Chrome Virus?

lordgoat

Hi all,

having some problems with chrome, basically it keeps crashing. And when ever i search for anything virus related, the pages it gives me back are all jumbled up.

It was doing the same for boards/other forum sites but i reinstalled the chrome app and that's fixed that. But it's still crashing and not letting me search for virus scanners etc.

I did one scan but it returned no viruses.

I'm running an old unibod mac - 10.5.8

Any suggestions?

conor.hogan.2

Huh, odd.

While I do not use Chrome often it getting a Virus of any variety strikes me as odd. Are you sure it is not just crashing randomly and it happens to crash when you search for anti-virus software?

It is likely just a faulty plugin, have you installed any recently?

Is it the latest version of Chrome? To tell go to "Chrome" and then "about google chrome".

lordgoat

ya it's just on google chrome, the only extension i run is tweetdeck but i've reinstalled that too. (it crashes alot too)

this has only all started in the last two days.

it consistently gives me weird symbols on any webpage i search for with the word virus in it and the searches work fine in safari - that's my main reason for thinking it's a chrome issue.

and yep up to date with everything.

conor.hogan.2

I am lost then. You re-intstalled Chrome and it is still acting up?

Chrome is pretty stable. Probably the most stable of the browsers as is OSX so it getting any type of Virus is unlikely.

Hobbes

Check your proxy server list in Chrome. That may have been changed.

lordgoat

Hobbes wrote: »

Check your proxy server list in Chrome. That may have been changed.

Not really sure what i'm checking for... there doesn't seem to be any odd proxies on the list ticked..

Hobbes

Also check you are not pointing to some third party DNS server.

lordgoat

Hobbes wrote: »

Also check you are not pointing to some third party DNS server.

how do i do that? i had a google but can't seem to figure out if i'm doing it correctly.

conor.hogan.2

I thought OSX used system wide settings for DNS? It seems to use the system settings for DNS and Proxies etc.

Then Chrome would use the settings in System settings, Network, Advanced and DNS.

lordgoat

Again all seems fine with those settings. Same as my housemates mac and chrome settings.

It seems to happen to any website i go to through a search engine, it's wrecking my head. I've tried disabling all extensions but it's still happens...

conor.hogan.2

Is the search engine changed? Or does it seem to be through Google?

Liameter

Windows viruses won't affect Chrome on a Mac and there are so few exploits for OSX in the wild that you can probably discount that possibility.

Sad Professor

Deleting the app isn't enough. Google don't provide an uninstaller or any way to reset Chrome, so you need to try completing trashing Chrome's preferences and profile data.

Go to:

[Your user account] > Library > Application Support > Google

and delete the Chrome folder.

lordgoat

Sad Professor wrote: »

Deleting the app isn't enough. Google don't provide an uninstaller or any way to reset Chrome, so you need to try completing trashing Chrome's preferences and profile data.

Go to:

[Your user account] > Library > Application Support > Google

and delete the Chrome folder.

cheer's i'll try this once i get home.

I presume i'll lose all passwords etc?

Also any idea what could the cause be?

Sad Professor

I think Chrome uses OS X's keychain but I'm not sure. Just move the Chrome folder to the desktop rather than delete it if you want to be safe.

lordgoat

Sad Professor wrote: »

I think Chrome uses OS X's keychain but I'm not sure. Just move the Chrome folder to the desktop rather than delete it if you want to be safe.

I deleted it but it didn't fix it, i deleted again, and removed the app and added it again. Restarted the laptop and it seems to work fine again now.

Really confusing, but seems to be back to normal now.

Thanks for all the help.

Sad Professor

Are your passwords are still there?

conor.hogan.2

What the hell was the cause of it though?

Sad Professor

I don't know. Probably a Chrome bug. Not a virus/malware anyway.

conor.hogan.2

Sad Professor wrote: »

Not a virus/malware anyway.

Agreed, especially in Chrome.

lordgoat

Sad Professor wrote: »

Are your passwords are still there?

Sad Professor wrote: »

I don't know. Probably a Chrome bug. Not a virus/malware anyway.

Nope passwords all gone but I could import most of them from firefox (i moved from it originally)

Ya just seems like a glitch.

thanks for all the help.

Sad Professor

Cross-platform apps that don't use the Mac Keychain properly are a pet hate of mine. Another reason why I'm never going back to Chrome.

conor.hogan.2

I just signed into youtube on Chrome and it asked me to save the password and when I pressed yes OSX popped up asking to give Chrome access to the Keychain.

Anyway, Flash using 2-3 times more resources is reason enough for me to mainly use Safari.

Groinshot

Possibly corrupt user profile(Chrome profile I mean, not OS X). God knows it's happened to me so many times with FF on windows, and have seen it once or twice on Chrome on windows, but never on mac.