How to remove Adware?

I had similar problem. Downloaded Admedic and fixed problem in about 1 minute. Don't recommend "thesafemac" which is essentially adware. Be careful with downloading Admedic because adware companies have links on the page.

flipflopguy wrote:

Downloaded Admedic and fixed problem in about 1 minute. Don't recommend "thesafemac" which is essentially adware.

You are very much mistaken. The owner of TheSafeMac is thomas_r. the developer of AdMedic (now called AdwareMedic http://www.thesafemac.com/adwaremedic/) who has posted previously to this particular discussion and hundreds of others in this forum. He is the recognized malware guru here.

Be careful with downloading Admedic because adware companies have links on the page.

That may be true as we have already seen MacUpdate and Softpedia pick it up. If you find a link where the installer includes adware, please let thomas_r. know so that he can issue a cease and desist order to them. Best to only download it from TheSafeMac link I gave above or the AdwareMedic site.

flipflopguy wrote:

Don't recommend "thesafemac" which is essentially adware. Be careful with downloading Admedic because adware companies have links on the page.

Can you clarify why you believe that The Safe Mac is adware? The Safe Mac is a website, not a program, and I assure you (as the owner of that site) that there are no ads whatsoever on The Safe Mac, nor any adware being distributed there. If there is someone doing something unethical in the name of The Safe Mac, I want to hear about it so I can put an end to it!

As for AdwareMedic, there are absolutely no ads on the official AdwareMedic page (www.adwaremedic.com). There are ads on the MacUpdate and Softpedia pages for AdwareMedic, which I have no control over. Those ads include some for junk software, but none for adware to my knowledge. If you have seen AdwareMedic available for download somewhere else, with more dangerous ads on the page, please let me know where that is.

With the adware on infected computer and clicking on "thesafemac" website, user is directed to other adware sites attempting to sell software to clean mac of adware (not AdMedic). The problem is not be with "thesafemac" website but with adware infected computer. This is what happened on my daughter's computer when we tried to go to "thesafemac." AdMedic worked perfectly to delete adware.

flipflopguy wrote:

With the adware on infected computer and clicking on "thesafemac" website, user is directed to other adware sites attempting to sell software to clean mac of adware (not AdMedic).

Yes, of course, but it will do that for any site you try to go to. TheSafeMac site itself doesn't contain anything that would cause this to happen.

Ahh, I understand. You're right, that's not due to The Safe Mac, but is caused by the adware injecting ads into The Safe Mac pages. It's very easy to mistake the source of those ads as belonging to The Safe Mac, or whatever other site they may appear on.

If you ever see an ad on The Safe Mac, or on the AdwareMedic site, you should take that as an indication that you have adware installed, or have some other ad-related problem, such as a possible network compromise. There will NEVER be ads on either of those sites (I can say that definitively, as the owner of those sites), since ads would be counter to the mission of both sites.

I had the exact same problem that plagued Safari and Google Chrome for months. I was at my wits end trying to find the malicious code that was causing this. Some people were saying that it was code by rz.zeobit.com, but after finding all of that code and removing it, I still had the same problems.

Finally, I found a little piece Donationware called AdwareMedic. This little program worked like a charm for me. AdwareMedic will not install anything on your system. When it is opened, it will connect to adwaremedic.com to check for and/or download the latest adware "signatures" (a small text file that tells AdwareMedic how to identify adware components). AdwareMedic requires a Mac running Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) or later.

If this corrects your problem like it did mine, you should consider saying thanks with a donation.

Thank you! I had extra extensions that I did not authorize.

Linc Davis-

You rock. Thanks for posting this. Saved my (MBP) life.

Seriously, I have tried stuff from several posts. None worked.

This is gold.

Thanks again,

Removed

I seem to be having the same issue with ads everywhere (my kid tried to DL a MineCraft mod). However, the message I get when I reveal is this "The operation can’t be completed because the item can’t be found." So I wonder what else it could be...

cmturney wrote:

I seem to be having the same issue with ads everywhere (my kid tried to DL a MineCraft mod). However, the message I get when I reveal is this "The operation can’t be completed because the item can’t be found."

If it's just one or two files, that's OK because not all versions of Downlite (VSearch) install all of those files.

If none of them are found, then you probably have installed a different brand of adware. At last count there were over twenty and some with multiple versions.

AdwareMedic is a tool developed by one of this forum's foremost malware guru's and a colleague of mine. It's the safest, most effective way to identify all currently known adware and optionally offer to remove it for you or you can do so manually.

