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All replies
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Helpful answers
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Sep 5, 2014 10:32 PM in response to jesmircorby Kappy,Helpful Links Regarding Malware Problems
If you are having an immediate problem with ads popping up see The Safe Mac » Adware Removal Guide and The Safe Mac » Adware Removal Tool.
Open Safari, select Preferences from the Safari menu. Click on Extensions icon in the toolbar. Disable all Extensions. If this stops your problem, then re-enable them one by one until the problem returns. Now remove that extension as it is causing the problem.
An excellent link to read is Tom Reed's Mac Malware Guide.
Also, visit The XLab FAQs and read Detecting and avoiding malware and spyware.
See these Apple articles:
Mac OS X Snow Leopard and malware detection
OS X Lion- Protect your Mac from malware
OS X Mountain Lion- Protect your Mac from malware
OS X Mavericks- Protect your Mac from malware
If you require anti-virus protection Thomas Reed recommends using ClamXAV. (Thank you to Thomas Reed for this recommendation.)
From user Joe Bailey comes this equally useful advice:
The facts are:
1. There is no anti-malware software that can detect 100% of the malware out there.
2. There is no anti-malware that can detect everything targeting the Mac.
3. The very best way to prevent the most attacks is for you as the user to be aware that
the most successful malware attacks rely on very sophisticated social engineering
techniques preying on human avarice, ****, and fear.
4. Internet popups saying the FBI, NSA, Microsoft, your ISP has detected malware on
your computer is intended to entice you to install their malware thinking it is a
protection against malware.
5. Some of the anti-malware products on the market are worse than the malware
from which they purport to protect you.
6. Be cautious where you go on the internet.
7. Only download anything from sites you know are safe.
8. Avoid links you receive in email, always be suspicious even if you get something
you think is from a friend, but you were not expecting.
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Sep 6, 2014 12:28 AM in response to Kappyby MadMacs0,Kappy wrote:
From user Joe Bailey comes this equally useful advice:
Thanks for fixing
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Sep 6, 2014 12:38 AM in response to jesmircorby MadMacs0,jesmircor wrote:
I installed Skype and along with it, unknowingly, I also downloaded Trovi.
To understand why that happened and avoid it in the future read John Galt's How to install adware.
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Sep 6, 2014 10:32 AM in response to jesmircorby Linc Davis,You installed the "SearchProtect" browser hijack, perhaps under a different name. Remove it as follows.
Malware is constantly changing to get around the defenses against it. The instructions in this comment are valid as of now, as far as I know. They won't necessarily be valid in the future. Anyone finding this comment a few days or more after it was posted should look for more recent discussions or start a new one.
Back up all data before proceeding.
Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:
/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.perion.searchprotectd.plist
Right-click or control-click the line and select
Services ▹ Reveal in Finder (or just Reveal)
from the contextual menu.* A folder should open with an item named "com.perion.searchprotectd.plist" selected. Drag the selected item to the Trash. You may be prompted for your administrator login password.
Restart the computer and empty the Trash. Then delete the following items in the same way:
/Applications/SearchProtect
~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/searchplugins/MyBrand.xml
~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/External Extensions/fjadmdmahkpbhgbmmkiiaanlnlekelmn.json
~/Library/Application Support/Mozilla/Extensions/{ec8030f7-c20a-464f-9b0e-13a3a9e97384}/deacruzemiliano@outlook.com
~/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/TroviNPAPIPlugin.plugin
~/TroviSome of these items may be absent, in which case you'll get a message that the file can't be found. Skip that item and go on to the next one.
Quit and relaunch Safari. From the menu bar, select
Safari ▹ Preferences... ▹ Extensions
Uninstall any extensions you don't know you need, including any that have the word "Trovi" or "palmall" in the description. If in doubt, uninstall all extensions.
Reset the default search engine and home page to what it was before.
"SearchProtect" may be distributed along with two other applications: "MacKeeper," which is a scam, and "ZipCloud," which, if not actually a scam, has a dubious reputation. Ask if you need instructions to remove those items.
*If you don't see the contextual menu item, copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. In the Finder, select
Go ▹ Go to Folder...
from the menu bar and paste into the box that opens by pressing command-V. You won't see what you pasted because a line break is included. Press return.