Malwarebytes - not 100%!

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Malwarebytes - not 100%!

I am receiving some pop up ads (adware) - 1) Safari Browser 2019 Annual Opinion Survey with a $1000 Walmart Gift Card, and 2) a "Safari" message that is listed as "Flash Player" upgrade" message. They occur mostly when I'm checking email messages in Earthink dot com. I'm not sure where they are originating from. However, I have noticed in my Safari Preferences folder (where the cookies are listed), I have populating cookies that begin with "d" and end in "cloudfront.net." First, I ran Malwarebytes and the result is consistently 100% clean. So, I loaded Avast for Macs. When I ran the scan, it found 4 separate malware issues - 3 adware and 1 trojan virus. The 3 adware issues are listed as: MACOS:Bundlore - AQ [ADW] Player SetUp.dmg. Most, were found in the Trash. The trojan virus is listed as Other:Malware-gen [Trj] Adobe_Flash_Player.dmg. All issues have been "resolved" by Avast's program. However, I'm still receiving the Annual Opinion Survey / Walmart pop-up, so I've decided to keep the Avast program shield in the "on" position to catch the pop ups in real time. I will follow up with results.

Posted on Dec 24, 2019 9:23 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

steve626

Level 6

10,217 points

Dec 25, 2019 8:00 PM in response to Robotrenegade

I use Earthlink webmail all the time on Safari and Firefox and do not get pop up ads. You may want to check your browser settings under Privacy, Security, and Websites. I also do not use third party malware protector programs except I do have Malwarebytes but I have it configured so Real Time Protection is off, it simply runs a a scheduled scan every so often. It has never found anything in the several years I have had it.

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Answer 2

BDAqua

Level 10

239,777 points

Dec 24, 2019 9:43 AM in response to Robotrenegade

Thanks for the report, this may help you also...

EtreCheck is a simple little app to display the important details of your system configuration and allow you to copy that information to the Clipboard. It is meant to be used with Apple Support Communities to help people help you with your Mac.

http://www.etresoft.com/etrecheck

Pastebin is a good place to paste the whole report...

https://pastebin.com/

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Answer 3

Kurt Lang

Level 9

58,518 points

Dec 24, 2019 9:48 AM in response to Robotrenegade

Popups aren't necessarily due to adware. Many times, they're just part of the site you're visiting and are generated by a JavaScript action the site calls for.

Any popup for a fake Flash Player is a scam and is being generated by the site. Avoid any such site and most definitely do not download and install anything they push. It's not Flash - ever. Though from what you've listed as being found on your Mac, you've fallen for this scam at least twice. Stop believing anything and everything you're told.

It will do absolutely no good to have Avast's shield mode on. That only works with viruses, of which there are none on the Mac. Zero. Nada. They don't exist. What you downloaded and installed are Trojans (There's no such thing as a virus trojan. It's one or the other). There is no AV software in the world that can, or will even attempt to stop you from installing a Trojan. They are all a complete waste of system resources.

To stop the fake Walmart popups and many ads in general, all you need to do is install an ad blocker. There are several good, free ones in the App Store. I use Ka-Block!, but it's up to you which one you want to try.

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Answer 4

Dec 25, 2019 7:37 AM in response to Robotrenegade

Kurt, You offered some good advice about the adblockers. I decided to try Adguard. It seems to improve the efficiency of this computer when I'm in Earthlink's Webmail system. I used to get some hesitation in Earthlink. The setting preferences for Adguard are not explained very clearly. But, so far, no more pop-up fake "Sarari" Opinion Surverys , which is excellent! I do feel that system checks by Avast or other similar malware programs are still useful for periodic checking and cleaning. No one can be 100% from preventing malware from showing up. Thank you, again, for your advice and time!

David

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Answer 5

Kurt Lang

Level 9

58,518 points

Dec 25, 2019 7:49 AM in response to Robotrenegade

Avast is doing nothing for you. Literally. I've seen people here with up to four types of AV software all running at the same time, and their Macs were full of crap anyway because everything on there was a Trojan.

If you were to download such and install such junk as it found before, it won't notice it, or stop you from installing the malware or adware. It can't since there's no way to know if the software you're installing is good or bad until after it's already on the drive. Your Mac will run much better without such entirely useless software eating up system resources.

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Malwarebytes - not 100%!

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