donfromyork

Q: What adware or other security programs are proving useful on iMacs?

I'm getting lots of very slow processing periods, occasional intrusions of voice ads (I haven't detected a pattern).

iMac (21.5-inch Late 2009), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5)

Posted on May 18, 2015 5:40 AM

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Q: What adware or other security programs are proving useful on iMacs?

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  • by stedman1,

    stedman1 stedman1 May 18, 2015 5:43 AM in response to donfromyork
    Level 9 (73,848 points)
    Apple Watch
    May 18, 2015 5:43 AM in response to donfromyork

    Please review the options below to determine which method is best to remove the Adware installed on your computer.

     

    The Easy, safe, effective method:

    http://www.adwaremedic.com/index.php

     

    If you are comfortable doing manual file removals, use the Apple support document below.

    http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203987

     

    Also read the articles below to be more prepared for the next time there is an issue on your computer.

    https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-7471

    https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-8071

    http://www.thesafemac.com/tech-support-scam-pop-ups/

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis May 18, 2015 5:49 AM in response to donfromyork
    Level 10 (207,995 points)
    Applications
    May 18, 2015 5:49 AM in response to donfromyork

    No "security" program is useful.

    When you see a beachball cursor or the slowness is especially bad, note the exact time: hour, minute, second.  

    These instructions must be carried out as an administrator. If you have only one user account, you are the administrator.

    Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:

    ☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

    ☞ In the Finder, select Go Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

    ☞ Open LaunchPad and start typing the name.

    The title of the Console window should be All Messages. If it isn't, select

              SYSTEM LOG QUERIES All Messages

    from the log list on the left. If you don't see that list, select

              View Show Log List

    from the menu bar at the top of the screen.

    Each message in the log begins with the date and time when it was entered. Scroll back to the time you noted above.

    Select the messages entered from then until the end of the episode, or until they start to repeat, whichever comes first.

    Copy the messages to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste into a reply to this message by pressing command-V.

    The log contains a vast amount of information, almost all of it useless for solving any particular problem. When posting a log extract, be selective. A few dozen lines are almost always more than enough.

    Please don't indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.

    Please don't post screenshots of log messages—post the text.

    Some private information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.

    When you post the log extract, you might see an error message on the web page: "You have included content in your post that is not permitted," or "The message contains invalid characters." That's a bug in the forum software. Please post the text on Pastebin, then post a link here to the page you created.

  • by thomas_r.,

    thomas_r. thomas_r. May 18, 2015 6:46 AM in response to donfromyork
    Level 7 (30,924 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 18, 2015 6:46 AM in response to donfromyork

    donfromyork wrote:

     

    I'm getting lots of very slow processing periods, occasional intrusions of voice ads (I haven't detected a pattern).

     

    Are you hearing these ads even when there's no browser open? If so, you probably have a web clipping in the Dashboard that contains some ads that auto-play some kind of audio. Remove any web clippings from the Dashboard. For more information, see:

     

    Mac Basics: Dashboard gives you quick access to frequently used info - Apple Support

     

    If this is only happening in your web browser, and you're seeing pop-up ads on sites where they don't belong and other such misbehavior, you may have some kind of adware installed. The suggestions stedman1 has made are pretty comprehensive for dealing with this problem.

     

    As for the performance problems, if you have adware, that could be the cause. If not, there could be many other causes. Is the problem only occurring in the web browser, or is it system-wide?

     

    Finally, note that I'm the developer of AdwareMedic (one of the things stedman1 has suggested). As such, I'd draw your attention to Linc's statement:

     

    No "security" program is useful.

     

    Although there's certainly some basis for this statement - notably, the prevalence of bad security software for the Mac - like almost all absolute statements of its kind, it can never be truly accurate. The key to the utility of security programs is to use the right ones, and apply them to the right circumstances. If you use a bad security program, or apply a good one to the wrong problem, you could end up doing more harm than good.

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis May 18, 2015 7:17 AM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 10 (207,995 points)
    Applications
    May 18, 2015 7:17 AM in response to Linc Davis

    Specifically, no program that purports to remove adware is useful. In fact, all such programs are harmful, because relying on them weakens the only reliable defense you have against network attack: skepticism of unknown software.

  • by thomas_r.,

    thomas_r. thomas_r. May 18, 2015 9:38 AM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 7 (30,924 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 18, 2015 9:38 AM in response to Linc Davis

    Linc Davis wrote:

     

    Specifically, no program that purports to remove adware is useful. In fact, all such programs are harmful, because relying on them weakens the only reliable defense you have against network attack: skepticism of unknown software.

     

    That is your opinion, and one that I (and numerous others here) believe to be spurious. By your definition, using any software recommended by a person on these or any other forums would be wrong. (Conveniently ignoring the fact that you have made such recommendations yourself in the recent past.)

     

    Using AdwareMedic certainly is not the only solution, nor do I represent it as such. It also does not take the place of proper internet safety, and I not only do not represent it as such, but I actively try to educate people using AdwareMedic in how to avoid needing to use it in the future.

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis May 18, 2015 10:11 AM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 10 (207,995 points)
    Applications
    May 18, 2015 10:11 AM in response to Linc Davis

    You'll notice that anyone who questions the false "adwaremedic" dogma on this site comes under ad hominem attack. That's something you may want to take into account when making a decision about it.

  • by aatsi,

    aatsi aatsi May 18, 2015 10:58 AM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (95 points)
    May 18, 2015 10:58 AM in response to Linc Davis

    I didn't see an ad hominem attack. Was there a personal insult or attack on your character? Was someone trying to undermine your credibility based on your credentials or education?

     

    I fully agree that no one should rely on "security programs" to protect them against malware of any kind.

     

    That said, once the malware is there, some programs can be very helpful in removing the existing malware. From a purist / no-risk standpoint, once you have malware, the best thing to do is back up your personal items and then reinstall the operating system, but there are certain situations where that's not pragmatic.