Adwaremedic is it safe ?

why are there many hesitation on using the software when its given to you free.

Malware is free, too.

Malware is free, too.

Linc is quit correct, Malware is free, as is Adware Medic, Linc's advice is also free so what this means is unclear.

It's a mystery.

Linc Davis wrote:

Malware is free, too.

The implication, of course, being that AdwareMedic could be malicious. It is not.

Let's see what some other people are saying about AdwareMedic, including some who are definitively not strangers, such as Christopher Breen of MacWorld:

http://www.macworld.com/article/2861868/how-to-remove-mackeeper-part-ii-the-pop- up-edition.html

http://www.loopinsight.com/2015/04/13/remove-unwanted-adware-that-displays-pop-u p-ads-and-graphics-on-your-mac/

http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/os-x-removing-adware-with-adwaremedic

http://osxdaily.com/2015/01/29/scan-remove-adware-mac-os-x-adwaremedic/

http://www.cultofmac.com/309088/rid-mac-adware-flash/

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/52105/adwaremedic

(Fair disclosure: I am the developer of AdwareMedic.)

Linc Davis wrote:

why are there many hesitation on using the software when its given to you free.

Malware is free, too.

So is Yosemite. And Mavericks.

Pete

Let's see what some other people are saying about AdwareMedic

That's an impressive list of endorsements, Thomas. Congratulations. Let's see what some other people are saying about "CleanMyMac" and "MacKeeper" (both of which are scams):

http://www.macworld.com/article/2036159/review-cleanmymac-2-removes-unnecessary- files-to-free-up-storage-space.html

http://www.loopinsight.com/2010/07/14/review-mackeeper-system-utility/

http://www.loopinsight.com/2014/02/16/cleanmymac-2-3/

http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/tmos-editors-choice-awards-for-macworld-i world-2013

http://www.cultofmac.com/166469/mackeeper-is-911-for-your-mac-deals/

Touché.

Look, Linc, I'm tired of all this sparring. You are making all kinds of implications about AdwareMedic that I know to be false. Frustratingly, you have also admitted to not having tested AdwareMedic yourself. So, a challenge: test AdwareMedic yourself and find anything malicious about it. If you cannot, then I'll kindly ask you to refrain from comparing it to malware or implying that it may do anything malicious. (Not that I actually believe you'll take that challenge, of course. Then you might have to admit you were wrong.)

In other words: put up or shut up.

I've never said that "adwaremedic" is a scam. I don't know whether it is, nor do I care. It's ultimately just as harmful whether it's a scam or not. I have no reason to waste my time testing it, any more than I had a reason to test "Sophos" as you asked me to do back when you were telling people to use that (and accusing me of "badmouthing" the same anti-virus software that you now "badmouth" yourself.) I already know that I will never recommend adwaremedic to anyone, because even if it does everything you claim, and only that, it doesn't contribute anything to solving the malware problem, and in fact makes the problem worse.

Encouraging naive users to download an unknown application at the behest of a stranger, without researching it and without even backing up their data (which your followers have never advised, even once) merely deepens their vulnerability. Those users are at their most vulnerable precisely when they go looking for help with a malware infection. The proof of that can be found in a web search for help in removing Android or Windows malware. Even a search for "adwaremedic" turns up a hit on at least one malware site. The result will be that the Mac platform is turned into an open sewer of infection, just like Android and Windows. And the infections won't just be things like "VSearch" and "Genieo," but identity-theft trojans and botnet agents, which are the next logical step in the progression.

The only defense against malware is to empower users to understand what has happened to them at the file level and what they have to do to reverse it. If they find it onerous to delete a bunch of files, so much the better. They'll think twice before repeating the mistake. But if they think they'll always be rescued by adwaremedic or something like it (which they won't be), they'll blithely go on clicking anything that anyone tells them to.

Those who can't or won't make the effort must be advised to use App Store products only, or else to use a trustworthy support resource, which ASC certainly is not.

<Edited By Host>

There's so much wrong with that that I'm not going to try to address it all line-by-line. However, a few specifics...

First, the mention of my "followers" - the term you use to refer to many of the other high-level members of these forums who happen to think AdwareMedic is good - is extremely insulting. It is also very telling about your attitude. I'll leave it to the reader to decide if they want to pay attention to someone who believes that everyone who disagrees with him is stupid.

Second, I fully agree that empowerment of people (not "users") is important. That is why I have extensive documentation on my site, which is referred to by AdwareMedic, on how to avoid future infections. I don't believe, as you seem to, that an "empowered user" must know how to run shell commands in the Terminal or locate folders that Apple has intentionally made difficult to find. A person does not need to know how to do those things in order to learn how to protect themselves from malware and adware. People can both use AdwareMedic and become better informed... these two things are not mutually exclusive.

Finally, it should be noted that you recommend that people use a "trustworthy support resource." What qualifies as a trustworthy support resource, exactly? An Apple phone tech or Genius certainly should qualify. It should be noted that many of Apple's techs are currently recommending AdwareMedic to people having problems with adware. This is not simply anecdotal, as you have claimed in the past; there is more than adequate evidence of these recommendations in many posts on these forums and elsewhere.

