How can I get rid of virus, sending spam IM's?

Question

somehow I am sending spam IM's to people through a virus that I think I got from clicking on a fake link on facebook. I had no idea until people on my buddy list started telling me.

I have a MacBookPro and use Adium as my IM. Does anyone know how I can get rid of the virus?

Thanks!!!!

Answer 1

Lucky for you, newer mac systems have a really awesome feature that logs each and every change EVERY hour.

Try to remember about when you got the fake link, and ask tech support  how to go back to that time period.

Change your passwords to EVERYTHING after that.

Answer 2

I would try to uninstall the Adium program and then delete all the extra files that are left over after the uninstall.

If you know when this virus started taking place you can try to look in a search for all files created and modified within that time period and get rid of them. I would do some sort of System Restore (Mac equivalent) Before doing that tho.

Answer 3

I am not familiar with Mac but as a Windows user, I've had plenty of viruses get intercepted by my internet security and even a few that required manual removal by me.

First and foremost - it helps to know the actual virus name.  There are more out there than you probably can count - and no two are the same.

Find a popular and reputable internet security website that will scan your PC for viruses (many do this for free.)  Once the scan results tell you the virus name, you should be able to easily find instructions on the web on how to remove it manually (assuming you have no installed internet security software.)

I know that recently, a virus was launched that caused IM messages and emails to be sent out to anyone in your address book/buddy list.  The purpose was to spread itself.  But again, this was a virus that pertained to Windows users.

Uninstalling IM software almost never removes the virus - especially if it acts like other trojans and viruses, which duplicate themselves and spread to other files on your computer whenever you try to remove them or activate the file they are currently infecting.

Good internet security software manufacturers are McAfee, Symantec and TrendMicro, to name a few.