Malware Blocked Message Pop-up
About 2 hours ago my mac started getting a malware blocked message that kept popping up even after I click "done". More details are provided in the screenshots attached. Help would be very much appreciated.
About 2 hours ago my mac started getting a malware blocked message that kept popping up even after I click "done". More details are provided in the screenshots attached. Help would be very much appreciated.
After that, remove the garbage apps you have installed.
It's a known, massive resource hog. On top of that, from the moment you turn your Mac on to the time you turn it off, it is constantly sending anonymized data of your computer and web usage to Google's servers. Chrome doesn't even have to be running. The keystone agents (listed in your screen shots)…
/Library/LaunchDaemons/google.keystone.agent.plist
/Library/LaunchDaemons/google.keystone.xpcservice.plist
…do that by launching apps buried within the Chrome app, which load at startup. And then there's this.
We don't allow any software written by Google on our Macs. Not Chrome, Google Earth, or anything else. Google's real business is collecting marketing data. You are their unwilling and unpaid source for it when you use any of their junk. If Safari isn't a browser you care much for, try Firefox or Brave. If you have one, you do not need Chrome to access your Google/Gmail account. You can do that from any browser.
Brave in particular is an excellent replacement for Chrome. It’s built on the same open-source Chromium web code, but without any of Google Chrome’s intrusive data harvesting. What makes it a better alternative are dumb web sites (like some banks) which insist you use Chrome for access. In almost all cases, Brave also works.
And yet another reason to never allow any app written by Google on your computer.
Google told users that when using incognito/private mode, Chrome would not track your usage, or collect data. They lied. It did anyway. Google has now agreed to settle the 2020 lawsuit with a five billion dollar fine.
But even so, according to another article on the lawsuit, that 5 billion is still a drop in the bucket to what Google has made on the collected data.
Remove Chrome and its daemons. Never install it again.
After that, remove the garbage apps you have installed.
It's a known, massive resource hog. On top of that, from the moment you turn your Mac on to the time you turn it off, it is constantly sending anonymized data of your computer and web usage to Google's servers. Chrome doesn't even have to be running. The keystone agents (listed in your screen shots)…
/Library/LaunchDaemons/google.keystone.agent.plist
/Library/LaunchDaemons/google.keystone.xpcservice.plist
…do that by launching apps buried within the Chrome app, which load at startup. And then there's this.
We don't allow any software written by Google on our Macs. Not Chrome, Google Earth, or anything else. Google's real business is collecting marketing data. You are their unwilling and unpaid source for it when you use any of their junk. If Safari isn't a browser you care much for, try Firefox or Brave. If you have one, you do not need Chrome to access your Google/Gmail account. You can do that from any browser.
Brave in particular is an excellent replacement for Chrome. It’s built on the same open-source Chromium web code, but without any of Google Chrome’s intrusive data harvesting. What makes it a better alternative are dumb web sites (like some banks) which insist you use Chrome for access. In almost all cases, Brave also works.
And yet another reason to never allow any app written by Google on your computer.
Google told users that when using incognito/private mode, Chrome would not track your usage, or collect data. They lied. It did anyway. Google has now agreed to settle the 2020 lawsuit with a five billion dollar fine.
But even so, according to another article on the lawsuit, that 5 billion is still a drop in the bucket to what Google has made on the collected data.
Remove Chrome and its daemons. Never install it again.
It's likely that A site you visited might have added itself to notifications in Safari. If so, It's a scam.
Open Safari's settings. Click on the Websites tab. Scroll down on the left side and click on Notifications. Remove the offending entry or entries.
Make sure to first start up in Safe Mode, as noted by PRP_53, or the unwanted malware will likely just recreate the files you're going to remove.
Delete everything marked within the rectangles.
I would also recommend removing the 4 files that contain the word "ExploreAnalog". It is known Malware.
Good catch. I was checking the other non-obvious files, and missed those. It's likely responsible for most, or all of the long gobbledegook named files.
Good work there Kurt Lang and Mac Jim ID
Think OP is very well covered from all angles 😊
Thanks so much for all the replies guys, I really appreciate it. I will try all the instructions and get rid of the issue.
Malware Blocked Message Pop-up