Suffice it to say: they weren't very receptive. I looked up system calls, error messages, I've just about become a master. I'm not a newbie to UNIX so I did a LOT of investigating through both the command line & through various applications to figure things out. I utilized TOR Browser, the duckduckgo search engine (specifically their onion site), and went to password generator sites (Dashlane) create baffling passwords up to 33 characters in length for most every on-line account, my computer, my router, my modem. I changed passwords everywhere because I didn't want to take any chances.

I checked all my links to my Comcast network: the modem, my TimeCapsule router, my MacBook Pro, any and all external hard-drives, thumb drives, and even my TimeCapsule backups. I decided to turn off my WiFi connection from the MacBook whenever I wasn't using the machine: didn't change any of the behavior. I found strange archives, temp drives, etc. There were even ghost images that showed up of things I'd deleted. Every time a device showed up through the Finder OR through Disk Utility, I did a search for where this item existed via 'Show in Finder' and deleted the device after un-mounting or ejecting it. These DMG's showing up on my desktop or the Finder sidebar only made my worries increase.Īfter much debate, I deleted everything Google from my machine as well as the other installation DMG's, etc. A couple of the DMG's were ones I'd downloaded on purpose (GPG, accounting applications, games I wanted to try, etc.).

It had me completely worried that someone had accessed my machine remotely and was copying files to send out at some interval. And these drives and installers showed up daily. Like all virus checking programs, it scans archives however, it doesn't provide much comfort when dozens of DMG's and other installers start showing up. The files/applications in question were quite old (at least 15-years) so no tears were shed. VirusBarrier did a great job fixing the files-I ended up deleting them anyway (they were really old) but it certainly lived up to its promises. In the beginning, I didn't experience any problems however, I hooked up an old external hard-drive and discovered a couple of infected files & applications. Moving wasn't an easy decision but I'd read some encouraging reviews.

I liked the interface a whole lot better than anything Symantec provided. To make matters worse, I experienced some nasty ID Theft and other hits. I did this because I'd experienced some odd behavior from my MacBook Pro (Mojave, 10.14.6, Mid 2015). I installed the Intego VirusBarrier X9 package coupled with NetBarrier (version 10.9.20).

Sophos free mac