Author Topic: Unwanted Yahoo search results  (Read 3199 times)

Re: Unwanted Yahoo search results
« Reply #25 on: 01 March, 2021, 10:03:10 pm »
I've never had a Mac virus (but I have spent many hours clearing malware from my father's Windows laptop). You could try looking in at /LaunchAgents and /LaunchDaemons in the /Library and ~/Library for something nefarious (use the goto option in Finder, these folders are hidden by default), this is where cryptic start-up items lurk, and if a virus wants to resurrect itself, it's the obvious place to sleep.

But sometimes restoring from a TM backup is the quickest solution.
Been through those as well.
Cleanmymac hasn't helped.
Going to go for the TM backup, but not tonight.

Jaded

  • The Codfather
  • Formerly known as Jaded
Re: Unwanted Yahoo search results
« Reply #26 on: 01 March, 2021, 10:26:13 pm »
Another thing to try...

Download Onyx and use it to clean some caches. etc...
It is simpler than it looks.

Re: Unwanted Yahoo search results
« Reply #27 on: 01 March, 2021, 10:28:42 pm »
Another thing to try...

Download Onyx and use it to clean some caches. etc...
Ta. Will do.

Gattopardo

  • Lord of the sith
  • Overseaing the building of the death star
Re: Unwanted Yahoo search results
« Reply #28 on: 01 March, 2021, 10:30:16 pm »
Avast antivirus seems to be the best, according to the mac websites, for free. 

Re: Unwanted Yahoo search results
« Reply #29 on: 02 March, 2021, 12:00:36 pm »
Questions about restoring from Time Machine.....
I don't think that this is something I have ever done.

It would appear that this malware is affecting the following
Safari, Mail for Mac and Messages.
Is it simple a case of opening Time machine, going back to, say, last Friday, locating the application folder for each of these apps, and clicking on 'Restore'?

Or is there more to it than that?

ian

Re: Unwanted Yahoo search results
« Reply #30 on: 02 March, 2021, 12:22:23 pm »
No, restore everything. Otherwise, you'll find the malware has squirrelled itself away somewhere else and it'll come back.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Unwanted Yahoo search results
« Reply #31 on: 02 March, 2021, 12:25:25 pm »
Yeah.  The now legendary Ellen Ripley solution is the way to go with malware-infested computers.  You can fuck around trying to remove the problem, which might be prudent for forensics or recovering data, but there's only one way to be sure that it's gone.

As for Mac vs Windows vs Lunix or whatever, it's really just a matter of how much malware there is to choose from.

Re: Unwanted Yahoo search results
« Reply #32 on: 02 March, 2021, 12:30:53 pm »
Questions about restoring from Time Machine.....
I don't think that this is something I have ever done.

It would appear that this malware is affecting the following
Safari, Mail for Mac and Messages.
Is it simple a case of opening Time machine, going back to, say, last Friday, locating the application folder for each of these apps, and clicking on 'Restore'?

Or is there more to it than that?

A bit more detail....
It would appear that the issue with Mail for Mac and Messages is that when I send myself an email or a text (which I do surprisingly often) when it appears in my inbox, the sender's name is Rob Batson (one of the entries in my contacts) as opposed to displaying my name.
I've just deleted that contact - it appears to have cured the problem.  :thumbsup:

That just leaves Safari.
The problem has changed slightly since yesterday in as much as I can access threads and posts on forums. However, if a post contains  link, and I click on that link
The page comes up as text only. So a link to a Guardian page ends up looking like this:

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Unwanted Yahoo search results
« Reply #33 on: 02 March, 2021, 12:33:58 pm »
The problem has changed slightly since yesterday in as much as I can access threads and posts on forums. However, if a post contains  link, and I click on that link
The page comes up as text only. So a link to a Guardian page ends up looking like this:


I know people who'd pay good money for that functionality...

Could it be some sort of accessibility tool that's been enabled?  Or something preventing the javascript from loading/running.

(I don't know Safari, what's that bue icon to the left of the address bar?)

FifeingEejit

  • Not Small
Re: Unwanted Yahoo search results
« Reply #34 on: 02 March, 2021, 12:36:22 pm »
#GenericStackOverflowAnswer

Use something else instead of MacOs/Safari/etc.
Such as?

That's irrelevant, there's always an answer on Stackoverflow that follows the structure of the joke of asking an Irishman directions to somewhere.

I actually thought you'd got it sorted from the answers so was shoving in some teccy humour.

Re: Unwanted Yahoo search results
« Reply #35 on: 02 March, 2021, 12:38:31 pm »
No, restore everything. Otherwise, you'll find the malware has squirrelled itself away somewhere else and it'll come back.
I had a feeling that would be the case.
A bit more detail on when you say 'everything' - I'm assuming you mean the HD.
If I go back to last Friday I can see Macintosh HD, and i can also see the external SSD which is currently running the Mac - is the SSD the one which I should retstore?
Also, since last Friday I've upgraded to Big Sur - how doea that work with a restoration?
Will it restore it to Catalina?

Re: Unwanted Yahoo search results
« Reply #36 on: 02 March, 2021, 12:40:35 pm »
The problem has changed slightly since yesterday in as much as I can access threads and posts on forums. However, if a post contains  link, and I click on that link
The page comes up as text only. So a link to a Guardian page ends up looking like this:


I know people who'd pay good money for that functionality...

Could it be some sort of accessibility tool that's been enabled?  Or something preventing the javascript from loading/running.

(I don't know Safari, what's that bue icon to the left of the address bar?)
It's the Finder - it is where everything including the HD can be accessed.
The equivalent of the windows icon in the same place on a windows machine.

ian

Re: Unwanted Yahoo search results
« Reply #37 on: 02 March, 2021, 12:47:52 pm »
It might be applying a default style sheet (Safari > Prefs > Advanced Prefs > Style Sheet should be none selected). Kim is right though, I've never seen that icon, that's where extensions show up. Possibly adblock, looks like a hand.

As somethings has messed with a lot of settings though (and you don't know what you've missed), I'd recommend the nuclear option and restoring everything. That'll give you a completely new build of Big Sur and then put your previously good files and settings back.

There's a couple of ways to do it:

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT203981 (this uses the migration assistant).

or direct boot into recovery: https://www.howtogeek.com/356063/how-to-fully-restore-macos-from-a-time-machine-backup-in-recovery-mode/

When you select the backup to use, it will be an entire back-up, not by disk (assuming your time machine is set-up to include that external disk, of course, which it sounds like the case).

I'd be tempted install Big Sur from scratch and then use the migration assistant to move over everything. That's what I've done in the past, the only issues I've ever noticed are licence files (older versions of Office etc. needed re-registering).

Re: Unwanted Yahoo search results
« Reply #38 on: 02 March, 2021, 01:02:54 pm »
I think Kim may have it.  :thumbsup:
I've just disabled javascript in System Preferences, and the above-pictured Guardian link now looks like this


It means that I cannot view Twitter, but I'm still trying to assess how much of a loss that is.

And yes, I was looking in the wrong place, that is an adblocker.

Thanks for you above guidance Ian. I'll see how it behaves over the next couple of days before resorting to nuking it.

Re: Unwanted Yahoo search results
« Reply #39 on: 02 March, 2021, 09:42:43 pm »
I know people who'd pay good money for that functionality...

That's Reader mode, indicated by the grey square at the left end of the address bar. It is indeed a feature.

There's an "Always use Reader for this website" setting under Safari Preferences > Websites, or by long-clicking the address bar icon.

No idea why turning off Javascript would disable it, or how it would come to be on.