Reformatting Mac

Unfortunatly, i got a virus on my macbook like 3 days ago. My files open at random times and some get deleted. I need to reformat my macbook. The problem is, I have windows and leopard installed onto it. Is it possible to take out leopard and put it back in with having the Vista left alone? Like reformat the comp without reformatting the windows as well because it would only take SUPER long to do it.

 

I was under the impression there are no wild viruses currently afflicting the Mac?

You sure someone isn't toying with you and using your Macbook/deleting files?

 

Can you give us more information on what was going on?

I'm curious.

 

My dads computer is a macbook 2.2. He and I were searching online for some virus-protection program (I think..) and we clicked this button that automatically downloaded some weird stuff. After 2 days, the mac (OSX part) starting having random programs open and some files were deleted. I have no clue whats happening. Well my dad's macbook has 160g and has two partitions. Half and half = OSX and Windows Vista. Im trying to reformat the OSX part, and leave Vista alone. At first I thought if i reformat the Mac part (since it is the main on the laptop), it would also remove Vista, but I just called Apple and they said its possible it reformat the OSX part alone. I basically want to reformat one partition (OSX) in the macbook. Does anyone have detailed instructions on doing this?

 

I don't know how to off the top of my head but I think we are all skeptical about a virus. What else have you done that might have caused this?

 

thats all, just click some random site.. :[
If anyone knows detailed instructions on reformatting the OSX partion and leave the vista partion alone... PLEASE TELL ME ^^~!

 

you could use winclone to back up your vista partition before you reformat... then restore it.

 

Formatting your OS X partition will leave the Vista partition alone.
However, I am not sure as to how BootCamp will handle the partition once you start the assistant up.

It sounds like what you may have downloaded wasn't a true virus, but it may have been a program that just deletes files or something. But you still would have to execute it. And if you're firefox, there should be no way for that to happen automatically.

Download ClamAV and run it on your machine to see what happens.

 

there's no problem. just reformat. your wvista partition will just be there when you install tiger again..(if it's tiger) . if it's leopard, better.

 

I was told by an Apple employee that there are literally THOUSANDS of viruses for Mac OS's, but they just don't get through.

This case is a tricky one though.

 

No, its more like this...there is thousands of viruses out there for all computers, and yes, they get onto Macs, but because they are written for Windows they have no effect and are useless.

Anyway, I also don't think its a virus, its highly unlikely. But anyhow, formatting the Mac OS X partition doesn't affect the Windows partition.

 

Isn't there going to be a time when viruses actually start to effect Macs like they do the PC? I know that OS X is touted as a safer OS becuase of the lack of viruses that can effect it but, in my opinion Macs are only gaining popularity (esp on in the college seen) and as this happens, won't there be more and more virus that apple will have to combat?

 

Largely, the reason viruses hit the PC is not simply because it's popular. It's because naive people use them. They don't update their operating system and they open spam mails plus visit sites they shouldn't.
do you ever wonder why your email is filtered and your web traffic monitored at work? It's not only to keep you from getting side tracked, its also to help secure the companies infrastructure from viruses and the like.

But viruses do exist for OSX, Linux and Unix. The difference, is they are targeted. They are generally designed for a specific system. Though, I don't know if I would even call it a virus anymore... since that really means something that can spread and self replicate. My boss (who's been working in computers... since they've been around) has seen viral attacks on several unix systems.

The nature of *nix systems makes it harder for an attack to really do any damage to the system. Unless you run as root and get infected, they really cannot bring down the whole system, only the users section. The OP could have created a new account and removed his old one and should have been fine.
that is also an inherent weakness in windows. Users are always running as the super user. Thats bad... very bad. Unfortunately, MS actually became smart and said "hey, if a program runs, lets get the user to authenticate!"... but we saw how long that lasted until people turned that off. So now crap can execute without the users knowledge.

As far as exploits of security holes, the only way to completely secure a computer is to destroy it. If it's plugged into the internet, any of your tiny little sub systems that has a security hole could be exploited (whether this is unix, linux, os x, windows: it does not matter). If it's not connected... then you have to worry about other people using it

Go read some Kevin Mitnick :-D

I think the best story he ever told, was about how he was at a conference and a company offered $200 to anyone who could hack into their system. Using a bit of sneaky, sneaky and some social engineering, they didn't have to ever physically hack the system. They were able to get the code and hack into the system. And walk home with $200.