Virus scanning external hard drive

Sorry for the newbie question, but new to macs. I have an external hard drive, from my PC days that I would like to connect to my late 2013 iMac. I would like to scan for viruses. Does Yosemite contain any such virus scanner?
Want to make sure its clean when i connect it...
any assistance appreciated.

ClamX is a reliable anti-virus, Avast also makes a Mac anti-virus, free or pay-for with additional features
http://www.avast.com/free-mac-security
while your mac will not execute a Windows-centric virus from the web it's still vulnerable to other attacks; malware, web services vulnerabilities, java script, python script, phony websites or phony packaging of software that tell you your "flash" needs an upgrade and you download something that looks to be a legitimate installer but in now way is, or a download helper someone pulls down from a sharing site that is a recompiled keylogger/screen capture app that has someone watching on the other end of the world as you put in your credit card info.
Since the web has evolved into a far more versatile platform that it was 5 or 10 years ago many unscrupulous types are including delivery systems that are no longer just Windows only, as many attacks no longer need to be bundled in a windows executable file. If anyone tries to make the argument that macs don't get virus it's completely erroneous and dangerous to the casual user. Mac users can and do get them, we just don't get them to the degree Windows users get them, at least for now.

Similar Messages

Check virus of external hard drive (in a safe way) and TPM security chip request

Hello.
Context, complain:
I had few trouble with my new lenovo R61. But today everything is alright, downgrade to xp ok, driver graphic card ok, partitioning ok. Westerday I was in the same point with Avast anti virus installed, comodo firewall install. I decide to install spybot and check an external hard drive. I allowed the choice of spybot to do something with some "dangerous files". After this point I was not allowed to do nothing in the computor. "your not allowed to shut down the computer". "your not allowed to...contact admin". "your not allowed"....
I forced the restart, press blue, recovered the system and decide to accept the norton help, so I have norton install.
Request1:
I want to check my external I drive with any risk for the system, what can I do, I'm I in risk as I plug in?
Request2:
Second small problem, when I try to enrolled my finger, it ask me for TPM code that I do not have. Is it safe to go in the bios and clear security chip, I see some warning in the doc.
Thanks
Tom
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Ok thanks!
I've resolve both problem yesterday evening,
My computer is now ready to operate and my hard drive looks clean now (that's what says norton and sophos anti-virus). I hope that is true. That's was quiet stressfull to have a virus attack after 1 day. Somebody suggest me that's maybe I don't restart before using Spybot creating a big mess in the registry.... I'll never now.
But now ALL GOOD YEAH
Tom

Scan External hard drive?

Does Itunes automatically scan my external hard drive for music? How do I turn this function on? Will it let me exclude certain files (audio books/personal recordings/garbage, etc)? I dont want these to ever be on my ipod but am not going to take them off the hard drive. Thanks

Several options
1. Set iPod to sync selected playlists. Only tracks in those playlists will go to iPod.
2. Set iPod to manual sync. Only tracks you specifically transfer will got to iPod.
3. Set iPod to auto sync. Uncheck files you don't want to transfer to iPod. iPod has to be set to sync checked files (default setting by the way).

My computer had a virus and needed to be wiped clean. all my itunes docs are stored on an external hard-drive so i downloaded a new itunes but it over-wrote my old one - how can i restore this without wiping my iphone? please help :(

