What is Genieo and why did it appeared misteriosouly on my MacBook Pro?

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Thomas should be waking up shortly and I suggest you wait before doing anything in case you have some new variety of Genieo (Installmac). Although there are several Chrome adware extensions, I was under the impression the none of them were from Genieo. The Safari extension was Omnibar.

You can find the manual removal instructions at Examine Browser Extensions but for now select "Extensions" from the Google Chrome Window menu and list all the extensions you find back here.

debrajaded wrote:

Thomas, your Software removed Intallmac from Safari but not from Google. I've tried everything. Any advice? P.S. Thanks for the removal on Safari, though.

If the problem in Google Chrome is that it is still loading a Genieo or Bing page when Chrome opens, note that the removal tool should have informed you that it cannot reset the home page in Chrome or Firefox, and instructed you to do so manually. If you didn't see that, please let me know, as that should show any time any components of Genieo are removed. In any case, if you have not done so yet, do that now.

If that's not the problem, please let me know what you're still seeing.

Thanks, Thomas. Actually, I trashed Google Chrome in order to avoid any other problems. What I saw when opening Google was an INSTALLMAC page, with the word in the upper right corner. Resetting the homepage did not help.

Thank you SOOO much! This application downloaded itself while I was downloading another app, and I couldn't figure out how to delete it. Every time I tried it wouldn't let me becasue it said the program was running, but whenever I checked, all applications were closed, and I wasn't sure what to do, but I did what you said and I have just now quit the program and deleted it permanetly! Thank you soooo much! I really appreciate it!!! 🙂

I got it too. It was bundled to the video swiss army knife VLC (which I needed because Quicktime wouldn't play a specific video).

VLC is something I've used for years on various machines, but this is a new MBP so I needed to download the program. The first link on this morning's google search for VLC is the following:

http://vlc-media-player.macsoftware.com/download/file/id/1225260/os/mac/?lp=adwo rds&tg=us&kw=Vlc+mac&mt=e&ad=52633284779&pl=&ds=s&uid=141130552978639fbbf0529ff9 e7dc7e9bf336214a&_ga=2127728944.1411301953&gclid=CLvi_OSy8sACFa5cMgodTT0AJQ

Check it out. There IS a mention of Geneio on that page, but if you don't look too closely, it's pretty easy to miss. I didn't see it and proceeded to download what I thought was just VLC. When my Safari home page was changed to Geneio, I pretty much freaked.

I've see the debate elsewhere as to weather or not this is malware, and by the letter of the definition, it might not be. But this practice is absolutely despicable. It makes me sick.

This Adware attack a and it happened to me a month or so ago with a VLC link. My Browsers were affected and I was helped by Thomas Reeds http://www.adwaremedic.com/index.php

I used this app and got rid of genio, superfish, googleapis and others Good Luck P.S. The LINK you supplied automatically will download VLC and Its attatchment if not deleted so thanks for the heads up Also another Genio removal link----http://www.thesafemac.com/arg-genieo/

Oh I am not excusing Genio, or the sites that take their money to 'bundle' Genio and similar products with otherwise good applications.

But It does mean that we have to be more careful what we say yes to unfortunately.

jaymefromsalt lake wrote:

Genieo is Malware, just as invasive as anything out there

Perhaps you can convince Apple Security that their Apple Developer ID should be revoked, then. Neither Thomas nor I have been able to so far.

Thomas, Symantec is really focusing on Genieo these days and they do label it as a "virus". The software does seem to be rather ubiquitous; I've seen it on a Macbook, an iMac and at least one Mac Pro. Are you still in favor of this stealth software?

My Symantec software identified Genieo as a Trojan Horse and as a virus. It picked up 15 files and actually quarantined Genieo. I would claim to be a pretty cautious Mac user and the thing about Genieo that ****** me off is that it seems to have come with something else e.g. it was carried inside some other "Trojan Horse". Genieo's website sounds like they're all about setting up useful and functional home pages. I'd just prefer to have some input before something gets added to my Mac. Even one of their graphics was id'd as suspicious - libimckit.dylib.png.

I'm not sure Genieo was actually running in any browser. I've actually asked a local eNewspaper if they include Genieo to beef up their ad revenue.

For now, I've fixed the problem with Symantec endpoint protection and will continue to be vigilant about what gets downloaded.

GGATCC wrote:

the thing about Genieo that ****** me off is that it seems to have come with something else e.g. it was carried inside some other "Trojan Horse"....I'd just prefer to have some input before something gets added to my Mac.

Sorry, I though you might have read through enough of this discussion or the John Galt paper to know that the majority of such infections come along with the installer for legitimate third party software from either C|Net's download[dot]com or Softpedia. During the installation process, one of the dialogs tells you in the fine print that Genieo will be installed unless you uncheck a box. There was at least one instance of a fake FlashPlayer installer that apparently did not give any warning and Genieo cancelled said that it cancelled it's relationship with that party. If you ever do discover the source of your infection and it did not give you the opportunity to opt-out, be sure to let somebody know.

GGATCC wrote:

Are you still in favor of this stealth software?

I've never been "in favor" of Genieo... I just wasn't ready to call it malware back in 2012, when this topic got started. At that time, Genieo was still fairly new and unknown. There was little sign at the time that it would become the problem that it is today.

Today, Genieo is one of the worst adware programs out there for the Mac, and arguably the most difficult to remove.

Thank you, I think we're getting down to the brass tacks in this thread. Symantec identified a whole series of files it considers suspicious. My tendency is to go surgically remove those files rather that go back to the source and download Genieo's own uninstaller. That sounds too much like the fox watching the hen house. And I don't have the chops to evaluate their download.

I also suspect Google + as the source of this type of thing. It is about as invasive as anything in terms of adware. Even if it's not malware, I can't say that I have any non malevolent feelings about it.

GGATCC wrote:

Thank you, I think we're getting down to the brass tacks in this thread.

This topic is 17 pages long [edit: make that 18 now, with the addition of this post], 15 posts per page... we're long past brass tacks at this point.

Genieo is well-known adware at this point, and removal is well-documented, with the steps required having been posted here many, many times. For one example, see:

http://www.thesafemac.com/arg-genieo/

(Fair disclosure: I may receive compensation from links to my site and software, in the form of buttons allowing for donations. Donations are not required to use my site or software.)

Symantec identified a whole series of files it considers suspicious.

Don't bother with Symantec. Their anti-virus software is well-known for its ability to bring a healthy Mac to its knees, and it only does a moderate job of detecting Mac malware. It won't do an adequate job of removing Genieo, either... I'm not aware of any anti-virus software that removes every component of Genieo reliably. Further, there are some components that, if removed improperly, will cause your computer to crash and be unable to start up again. Some anti-virus software has been known to fail to remove these files properly, causing exactly this disaster.