flash player update trojan

[boboboy]

i received a window on imac el capitan safari claiming my flash player was in need of updating. giving me a choice of yes, or no. since it rendered safari inoperable, (this and other types of scams i've had in the past), i clicked no, do not update. it downloaded a file in any case. i deleted it 2 times as it reappeared. now safari is inoperable. the update window is constant. i cannot open safari preference either, or delete history, etc. nothing. i have checked and my flash player is indeed up to date. i have searched online but cannot find any remedy. there was also something i tried copying text to 'terminal', indicating that my flash was trojan free, but noticed in cs6 flash player it indicated something was modified at the same date so possibly it altered that. wondering if there is a way of deleting certain files on safari, or reinstalling it without a full reinstall of osx. i have been targeted before with the genico malware and was able to delete it but this one i can't seem to find a remedy.

thank you for any assistance.

 

[maflynn]

Download and use malwarebytes That will find and clean out malware that may be infecting your computer.

 

[boboboy]

Download and use malwarebytes That will find and clean out malware that may be infecting your computer.

oh i have that. it does not find it. although after the window appeared my safari is stuck with it and is inoperable as i've indicated. i would download sophos but it literally takes over 12 hours to complete a scan.

 

[DeltaMac]

Great!
No one here can scan your system for you.
Run the scan, time it, and come back here with the actual scan time.
I'm almost certain that everyone here is interested with how long you have to wait... (12 hours is a bit overstated, I'm sure )

When was the last time you restarted your Mac?
Be sure to do that before you run the scan (don't open anything except the antivirus scan, and let that run to completion.)

 

[boboboy]

actually 12hrs. sometimes it never stopped. the last time i ran it. i noticed it got hung up on files old files in my download folder. think it was gif, or dmg files. and i began deleting those, and it for the first time in a long time actually completed. but then i thought better of the files and put them back as i was not certain if one should delete files from the download folder, or which ones are safe to delete.

 

[DeltaMac]

[sarcasm]Yes, always put files back that you removed to allow scanning to complete [/sarcasm]

A better plan, as they are downloaded files (which YOU downloaded), is to move them to another drive.
make a folder for gifs, and another folder for .dmg files, etc. Moving them to external storage would help you avoid the situation that you have now, but still give you access, in case you need those files again in the future.

Be sure to delete them from your boot drive, if they are important enough for you to keep (only YOU can decide that)

hint: there's nothing wrong with cleaning out your Downloads folder. It started out as empty when you began using your Mac There's no reason that you can't have "empty" again, if it will help your situation.

 

[Weaselboy]

now safari is inoperable. the update window is constant. i cannot open safari preference either, or delete history, etc. nothing.

If what you described is all you did, there is no way you have a trojan or malware, since you did not allow anything to install. It sounds like your browser got hijacked by a Javascript routine. Command-q quit Safari, then hold the shift key down when you click on Safari to relaunch it. That will stop the Javascript redirect from running. Then just clear Safari history and empty your downloads folder and you should be all set.

 

[willmtaylor]

i received a window on imac el capitan safari claiming my flash player was in need of updating. giving me a choice of yes, or no. since it rendered safari inoperable, (this and other types of scams i've had in the past), i clicked no, do not update. it downloaded a file in any case. i deleted it 2 times as it reappeared. now safari is inoperable. the update window is constant. i cannot open safari preference either, or delete history, etc. nothing. i have checked and my flash player is indeed up to date. i have searched online but cannot find any remedy. there was also something i tried copying text to 'terminal', indicating that my flash was trojan free, but noticed in cs6 flash player it indicated something was modified at the same date so possibly it altered that. wondering if there is a way of deleting certain files on safari, or reinstalling it without a full reinstall of osx. i have been targeted before with the genico malware and was able to delete it but this one i can't seem to find a remedy.

thank you for any assistance.

Download and use malwarebytes That will find and clean out malware that may be infecting your computer.

Here's the link directly to the Free Mac Version: https://www.malwarebytes.org/antimalware/mac/