Hi there,
My windows xp computer got a virus and needed to be wiped.
As i store all of my itunes and iphone stuff on an external hardrive i thought this would not cause a problem.
Got a bit confused when i tried to open itunes again from the back-up hardrive as it would not open.
Wrongly assumed that the best option would be to re-download itunes and move my old itunes info across - silly silly thing to do :/
The new download just over-wrote the old one and after trying a few of the suggestions on here to get my old library back - i still cant work out if its possible as it has been over-written.
I don't want to plug my iphone4 into my computer as i have heard that this can wipe your phone completely, so before i do anything, does anyone know what is the best thing to do from here? or how i could posibly recover my old library, playlists, apps, podcasts e.t.c
please please help
mappy1970

thisisdavid wrote:
i have all of my music on my external hard drive, and would like to be able to listen to it on itunes without it copying to the computer.
go iTunes > preferences > advanced and temporarily disable the copy files ... when adding option.
from the file menu, choose add to library and select the folder on the external containing your content, or drag the folder to the automatically add to iTunes folder inside the iTunes folder.
when iTunes has finished the operation, go back to preferences > advanced and point iTunes media folder location to the external so that future additions to your library are put there. also, re-enable the copy files ... when adding option.

Time Machine appears to be doing back-ups, but they do not appear on the external hard drive. The last one I can find is June 30. I did a utility scan of the hard drive disk and it is fine.

Time Machine appears to be doing back-ups, but they do not appear on the external hard drive. The last one I can find is June 30. I did a utility scan of the hard drive disk and it is fine. What do I do?

Click the Time Machine icon in the menu bar. The time of the last backup is shown in the drop down.

I have upgraded to Maverick when i connect an external hard drive my security does not scan it now

I have upgraded to Maverick. With snow leopard when I connected an external hard drive, the Norton security would scan this drive. Since I have had Maverick this does not happen, I have updated my security.

How is the WD drive formatted and have you tried resetting the SMC?

Cleaning virus-infected files on external hard drive used for Time Machine

I am kinda reposting this with some extra explanation since I didn't really get any good respnses on my first post:
I am running McAfee VirusScan and it locates and cleans virus infected files just fine on my computer, but when it finds infected files on the external hard drive I use for Time Machine backups, it says "Repair Failed". Is there a way to clean infected files on my Time Machine backup drive?
I had found a virus in several documents on my Mac, which I cleaned, but it seemed to infect a bunch of the files located in Time Machine as well. I know these files shouldn't harm my Mac, but I still don't like having virus infected files. They seem to propagate and I don't want to give them to any of my Windows-using friends.

Hi,
Usually (but not always), virus-infected files aren't system-related, so if they cannot be repaired, there should be an option in VirusScan to delete them or quarantine them instead of repairing them. Assuming that you are archiving Mac-related files and not archives of Windows files, then it should certainly be safe to just have VirusScan delete or quarantine them. An alternative is that you could delete them manually. But before you do any of this, be sure to take a look at the filename and its location in the folder hierarchy to make sure that you aren't removing a file that's critical to the operation of some piece of software.
Hope this helps,
Ken

My PC computer was wiped (virus) including itunes. How do I transfer the many playlists and music to the new re-installed itunes?? Ipod is synced to old itunes. I have all original music files on external hard drive. Please help?

My PC computer was wiped (virus) including itunes. How do I transfer the many playlists and music on my ipod to the new re-installed itunes?? Ipod is synced to old itunes. I have all original music files on external hard drive. Please help?
New itunes is trying to wipe the ipod. But have many many playlists (many hours making) which I want to save. Any help would be appreciated.

If you want to just extract the playlists from your iPod, plug it in iTunes. When it appears under devices, right->click on it and choose Export Playlists. Save them to a location such as your desktop and them import them into your library once you have copied and imported all of your music back into it.
See this older post from another forum member Zevoneer covering the different methods and software available to assist you with the task of copying content from your iPod back to your PC and into iTunes.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2452022?start=0&tstart=0
B-rock

How to scan my computer and external hard drives for pictures with out importing duplicates.

how do i scan my computer and external hard drives for pictures with out importing duplicates.

iPhoto doesn't scan anywhere. It imports files offered to it. If it spots a duplicate it will warn you.

My efforts to remove malware from a network external hard drive connected to my Intel based iMac is now causing programs to hang when I try to open them.

