once every few months. Don't keep it turned on. And I've had it for several years. Why do you say that?

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Answer 13

Barney-15E

Level 10

112,638 points

Oct 8, 2013 4:26 PM in response to nowsthetime

Search for it on these forums. It won't take long to find out why.

Also, anything the purports to clean, maintain, protect, optimize, or speed up your Mac will do the opposite. Nothing is needed. Your Mac will run fine without you interfering with its operation.

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Answer 14

C F McBlob

Level 4

2,885 points

Oct 8, 2013 4:30 PM in response to Barney-15E

Barney-15E wrote:

Search for it on these forums. It won't take long to find out why.

Also, anything the purports to clean, maintain, protect, optimize, or speed up your Mac will do the opposite. Nothing is needed. Your Mac will run fine without you interfering with its operation.

I'll second that... MacKeeper is the closest thing to a "virus" I've ever seen for Mac OS X. If I ever met the person who developed it, I'd slap him/her as hard as I could.

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Answer 15

heathf

Level 1

5 points

Oct 22, 2013 12:12 PM in response to nowsthetime

I had the same problem after updating my MBP. I tried resetting pram, uninstalling a couple apps I thought may be causing a problem (AirParrot. had issues with it before) and a few other things but nothing worked.

After seeing airoro's suggestion about deleting the PLISTs, I knew I probably had the answer. (felt dumb for not thinking of it myself) and it indeed worked after a restart. Many thanks airoro. I was starting to worry I had a hardware issue with my mbp but all is well now.

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