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All replies
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Helpful answers
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Mar 28, 2014 6:51 PM in response to Javier23golby AFKuhr,Genieo (and InstallMac, another name for the same software) is perhaps the most prolific adware at the time of this writing (late 2013). It has been in active distribution for most of the year, with a very active Israeli company behind it.
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Apr 7, 2014 5:15 PM in response to ncyrilby SnowboardBunny,I run Sophos (free mac antivirus) on mine and it caught this program as a threat and easily cleaned it up in no time. So, if you are spending time cleaning this up, maybe try Sophos.
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Apr 7, 2014 5:48 PM in response to SnowboardBunnyby MadMacs0,SnowboardBunny wrote:
I run Sophos (free mac antivirus) on mine and it caught this program as a threat and easily cleaned it up in no time. So, if you are spending time cleaning this up, maybe try Sophos.
I have previously used Sophos to test it's ability to do that, but it failed to find several components that are listed in Adware Removal Guide : Genieo. But that was a few months ago, so it may be better now.
There was a new variant of Genieo 2.0 found last week, so there may be additional things to look for.
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Apr 11, 2014 5:05 PM in response to imabigdogby monbon2014,In response to that:
imabigdog wrote:
I too had Genieo on my iMac running OS X 10.08.3. I use a freeware program named AppCleaner.app, which is a drag and drop delete program that seems to work very well. It will uninstall the main culprit and associated sub files by dragging the unwanted application to a "bullseye" and then hitting the delete button when the files pop up on your screen. No more Genieo on my iMac, took about thirty seconds to delete.
Hi iamabigdog.. I know it's an old one here and not sure you can help at all.. you've mentioned you used appcleaner.app to get rid of the big G. And it worked. I have just done that and also cleaned two other apps associated with Genieo (I remembered their names / icons rather as they poped up yesterday at the same time as G). And sadly my browser is still redirecting to Genieo. Gutted.
My question for you:
Have you completely managed to end it right there with appcleaner
Any other tricks you've learnt since about this super nasty software?
Thanks in advance - others, please give me your opinion if you think it's relevant.
I don't want to go on how ethical or rather unethical Genieo is, I just want to kill it on my machine forever fullstop!
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Apr 11, 2014 6:29 PM in response to monbon2014by MadMacs0,That advise is a year old now and has been proven to be false dozens of times in this conversation and hundreds of times in the Forum.
Genieo 2.0 has been out for about a week now and it has changed the rules once more.
Please use thomas_r.'s updated instructions for complete removal and you'll save yourself a lot of time and trouble.
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May 14, 2014 7:38 AM in response to Javier23golby Rustycan,This is an awful piece of software, for complete removal instructions and support on removing Genieo(InstallMac) visit http://www.fixkb.com/2011/11/remove-genieo-on-mac.html
Regards
Rustycan
(concerned IT guy)
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May 14, 2014 8:13 AM in response to Rustycanby thomas_r.,Most of the information in that fixkb.com page is plagiarized directly from my own instructions:
http://www.thesafemac.com/arg-genieo/
Although the page says "Information kindly provided by Thomas Reed," note that I was never asked for permission to copy my content. One of the "authors" of this page also posted a comment that they had been in contact with me, but I can find absolutely no record of any attempted contact by them... and I never delete e-mail! (I have every message I sent or received since 2005).
Ethical questions aside, the fixkb instructions are also outdated, and will not completely remove more recent variants of Genieo.
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May 22, 2014 8:07 AM in response to thomas_r.by thomas_r.,I got in touch with Russell Gulvin, from FixKB. He says that someone pretending to be me contacted them and gave permission. He can't find that e-mail at this point, though.
Whether that story is true or not, the page is now updated and properly attributes the source. Keep in mind that, although it is up-to-date at this moment in time, it may or may not stay that way.
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Jun 14, 2014 12:29 PM in response to BZ-LAby robertafromcameron park,This seemed to work...Is there any relationship to ZipCloud which registers the same time as Geneio?