I own an iMac, recently updated with OSX 10.75. It is the core computer on a home network shared with an iPad, Apple TV, two network printers,my wife's laptop, two iPhone, a BlackBerry and a BlackBerry Playbook. I am experiencing three if not four problems that are overwhelming.
My original problem is associated with Windows emails files or documents stored on my external network hard drive. One or more has malware and is sending malware laced files across the Internet to points unknown. As someone pointed out in a forum my iMac may be hosting,sharing and propagating Windows malware. I originally used Trend Micro software on my IMac to monitor any viral activity. Two weeks ago I noticed a number of notices from servers around the world saying my message was not undelivered. Since I had sent messages to the people I simply deleted the emails. Next I noticed the emails on my BlackBerry and my BlackBerry playbook.I configured the Trend to do a complete scan and although it did a complete scan it did not perform a full network scan. It did identify a series of .x27 document files with the same name tbut each had a sequential number. I assumed hat these were the source files that had sent out the email documents selling Viagara and othernproducts. I manually deleted thousands of the source documents and the files. This caused some disruption to my computer but it did not produce a hardware or software problem. By following this effort in conjunction with security scans I do believe the malware was activated by Iranian students who were able to activate the malware through my BlackBerry and BlackBerry Playbook. I learned this from an encounter I had when trying tondelete these files on my computer and my BlackBerry.
When using my PlayBook after deleting the files from my computer I noticed more messages being returned from servers. I realized that email accounts connected to my BlackBerry and BB Playbookn were not protected from this problem. As I searched for remedies I learned about turning on the firewall in the previous version of Lion but that did not stop the BlackBerry problem. Each time I deleted a source file on my computer more documents were released. I eventually received McAfee from my ISP. It provided security on the entire network. My first full scan of my external drive identified two malware files. One of them was associated with the Cialis ad the other was from a firm in the Middle East called ADP. it could not remove the latter file.
Moreover each time I attempted to remove the source file from my hard drive a file labeled A239A076F would show up on my Blackberry. As I removed them thousands of these files would show up. Ultimately I eventually disconnected the external hard drive and removed the battery from the phone and not use the email accounts these messages had used to enter my iMac. I am contacting ATT about BlackBerry data security and switching to a different phone for business purposes. I will probably change to an iPhone or Android phone for business purposes. I am also looking at ways to resolve the malware on that drive. There are a number of business and personal files on thatbdrive that I hope to keep. I dread having to pay McAfee to configure the software to eradicate the malware.
Moving on...last week I updated my iMac to 10.75. It simultaneously updated every Apple based program as promised. It did not update the non-Apple programs. I am not an IT professional and assumed that it had done so. On Saturday I attempted to download a file associated with my router extender using my untethered Playbook and BlackBerry desktop software. The program hung. I attempted a reboot and it reopened with the hung program. It created an alias file on the desktop. My inclination led to put the alias file in the trash can and delete it. My computer did not respond well to that action. It has been rebooted with Cmd-s-esc tens of time to see if that would activate a file check. It did not. I was able to run a disk utility check. And in spite of the hung process it eventually said the drive was okay.
Long story in a nutshell. My iMac is responding as if it is looking for a subprogram to complete its a function. Or it is attempting to finish the BlackBerry operation it began on Saturday. I hope this makes sense to someone and the know how I can restore functionality to my iMac.
Thank you.

I think the McAfee suite will do the trick when I pay them a one-time fee of $69 or $179 for a year for unlimited support.
Your call of course but IMO a waste of money. Please read this first:
There are many forms of ‘Malware’ that can affect a computer system, of which ‘a virus’ is but one type, ‘trojans’ another. Using the strict definition of a computer virus, no viruses that can attack OS X have so far been detected 'in the wild', i.e. in anything other than laboratory conditions. The same is not true of other forms of malware, such as Trojans. Whilst it is a fairly safe bet that your Mac has NOT been infected by a virus, it may have another security-related problem, but more likely a technical problem unrelated to any malware threat.
You may find this User Tip on Viruses, Trojan Detection and Removal, as well as general Internet Security and Privacy, useful:
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-2435
The User Tip (which you are welcome to print out and retain for future reference) seeks to offer guidance on the main security threats and how to avoid them.
More useful information can also be found here:
http://www.reedcorner.net/mmg/

Tiger randomly stopped allowing my External Hard drive to mount and...

