my son inadvertently installed k9 optimizer, which is a virus. how do i remove

Try HELP: K9 Mac Optimizer?

Since the only place I was able to find to download it were all torrent sites, I would strongly recommend that they be avoid. So much of their downloads are just loaded with crap like that.

1. This procedure is a diagnostic test. It changes nothing, for better or worse, and therefore will not, in itself, solve the problem. But with the aid of the test results, the solution may take a few minutes, instead of hours or days.

Don't be put off by the complexity of these instructions. The process is much less complicated than the description. You do harder tasks with the computer all the time.

2. If you don't already have a current backup, back up all data before doing anything else. The backup is necessary on general principle, not because of anything in the test procedure. Backup is always a must, and when you're having any kind of trouble with the computer, you may be at higher than usual risk of losing data, whether you follow these instructions or not.

There are ways to back up a computer that isn't fully functional. Ask if you need guidance.

3. Below are instructions to run a UNIX shell script, a type of program. As I wrote above, it changes nothing. It doesn't send or receive any data on the network. All it does is to generate a human-readable report on the state of the computer. That report goes nowhere unless you choose to share it. If you prefer, you can act on it yourself without disclosing the contents to me or anyone else.

You should be wondering whether you can believe me, and whether it's safe to run a program at the behest of a stranger. In general, no, it's not safe and I don't encourage it.

In this case, however, there are a couple of ways for you to decide whether the program is safe without having to trust me. First, you can read it. Unlike an application that you download and click to run, it's transparent, so anyone with the necessary skill can verify what it does.

You may not be able to understand the script yourself. But variations of it have been posted on this website thousands of times over a period of years. The site is hosted by Apple, which does not allow it to be used to distribute harmful software. Any one of the millions of registered users could have read the script and raised the alarm if it was harmful. Then I would not be here now and you would not be reading this message.

Nevertheless, if you can't satisfy yourself that these instructions are safe, don't follow them. Ask for other options.

4. Here's a summary of what you need to do, if you choose to proceed:

☞ Copy a line of text in this window to the Clipboard.

☞ Paste into the window of another application.

☞ Wait for the test to run. It usually takes a few minutes.

☞ Paste the results, which will have been copied automatically, back into a reply on this page.

The sequence is: copy, paste, wait, paste again. You don't need to copy a second time. Details follow.

5. You may have started the computer in "safe" mode. Preferably, these steps should be taken in “normal” mode, under the conditions in which the problem is reproduced. If the system is now in safe mode and works well enough in normal mode to run the test, restart as usual. If you can only test in safe mode, do that.

6. If you have more than one user, and the one affected by the problem is not an administrator, then please run the test twice: once while logged in as the affected user, and once as an administrator. The results may be different. The user that is created automatically on a new computer when you start it for the first time is an administrator. If you can't log in as an administrator, test as the affected user. Most personal Macs have only one user, and in that case this section doesn’t apply. Don't log in as root.

7. The script is a single long line, all of which must be selected. You can accomplish this easily by triple-clicking anywhere in the line. The whole line will highlight, though you may not see all of it in the browser window, and you can then copy it. If you try to select the line by dragging across the part you can see, you won't get all of it.

Triple-click anywhere in the line of text below on this page to select it:

