My Macbook all of a sudden can't open Skype, Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Entourage. I have done research and read that it has something to do with malware and viruses. Please help I feel like I have tried everything!

Question

This started a few days ago, when I noticed skype would not open and keeps quitting unexpectingly. Now it's all of my microsoft office programs. I have read horrible things on the internet about creeps building some sort of 'backdoor' through Mircosoft Word and are now able to access my macbook. I want to feel safe again and I want to be able to use skype again. I think I will delete Microsoft office until I find/can afford a better version.
I have tried deleting and re-installing the programs, PRAM-ing my mac, doing the utilities organizing thing, and I downloaded 4 different scanners (Cleanmymac, VirusBarrier Express, Bitdefender Virus Scanner, and ClamXav) to help get rid of this and only one scanner found a small file that was harmful. I need some advice PLEASE!
Thank you for your time!

Answer 1

Elliottarian wrote:
Thanks MadMac0 I followed the instructions in Terminal for the link you sent and all my programs open again!
Sorry I'm just getting to this now, but a lot going on today in this front. There is now a "K" version of Flashback and perhaps more going on.
A couple of considerations you need to be aware of.
It's clear from the results of your testing that the reason you were infected is because your Java is out of date, so it's important that you keep all your software up-to-date going forward.
But even that won't protect you from this new "K" version as Apple has not released the patch to it yet, so I encourage you to disable Java in all your browsers and consider doing so for everything by opening Java Preferences (located in /Applications/Utilities/) and unchecking the box next to "J2SE 6.0" and any other box that might be checked. If you find that some application(s) you need must use Java, then you should enable it only to run that application(s).
We cannot be certain that what you did totally killed the Trojan, so your best bet would be to restore your Mac back to where it was before you were infected using TimeMachine. If you don't have a TimeMachine backup or cannot determine the date of infection, then your safest solution is this one:
Courtesy of Linc Davis:
I suggest you take the following steps immediately:
1. Back up all data to at least two different devices, if you haven't already done so.
2. Boot from your recovery partition (if running Mac OS X 10.7 or later) or your installation disc (if running an earlier version of the Mac OS), launch Disk Utility, and erase the startup drive. This action will destroy all data on the drive, so you must be sure of your backups.
3. Install the Mac OS.
4. Reboot and go through the initial setup process to create an account. Don’t import anything from your backups at this stage.
5. If running Mac OS X 10.6.x or earlier, run Software Update.
6. Restore the contents of all the top-level subfolders of your home folder except “Library” from the most recent backup. You can also restore the files in the Library folder, but don’t restore any of its subfolders; only the files contained in those folders, and only if they’re visible in the Finder. Don’t restore any hidden files or folders, no matter where they are.
7. If you’re running Mac OS X 10.5.x or earlier, disable Java in Safari’s preferences, and leave it disabled until you upgrade to Mac OS X 10.6.8 or later, including all available updates. The Java web plugin is unsafe to use under older versions of the Mac OS. Note: I’m not referring to JavaScript, which is unrelated to Java, despite the similarity in the names.
8. Change every Internet password you have, starting with banking passwords. Check all financial accounts for unauthorized transactions. Take this step only after you’ve secured your system in the preceding steps, not before.
9. Reinstall your third-party software from fresh downloads or original media, not from backups which may be contaminated. If you use any third-party web browsers under Mac OS X 10.5.x or earlier, disable Java in their preferences, as you did with Safari in step 7.
Of course, as of this morning you should follow my instructions for disabling Java and ignore his, at least until Apple gets that Java patch out.
Pay particular attention to Step 8 no matter what you decide to do.