Hello, I have been using an External Hard Drive (1 terabyte Seagate, new) for a couple months if not a year by now for saving movies, and all of my iTunes on it. Its been working wonderfully. However it recently stopped being able to mount citing invalid hard drive and gives me the options of either eject, ignore, or initialize. Im not sure what to do. And also my computer has been acting funny every since the day it started. I will walk you through it step by step.
July 6th I was surfing the web and unfortunetly clicked on a link that aparently contained a trojan. Or atleast thats what my Antivirus notified me of. I had downloaded the trojan some how without a pop up or anything telling me I was downloading anything. (using safari) So i ran a virus scan and saw one virus was in my system and that it couldnt be deleted or repaired by my antivirus program, Im working on getting rid of that but at the time I had my Seagate 1 terabyte external hard drive attached via fire wire to my Macbook. It was working then.
Later that day I unplugged my hard drive and took my laptop around a little bit, nothing unusual. Then when i came back later that night I tried plugging in my hard drive and a pop up stated that the hard drive was unable to mount and I could either eject, ignore, or initilize. I tried may different routes, restarting, letting it all rest, etc. And in Disk Utility i try to verify the disc and it says its unable to and needs repairs. So I try repairing the disc and it says unable to due to an error.
Then yesterday I went to my applications and noticed none of my applications are there anymore. These applications were saved on the internal hard drive so it was very odd to me. However i can still use spotlight to find and open my apps.
My question is, What can I do to allow my external hard drive to mount? I dont figure it is the trojan on my system but could it be? If so how would I fix it? Im mostly worried about getting the data off the external hard drive then I can reformat it. Or if theres a way to just get it back to normal without reformatting Id love to hear it. As for the applications missing and the trojan on my internal hard drive I can fix that, at the very least Ill just reboot my system with my original OS Disc and just start fresh, its about time anyways.
But please. If anyone has ever had their external hard drive just stop mounting and figured out what to do I would be ever so grateful to hear how you did so. The hard drive itself isnt damaged, its not making any unusual sounds. Whenever i plug it into the computer it acts like normal (turning on and what not) until the computer tells me it cannot mount then nothing happens. Ive looked online and it seems to be a software issue.
If its any help I was downloading a torrent (.avi, no viruses) at the time. I know sometimes if one file on the hard drive becomes corrupt the whole thing becomes unusable. Regardless I would appreciate it if anyone knows a way to at the very least retreive the files on the drive, but preferably know how to just get it back to normal. If i could get it to force mount (via terminal or something) I know which file would possibly be the corrupt one or something so I could work with it.

Bejan:
Thanks for posting back with the pics of the messages from your computer. Disk Utility reports "Underlying task reported failure" when repairing a volume is a directory error which cannot be repaired by Disk Utility. Unfortunately, Disk Warrior may not be able to replace the rebuilt directory, either. Tech Tool Pro has a better chance of repairing it, although this particular directory issue can be stubborn, and is often rooted in a hardware issue. Your surest bet is to backup/clone the information on the HDD using a utility like SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner, completely reformat and erase the HDD (directions below), then restore data from backup.
Formatting, Partitioning Erasing an External HDD
• Connect external HDD to computer
• Turn on external HDD
• Start up computer and log in
• Go to Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility and launch DU.
• Select your HDD (manufacturer ID) in left side bar.
• Select Partition tab in main panel.
• Click on Options button
• Select Apple Partition Map (PPC Macs) or GUID Partition Table (Intel Macs)
• Click OK
• Select number of partitions in pull-down menu above Volume diagram.
For more partitions than one, after you have selected the number of partitions adjust the size of the partition by selecting the top partition and typing in the size; then move down if more adjustments need to be made.
(See Dr. Smoke’s FAQ Backup and Recovery for tips on partitioning external HDD)
• Type in name in Name field (usually Macintosh HD)
• Select Volume Format as Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
• Click Partition button at bottom of panel.
• Select Erase tab
• Select the sub-volume (indented) under Manufacturer ID
• Check to be sure your Volume Name and Volume Format are correct.
• Click Erase button
• Repeat above procedure to erase each partition
• Quit Disk Utility.
cornelius

