How To Remove Mac Adware Cleaner From Mac

A phishing scam has targeted Mac users by redirecting them from legitimate websites to fake websites which tell them that their computer is infected with a virus. The user is then offered Mac Defender 'anti-virus' software to solve the issue.
This “anti-virus” software is malware (i.e. malicious software). Its ultimate goal is to get the user's credit card information which may be used for fraudulent purposes.
The most common names for this malware are MacDefender, MacProtector and MacSecurity.

1. How To Uninstall Mac Adware Cleaner
2. Remove Adware Cleaner From Mac
3. How To Remove Mac Adware Cleaner From My Macbook Pro

Apple released a free software update (Security Update 2011-003) that will automatically find and remove Mac Defender malware and its known variants.
The Resolution section below also provides step-by-step instructions on how to avoid or manually remove this malware.

Resolution

How to avoid installing this malware

If any notifications about viruses or security software appear, quit Safari or any other browser that you are using. If a normal attempt at quitting the browser doesn’t work, then Force Quit the browser.

Jun 10, 2016  Go to the Utilities folder in the Applications folder and launch Activity Monitor. Choose All Processes from the pop up menu in the upper right corner of the window. Click the Quit Process button in the upper left corner of the window and select Quit. Quit Activity Monitor application.

Jun 05, 2018  Step 2 – Remove Mac Adware Cleaner with Malwarebytes for Mac Use Combo Cleaner to remove Mac Adware Cleaner Combo Cleaner is the utility toolkit to optimize and protect your precious Mac against malware, viruses, adware and potentially unwanted programs. Jun 05, 2018  MalwareBytes application will scan through the whole MAC system for the adware that cause annoying Mac Adware Cleaner pop ups to appear. This process can take quite a while, so please be patient. When a threat is found, the number of the security threats will change accordingly. How Mac Adware Cleaner infects your Mac computer? How to remove Mac Adware Cleaner from Mac? Step 2: Remove Advanced Mac Cleaner from Mac (main source of Mac Adware Cleaner pop-up). Step 3: Remove Mac Adware Cleaner from browsers.

In some cases, your browser may automatically download and launch the installer for this malicious software. If this happens, cancel the installation process; do not enter your administrator password. Delete the installer immediately using the steps below.

1. Go into the Downloads folder, or your preferred download location.
2. Drag the installer to the Trash.
3. Empty the Trash.

How to remove this malware

If the malware has been installed, we recommend the following actions:

• Do not provide your credit card information under any circumstances.
• Use the Removal Steps below.

Removal steps

1. Move or close the Scan Window.
2. Go to the Utilities folder in the Applications folder and launch Activity Monitor.
3. Choose All Processes from the pop up menu in the upper right corner of the window.
4. Under the Process Name column, look for the name of the app and click to select it; common app names include: MacDefender, MacSecurity or MacProtector.
5. Click the Quit Process button in the upper left corner of the window and select Quit.
6. Quit Activity Monitor application.
7. Open the Applications folder.
8. Locate the app ex. MacDefender, MacSecurity, MacProtector or other name.
9. Drag to Trash, and empty Trash.

Malware also installs a login item in your account in System Preferences. Removal of the login item is not necessary, but you can remove it by following the steps below.

• Open System Preferences, select Accounts, then Login Items
• Select the name of the app you removed in the steps above ex. MacDefender, MacSecurity, MacProtector
• Click the minus button

Use the steps in the “How to avoid installing this malware” section above to remove the installer from the download location.

How To Uninstall Mac Adware Cleaner

Note: Apple provides security updates for the Mac exclusively through Software Update and the Apple Support Downloads site. User should exercise caution any time they are asked to enter sensitive personal information online.

Mac Adware Cleaner is a computer program that some people find too annoying. First, it may arrive on Mac system without user’s approval. Mac Adware Cleaner normally arrives on the computer alongside adware and other software bundles that routinely spread over the internet to distribute malicious programs.

On its official website, Mac Adware Cleaner is endorsed as an effective cleaning tool that finds junk files, adware, and malware. It also claims to protect your computer and secure your online browsing by removing unwanted history, cookies, searches, downloads, and cached files from Safari and other browsers.

Mac Adware Cleaner seems to be a useful tool, however, due to its association with various adware and PUP’s, security experts find it disturbing to see this program running on the computer. In addition, Mac Adware Cleaner runs a scan and produces tricky results. It aims to deceive computer users via these mockery scans that try to convince them into upgrading the program to a paid registered version.

As you can see, Mac Adware Cleaner is a program that was made simply to be sold without any valid attestation to its effectiveness. Thus, we cannot declare that it is safe to install the program and let it be your default Mac OS X optimization tool.

If you share similar findings with us and wanted to remove Mac Adware Cleaner from the computer, we have outlined and easy-to-follow procedures on this page. Scan the computer with suggested anti-malware tool to ensure that all items, including hidden ones will be deleted.

Online Security Scanner Report for macadwarecleaner.com:

Procedures to Remove Mac Adware Cleaner

This section contains comprehensive guide to help you remove threats from the affected computer.

