please help with possible spyware and crashing AIM!

[bitsai24]

i've read most of the threads concerning spyware (the general idea being that Macs aren't really vunerable to spyware), BUT ..

i keep getting emails from my network administrator (i'm on a school network) that says i have spyware detected on my computer -- specifically, "surfsidekick." I ran macscan, as well as virex, but nothing shows up.

i just want to make sure that my computer is clean! any suggestions??

also, my AIM has been crashing often (at least once per usage). no idea why. all my applications run smoothly (i don't run a virtual pc program; i have mac osx)

any help on either of these problems is greatly appreciated!!

thanks in advance.

 

[adambyte]

For info on "surfsidekick," check this page:

http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/adware.surfsidekick.html

Note: "Systems Affected: Windows 2000, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows NT, Windows Server 2003, Windows XP"

There is no spyware for Mac. Your network administrator is somehow mistaken.

 

[barhar]

'i keep getting emails from my network administrator ... that says i have spyware detected on my computer -- specifically, "surfsidekick." I ran macscan, as well as virex, but nothing shows up.' - Since the network administrator's audit / anti virus software detected 'surfsidekick', have the administrator provide the full path to the file, or file containing, 'surfsidekick'.

You could perform a 'Spotlight' ('Command ' spacebar) and / or 'Finder' 'Find' ('Command I') [searching for 'Name' 'Contains' and then 'Contents'] for 'surfsidekick'? Even if such a file existed on the Mac - it is a '.exe' file, and thus useless (for you to execute, or as a potential Macintosh spyware problem).

-----

'... IM has been crashing often ...' - with 'AOL Instant Messenger (SM)' quitted, locate the file 'com.aol.aim.plist' in '~/Library/Preferences/' (where '~' means 'Home' folder) and drag it to the 'Desktop'. Next, open (launch, run) 'AOL Instant Messenger (SM)' - entering any required information. If it no longer crashes - you had a corrupted '.plist' (Preferences) file; which you can now trash.

If the crashes continue - create a new account; does 'AOL Instant Messenger (IM)' now open (launch, run)? - if not, you may have to remove the application's 'AOL Instant Messenger (SM) ƒ' folder and reinstall the application.

 

[adambyte]

barhar made a good point: It's entirely possible that "surfsidekick" is on your computer, but because it's a Windows executable, you can't possibly be running it on your Mac. So, although it can't run and take up computing power, it's still taking up a little space.

 

[sinclair_tm]

as far as your aim problem, dump it and just use ichat, its an aim client and works just fine. thats what i use with my aim account. and so far the only thing that it seems to miss is support for animated buddy icons.

 

[scruffy]

Can you ask the network administrator what behaviour he's observed, that leads him to conclude that 'surfsidekick' is on your computer. More than likely it's something totally harmless, but it would be good to know, in any case...