# Is this some sort of virus or malware? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 12, 2015, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-some-sort-of-virus-or-malware/730803 "2015-09-12T14:10:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2015, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-some-sort-of-virus-or-malware/730803/1 "2015-09-12T14:10:20Z")
I have a MacBook Pro vintage ~2010 running Yosemite (10.10.4). After about 30 minutes of us, where everything is perfectly normal, the curser will start to act erratically. Then windows will pop open or shift, and after about another 15 minutes the curser either 1) freezes up completely or 2) respond normally to movement on the trackpad BUT nothing happens no matter what you click on. So, I restart the computer and go thru this again, and again, and again. It’s been like this for about 2 days now. I may make an appointment at an Apple Store tomorrow, but thought I check here first to see if this is some known virus or malware. I searched, but didn’t find anything very useful, so I’m thinking not. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2015, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-some-sort-of-virus-or-malware/730803/2 "2015-09-12T14:15:54Z")
It’s a swollen battery. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2015, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-some-sort-of-virus-or-malware/730803/3 "2015-09-12T14:38:56Z")
OK, now it’s happening all the time. I was barely able to get in to type this. Swollen battery? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2015, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-some-sort-of-virus-or-malware/730803/4 "2015-09-12T15:02:12Z")
In safe mode now. I searched for “swollen battery and cursor problems”, and yes that does seem to be one possibility. But there is no visible sign of the battery being swollen. Most of the people reporting this problem seem to have very obvious visible swelling. Not seeing any of that. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2015, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-some-sort-of-virus-or-malware/730803/5 "2015-09-12T15:38:02Z")
Do you have “tap to click” turned on? If not, _check to be sure._ ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2015, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-some-sort-of-virus-or-malware/730803/6 "2015-09-12T18:47:43Z")
Tap to Click is NOT turned on. ---
**Author:** ![PoppaSan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/poppasan/32/189_2.png) [@PoppaSan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoppaSan)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2015, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-some-sort-of-virus-or-malware/730803/7 "2015-09-12T18:53:54Z")
Heat issues? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2015, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-some-sort-of-virus-or-malware/730803/8 "2015-09-12T19:05:12Z")
I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is: It’s not malware. The bad news is: It’s almost certainly a flaky trackpad, or bad motherboard, or something equally expensive to repair. It might be software-related, so you might want to boot from the recovery partition and play with the few apps available for a couple of hours, and see if it acts up. If it does, you need to do a OS re-install. When you booted in Safe Mode, did the problem occur? If not, it’s almost certainly software-related. Start doing to analysis to narrow down when the problem occurs. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2015, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-some-sort-of-virus-or-malware/730803/9 "2015-09-12T20:36:10Z")
Made an appointment at the Apple store for a few hours from now. It seems to work best (still very intermittent, but works a bit) in safe mode w/o the charger hooked up. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2015, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-some-sort-of-virus-or-malware/730803/10 "2015-09-12T23:57:14Z")
Arrrrrgh. Of course as soon as I get to the Apple store, everything works fine. I guess I should be glad, but, I’m sure it’ll be all screwed up when I get home. Thanks for the input so far. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2015, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-some-sort-of-virus-or-malware/730803/11 "2015-09-13T00:12:25Z")
Could that possibly be a data point to find the cause? ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2015, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-some-sort-of-virus-or-malware/730803/12 "2015-09-13T00:29:03Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Arrrrrgh. Of course as soon as I get to the Apple store, everything works fine. > > I guess I should be glad, but, I’m sure it’ll be all screwed up when I get home. > > Thanks for the input so far. Did they not check your Console logs for the previous crashes? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2015, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-some-sort-of-virus-or-malware/730803/13 "2015-09-13T07:42:53Z")
> [@zbuzz](#): > > Did they not check your Console logs for the previous crashes? I don’t think so. But I’ll be going back tomorrow. As soon as I got home, I had about 15 minutes of use before the problem surfaced again and my computer completely froze up. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2015, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-some-sort-of-virus-or-malware/730803/14 "2015-09-13T14:43:33Z")
I don’t think malware or a virus would take 15-30 minutes to start acting up. A thermal problem could and that means a hardware problem. A short term band aid solution that might work might be one of those laptop stands with built in fans. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2015, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-some-sort-of-virus-or-malware/730803/15 "2015-09-13T19:06:15Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > I don’t think malware or a virus would take 15-30 minutes to start acting up. A thermal problem could and that means a hardware problem. A short term band aid solution that might work might be one of those laptop stands with built in fans. We don’t run our laptops over 5 minutes without the cooler stands. To test, set the computer up so that it is 4-5 inches above the supporting surface and run a big ass fan on it from the side while using after you check to make sure that the little fan in the laptop is actually working. Bet the unit was a lot cooler in the store than where you have it at home??? Or I need to go jump in the lake. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2015, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-some-sort-of-virus-or-malware/730803/16 "2015-09-13T19:11:46Z")
Unless his fan is broken (which will show up on a Apple system test), his machine shouldn’t be overheating. MacBooks, being all-aluminum cases, tend to run very cool internally. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-some-sort-of-virus-or-malware/730803/17 "2015-09-15T22:28:33Z")
After 2 visits to the Apple Store and going thru their 48 hour test, I picked up my computer this morning with a shiny new track pad. Cost: $90. I think my computer should be good for at least another 2 more years. After 8 years, I think this one will be ready for retirement. Thanks for the help, guys!