Procedures on this page are written in a manner that can be easily understand and execute by Mac users.

QuickFix: Instant Removal

Combo Cleaner is a trusted Mac utility application with complete antivirus and optimization features. It is useful in dealing with adware, malware, and PUP’s. Moreover, it can get rid of malicious browser adware that causes annoyances. You may need to purchase full version if you require to maximize its premium features.

1. Download the tool from the following page:

Click here to Download Combo Cleaner (this will open a new window)

2. Double-click the downloaded file.

3. In the opened window, drag and drop the Combo Cleaner icon onto your Applications folder icon.

4. Open your Launchpad and click on the Combo Cleaner icon.

5. Wait until antivirus downloads it's latest virus definition updates and click on “Start Combo Scan“.

6. Free features of Combo Cleaner include Disk Cleaner, Big Files finder, Duplicate files finder, and Uninstaller. To use antivirus and privacy scanner users have to upgrade to a premium version.

Proceed with the rest of the removal steps if you are comfortable in manually removing malicious objects associated with the threat.

Jun 19, 2018  To free up disk space, it’s helpful to know exactly what is using disk space on your Mac. A hard disk analysis tool like Disk Inventory X will scan your Mac’s hard disk and display which folders and files are using up the most space. You can then delete these space hogs to free up space. Mac free space erase. Oct 07, 2019  How to free up storage space on your Mac. If you haven't yet upgraded to macOS Sierra or later, learn about other ways to free up storage space. Find out how much storage is available on your Mac. Choose Apple menu About This Mac, then click Storage. This is an overview of available storage space on your Mac, as well as the space used.

Step 1: Quit Mac Adware Cleaner Process

Before proceeding with the steps below, please close Mac Adware Cleaner window if in case it is open.

1. Go to Launchpad, Utilities folder, open Activity Monitor.

2. Choose All Processes from the upper right corner of the window.

3. Under Process Name column, look for Mac Adware Cleaner. Click the name to select the malicious process.

4. Next, click the Quit Process button located in the upper left corner of the window.

5. When prompted, click on Force Quit.

6. You may now delete or remove files that belongs to Mac Adware Cleaner. Proceed to the next steps.

Step 2: Delete Malicious Files that have installed Mac Adware Cleaner

1. Select and copy the string below to your Clipboard by pressing Command + C on your keyboard.

~/Library/LaunchAgents

2. Go to your Finder. From the menu bar please select Go > Go to Folder…

3. Press Command + V on your keyboard to paste the copied string. Press Return to go to the said folder.

4. You will now see a folder named LaunchAgents. Take note of the following files inside the folder:

• Mac Adware Cleaner.agent

If you cannot find the specified file, please look for any unfamiliar or suspicious entries. It may be the one causing the Mac Adware Cleaner to be present on your Mac. Arranging all items to see the most latest ones may also help you identify recently installed unfamiliar files. Please press Option + Command + 4 on your keyboard to arrange the application list in chronological order.

5. Drag all suspicious files that you may find to Trash.

6. Repeat Step 2, numbers 1-5 procedures on the following folder (without ~):

/Library/LaunchAgents

7. Please restart the computer.

8. Open another folder using the same method as above. Copy and Paste the following string to easily locate the folder.

~/Library/Application Support

9. Look for any suspicious items that are similar to the ones in Step2, number 4. Drag them to the Trash.

10. Go to your Finder and open the Applications Folder. Look for subfolders with the following names and drag them to Trash.

• Mac Adware Cleaner
• MediaDownloader
• Software-Updater
• Genieo

11. Lastly, please Empty your Mac’s Trash bin.

Step 3: Scan the System with Adware Removal Tool for Mac

1. Download Malwarebytes Anti-malware for Mac from this link:

Click here to download MBAM for Mac (this will open a new window)

2. Run Malwarebytes Anti-malware for Mac. It will check for updates and download if most recent version is available. This is necessary in finding recent malware threats including Mac Adware Cleaner.

3. If it prompts to close all running web browser, please do so. Thus, we advise you to PRINT this guide for your reference before going offline.

4. Once it opens the user interface, please click on Scan button to start scanning your Mac computer.

5. After the scan, Malwarebytes Anti-malware for Mac will display a list of identified threats, Mac Adware Cleaner is surely part of it. Be sure to select all items in the list. Then, click Remove button to clean the computer.

6. You may now restart the computer.

Step 4: Delete Mac Adware Cleaner Login Account

Some malware also installs login item into compromised account under System Preferences. This may not be necessary, but if in case you want to delete this unwanted entry, please follow these steps:

1. Go to Apple menu and choose System Preferences.

2. Select Users & Groups from the preferences window.

Remove Adware Cleaner From Mac

3. You may need to Unlock this area in order to make changes. Click on the Lock icon on lower left corner of the window.

4. Next, select the user account related to Mac Adware Cleaner.

How To Remove Mac Adware Cleaner From My Macbook Pro

5. To delete Mac Adware Cleaner account, click on the minus [-] button and confirm your actions. Please see image below for reference.