…and still are not done.
When you use your computer as Jane does, to go out and visit some sites that offer what could be real nice stuff useful in re-making the website—or could be a come-on for nefarious purposes—you have to go in protected; but this one got past Avast. We are currently using another program to go after it—and Avast fought us loading that seek-and-destroy-the-malware program tooth and nail. At one point Jane couldn’t get on her computer; at another, she was there, on our aux computer, but it locked—and when you’re dealing with somebody as absolutely exhausted as we are after the great copyediting foulup—we are ready to explode. The poor cats were aware of the tension, so they were exploring every attention-getting ploy they had, including walking on the keyboard of the computer we had finally gotten to run the scan—and turning it off, after 2 hours of scanning. (“Buts, ma,–Ize pertikular-ly gud at findin’ bugs. I huntz ’em reel gud. I wuz lookin’ for it…I’da et it 4 u if Id’ found it…”)
While it used to be that Macs were seldom targeted by malware writers, sadly that is no longer the case. Claiming otherwise these days is just hiding your head in the sand. “Drive by downloads” from infected web sites which target Macs are all too common. Because of their current popularity, MacOS and iOS, as well as the newer Android and Chrome operating systems, are all subject to attack. 🙁
Completely OT: I love your avatar!!!!
Selden,
I visit those Mac Malware sites with my Mac, and download the Malware to analyze it. You see there is this problem with Mac Malware. You have to manually install it!
This makes Mac Malware a sad joke. Yes, it will get a certain small portion of Mac Users who will enter their password without thinking. But that is a VERY small portion, and Apple is really good about closing holes like that, which is why I have no problem with leaving unarchived copies of dozens of types of Mac Malware on my desktop. It is harmless.
Wayne
Well, we have become believers in online backup, so we are safe, in that regard; and we are real believers in running protection—where we got blindsided was thinking that Avast could handle the more complex threats.
FYI, the name of the beast that infected us is Win 7 Security 2012, which has been newly modified to become nastier than it used to be. Avast warned of a problem with a site, and as usual, offered “Go ahead, sandbox-only, or close?” Well, the way this thing now works, you’re already hosed: any one of the three will install the malware. The only thing that MIGHT work is to get out of the browser, or shut down the computer cold.
The malware then tries to block you from changing it; but it is a ‘rogue’ type that can rename itself as all sorts of things…
It’s a scareware type, or ‘ransom malware’ that will try to get you to download a program to scan your computer for problems and then sell you a software to ‘cure’ it. In some lovely variations, it will then go dormant and pop up again if you don’t ‘renew’ the software. Be REAL sure to check out any programs that offer you ‘free scans’. Be sure you’re not secretly funding some shadowy organization in some corner of the globe.
I had to help a friend with this. Some (bless him) enterprising soul actually had “cracked” the program and published a registration code that could be used to shut it off, at which point ordinary measures could remove it. Totally pain.
Snakes? I hate snakes!
Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark
I don’t know if this would help at all, but there’s an add-on called Web of Trust or WOT. It shows you how trustworthy certain sites are by the little circle beside the link. It’ll also warn you by graying out the site and telling you the site is untrustworthy if it rates a red circle.