Zeobit Mackeeper Vsearch Pop Up Browser Hijack

Anytime I get an offer for something that's free I ask myself Why??

In Thomas' case the 'why' is because he is passionate about all things Mac, and he wants to protect the Mac environment, and it's users - from the under belly of this world. He does a great job of it, and asks nothing in return. I applaud him.

I also applaud your philosophy of not trusting anything until it's proven it's worth. Good on you! And keep asking "why"!

Thanks. This did the trick. I am new to Mac so it took while, but all is well now.

Thanks again.

Yup. It worked. Thanks!

Thank you so much!!! This fix worked or me and solved the Vsearch issue. The creaters of that malware should rot in ****!!!!!

It worked!!!!!!

Now I have access to my browser again. Only found Vsearch file names, not the others you mentioned. Easy find was a nice suggestion.

I also downloaded ClamXav which had also detected it.

Thank you!

Your solution appears to have worked fine for me - MANY THANKS !!

For years I thought Mackeeper would help. I didn't have much trouble until today when got infected by so much ad malware. I renewed my Mackeeper account and problem remained. Then I found this article, got easyfind, cleared out all zeobit, mackeeper, and pvsearch files and my Mac is now running better than I can remember.

Of course, I've also written a message to contact@detoxmymac.com:

"In reference to https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6513611 I've realized that Mackeeper is part of the problem I've had all along thinking your product was helping me. I can't believe that after I just cleaned out and destroyed all Mackeeper files my Mac now runs and displays my typing REAL TIME - you're product was ruining my Mac's performance and my time and productivity.

I demand a refund for orders: CP2XVE74 and BL5LQYWE. I will dispute if necessary. I have posted this testimony at the link I've provided."

vrwired wrote:

For years I thought Mackeeper would help. I didn't have much trouble until today when got infected by so much ad malware. I renewed my Mackeeper account and problem remained. Then I found this article, got easyfind, cleared out all zeobit, mackeeper, and pvsearch files and my Mac is now running better than I can remember.

Mackeeper has absolutely nothing to do with malware and vsearch. We have carefully examined the case described in this thread. Mackeeper application (as many others) uses Safari's engine. Most likely the reason for this are third-party browser toolbars which are in come cases not authorized and contain adware (most people are not even aware of such installs).

Of course, I've also written a message to ******

"In reference to https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6513611 I've realized that Mackeeper is part of the problem I've had all along thinking your product was helping me. I can't believe that after I just cleaned out and destroyed all Mackeeper files my Mac now runs and displays my typing REAL TIME - you're product was ruining my Mac's performance and my time and productivity.

I demand a refund for orders: CP2XVE74 and BL5LQYWE. I will dispute if necessary. I have posted this testimony at the link I've provided."

Why have you sent this message to Detoxmymac instead of solving this issue directly with dedicated Mackeeper support personnel or contacting ******? This statement is based on pure assumptions and false claims. Please contact me immediately using this email in order to solve this problem and discontinue this conduct.

<Edited by Host>

Thanks for taking time for your post.

I Did get the easy find app, but after finding the files, I was not able to delete them. It just doos not delete.

Very frustrating. Can anyone help?

mailhelp wrote:

I Did get the easy find app, but after finding the files, I was not able to delete them. It just doos not delete.

You must be logged in to an admin account in order to remove the files. And you won't be able to empty the trash until you reboot.

The fastest, most effective way to identify and optionally remove all currently known adware is by using AdwareMedic, developed by thomas_r. this Forum's malware guru, owner of TheSafeMac and a colleague of mine.

If it turns out to be the Downlite adware, then they have managed to block your access to that site and you will need to use an alternate technique as described in About the Downlite adware.

tandrewsdds wrote:

I'm sorry that some of you got the impression that I didn't trust Thomas or his site. What I was stating earlier on in this thread was the fact that for people who don't know a lot about these things it's hard to tell who to trust and who not to trust.

I didn't see this back when it was active - at that time, I was working frantically on AdwareMedic and spending no time here. Hopefully you'll still see my response here, but if not, perhaps my response can clarify something for others who may be thinking the same things.

I just wanted to chime in and say you're absolutely right! Trust is a difficult thing to achieve online, and it absolutely should not be given away. It must be earned. I'm very thankful for all the folks who have posted in support of me, but if it weren't for them, I'd just be another anonymous stranger online. It's for this reason that I also provide manual removal instructions. Those can be used to remove everything that my software would remove.

Of course, there are other sites that provide manual removal instructions in conjunction with some kind of scam removal software. This is mostly in the Windows world, as I'm not actually aware of any other full-fledged adware removal programs for the Mac. But, it certainly does make things difficult in this arena. Thus the importance of checking out your source thoroughly before downloading anything.

Anytime I get an offer for something that's free I ask myself Why??

[...]

That's really why Thomas should be charging something for his work even if it's nominal like $5 bucks.

Well, you make some good points there. However, to me, it's important to keep it free so that everyone can use it. I have provided assistance to people here since 2006. I started The Safe Mac about a year ago with the same philosophy, after running the blog from my personal domain for several years before that. Keeping Mac users safe from malware, adware and other security issues is important to me. Unfortunately, without some form of payments, I was going to have to seriously scale back on that less than a year from now, for financial reasons. Thus the donations.

There are problems with keeping it freeware or "donationware", but there are also problems with charging for things. If I charge for adware removal, for example, I could easily come off like the MacKeeper folks, who show you all kinds of scary "problems" with your Mac and then make you buy the software to fix those problems. In addition, charging for the software can cause folks to question my motivations. Even with the "donationware" model, I've had a couple long-time participants here question my motivations and accuse me of profiting from other people's misfortunes. Imagine how that perception would expand if I required people to pay to remove the adware!

Long story short, I know that I undoubtedly could charge for the software, but keeping it free is important to me for a variety of reasons, and I feel it's the best option.

My point about getting things from the App store [...]

I agree with you, I'd like for my software to be available in the App Store. Unfortunately, the old Adware Removal Tool that you were referring to and my current AdwareMedic app simply cannot be in the App Store. Due to sandboxing restrictions imposed on App Store apps, these programs simply would not have been able to do their jobs. They need to be able to look in - and remove files from - dark corners of the system where App Store apps are not allowed to go.

I had this exact nasty problem that i stupidly downloaded on thanksgiving. I followed these directions to a t, and it worked. thanks a bunch.

Thank you so much, this help me to solve the problem!