Have you been infected by the Mac Google Redirect Virus? Have you like me also googled it and found nothing but confused and overcomplicated forum posts? Well here’s your answer – and FIX!
okay, so if you noticed that some pages in your browser are redirecting where you didn’t mean to go, you might be infected. You probably first noticed it on google search results, and then you might have noticed it on sites that you regularly visit.
You may have thought it was something wrong with your browser, and tried another one – maybe even re-downloaded a browser or tried a totally fresh one – and are still getting the same weirdness.
Did you also google ‘mac virus’ and came up with the inconclusive advice that I got, ‘so far there’s never been a mac virus yet’ – which doesn’t help at all when you know you’ve got ‘something!’ -
Okay, so maybe the whole V-word is a technicality.
So what about trojans, malware, IP hijacks and so on?
Cause I think that’s what I’ve got. an IP hijack.
The best conspiracy theory, from reading a bazillion mac forums, is that whatever you’ve got (the mac version of swine flu?) has been invented by someone pimping “software XYZ”, which they then upsell you as a ‘cure’.
So after downloading and trying every single software recommended (by google, and the aforementioned mac forums, etc) on various mac ‘support sites’ but then finding most of them linked to software for PC only –
basically a bunch of bogus advice that didn’t work, from inept people who didn’t know shit posturing as experts on Mac forums –
I consulted Actual Experts I know In Real Life.
IT Guru Steve got me to log in to terminal over skype screen sharing, and after typing a bunch of commands in, confirmed that my IP address and .local address have been hijacked.
Instead of being called myusualcomputername.local, it was called DaShiz.local – and with no way of changing it in system preferences –
(Scary shit!)
So I guess I had my diagnosis, but still no solution.
I then thought to call my local Mac hardware repair guy, Mark, to ask him if he’d ever heard of a Mac virus, and if he had, did he think that reinstalling the system software from my DVD would help?
Now; what Mark told me was the first thing that makes sense.
When I tried it as per his advice, it immediately worked.
But I will go one better on what Mark told me and tell you the free/lazy solution.
Prior to speaking to Mark and Steve I’d figured out that if I used hidemyass.com and went to sites that usually wouldn’t load, that they’d load.
This of course just confirmed my suspicions that my IP address had been hacked – but wasn’t a solution.
Ok, so here’s what Mark said.
“Sounds like your user account has been hacked at the root level. Probably malicious software. You would have to delete that user (back it up first) and then manually move the data you want over to a new user you create.’
I immediately tried to test this theory. I created a new user, logged out of the old one, connected to the net, started up safari – and bingo! – everything worked!
So, planning to move everything over as Mark suggested, later, I just thought I’d try one last thing and I google something like ‘malicious software removal mac’ and found something called Kaspersky Anti Virus.
FREE. I downloaded it. It found something suspicious hiding as a Quicktime kxt or txt or something, which of course Iet it ‘disinfect’. And then, guess what?
It worked. Virus gone! Computer name back to normal. Didn’t even have to create new user and transfer over files!
so my hats off to Kapersky Anti-Virus for being the only thing on the internet that worked, but if you don’t fancy using any software, then just do Mark’s solution cause that will work too.
(Just be careful about Quicktime….)
I hope this helped somebody out there. I am writing this post because I literally could NOT find this on the internet!
Barbs
