# Could this be malware running on Mac/Safari? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 23, 2006, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-this-be-malware-running-on-mac-safari/341224 "2006-01-23T06:41:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2006, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-this-be-malware-running-on-mac-safari/341224/1 "2006-01-23T06:41:49Z")
I am really ripping my hair out trying to figure out why Safari is running slow and freezing up. I have repaired permissions, deleted autofill formes, emptied the cache, etc. I runs fine sometimes but at other times I get the magic pinwheel and everything goes to hell. I opened up Activity Monitor and it said that the following programs were taking up what would seem to be large chunks of “Real Memory”: NETserver… 936KB USBserver… 900KB LOGINserver… 820KB Could some type of virus or malware be running on my machine? I know Mac is not supposed to have many problems in that area, but I’m beginning to wonder. BTW, I have an iBook G4 running OSX. ---
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2006, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-this-be-malware-running-on-mac-safari/341224/2 "2006-01-23T06:47:05Z")
IME, Safari’s always been buggy as hell. I switched to Firefox, and use it pretty much exclusively now. Do you have up-to-date AV software installed? It might be a good idea to run it, just to check. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2006, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-this-be-malware-running-on-mac-safari/341224/3 "2006-01-23T07:01:22Z")
> [@Aeschines](#): > > I am really ripping my hair out trying to figure out why Safari is running slow and freezing up. I have repaired permissions, deleted autofill formes, emptied the cache, etc. > > I runs fine sometimes but at other times I get the magic pinwheel and everything goes to hell. > > I opened up Activity Monitor and it said that the following programs were taking up what would seem to be large chunks of “Real Memory”: > > NETserver… 936KB > USBserver… 900KB > LOGINserver… 820KB > > Could some type of virus or malware be running on my machine? I know Mac is not supposed to have many problems in that area, but I’m beginning to wonder. BTW, I have an iBook G4 running OSX. Which OSX? 10.3.X or 10. 4.X? or earlier? Those aren’t really large chunks of memory, less than a MB each How much memory do you have? ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2006, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-this-be-malware-running-on-mac-safari/341224/4 "2006-01-24T03:01:23Z")
Where can I look up the OS? ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2006, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-this-be-malware-running-on-mac-safari/341224/5 "2006-01-24T03:45:07Z")
If you got to the Apple icon in the menu (upper left corner), click on “About this Mac,” and it will tell you the version of OS you are running. Couple of generic tips - run Disk Utility, and repair permissions. Also download Yasu or Cocktail and run those housekeeping tasks - especially if you turn your computer off at night. When you restart your Mac, hold down P, R, option, and command (apple key) simultaneously and hold until you hear it chime a few times. Zapping the PRAM often remedies “weirdness” on Macs. Another great utility to download is Applejack. You can find it on Versiontracker. You then run the program in single-user mode (hold down command-s when you restart) and it does a lot of the cleaning stuff before the OS boots. I use Safari exclusively on my G4 tower and my PowerBook G4 exclusively 'cos Onyx and Firefox are dogs on my system, for some reason… Also, how much memory do you have? Memory (or lack thereof) is a major culprit with the spinning beach ball of death (SBBOD). ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2006, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-this-be-malware-running-on-mac-safari/341224/6 "2006-01-24T09:09:25Z")
> [@Hippy Hollow](#): > > If you got to the Apple icon in the menu (upper left corner), click on “About this Mac,” and it will tell you the version of OS you are running. > > Couple of generic tips - run Disk Utility, and repair permissions. Also download Yasu or Cocktail and run those housekeeping tasks - especially if you turn your computer off at night. > > When you restart your Mac, hold down P, R, option, and command (apple key) simultaneously and hold until you hear it chime a few times. Zapping the PRAM often remedies “weirdness” on Macs. > > Another great utility to download is Applejack. You can find it on Versiontracker. You then run the program in single-user mode (hold down command-s when you restart) and it does a lot of the cleaning stuff before the OS boots. > > I use Safari exclusively on my G4 tower and my PowerBook G4 exclusively 'cos Onyx and Firefox are dogs on my system, for some reason… > > Also, how much memory do you have? Memory (or lack thereof) is a major culprit with the spinning beach ball of death (SBBOD). I thought zapping the P-RAM in OS-X wasn’t necessary. Am I wrong?