How do we check for backdoor malware software

macroddy wrote:

Thank you. This sounds like it may be beyond their scope. Do you or anyone know a reliable tech in Oakville, Ontario that could do it for a reasonable fee

It's actually incredibly simple to do. It doesn't require a ton of technical knowledge. Don't pay someone to do for you what you can do for yourself. That's just a waste of money.

Good spyware and some other nasty malware is neither easy to find or remove. The only way to be sure anything they may have installed is gone is to first make a backup of your Mac. Especially your personal documents and photos.

Erase the Mac's drive and reinstall OS X. Apply any updates from Apple so the OS is up to date. Reinstall your third party apps from their original disks or digital downloads. Manually copy back your personal data.

Do not merge in any Time Machine backup or other backup type. The purpose of making the the backup in the first step was to make sure you don't lose your personal files, not to automatically restore it. That would just bring back any possible malware.

That's even worse. There is tons more malware for Windows than a Mac. Some rules above apply. Make a backup. Erase the drive. Install the OS and your other apps from scratch. Restore only your personal files manually.

I had kind of ignored "pc" since it does generically mean Personal Computer. So many folks use it to mean any type of computer, regardless of the make or OS.

Not too likely. If they installed a Windows virus, it may have propagated to other Windows computers on your network. OS X and iOS devices cannot in any way be affected by Windows malware. 100% incompatible OS architectures.

About the only way to have infected the iPad was if the device was already jailbroken (software used to intentionally disable the iOS security so you can install non App Store software on it). Otherwise, it's extremely difficult to install rogue software in an iPad or iPhone.

macroddy wrote:

thanks. i hate paying for stuff i can do also. my concern is that everything they own is infected so where is safe to back up to ? can an ipad have an external drive? icloud means reactivating their network connection which exposes them some more ? They are really not tech savvy. Backup is something done with a car to them 🙂 I am somewhat windows literate but don't know my way around ios at all ... i would normally be up for the challenge but if I take time on valentines weekend my wife might get a rash 🙂

Backup to an external drive. They're not that expensive. You would manually copy all your personal files like documents, movies, music, pictures and such to the external drive. Then go through the process of thoroughly wiping the drive. You can print off the directions and have them handy so you can go step-by-step. Once the drive is wiped and you're back to factory settings, or how the computer came to you when you bought it, you can then upgrade the OS to get it up to date, then re-download from either the App Store or the developers' websites, all your third-party applications that you used. Once that's done, you manually copy back all your personal files that you moved to the external drive. All it will cost you is the price of the external drive. If you already have one, or have some flash drives, it won't cost you anything at all.

So if I am understanding correctly there is very little risk any of the ios devices got infected

Corrected. Almost impossible to do.

but the windows PC is at high risk that they got something on it?

All depends on what the crooks did while they had access. If all they did was poke around and do things like claim normal Windows system files they showed you were some type of malware, then there's not much chance anything is wrong with the Windows computer, either. Trouble is, you can't be completely certain what happened while they had control of the computer. The only sure way back to a safe system is to wipe and reinstall.

What do you mean by "pc"? A Windows pc or a Mac?

Hard to say. Since the scammer seemed interested in that iPad, I wouldn't be surprised if he installed something.