Time Machine & external hard drives not used daily

I have a question about Time Machine and external hard drives that I used for storing digital files. I do not need to turn on these drives every day. Or even every week. Is Time Machine going to "forget" them (delete their files from backups) if I don't turn them on regularly? What do I do to make sure they are safely backed up and that they stay backed up even if they aren't turned on every day?

As I said, then, "Time Machine will simply pick up wherever it left off." Just be sure to properly eject the drive before disconnecting or shutting off.
The "speed" question is a new one not present in your original post. You can address that in the following:
Kappy's Personal Suggestions About Mac Maintenance
For disk repairs use Disk Utility. For situations DU cannot handle the best third-party utility is: Disk Warrior; DW only fixes problems with the disk directory, but most disk problems are caused by directory corruption. Drive Genius provides additional tools not found in Disk Warrior for defragmentation of older drives, disk repair, disk scans, formatting, partitioning, disk copy, and benchmarking.
Four outstanding sources of information on Mac maintenance are:
1. OS X Maintenance - MacAttorney.
2. Mac maintenance Quick Assist
3. Maintaining Mac OS X
4. Mac Maintenance Guide
Periodic Maintenance
OS X performs certain maintenance functions that are scheduled to occur on a daily, weekly, or monthly period. The maintenance scripts run in the early AM only if the computer is turned on 24/7 (no sleep.) See Mac OS X- About background maintenance tasks. If you are running Leopard or later these tasks are run automatically, so there is no need to use any third-party software to force running these tasks.
If you are using a pre-Leopard version of OS X, then an excellent solution is to download and install a shareware utility such as Macaroni, JAW PseudoAnacron, or Anacron that will automate the maintenance activity regardless of whether the computer is turned off or asleep. Dependence upon third-party utilities to run the periodic maintenance scripts was significantly reduced after Tiger. (These utilities have limited or no functionality with Snow Leopard, Lion, or Mountain Lion and should not be installed.)
Defragmentation
OS X automatically defragments files less than 20 MBs in size, so unless you have a disk full of very large files there's little need for defragmenting the hard drive except when trying to install Boot Camp on a fragmented drive. But you don't need to buy third-party software. All you need is a spare external hard drive and Carbon Copy Cloner.
Cheap and Easy Defragmentation
You will have to backup your OS X partition to an external drive, boot from the external drive, use Disk Utility to repartition and reformat your hard drive back to a single volume, then restore your backup to the internal hard drive. You will use Carbon Copy Cloner to create the backup and to restore it.
1. Get an empty external hard drive and clone your internal drive to the
       external one.
2. Boot from the external hard drive.
3. Erase the internal hard drive.
4. Restore the external clone to the internal hard drive.
Clone the internal drive to the external drive
1. Open Carbon Copy Cloner.
2. Select the Source volume from the left side dropdown menu.
3. Select the Destination volume from the left side dropdown menu.
4. Be sure the Block Copy button is not depressed or is ghosted.
5. Click on the Clone button.
Destination means the external backup drive. Source means the internal startup drive.
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager appears. Select the icon for the external drive and click on the upward pointing arrow button.
After startup do the following:
Erase internal hard drive
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your internal hard drive (this is the entry with the
       mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the
       drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is
       failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be
       reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the
       DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the
       drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended
       (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to
       GUID then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait
