Problem with my Macbook (1 Viewer)

[whingyraindrop]

What a nuisance!

It started on Saturday when I found that my Macbook was disconnected from the net. On the dropdown menu of available networks was one I didn't recognise, and my network wasn't there. It appeared again a little later and automatically connected.

A few hours later I backed up the Mac to an external hard drive. The back up took hours to complete, far far longer than usual.

I continued to work but everything was very slow.

I then emptied the trash, to find there were, I think, 23,000 items. Hmmm, rather more than I expected.

I then continued sending out emails. All of those sent to addresses ending in NHS.uk and ac.uk were all blocked and I received a message informing me that my ip address was recognised as being used for Spam, along with a link which included this
mail-abuse.com

when I click on the link (which also contains my ip address) i get a questionnaire asking me questions to which I do not know the answers.

The above points may, or may not, be linked.

Help! What is going on? What should I do now?

Lorraine x

 

[Bill_OR]

Can't advise you on Mac issues as I only speak PC. However, if you power off your internet router, leave it a minute or so and then power it back on you will probably get assigned a different IP address.

 

[Deleted member 29692]

It sounds like you may have picked up something nasty like a mail hijacker from somewhere. If it's sending lots of rubbish from your account then it's easy to get flagged as spam.

That would explain it running slow - if it's sending out 10000 emails an hour it will be tying up system resources.

Unfortunately as your latest back up is probably infected too so you're going to have to delete that.

To start with see what Malwarebytes comes up with Mac version is available here: https://www.malwarebytes.org/antimalware/mac/

Run a scan and see what it finds.

Then give one of the anti virus packages a go. Bit Defender is probably the best. You can get a 30 day free trial.

You should be able to root out and get rid of whatever it is without too much difficulty.

Sorting the email address out and getting it unflagged is going to be your biggest issue as that will be blocked by individual servers, not a central point.

Probably not what you want to hear but the fastest, simplest solution, if you can afford to let it go will be to simply abandon it and get a new one. If you can change the password on the account that will stop anymore messages going out (don't do it from your Mac until you've cleaned it up) but getting those servers to allow it again will take some time.

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[Deleted member 29692]

It might be a good idea to factory reset your router as well in case the attack has come via that. Don't forget to change the default password once you've done it

 

[whingyraindrop]

Thanks for this. Another question, I can't now send mail from the iMac, Macbook or iPad. Is it that the mail address is recognised as spam or that something nasty is living in them all and all will need cleaning up?

Oh, both of my mail addresses are affected.

Thanks,

Lorraine

 

[Deleted member 29692]

Thanks for this. Another question, I can't now send mail from the iMac, Macbook or iPad. Is it that the mail address is recognised as spam or that an alien is living in them all and all will need cleaning up?

Oh, both of my mail addresses are affected.

Thanks,

Lorraine

It's the email addresses themselves, probably via the Macbook. It's unlikely the other devices are affected.

Change the passwords of both mail accounts, from one of the other devices, and that should stop them sending out junk and get your Mac running properly again. Then you just need to track down whatever it is and get rid of it.

The email addresses themselves will stay flagged as spam for quite a while. Eventually they will sort themselves out once the activity level on them drops back to normal, it's just a question as to whether you can live with not being able to send to certain servers while that's happening.

There's very little you can do about it short of tracking down the admins of all the servers that are blocking you and convincing them to lift it but that's obviously not practical.

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[Deleted member 29692]

Obviously once you've changed the passwords don't update them on the Mac until you've cured it.

 

[Geo]

Mac help Here

 

[whingyraindrop]

Mac help Here

Well, they have advised that I 'pull back the curtain on violent extremism' ...not sure that helps...am I missing something??!

Lorraine x

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[Mags52]

I have a MacBook Pro. If it starts doing odd things I turn it off completely and leave it for a few minutes ... Also turn off your router. Sometimes it just sorts itself. Having said that I haven't had the problems you are describing. If all else fails get an appointment at a Genius Bar in an Apple shop. They really are brilliant.
Hope it works out
Mags

 

[Geo]

Well, they have advised that I 'pull back the curtain on violent extremism' ...not sure that helps...am I missing something??!

Lorraine x

English please ?

 

[whingyraindrop]

English please ?

When I click on the link, it's an F.B.I. (Federal Bureau of Investigation) site regarding terrorism, and opens on a screen that advises 'pull back the curtain on violent extremism'. . . are things worse than I thought??? Should I be concerned??? More importantly, am I going to make it to Peterborough??

Lorraine x

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[DBK]

A very quick thing to do would be to turn off your router for half a minute or so then turn it on again. This will give it a different IP address which might help a bit. Running malware bytes if you can download it would then be the next thing to do.

If you really can't sort it try and find a local IT body who is familiar with Apple - not all will be. There may even be some sort of Apple Help website you can go on which might locate someone local. The main thing is to disbelieve everything you read on your computer, for example any messages telling you to contact someone who will solve the problem - they probably caused it and you don't want to let them have any more access to your machine!

 

[whingyraindrop]

I have, so far, followed the advice from @NickNic, spoken to someone from Apple in Ireland and disconnected the device from the internet. Does anyone else get the FBI site when clicking on @Geo 's link, or is it just me?

Thanks, lorrainex

 

[Deleted member 29692]

It is a link to the FBI. A little attempt at humour I think

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[whingyraindrop]

Oh, my sense of humour has disappeared. Sorry. I am extremely mardy about the fact that this has happened when it is so vital to me and I am so flipping careful to keep the laptop secure.

Lorrainex

 

[Deleted member 29692]

It's easily done. There's not always anything obvious with the email hijackers until they start sending out their spam and slowing your system down.

The plus point is that they're usually pretty simple to get rid of. Thinking about it though I've never come across one that targets OS X

Just out of interest what sort of email accounts are they - i.e. gmail or hotmail or server based?

If it's a web based one like gmail the problem may not even be on your machine and it's just the bounce backs that are slowing you down. If that's the case then changing the password to something strong will solve it.

 

[Minxy]

Oh, my sense of humour has disappeared. Sorry. I am extremely mardy about the fact that this has happened when it is so vital to me and I am so flipping careful to keep the laptop secure.

Lorrainex

The background to this 'funny' link is that the FBI are trying to get Apple to release details of how to 'hack into' their password system so they can access some info on an Apple machine (can't remember what it is now) owned by a 'nasty person' but Apple won't play ball, so the FBI are trying to do it without them ... hence the FBI should be getting pretty 'expert' on Apple products as it attempts to do the hacking!

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[Minxy]

I'll start by saying I know very little about Apple products, only having had a Mac computer once for a very short period of time.

Unfortunately as your latest back up is probably infected too so you're going to have to delete that.

This is a good time to mention that when doing a back-up you should always use a different storage media to do it from your last one, eg a second external hard drive, and alternate them when backing up, that way you don't wipe out your last 'good' back-up when doing another if it fails.

I hope you manage to get sorted soon, I know just how frustrating it can be when you get stuff on your computer and can be a b*gger to clear out!