Hot to remove Etrecheck

Your desire to remove the application is understood. However, for the record, there is nothing nefarious about Etrecheck. It is a useful utility authored by a respected member of these Communities and is used widely. Here is more information about Etrecheck from the author himself: Using EtreCheck - Apple Community

It is not comparable to AVG or similar anti-virus applications. It is a diagnostic reporting tool for your own use and does not purport to "fix" anything. No purchase is required to use Etrecheck and the only "paid version" is the Power User package that adds more functionality to an already very useful, free tool.

Where did you even get the idea it was something bad?

EtreCheck doesn't install anything to the Mac. It may store some configuration settings, but every app you use on the Mac does this. And, just about every app will have temp & cache files which is also perfectly normal....these items should be deleted automatically by the app when closed, but they may also be deleted from the system after a reboot (Safe Mode does clean a lot of stuff out beyond a normal reboot).

Usually there is no way to know what files an app will put on your system beyond a preference file and temp & cache files. Generally speaking, if an app runs an installer to "install" the app, then that app is most likely placing multiple files onto the system....with these apps, you need to follow the developer's instructions for uninstalling the app...usually by using the developer's uninstaller application which may be included with the original installer app...just run it again to get an uninstall option, or there may be an "uninstall" option on one of the app's menus, or the uninstaller may be included in the app's folder/application bundle within the Applications folder, while other times the developer may have a separate dedicated uninstaller app that must be downloaded from the developer, or in rare cases the developer may have instructions to manually remove the various app files.

As far as third party apps go, the developer of EtreCheck has provided very clear & detailed information on the app and the files it uses and how to remove the EtreCheck app from the computer. It is rare to see such easy to find & detailed information.

Usually apps which you drag & drop into the Applications folder to install won't have any other files to worry about except for the previously mentioned preference file, temp & cache files that most apps will have. A more nefarious app may place other files across your user account, but would be unable to place them into system areas without the user providing an admin password when running the app.

I think the biggest warning anout removal Apps re ones that think they\re smart enough run in the background to automatically clean up whatever they feel needs cleaning.

I'm certain it is a clean application, besides checking it by other means which agree with the report on it self...

Anything trying to install on my Mac or send data out has to jump through enough hoops that I feel at ease.

From the etrecheck website:

Uninstall:

To uninstall EtreCheckPro, just drag it to the Trash.

EtreCheckPro saves all generated reports automatically. To delete these, select Previous reports from the File menu. This will open a Finder window showing all previous reports. Drag these files to the Trash to clear this history. If you have purchased the Power User package, EtreCheckPro will save your activation code in your Login Keychain under com.etresoft.EtreCheckPro. Any other files associated with EtreCheckPro will have been created by the operating system itself and should not be deleted.

https://www.etrecheck.com/en/details.html

Interesting! Thank you.

How much would it matter if one selects all of the tick-boxes listed and then remove all of the items?

I ask because it says here "Any other files associated with EtreCheckPro will have been created by the operating system itself and should not be deleted."

Would such action damage the operating system in any way?

Thanks.

Scare tactic. Of course Macs aren't entirely immune. No OS is. The entire purpose of that message is to try and make sure you keep wasting your money on completely useless software.

There are no Mac viruses (self-replicating malware). None. Period. There are plenty of Trojans (malware the user installs in some manner). These are ransomware, back doors, key loggers, adware, and anything else that can't get on your Mac unless you put it there. Or, someone else with direct access to your Mac does.

But, it's also much harder for malware to do much to a Mac. At least to the OS itself. The OS is on a sealed, read-only part of the drive. No third party can change one byte of the OS, or any other components the OS installed. Including all apps that come with macOS. Only Apple has the ability to update or upgrade the OS.

What does that leave? You can still really botch your own user account by installing malware. The problem is, AV software has no viruses to look for, and Trojans go right past them since they can't know what you're going to install or run until after the fact. And even then, they rarely let the user know they installed malware.

It's why almost all experienced users here will tell you to never install AV software, cleaning/optimizing apps, or other such junk. We do recommend EtreCheck because it's non-invasive. It's main and original purpose is to put together a snapshot of your system to make diagnosis here easier. You'll also commonly see links to MalwareBytes for Mac. This isn't typical AV software. Its main purpose is to locate and remove malware you've already installed, not prevent it.

