I have 4 files that I have no idea where they came from … I am extremely cautious about downloading anything on here, but yesterday I was having trouble trying to update my flash player in Firefox, and I may possibly have accidentally downloaded the Windows version .. that’s what my son is telling me at this point. I would so appreciate some help on how to get rid of them and anything they might leave behind, or would just sending them to the trash be good enough? I am also wondering how to know if I do have a virus on here. I’m still new and learning all about my Mac!
I did finally get the flash player updated, by the way, but as I said, I have the following files, listed below, which my Mac OS X 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard) cannot open. I’m hoping they won’t harm my computer! You’ve helped me before, and I so appreciated that! I’ll look forward to hearing from you on this little problem! Thanks again, so much! The files are as follows:
YZRfGr4k.exe.part
PQtubKRX.exe.part
3EWgLGDe.exe.part
And finally this one ….
DISPATCHER (this one does open in TextEdit, and is very long and has many characters with numbers that I do not understand and I have no idea where it came from!)
Hopefully, these haven’t done any harm, and there is an easy answer to solve this! ~ Deborah
—–
Deborah
MacMost Q&A Forum • View All Forum Questions • Ask a Question
How to get rid of .exe files
Comments: 4 Responses to “How to get rid of .exe files”
Comments Closed.
It sounds like you just tried to download some Windows programs. They won't do anything on your Mac. And since they end in .part, it means it is only the first part of the file anyway, you stopped the download before it completed. The other file is some sort of Windows binary.
Just put them in the Trash and empty the trash as normal. No harm done.
Your Mac is already working to protect you from malware. See http://macmost.com/virus-and-malware
Unless you see a definite and serious problem, then you are OK. There are no current active viruses for Mac. Just follow the advice on that page (Keep updated, follow news, don't download from sites you don't trust).
Gary ... thank you so much for your quick reply (it's all been sent to the trash and emptied) ... and thanks for the link! Your site is so helpful, and I've been sharing it with others! One more small item, if you don't mind, which I had forgotten to add earlier ... should I trash the 'install_flash_player osx intel.dmg' icon that showed up on my desktop when I updated the flash player, as well?
Again, I so appreciate your time and expertise! -Deborah
So you downloaded the install_flash_player osx intel.dmg. Then you opened it and ran the installer there, right? Once you do that, you can close that disk image and discard the dmg file, yes.
Yes, done, and thanks again!