How do I get rid of the movie4k.to virus

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Level 1

4 points

How do I get rid of the movie4k.to virus

We were looking to download the INXS Movie series and as our smart TV is an LG we could not use Plus7 so we wanting to download the movie onto a hard drive. I went to download it using www.Movie4K.to and a binary file came up and another pop up screen with the words "Congratulations". When I couldn't shut down the computer I knew something was wrong. I forced the shut down but when I restarted the computer I realised I had a virus. There is no mail, itumes is empty; no files only applications and they had to be reset. I did some research on this virus and so far can only find solutions for PCs and not for Macs. Does Anyone know what I can do to have my computer back to what it was before the virus? All of my files are on a lacie hard drive and they still appear to be there. Also the last backup was an hour before the virus took hold.

iMac, OS X Mavericks (10.9.1)

Posted on Feb 15, 2014 10:35 PM

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Answer 1

thomas_r.

Level 7

32,031 points

Feb 16, 2014 5:36 AM in response to lmlov1

That site is highly illegal, and as such, you risk much by visiting it. It has been identified as distributing malware, and also (when I tested it) redirected to other sites that are also malicious. Do not visit this site further, or any other site offering "free" download of commercial video content. There is no legal source for downloading commercial movies or TV shows for free (except through the network's website in the case of TV shows).

As to malware, it's unlikely that any Mac malware was involved here. If you are using a properly updated system - which your profile indicates that you are - there is currently no known way for malware to install by itself via drive-by download. So, unless you downloaded and then opened a file from that site, you're fine. (If you did do that, then malware is a possibility.)

Assuming you didn't open a download from that site, this was just a scam of some kind. The other issues you're seeing, with all your files being missing, are entirely coincidental. Most likely, from the sounds of it, you simply didn't log in to the correct user account when you restarted.

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