PATH=/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/libexec;clear;cd;p=(Software Hardware Memory Diagnostics Power FireWire Thunderbolt USB Bluetooth SerialATA Fonts 1000 25 5120 KiB/s 1024 85 \\b%% 20480 1 MB/s 25000 ports ' \*dropbox \*genieo\* \*GoogleDr\* \*k.AutoCAD\* \*k.Maya\* vidinst\* ' DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES\ DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH -86 "` route -n get default|awk '/e:/{print $2}' `" 25 N\\/A down up 102400 25600 recvfrom sendto CFBundleIdentifier 25 25 25 1000 MB 'com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0 com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0 com.adobe.AdobeCreativeCloud com.adobe.CS4ServiceManager com.adobe.CS5ServiceManager com.adobe.fpsaud com.adobe.SwitchBoard com.adobe.SwitchBoard com.apple.aelwriter com.apple.AirPortBaseStationAgent com.apple.FolderActions.enabled com.apple.installer.osmessagetracing com.apple.mrt.uiagent com.apple.ReportCrash.Self com.apple.rpmuxd com.apple.SafariNotificationAgent com.apple.usbmuxd com.citrixonline.GoToMeeting.G2MUpdate com.google.keystone.agent com.google.keystone.daemon com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool com.oracle.java.JavaUpdateHelper com.oracle.java.JavaUpdateHelper org.macosforge.xquartz.privileged_startx org.macosforge.xquartz.privileged_startx org.macosforge.xquartz.startx' '879294308 4071182229 461455494 3627668074 1083382502 1274181950 1855907737 2758863019 1848501757 464843899 3694147963 1233118628 2456546649 2806998573 2778718105 2636415542 842973933 2051385900 3301885676 891055588 998894468 695903914 1443423563 4136085286 523110921 2883943871 3873345487' 51 5120 files 4 );N5=${#p[@]};p[N5]=` networksetup -listnetworkserviceorder|awk ' NR>1 { sub(/^\([0-9]+\) /,"");n=$0;getline;} $NF=="'${p[26]}')" { sub(/.$/,"",$NF);print n;exit;} ' `;f=('\n%s: %s\n' '\n%s\n\n%s\n' '\nRAM details\n%s\n' %s\ %s '%s\n-\t%s\n' );S0() { echo ' { q=$NF+0;$NF="";u=$(NF-1);$(NF-1)="";gsub(/^ +| +$/,"");if(q>='${p[$1]}') printf("%s (UID %s) is using %s '${p[$2]}'",$0,u,q);} ';};s=(' s/[0-9A-Za-z._]+@[0-9A-Za-z.]+\.[0-9A-Za-z]{2,4}/EMAIL/g;/faceb/s/(at\.)[^.]+/\1NAME/g;/\/Shared/!s/(\/Users\/)[^ /]+/\1USER/g;s/[-0-9A-Fa-f]{22,}/UUID/g;' ' s/^ +//;/de: S|[nst]:/p;' ' {sub(/^ +/,"")};/er:/;/y:/&&$2<'${p[46]} ' 1s/://;3,6d;/[my].+:/d;s/^ {4}//;H;${ g;s/\n$//;/s: (E[^m]|[^EO])|x([^08]|02[^F]|8[^0])/p;} ' ' 5h;6{ H;g;/P/!p;} ' ' ($1~/^Cy/&&$3>'${p[11]}')||($1~/^Cond/&&$2!~/^N/) ' ' /:$/{ N;/:.+:/d;s/ *://;b0'$'\n'' };/^ *(V.+ [0N]|Man).+ /{ s/ 0x.... //;s/[()]//g;s/(.+: )(.+)/ (\2)/;H;};$b0'$'\n'' d;:0'$'\n'' x;s/\n\n//;/Apple[ ,]|Genesy|Intel|SMSC/d;s/\n.*//;/\)$/p;' ' s/^.*C/C/;H;${ g;/No th|pms/!p;} ' '/= [^GO]/p' '{$1=""};1' ' /Of/!{ s/^.+is |\.//g;p;} ' ' $0&&!/ / { n++;print;} END { if(n<10) print "com.apple.";} ' ' { sub(/ :/,"");print|"tail -n'${p[12]}'";} ' ' NR==2&&$4<='${p[13]}' { print $4;} ' ' END { $2/=256;if($2>='${p[15]}') print int($2) } ' ' NR!=13{next};{sub(/[+-]$/,"",$NF)};'"`S0 21 22`" 'NR!=2{next}'"`S0 37 17`" ' NR!=5||$8!~/[RW]/{next};{ $(NF-1)=$1;$NF=int($NF/10000000);for(i=1;i<=3;i++){$i="";$(NF-1-i)="";};};'"`S0 19 20`" 's:^:/:p' '/\.kext\/(Contents\/)?Info\.plist$/p' 's/^.{52}(.+) <.+/\1/p' ' /Launch[AD].+\.plist$/ { n++;print;} END { if(n<200) print "/System/";} ' '/\.xpc\/(Contents\/)?Info\.plist$/p' ' NR>1&&!