I personally do not care whether any given individual uses AdwareMedic or some manual removal instructions. What I do care about is that every person having trouble with adware can find a solution that works for them, and that nobody is denied a solution simply because they have difficulty understanding, or are intimidated by, someone's instructions.

<Edited By Host>

[Edit - I notice the hosts removed an insulting word from Linc's post, as well as from my own. This is important to point out, as my first point makes no sense at all without the insulting term that originally preceded the word "followers". I will respect the wishes of the hosts by not repeating it again.]

It should be noted that many of Apple's techs are currently recommending AdwareMedic to people having problems with adware.

Let's assume that this is true. If it's corporate policy that "adwaremedic" is a valid remedy for adware infection, then that information should be on the support page dealing with adware (which it isn't.) If it's not corporate policy, then Apple representatives should not be improvising just to get rid of people quickly. Have they read the source code of adwaremedic? Have they done their own research to assess its safety and efficacy? If not, who has done that research?

Regardless, there's a big difference between doing something on the advice of an Apple representative, and doing it because your followers on this site advised it. On the one hand, Apple is responsible for the consequences; on the other, nobody is.

Linc Davis wrote:

Have they read the source code of adwaremedic? Have they done their own research to assess its safety and efficacy? If not, who has done that research?

Regardless, there's a big difference between doing something on the advice of an Apple representative, and doing it because your followers on this site advised it. On the one hand, Apple is responsible for the consequences; on the other, nobody is.

Who has done research to assess the safety and efficacy of your own 19,000+ character shell script that you frequently post? Nobody. Who is responsible for consequences if something goes wrong? Nobody, other than an anonymous stranger who may or may not be named "Linc Davis."

You frequently respond to such questions by saying that anyone can read your script (not really true) and that if there were something wrong with it, someone would have spotted it and reported it. Here's the problem with that last bit, though... you have posted your script here thousands of times. It has been revised quite a few times as well (nobody knows how many, since you don't publish release notes), so there are many different versions of it floating around out there. Further, each time you post it is an individual instance, not in any way related to any of the others. From a security standpoint, each one must be considered to be a separate variant of the script, with unknown differences from all others.(You could have avoided such problems if you had put your script in a User Tip on this site, to refer to when advising someone to run it, as I suggested to you a long time ago. There would be only one master script for people to examine, the changes to which could be monitored.)

Do you really expect anyone to believe that someone has done a security audit of each and every one of those thousands of different scripts? What assurance do we have that some of them don't include malicious code, targeting specific individuals and brilliantly hidden amongst countless other harmless variants of the script?

Why should the people here trust your script over my app?

OK, Thomas, let's pretend that your comment is both relevant and correct—neither of which it is. So my script is unsafe because you can't understand it, and nobody should run it. How does that make any difference to whether people should run "adwaremedic," or whether Apple reps should recommend it when it hasn't been tested by them, or by Apple? Or are you going to say that my script really is safe, so it's fine for people to run either it or adwaremedic, just because someone they don't know told them to? Or is it that my script is unsafe, but adwaremedic is safe, just because you say so?

Linc Davis wrote:

So my script is unsafe because you can't understand it

No, that's not what I said. Just as you have never tested AdwareMedic, I have never expended the necessary time and energy to decipher your script.

How does that make any difference to whether people should run "adwaremedic," or whether Apple reps should recommend it when it hasn't been tested by them, or by Apple?

It doesn't, but you're the one who brought up the question of whether anyone had reviewed the source code, or had done research to determine its safety. I'm merely pointing out that you're constantly running around posting a script that is similarly unreviewed, yet somehow, because that is yours, it's okay. Your arguments are consistently inconsistent.

Or are you going to say that my script really is safe, so it's fine for people to run either it or adwaremedic, just because someone they don't know told them to?

That wouldn't make any sense, now would it? I'm saying that people should exercise exactly the same caution with regard to your script as they should with running something like AdwareMedic. Caution is good. There's a big difference between telling people to exercise caution as general rule, however, and saying that people should not use a particular app for which there is absolutely no evidence of problems, or calling people who recommend such an app "ignoramuses."

Or is it that my script is unsafe, but adwaremedic is safe, just because you say so?

Again, what sense does that make?

It depends on the pop ups. If you have MacKeeper, then its telling you to use it because you have issues with your Mac, and need to do a system's sweep.

If you want to block pop ups other then that the solution is in the setting for your Safari program, you musta accidentally switched on the ability to get pop ups. Just go through preferences in Safari.

Escuse the last poster. You will see their maturity level here from when they joined today before deciding to troll every thread they could with misinformation.

iPhoto to Photo > The journey ...

Pete

EveryUserName HasBeenTaken wrote:

If you have MacKeeper, then its telling you to use it because you have issues with your Mac, and need to do a system's sweep.

If you have MacKeeper, then you need to remove it ASAP, since it's junk software by an unethical developer, and is a borderline scam.