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Jun 14, 2014 1:03 PM in response to robertafromcameron parkby MadMacs0,robertafromcameron park wrote:
This seemed to work...
It seems to work, but it doesn't. Follow the instructions at Adware Removal Guide : Genieo and consider the use of his Adware Removal Tool which will take care of the rest.
Is there any relationship to ZipCloud which registers the same time as Geneio?
Genieo has partnership agreements with dozens of companies, so it's certainly possible.
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Jul 4, 2014 9:12 PM in response to Javier23golby AZPublishing,Both of these FREE tools work great!
Mac Adware Removal Tool (This one took several hours to find all Malware and Adware files but worth it)
TSM Adware Removal Tool (this one looked for specific Malware and finds it within seconds)
http://www.thesafemac.com/new-adware-removal-tool/
I've used them both yesterday on my iMac and my MacbookAir and was able to clean all Malware and Adware files which are sent to the trash and you can review them before you delete them. Very Cool!
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Jul 4, 2014 9:50 PM in response to AZPublishingby MadMacs0,AZPublishing wrote:
Both of these FREE tools work great!
Mac Adware Removal Tool (This one took several hours to find all Malware and Adware files but worth it)
Something is not right here. I'm unaware of anything titled "Mac Adware Removal Tool" from SecureMac and I don't see it anywhere in the link you provided. They had some free tools years ago, but if you are talking about MacScan it is not free (other than the demo) but costs $40 for the fully operational version. It is also not very good at finding malware (see MacScan Disappoints and his latest Mac anti-virus testing 2014 where it only found 2% of the samples). In addition to that it is well known for falsely identifying files as infected due to it's unique signature methodology, so I hope you didn't clean up something important to you or your system. There are much more effective A-V scanners available, many are actually free. But avoid Avast! as we discovered just yesterday Avast installs adware!
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Jul 13, 2014 6:16 AM in response to thomas_r.by harvey49,Dear thomas_r.
My Sophos software recently found the Genieo threat on my computer and when asked to eliminate it, stated that it could not do it. Susequently, I have been searching the web for the solution. As being a novice computer person, this is taking more of my time than I would like.
What Sophos found was the file, InstallGenieo.dmg download on my hard disk plus several more copies on backups located on an external drive used by TimeMachine.
It appears that I may not have installed the Genieo adware but had merely downloaded the installation file. I don't have the "house" icon nor can I find the application file for Genieo.
So, my question is ..... shall I just delete the InstallGenieo.dmg file from both my hard disk and my backups, or should I go through your entire removal guide?
If it is a matter of removing files from my Time Machine, I will research how to do that effectively and therefore put my time to better use in actually getting rid of this nuisance so as not to come back again.
Thanks ever so much for your assistance.
Jim K.
Leesburg, GA
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Jul 13, 2014 6:25 AM in response to harvey49by thomas_r.,harvey49 wrote:
shall I just delete the InstallGenieo.dmg file from both my hard disk and my backups, or should I go through your entire removal guide?
The InstallGenieo.dmg file is just a disk image file containing the installer. By itself, it's not harmful, so long as you don't open it and run the installer. It can - and should - be deleted. There's really no need to bother removing it from your backups, since you're quite unlikely to restore it from your backups and then open it and run the installer. However, if you do want to, go here:
Follow the directions in the green box, labeled "To delete via the Time Machine browser". You can ignore the rest of the page.
As for my guide, if you think you might have installed Genieo, but aren't sure, it would be wise to go through all the steps. Alternately, you could just run my Adware Removal Tool, which will take care of it for you automatically. It sounds like this probably isn't necessary, but there are some variants of Genieo that do not install the Genieo app, so it's best to just be on the safe side.
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Jul 13, 2014 9:20 AM in response to harvey49by AZPublishing,@Harvey49 a new FREE version has been upload which removes Genieo here:
TSM Adware Removal Tool (this one looked for specific Genieo and other Malware and finds it within seconds)