       until the process has completed.
Restore the clone to the internal hard drive
1. Open Carbon Copy Cloner.
2. Select the Source volume from the left side dropdown menu.
3. Select the Destination volume from the left side dropdown menu.
4. Be sure the Block Copy button is not selected or is ghosted.
5. Click on the Clone button.
Destination means the internal hard drive. Source means the external startup drive.
Note that the Source and Destination drives are swapped for this last procedure.
Malware Protection
As for malware protection there are few if any such animals affecting OS X. Starting with Lion, Apple has included built-in malware protection that is automatically updated as necessary. To assure proper protection, update your system software when Apple releases new OS X updates for your computer.
Helpful Links Regarding Malware Protection:
1. Mac Malware Guide.
2. Detecting and avoiding malware and spyware
3. Macintosh Virus Guide
For general anti-virus protection I recommend only using ClamXav, but it is not necessary if you are keeping your computer's operating system software up to date. You should avoid any other third-party software advertised as providing anti-malware/virus protection. They are not required and could cause the performance of your computer to drop.
Cache Clearing
I recommend downloading a utility such as TinkerTool System, OnyX 2.4.3, Mountain Lion Cache Cleaner 7.0.9, Maintenance 1.6.8, or Cocktail 5.1.1 that you can use for periodic maintenance such as removing old log files and archives, clearing caches, etc. Corrupted cache files can cause slowness, kernel panics, and other issues. Although this is not a frequent nor a recurring problem, when it does happen there are tools such as those above to fix the problem.
If you are using Snow Leopard or earlier, then for emergency cleaning install the freeware utility Applejack. If you cannot start up in OS X, you may be able to start in single-user mode from which you can run Applejack to do a whole set of repair and maintenance routines from the command line. Note that AppleJack 1.5 is required for Leopard. AppleJack 1.6 is compatible with Snow Leopard. (AppleJack works with Snow Leopard or earlier.)
Installing System Updates or Upgrades
Repair the hard drive and permissions beforehand.
Update your backups in case an update goes bad.
Backup and Restore
Having a backup and restore strategy is one of the most important things you can do to maintain your computer. Get an external Firewire drive at least equal in size to the internal hard drive and make (and maintain) a bootable clone/backup. You can make a bootable clone using the Restore option of Disk Utility. You can also make and maintain clones with good backup software. You can never have too many backups. Don't rely on just one. Make several using different backup utilities. My personal recommendations are (order is not significant):
     1. Carbon Copy Cloner
     2. Get Backup
     3. Deja Vu
     4. SuperDuper!
     5. Synk Pro
     6. Tri-Backup
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQs on maintenance and backup and restore.
Always have a current backup before performing any system updates or upgrades.
Final Suggestions
Be sure you have an adequate amount of RAM installed for the number of applications you run concurrently. Be sure you leave a minimum of 10% of the hard drive's capacity or 20 GBs, whichever is greater, as free space. Avoid installing utilities that rely on Haxies, SIMBL, or that alter the OS appearance, add features you will rarely if ever need, etc. The more extras you install the greater the probability of having problems. If you install software be sure you know how to uninstall it. Avoid installing multiple new software at the same time. Install one at a time and use it for a while to be sure it's compatible.
Additional reading may be found in:
1. Mac OS X speed FAQ
2. Speeding up Macs
3. Macintosh OS X Routine Maintenance
4. Essential Mac Maintenance: Get set up
5. Essential Mac Maintenance: Rev up your routines
6. Five Mac maintenance myths
7. How to Speed up Macs
8. Myths of required versus not required maintenance for Mac OS X
Referenced software can be found at CNet Downloads or MacUpdate.
Most if not all maintenance is for troubleshooting problems. If your computer is running OK, then there isn't really a thing you need to do except repair the hard drive and permissions before installing any new system updates.