If for some reason you don't want to try that, post a screenshot of what you are seeing so that we can identify what you have and point you to a different set of manual removal instructions.

I got this printout from the terminal:

No root access

Boot Mode: Normal

Model: MacBook2,1

Total RAM (GB): 2

RAM details

BANK 0/DIMM0:

Size: 1 GB

Speed: 667 MHz

Status: OK

Manufacturer: 0x7F7F7F7FCB000000

BANK 1/DIMM1:

Size: 1 GB

Speed: 667 MHz

Status: OK

Manufacturer: 0x7F7F7F7FCB000000

System load advisory

combined level = Bad

- user level = OK

- battery level = Bad

- thermal level = Great

System diagnostics

2014-10-28 vnetd crash

2014-10-28 vnetd crash

2014-10-28 vnetd crash

2014-10-28 vnetd crash

2014-10-28 vnetd crash

2014-10-28 vnetd crash

2014-10-28 vnetd crash

2014-10-28 vnetd crash

2014-10-28 vnetd crash

2014-10-28 vnetd crash

User diagnostics

2014-10-26 plugin-container crash

Kernel messages

Fri Oct 24 kernel[0]: AppleSmartBatteryManager::setPowerState(0x4c77e00, 0 -> 1) timed out after 10123 ms

Total CPU usage: user 19%, system 8%

CPU usage by process "firefox" with UID 501: 47.6%

Extrinsic agents

edu.mit.Kerberos.KerberosAgent

com.zteevdo.UDiskService

com.spotify.webhelper

edu.mit.Kerberos.CCacheServer

launchd items

/Library/LaunchAgents/com.zteevdo.UDiskService.plist

(com.zteevdo.UDiskService)

/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.adobe.fpsaud.plist

(com.adobe.fpsaud)

/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.third_party_32b_kext_logger.plist

(com.apple.third_party_32b_kext_logger)

/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist

(com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper)

/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.voddler.vnetd.plist

(com.voddler.vnetd)

Library/LaunchAgents/com.spotify.webhelper.plist

(com.spotify.webhelper)

Extrinsic loadable bundles

/System/Library/Extensions/ModemDriverMac.kext

(com.ZTE.driver.ModemDriverMac)

/System/Library/Extensions/ssuddrv.kext

(com.devguru.driver.SamsungComposite)

/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin

(com.apple.java.JavaAppletPlugin)

/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/SharePointBrowserPlugin.plugin

(com.microsoft.sharepoint.browserplugin)

/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/SharePointWebKitPlugin.webplugin

(com.microsoft.sharepoint.webkitplugin)

/Library/Internet Plug-Ins (Disabled)/Flash Player.plugin

(com.macromedia.Flash Player.plugin)

/Library/PreferencePanes/Flash Player.prefPane

(com.adobe.flashplayerpreferences)

/Library/PreferencePanes/VoddlerNet.prefPane

(com.voddler.VoddlerNet)

Library/Address Book Plug-Ins/SkypeABDialer.bundle

(com.skype.skypeabdialer)

Library/Address Book Plug-Ins/SkypeABSMS.bundle

(com.skype.skypeabsms)

Library/Internet Plug-Ins/PersonalPlugin.bundle

(com.jattesaker.macid2.NPPlugin)

Library/Internet Plug-Ins/SkypeWebPlugin.bundle

(com.skype.webplugin.plugin)

User login items

iTunesHelper

Spotify

KiesAgent

fuspredownloader

Restricted user files: 43

Font problems: 20

Elapsed time (s): 1274

Not sure what to do with it, any help is welcome! My computer is very far from working properly!

Thanks!

datadavid wrote:

I got this printout from the terminal:

...

Not sure what to do with it, any help is welcome!

Nor do I.

Linc rarely responds to "me too" postings and probably isn't even monitoring this eight month old, way too long discussion. But you responded to thomas_r. who would never have recommended that you run that Terminal command since he is the author of AdwareMedic (and a colleague of mine), a safe effective tool for the removal of all currently known adware.

The subject here is "Adware" and I don't see any evidence in what you have given us that you have any, but even worse, there is a total lack of any explanation on what you are seeing, so I really don't see that we can be of any help to you.

With these old discussions, if you were unable to find anything that helped then you really need to post a new topic with a very detailed description of your any problems you are having along with screenshots of anything unusual you are seeing. Otherwise, most troubleshooters won't even know you posted here. Don't post any terminal outputs until asked. That's just the way this forum works best.

Thank you so much, i was so frustrated these three days wondering why ads keep on popping up and it's unbelievable annoying. Now solved....no more adwares....