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Virus from zip file? Screen freaking out.

i have an imac and downloaded a file from a music producer who gives out free sample packs for people to learn from. it came in a zip folder and IMMEDIATLY after opening the zip folder my screen showed ghosted images, random zoomed in windows, blurred areas and more crazy wonky effects. It did go away when I restarted but I haven’t wanted to turn it back on for fear it might endanger highly sensitive data I have on my iMac.


I was told by an Apple fanatic it may be the graphics card so I restarted the iMac holding down D so it would run the diagnostics but that came up saying no issues found.


I deleted the original files I think may have given me a virus but I imagine it would be too late since I opened it and the visual situation happened.


Can someone advise me on how concerned I should be and action steps to ensure my data was not compromised? I may be crazy but I won’t even plug It in right now because I fear any virus may continue doing harm while the computer is on...

iMac 27″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Jan 26, 2021 4:00 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jan 26, 2021 5:04 PM

First there are no known viruses for Macs. But there could be malware. Download and run the free version of Malwarebytes. It was developed by a long time contributor to these forums and a highly respected member of the computer security community. 


See if that fixes the problem.


If not, log into another vanilla admin user account, Set up users, guests, and groups on Mac and see if the problem persists. (This tells us if the problem is limited to your user account or is system wide).


Next, if necessary, boot into Safe Mode by booting with the Shift key held down and check there to see if the problem persists.  Reboot normally and test again.


NOTE: Safe Mode boot can take up to 10 minutes as it's doing the following; 

• Verifies your startup disk and attempts to repair directory issues, if needed

• Loads only required kernel extensions (prevents 3rd party kernel/extensions from loading)

• Prevents Startup Items and Login Items from opening automatically

• Disables user-installed fonts 

• Deletes font caches, kernel cache, and other system cache files



Lastly, if still having problems download and run Etrecheck. Etrecheck is a diagnostic tool that was developed by one of the most respected users here in the ASC and recommended by Apple Support  to provide a snapshot of the system and help identify the more obvious culprits that can adversely affect a Mac's performance.


Copy the report



and use the Additional Text button to include the report in your reply.





IMPORTANT:

Before running Etrecheck assign Full Disk Access to Etrecheck in the Etrecheck's Privacy preference pane so that it can get additional information from the Console and log files for the report:


Also click and read the About info to further permit full disk access.



Then we can examine the report and see if we can determine what might be causing the problem.


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1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jan 26, 2021 5:04 PM in response to Lguzman004

First there are no known viruses for Macs. But there could be malware. Download and run the free version of Malwarebytes. It was developed by a long time contributor to these forums and a highly respected member of the computer security community. 


See if that fixes the problem.


If not, log into another vanilla admin user account, Set up users, guests, and groups on Mac and see if the problem persists. (This tells us if the problem is limited to your user account or is system wide).


Next, if necessary, boot into Safe Mode by booting with the Shift key held down and check there to see if the problem persists.  Reboot normally and test again.


NOTE: Safe Mode boot can take up to 10 minutes as it's doing the following; 

• Verifies your startup disk and attempts to repair directory issues, if needed

• Loads only required kernel extensions (prevents 3rd party kernel/extensions from loading)

• Prevents Startup Items and Login Items from opening automatically

• Disables user-installed fonts 

• Deletes font caches, kernel cache, and other system cache files



Lastly, if still having problems download and run Etrecheck. Etrecheck is a diagnostic tool that was developed by one of the most respected users here in the ASC and recommended by Apple Support  to provide a snapshot of the system and help identify the more obvious culprits that can adversely affect a Mac's performance.


Copy the report



and use the Additional Text button to include the report in your reply.





IMPORTANT:

Before running Etrecheck assign Full Disk Access to Etrecheck in the Etrecheck's Privacy preference pane so that it can get additional information from the Console and log files for the report:


Also click and read the About info to further permit full disk access.



Then we can examine the report and see if we can determine what might be causing the problem.


Virus from zip file? Screen freaking out.

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