Thank you for providing your opinion, Kurt Lang. It is very much appreciated.

Tell me though, how would you recognise that you had inadvertently installed some malware if it was so well hidden that you didn't actually notice any drop-off in the performance of your computer. Surely, with no third-party software (AV) to warn you, might you not be spreading infection to others without ever realising?

Do you, perhaps, as a matter of course, run Malwarebytes on a regular basis?

Thanks.

It can be very difficult to tell if you've installed malware. The crook's entire goal is to make sure you don't know it's there. Well, unless it's something like ransomware. Then it's "in your face" notices they've encrypted your data and to pay some ransom to get an unlock key. And by the way, NEVER pay if you see that. Often, these keys don't work. Either because they didn't test that it would, or never intended to provide a working key. That, and they often ask for more money. Which they'll keep doing for as often as you believe you'll eventually get a decryption key.

No, I don't run MalwareBytes on a regular basis because I never get my software from skanky sources. Legitimate paid, demo or free software, only. I do run it from time to time (like maybe twice a year) just so I'm familiar with how to describe to users here how to install and run it since it changes every now and then.

Since there are no viruses, you can't unknowingly spread anything to another user. At least, not very easily. You can install malware unknowingly. That's really how most of gets on a Mac in the first place. Adware is the least dangerous and comes mostly from aggregate software places like downloads.com. It's all legal freeware, shareware and commercial demo software you can download. But it also randomly includes adware which gets installed along with the software you wanted to try. I do look at such sites when I'm trying to find a particular type of software. But, I never download it from them. I look for the developer's site and get it directly there.

How to avoid the really nasty stuff like ransomware and key loggers? It's actually simple. Never, never, ever download anything from P2P, file sharing and pirate sites. Crooks intentionally add malware to installers of expensive cracked titles such as Photoshop, Mathematica and others. Then they just sit back and wait for victims to download and install it. When you provide your admin password for such an install (any install that requires your password, actually), the OS doesn't need to ask you again for something you weren't expecting to be part of that installer package.

I find no fault with what you say, Kurt Lang! 🙂

I've read elsewhere that when one updates to a new Version of macOS Apple magically wipes away any 'bad stuff' from a computer so that all Apple computers are back on a level playing field, as it were. I'm very much hoping that this is true so that there is never a need to run any kind of AV software.

Thank you for passing on your words of wisdom!

I've read elsewhere that when one updates to a new Version of macOS Apple magically wipes away any 'bad stuff' from a computer so that all Apple computers are back on a level playing field, as it were.

That's only true if you completely erase the drive before installing the new OS. If you install over the existing OS, any existing malware will still be there.

Really? Now that is a surprise!

My friend and I discussed a while ago about malware possibly lying dormant 'in the cloud' when one completely erases the hard drive, ready to 'pop back' into play when a clean machine was back in service.

Similarly, if malware has been saved on a Time Machine back-up, it would also be brought back into play if one migrates date from a TM back-up onto a clean machine.

How sure are you about re-installing macOS?

Yes, on both of the former.

If malware of some kind has been backed up to your iCloud storage space, it will be reinstalled after wiping the drive. That's the point of iCloud. Sync the new data on your Mac to the cloud, or from the cloud to the Mac if what's in your iCloud space isn't on the Mac.

Time Machine is more obvious. It backs up everything so the Mac can be restored exactly back to the way it was. Or, from an earlier point if you wish. Malware that gets backed up to the TM drive quite naturally also gets restored.

Very sure. Reinstalling the OS does just that. It replaces all of the OS components with fresh copies. It does nothing to the user account(s). Since within the user account is where almost all Mac malware resides, it will still be there after reinstalling the OS. Any malware that was installed with an admin password okay can also drop items into the root Library folder. But again, it will still be there afterwards. Apple isn't going to try and keep track of thousands, or millions of possible files that may be malware related so it can clean up for you during an OS reinstallation.

These are the files & locations for the Pro version besides the Application itself...

I used this to easily list the files...

https://nektony.com/mac-app-cleaner

Apple has its own in-built safety mechanisms but they are unlikely to be completely foolproof!

Here's a warning from a well known security company:-