I received a pop-up on "Pipidae" and wanted me to trash it, what is this?
Here is the screenshot:
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
MacBook Air 13″, macOS 11.7
mrynvilb, please follow the instructions below.
First, ensure you have a reliable backup of your Mac, in case something should go wrong with continued troubleshooting. To learn how to do that, please read Back up your Mac with Time Machine.
Next: This step will prevent the scam products from loading so that they can be removed while they are inactive. Restart in "Safe Mode", and log in: How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support. Starting in Safe Mode takes longer than usual so let it finish. The rogue processes affecting that Mac are inoperative in "Safe Mode".
The following files and / or folders need to be deleted while using your Mac in "Safe Mode":
First screenshot:
Second screenshot:
Third screenshot:
Drag those selections of files to the Trash. You may be asked to authenticate. Confirm they are no longer present in that folder. Leave all the others alone for now. Please read my comments regarding "CleanMyMac" later.
Next: open Safari and select the Safari menu > Preferences (or Settings) > Extensions. If you see any Safari Extensions that you do not recognize or understand, simply click the Uninstall button and they will be gone. No Safari Extensions are required for normal operation. Then, select the General pane and review your Homepage selection. Then, select the Search pane and confirm your desired Search Engine. Repeat those equivalent actions for any other browser you may use (Brave, Firefox, or Opera for example).
There may also be adware-associated app icons in your Mac's Applications folder. Open it and examine its contents. Any unwanted or mysterious app icons should be obvious to you, but again please don't remove anything if you are uncertain—ask first. Identify any suspicious apps by name, or post another screenshot.
Next: In an abundance of caution, examine System Preferences (or Settings) > Extensions. Determine if there are any System Extensions that may have been installed without your knowledge. Ask if you're uncertain.
Remaining in System Preferences, check for the presence of any Profiles. Profiles are installed by organizations with a need to manage Macs deployed in institutional corporate or educational environments (for example), but have also been exploited by adware creators and similar malcontents. If any Profiles are installed on your Mac an icon like this will appear in System Preferences:
If you see that icon in System Preferences, select it. To remove a Profile, select it, then click the [—] (minus) button and authenticate.
Remaining in System Preferences, open Users & Groups. Select your User Account's Login Items. You may or may not find those Applications in its list. If you do, select them then click the [—] (minus) button to remove them from Login Items.
You can then restart your Mac and log in as usual. Evaluate its operation and ensure everything is working as you expect it should.
Next: "CleanMyMac" is garbage that should never be installed on any Mac. To uninstall it, follow its uninstallation instructions. As far as I have been able to determine they are sufficient to deactivate the program itself, but are somewhat incomplete in that some of its components will remain. After uninstalling it please review each of the folders you posted in your screenshots, and manually drag any remaining "CleanMyMac" components to the Trash.
Next: if you want to eradicate all remaining adware remnants post a screenshot of the following folder, in the same manner as you did earlier:
~/Library/Application Support
It is normal for that folder to contain many items, but anything associated with the above adware may contain identical names. If you find a folder or folders bearing those names, drag those folders to the Trash. Without the files you already removed or the reintroduction of similar malware, they can do nothing but occupy space. These can be removed if you wish, but again don't remove anything if you are uncertain.
Finally: If any of the above actions result in abnormal operation or if something else stops working, the easiest way to recover would be to restore the Time Machine backup you created as a prerequisite, so the importance of that fundamental step cannot be overemphasized.
Ok, if it is not a virus, what is it then? I need to know so as not to fall for this "trick" again. I will look up your instructions and see if I can fix it. Thank you in advance for your willingness to help me. It truly means the world to me as technology is not my forte.
In the interest of addressing this "Pipidae" annoyance I broke with tradition (such as it is) by addressing nearly every reply in this unwieldy Discussion — or attempted to. When people pile on with "me too" responses, individual replies rapidly become difficult to find, and detract from the original post.
If I missed anyone, I encourage you to please post a brand new question with your screenshots. To do that click the Ask the Community link at the top of these pages.
If you are unable to find the reply to your question buried in this multi-page Discussion, most likely I won't be able to either. It is my sincere interest that every Mac user gets the personal attention they deserve. Notwithstanding the fact the exact same dialog appears as a result, its causes are manifold. The replies herein illustrate that fact, making it abundantly clear.
Click the Ask the Community link at the top of this page, and your question will be answered. That's how this site works best.
hitham272 wrote:
i searched up all 3 files, here are the screenshots. Are these the ones you want?
Yes, but I already provided instructions for you here. Click that link. It will take you directly to the answer addressed specifically to you. If you are unable to find it, or if the instructions tailored specifically for your needs did not work, then please post a brand new question with your screenshots. To do that click the Ask the Community link at the top of these pages.