Backing up songs to External Hard Drive

When i first bought my external hard drive, I slid my entire itunes folder into the external hard drive to save all my songs.
My question is, what is the best way to save ONLY the new songs onto your external hard drive?
I don't think it would be necessary to slide the entire music folder AGAIN into my external hard drive, just for two new songs that I added.
Thanks.
HP Windows XP

Empty/corrupt library after upgrade/crash
Hopefully it's not been too long since you last upgraded iTunes, in fact if you get an empty/incomplete library immediately after upgrading then with the following steps you shouldn't normally lose a thing or need to do any further housekeeping. Note that in iTunes 11 an "empty" library may show your past purchases with links to stream or download them.
In the Previous iTunes Libraries folder should be a number of dated iTunes Library files. Take the most recent of these and copy it into the iTunes folder. Rename iTunes Library.itl as iTunes Library (Corrupt).itl and then rename the restored file as iTunes Library.itl. Start iTunes. Should all be good, bar any recent additions to or deletions from your library.
Alternatively, depending on exactly when and why the library went missing, there may be a more recent .tmp file in the main iTunes folder that can be renamed as iTunes Library.itl to restore the library to a recent state.
See iTunes Folder Watch for a tool to catch up with any changes since the backup file was created.
When you get it all working make a backup!
Should you be in the unfortunate position where you are no longer able to access your original library, or a backup of it, then see Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device.
Would you mind telling me which anti-virus package you use? It may be that it is disturbing iTunes when it tries to write out the fresh database, as it does after almost any activity with your library. I'm noticing more of this type of problem than usual and trying to see if there is any pattern. It may help to prevent a repeat of the problem if you look at the advanced options for your AV package and see if you can find a way to exclude the main iTunes library folder (and subfolders if possible) from any real-time scanning process.
tt2

Folder with odd set of numbers and letters appear in external hard drive?

A file folder keeps appearig in the same sub-folder after deleting it. Whenever i delete it another folder is generated but with a different name.
the folder is empty - o bytes, i can access it but there is no date created other than a time stamp. this is only on my external hard drive, no where else.
the name is something like: iJfweF9RL8p8O
then it might be replaced with another name, similar. sometimes the name has symbols. it seems random.
it has stopped doing it for a bit, but i fear it will return. i just cant seem to find out what it is. i dont see how it could be a virus. scan said it was clear.

I can't tell you which programs put them there. But those folders are usually for holding temporary files during installations or updates. They can be deleted without worry.
If they occur in the Windows folder of your internal drive, though, I wouldn't mess with them.
-Jerry

My WD elements external hard drive has slowed down so much since upgrading - PLEASE HELP ME!!!

I am in external hard drive **** - someone please help!
I use my external hard drive as my music drive, and since upgrading to mountain lion something has gone wrong, and I have no idea what.
Basically it is incredibly slow at everything - appearing in finder, showing its contents, and copying from or to it. This is a problem that has only happened since my upgrade. I have tried to verify and repair it, but each time this happens it simply tells me every thing is OK! The only message I get is
'Updating boot support partitions as required.'
But this happens each time! I have no idea what this means (i am happy in my ignorance about computers most of the time)
I dont think that there is a problem with my hard drive, because I have seen the speed of my USB memory stick reduce in this time too, and if I leave it connected for long enough, it eventually finds all my files and folders and I can use them just fine. Its as if my USB ports speeds have all degraded very fast, for no particular reason. It has to be something to do with mountain lion...
Anyway, any ideas guys and gals? Please help me!

