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Peradventure · Oct 11, 2005, 09:59 AM

Virex has detected a virus that it cannot clean. It is something called a generic downloader.v.

Has anyone encountered this and can you offer help? What does it do, + how can I get rid of it?

Thanks,

P

Kevlar · Oct 11, 2005, 11:05 AM

What were you doing when Virex said you had a virus? Does it tell you what file has been infected?

Peradventure · Oct 11, 2005, 01:44 PM

Thanks for your reply. The computer was just on, maybe I had a webpage open + when closed the page, I noticed the Virex notification. Yes, it shows exactly where the virus is - cache/applet, I think. I'm not at my mac at the moment. However, Virex doesn't seem to be able to clean up the files.

P

seanc · Oct 11, 2005, 04:34 PM

Sounds like a Windows virus according to McAfee. I wouldn't worry about it doing damage to your system but as for getting rid of it thats not my area so you'll have to wait for someone else to assist you with that.

Link to McAfee and the Virus description

Peradventure · Oct 11, 2005, 04:51 PM

This is the second such virus, one meant strictly for Windows but that has infected my Mac. Passwords are all screwed up and I'm sure it is damaging somehow. I've researched it already but still find no way to get rid of it....

Kevlar · Oct 11, 2005, 08:47 PM

Are you running Safari or IE?

siMac · Oct 12, 2005, 01:19 AM

It has not infected your Mac. It is simply on your Mac having been part of a suspect applet on a webpage from the sound of it.

ghporter · Oct 12, 2005, 08:24 AM

Tell Virex to delete whatever it was that brought in the virus so wyou won't pass it on. As seanc says, it's a Windows virus-it CANNOT hurt your Mac. But it CAN potentially be passed on to anyone else you commuincate or share files with, so have Virex do its thing and clean it up. Antivirus software is not there just to alarm you, it's also supposed to prevent infections (Virex should prevent any Mac viruses, if and when) and clean up any that it detects.

Peradventure · Oct 12, 2005, 10:14 AM

The Virex log reads that it can't clean the infected files. This is what one looks like:

/Library/Caches/com.apple.IntlDataCache.502
Not scanned: permission denied.

Here's the one with the infected files:

/Users/Library/Caches/Java Applets/cache/javapi/v1.0/jar/javainstaller.jar-3cc46f89-712d0692.zip/INSTALLERAPPLET.CLASS
Found the Generic Downloader.v trojan!
No repair available.

These might be moronic questions but what is a cache? What is an applet? Can I delete the entire cache or all the applets or just the infected ones? How did I download Java applets?

Thanks again,

P

ghporter · Oct 12, 2005, 10:39 AM

A cache is a temporary storage for stuff that may be needed soon, like the graphics your browser saves because you may go back to the pages they came from and having them on hand saves the download time.

An applet is a tiny application-often a Java application. Java applets download themselves from web pages that use Java to do stuff for you-anything from refreshing a display regularly to really complex stuff. You should be able to navigate to the folder identified by Virex and delete the infected file manually, or I think Virex has an option to delete rather than try to fix the infected file.