My MacBook Pro '16, recently purchased 04/06/2020, inherited a nasty piece of malware (I think)
during my transfer of files from my 2011 MacBook Pro '17.
The symptoms include a persistent, repeating message:
""WebSearch Advice Daemon" will damage your computer.
This file was downloaded on an unknown date.
And now I cannot perform any functionality requiring server connections of any kind.
The new MacBook Pro has MacOS Catalina 10.15.4
MacBook Pro 16", macOS 10.15
If you suspect you have installed adware/malware:
Adware Removal Guide—Manual removal of : http://www.thesafemac.com/arg-identification/
or
Try running this trusted utility https://www.malwarebytes.com/mac/
also Verify you are not using SOCKS proxy:
>System Preferences>Networks>Advanced>Proxy uncheck the box
Adware/malware launch daemons can set SOCKS proxies without user participation.
(SOCKS is an Internet protocol that exchanges network packets between a client and server through a proxy server.)
If you suspect you have installed adware/malware:
Adware Removal Guide—Manual removal of : http://www.thesafemac.com/arg-identification/
or
Try running this trusted utility https://www.malwarebytes.com/mac/
also Verify you are not using SOCKS proxy:
>System Preferences>Networks>Advanced>Proxy uncheck the box
Adware/malware launch daemons can set SOCKS proxies without user participation.
(SOCKS is an Internet protocol that exchanges network packets between a client and server through a proxy server.)
It took me a while to get there, but yes, the combination of malwarebytes and the reference to the SOCKS proxies
definitely provided the solution. The debugging environment was the challenge. The symptoms were on my new MacBook Pro '16 after I migrated files from my 2011 MacBook Pro '17, which did not have the symptoms. The symptoms included the new MacBook Pro not being able to establish any connections to servers.
Clara from Apple Support demonstrated knowledge and patience as she used the older MacBook Pro to demonstrate the steps
for me to use on the newer MacBook Pro to get it connection-worthy. We were then use download and use malwarebytes
to identify, quarantine, and remove the suspect malware.
I did not read this leroydouglas posting until after Clara and I were done, but his references were right on.
//Mike
Websearch AdviceDaemon malware