Basically I thought that mackeeper would keep everything nice and clean...
That's what the con-artist developer wants you to think, and it's the exact opposite of the truth.
How to maintain a Mac
1. Make redundant backups, keeping at least one off site at all times. One backup is not enough. Don’t back up your backups; make them independent of each other. Don’t rely completely on any single backup method, such as Time Machine. If you get an indication that a backup has failed, don't ignore it.
2. Keep your software up to date. In the Software Update preference pane, you can configure automatic notifications of updates to OS X and other Mac App Store products. Some third-party applications from other sources have a similar feature, if you don’t mind letting them phone home. Otherwise you have to check yourself on a regular basis. This is especially important for complex software that modifies the operating system, such as device drivers. Before installing any Apple update, you must check that all such modifications that you use are compatible.
3. Don't install crapware, such as “themes,” "haxies," “add-ons,” “toolbars,” “enhancers," “optimizers,” “accelerators,” “extenders,” “cleaners,” “defragmenters,” “firewalls,” "barriers," “guardians,” “defenders,” “protectors,” most “plugins,” commercial "virus scanners,” "disk tools," or "utilities." With very few exceptions, this kind of material is useless, or worse than useless.
The more actively promoted the product, the more likely it is to be garbage. The most extreme example is the “MacKeeper” scam.
As a rule, the only software you should install is that which directly enables you to do the things you use a computer for — such as creating, communicating, and playing — and does not modify the way other software works. Never install any third-party software unless you know how to uninstall it.
The free anti-malware application ClamXav is not crap, and although it’s not routinely needed, it may be useful in some environments, such as a mixed Mac-Windows enterprise network.
4. Beware of trojans. A trojan is malicious software (“malware”) that the user is duped into installing voluntarily. Such attacks were rare on the Mac platform until sometime in 2011, but are now increasingly common, and increasingly dangerous.
There is some built-in protection against downloading malware, but you can’t rely on it — the attackers are always at least one day ahead of the defense. You can’t rely on third-party protection either. What you can rely on is common-sense awareness — not paranoia, which only makes you more vulnerable.
Never install software from an untrustworthy or unknown source. If in doubt, do some research. Any website that prompts you to install a “codec” or “plugin” that comes from the same site, or an unknown site, is untrustworthy. Software with a corporate brand, such as Adobe Flash Player, must be acquired directly from the developer. No intermediary is acceptable, and don’t trust links unless you know how to parse them. Any file that is automatically downloaded from a web page without your having requested it should go straight into the Trash. A website that claims you have a “virus,” or that anything else is wrong with your computer, is rogue.
Because of recurring security issues in Java, it’s best to disable it in your web browsers, if it’s installed. Few websites have Java content nowadays, so you won’t be missing much. This action is mandatory if you’re running any version of OS X older than 10.6.8 with the latest Java update. Note: Java has nothing to do with JavaScript, despite the similar names. Don't install Java unless you're sure you need it. Most users don't.
5. Don't fill up your boot volume. A common mistake is adding more and more large files to your home folder until you start to get warnings that you're out of space, which may be followed in short order by a boot failure. This is more prone to happen on the newer Mac notebooks that come with an internal SSD instead of the traditional hard drive. The drive can be very nearly full before you become aware of the problem. While it's not true that you should or must keep any particular percentage of space free, you should monitor your storage consumption and make sure you're not in immediate danger of using it up. According to Apple documentation, you need at least 9 GB of free space on the startup volume for normal operation.
Use a tool such as the free application OmniDiskSweeper to explore your volume and find out what's taking up the most space. Move rarely-used large files to secondary storage.
6. Relax, don’t do it. Besides the above, no routine maintenance is necessary or beneficial for the vast majority of users; specifically not “cleaning caches,” “zapping the PRAM,” "resetting the SMC," “rebuilding the directory,” “running periodic scripts,” “deleting log files,” “scanning for viruses,” or “repairing permissions.” Such measures are for solving problems as they arise, not for maintenance.
The very height of futility is running an expensive third-party application called “Disk Warrior” when nothing is wrong, or even when something is wrong and you have backups, which you must have. Disk Warrior is a data-salvage tool, not a maintenance tool, and you will never need it if your backups are adequate. Don’t waste money on it or anything like it.

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