Mac is very slow and the cursor is doing random things on its own

LABachlr

LABachlr

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I have a friend whose Macbook Pro is behaving very strangely. Here is what she says:

A few days ago, I started up my laptop and it's acting really weird! It's super slow and the mouse/arrow on the screen is moving by itself and clicking random buttons. I can't even get the cursor to stay in one place to type an email, so I'm actually on my roommates laptop right now. Do you have any ideas what this could be? It took me 20 minutes to try to send an email and it didn't work in the end.

Any ideas?
 
Does it appear as if the cursor is making movements that a human would make? Could someone be using Back To My Mac on his computer, or logged in via VNC or something?
 
I've sent her an email about that. Waiting to hear back from her.

If someone is accessing her computer via VNC, how would they do that first of all? How would they have been able to set that up? Would they have needed access to her computer or could they have used a Trojan or something (not even sure if they make Trojans for Macs)? How would she protect herself from this happening in the future?

And how do you disable the VNC or change the setting to disable the connection or delete the app?

Would performing a scan with Sophos help?

TIA
 
You can see if VNC is enabled by heading over to the System Preferences, then "Sharing", then seeing if "Remote Management" is checked. "Remote Login" would allow someone ssh access (in other words, command-line access), but that wouldn't have much to do with the mouse moving on its own.

I doubt a trojan would do this -- some software, though, enables this kind of functionality. In fact, this here website offered software like that at one point (don't know if they still do or not), as it's REALLY helpful in trying to troubleshoot someone's computer. Instead of, "I'm clicking on that button thingy, and it's just not printing. There's an error message that says I can't do it, and I hear a beeping coming from the computer!", one can easily see what's actually displayed on the remote computer, and take control to show the user how to get something done.
 
OK. Thanks. I sent her an email to have her check those settings. TeamViewer is a cool app that allows remote access, and it's free. Check it out when you get a chance.
 
I also would try remove all the cache files. I use Yasu because it uses well know command lines that are built in OS X. Some other people like the free Onyx because it does a lot more than clearing cache files.

Just let the cache clearing program reboot your Mac. Then upon that full reboot manually reboot again because this will completely rebuild your Mac's shutdown/startup system cache (for faster shutoffs and startups).
 
Is the cursor apparently moving at random, or is it doing something that appears purposefull? I had a problem with my laptop with the cursor moving randomly. It turned out that the battery had swelled up and was pressing on the underside of the trackpad.
 
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