If you are unable to find the reply to your question buried in this multi-page Discussion, most likely I won't be able to either. It is my sincere interest that every Mac user gets the personal attention they deserve. Notwithstanding the fact the exact same dialog appears as a result, its causes are manifold. The replies herein illustrate that fact, making it abundantly clear.
Click the Ask the Community link at the top of this page, and your question will be answered. That's how this site works best.
John, I truly appreciate your help; I hope that you do not get me wrong. I truly do. So, I want to do the back up obviously and I do not want to lose all the information I have. However, I will attach an image so that you understand what I mean on not having space on my memory. I was asking about suggestions because I am not an expert on Mac and do not know what options I have available to fix this issue. Hopefully, you can help me figure it out. What are the odds of me losing my information if I do not do a backup?
If you don't know what this is from, it loks suspicious...
Olenellus, genus of trilobites (extinct arthropods) common in but restricted to Early Cambrian rocks (542 million to 521 million years ago).
com.eyewitness.plist appears to do with iOS...
https://github.com/eye-witness/iOS-App
com.he00a.plist is unknown & sounds suspicious.
Is anyone else having random restarts now that this Pipidae thing has popped up? I’m following the screenshots posted here to delete them from my own computer, but it hasn’t stopped the random crashing.
cheepyface wrote:
Is anyone else having random restarts now that this Pipidae thing has popped up? I’m following the screenshots posted here to delete them from my own computer, but it hasn’t stopped the random crashing.
You have to post your own screenshots. No one's Mac will have the same contents as the others.
Better yet, post your own question. This Discussion has become overwhelmed with "me too" replies. It will be difficult to impossible for others to help you.
Hi John! If I do not do a backup, am I going to lose all my files trying to delete this pipidae thing? What are the odds? I do not own an external hard drive to follow the steps. Do I need one or do I have other options? Can you help me remotely? I am willing to connect in zoom or anything else; I truly need help :')
Hy guys!!
Has anyone managed to delete the virus?
Apple, what are you doing?
Help us delete it or give us a trick to stop these viruses.
I haven't downloaded anything on my laptop for a few days and after I opened the laptop I received the virus, it was probably planted for a longer time.
Same issue here
I tend to keep my Mac as clean as I can, so maybe I could spot the files to delete by myself (com.ryderd.plist, com.laser, com.trip, and com.nbp for sure), but I have some doubt about com.immemorially.plist, so can you help me? Here are my three screenshots.
Notes: I read what you wrote about Avast being remnants of an antivirus in some answer above, but I don’t have Avast installed on my Mac! I may have installed some demo version some year ago, then uninstalled, and those files have, for some reason, remained. I don’t know. The question is: can I delete them, or should I keep them there?
Thank you for the review. Yes, I am aware that I have a remote monitoring software installed by my IT consultant. I will pass along the message and the screen shots so he can coordinate. I'll be back if I can't get it resolved.
Hi John,
I've been following your advice, thank you. I wasn't able to identify anything in the folders that looked suspicious (I'll post the contents below), so I decided to try following the advice of ninasz in this post:
I couldn't follow those instructions exactly, but I did locate some files that included bash in the name and seemed a bit suspicious, so I just deleted them. At any rate, here are the folders before I followed the advice above:
And here are my folders now:
I'm a bit concerned that I may have deleted things I shouldn't have. I haven't seen the popup again, so I'm hoping all is okay. If you have any thoughts, I'd appreciate it.
Thanks again for your participation in these discussions!
Heather
Thank you again. I went through everything you have listed and haven't had an issue since.
Below are screenshots of ~/Library/Application Support
The only folder I removed prior to taking the screenshot was labeled with "Hatchway".
Guys, can someone help me? I am freaking out. The pipidae message has now changed to the following:
Which steps do I need to follow to fix this? Can you guys sent me a link to Amazon so that I can buy a compatible disk to do the backup? (If you can recommend me an inexpensive one just so that I can solve the problem, I would very much appreciate it). These are the specifications of my Mac:
I'm counting on you to help me guys :'( I have no one else that I can ask for help and I do not know what to do. Thank you so much in advance for all your help.
Anastasia_Nikolaevna as I have repeatedly asked you in the past, please post a brand new question.
Click the following link:
This Discussion is old. It was prematurely and incorrectly marked "Solved". It has subsequently become hopelessly convoluted with information not relevant to your concern. The likelihood of anyone replying directly to you with information that will actually help you (or anyone else) is commensurately slim.
Please post a brand new question. If you do that, you will not be ignored. Thanks!
What is this "Pipiade" pop up on my MacBook Air?
