Malware problem in Snow Leopard

Hi everyone,

I've managed to get my three year old MacbookPro infected with some kind of adware/malware that enabled someone to hack my gmail account (enough to send one measly email out that google caught, but I'd really like for it to not happen again and am really nervous about whatever other keylogging might be happening). I'm getting popups from ad.yieldmanager.com and cdn.optmd.com as well and I assume the two are related. This is definitely the first time in three years I've had any problems with my machine. I downloaded ClamXAV a long time ago but of course didn't run it regularly because I'm dumb.

I've tried downloading several free scanners (ClamXAV, VirusBarrier, MacScan) and none of them killed the ads. I broke down and bought VirusBarrier 6X, but this hasn't cleared it either. I've also cleared my cookies and blocked all w/ exceptions for Gmail, etc in Firefox and VirusBarrier.

I'm running OSX 10.6.8 and using Firefox 7.

Anyone have any suggestions? I'm out of ideas and pretty frustrated (this is all happening on my work machine which I need to be using to meet some imminent deadlines - typical). This is my first Mac - I am wishing for a Windows registry so I could go in and delete keys, etc, but I can't find any similar protocols for mac and keep getting directed to forums where half the people are arguing that Mac users should never need any security protection at all because they are awesomesauce and soooo much better than PCs (highly irritating for someone in my position).

Please help?!

You have probably made the situation considerably worst. The main source of Mac Malware is AntiVirus software. Do not install any AntiVirus software, there is no need, the only Malware are Trojans and these need to be installed by you. So if you only use a standard Account and think twice before entering your Admin password you should have no problems.

But the only sure way to solve your problem is to Carbon Copy Clone your Drive to a FireWire external. Reformat your Drive and do a Clean Install of OSX, then Migrate back your User Account. Make an Admin Account with a good secure password, then change your Account to standard. Then make sure there are no unwanted Run on Login apps.

Thanks for your reply. I downloaded what was recommended on what I would consider reputable sites (cnet). They found no spyware on my computer at all.

Will copying over my hard drive help? Won't I be copying the bug as well and then reinstalling it?

cnet - reputable???

It's your call. Identity theft is a hell of a risk.

not the whole system.
Keyloggers and the other Trojans don't currently reside in your User Account.