/0x|\.[0-9]+$|com\.apple\.launchctl\.(Aqua|Background|System)$/ { print $3;} ' ' /\.(framew|lproj)|\):/d;/plist:|:.+(Mach|scrip)/s/:.+//p ' '/^root$/p' ' !/^\/[AD]|\/Contents\/.+\/Contents\//&&/\/(Lib|usr).+\/(.+\.framework|Contents|Info\.plist|Resources|Versions)$/ { n++;sub(/\/Info\.plist$/,"");sub(/\/(Content|Resource|Version)s(\/.+)?/,"");print|"sort|uniq";} END { if(n<1100) print "/System/";} ' '/\.dylib$/p' ' /Temp|emac/{next};/(etc|Preferences|Launch[AD].+)\// { sub(".(/private)?","");n++;print;} END { split("'"${p[41]}"'",b);split("'"${p[42]}"'",c);for(i in b) print b[i]".plist\t"c[i];if(n<500) print "Launch";} ' ' /^\/(Ap|Dev|Inc|Prev)/d;p;' 's/Pr.+n //p' ' { gsub("^| |\n","\\|\\|kMDItem'${p[35]}'=");sub("^...."," ") };1 ' p '{print $3"\t"$1}' 's/\'$'\t''.+//p' 's/1/On/p' '/Prox.+: [^0]/p' '$2>'${p[43]}'{$2=$2-1;print}' ' BEGIN { i="'${p[26]}'";M1='${p[16]}';M2='${p[18]}';M3='${p[31]}';M4='${p[32]}';} !/^A/{next};/%/ { getline;if($5<M1) a="user "$2"%, system "$4"%";} /disk0/&&$4>M2 { b=$3" ops/s, "$4" blocks/s";} $2==i { if(c) { d=$3+$4+$5+$6;next;};if($4>M3||$6>M4) c=int($4/1024)" in, "int($6/1024)" out";} END { if(a) print "CPU: "a;if(b) print "I/O: "b;if(c) print "Net: "c" (KiB/s)";if(d) print "Net errors: "d" packets/s";} ' ' /r\[0\] /&&$NF!~/^1(0|72\.(1[6-9]|2[0-9]|3[0-1])|92\.168)\./ { print $NF;exit;} ' ' !/^T/ { printf "(static)";exit;} ' '/apsd|BKAg|OpenD/!s/:.+//p' ' (/k:/&& $3!~/(255\.){3}0/)||(/v6:/&&$2!~/A/) ' ' $1~"lR"&&$2<='${p[25]}';$1~"li"&&$3!~"wpa2";' ' BEGIN { FS=":";p="uniq -c|sed -E '"'s/ +\\([0-9]+\\)\\(.+\\)/\\\2 x\\\1/;s/x1$//'"'";} { n=split($3,a,".");sub(/_2[01].+/,"",$3);print $2" "$3" "a[n]$1|p;b=b$1;} END { close(p);if(b) print("\n\t* Code injection");} ' ' NR!=4{next} {$NF/=10240} '"`S0 27 14`" ' END { if($3~/[0-9]/)print$3;} ' ' BEGIN { L='${p[36]}';} !/^[[:space:]]*(#.*)?$/ { l++;if(l<=L) f=f"\n "$0;} END { F=FILENAME;if(!F) exit;if(!f) f="\n [N/A]";"cksum "F|getline C;split(C, A);C="checksum "A[1];"file -b "F|getline T;if(T~/^Apple b/) { f="";l=0;while("PlistBuddy -c Print "F|getline g) { l++;if(l<=L) f=f"\n "g;};};if(T!~/^(AS.+ (En.+ )?text(, with v.+)?$|(Bo|PO).+ sh.+ text ex|XM)/) F=F" ("T", "C")";else F=F" ("C")";printf("\nContents of %s\n%s\n",F,f);if(l>L) printf("\n ...and %s more line(s)\n",l-L);} ' ' s/^ ?n...://p;s/^ ?p...:/-'$'\t''/p;' 's/0/Off/p' ' END{print NR} ' ' /id: N|te: Y/{i++} END{print i} ' ' / / { print "'"${p[28]}"'";exit;};1;' '/ en/!s/\.//p' ' NR!=13{next};{sub(/[+-M]$/,"",$NF)};'"`S0 39 40`" ' $10~/\(L/&&$9!~"localhost" { sub(/.+:/,"",$9);print $1": "$9|"sort|uniq";} ' '/^ +r/s/.+"(.+)".+/\1/p' 's/(.+\.wdgt)\/(Contents\/)?Info\.plist$/\1/p' 's/^.+\/(.+)\.wdgt$/\1/p' ' /l: /{ /DVD/d;s/.+: //;b0'$'\n'' };/s: /{ /V/d;s/^ */- /;H;};$b0'$'\n'' d;:0'$'\n'' x;/APPLE [^:]+$/d;p;' ' /^find: /d;p;' "`S0 44 45`" ' BEGIN{FS="= "} /Path/{print $2} ' ' /^ *$/d;s/^ */ /;' ' s/^.+ |\(.+\)$//g;p ' '/\.(appex|pluginkit)\/Contents\/Info\.plist$/p' ' /2/{print "WARN"};/4/{print "CRITICAL"};' ' /EVHF|MACR|^s/d;s/^.+: //p;' ' $3~/^[1-9][0-9]{0,2}(\.[1-9][0-9]{0,2}){2}$/ { i++;n=n"\n"$1"\t"$3;} END { if(i>1) print n;} ' ' s/:[^:]+$//;s/ +([0-9]+)(.+)/\2 x\1/p;' ' { gsub(/[()"]/,"",$3);if(!$3) $3="N/A";print $3;} ' ' /es: ./{ s/^.+://;b0'$'\n'' };/^ +C.+ted: +[NY]/H;/:$/b0'$'\n'' d;:0'$'\n'' x;/: +N/d;s/\n.+//p;' );c1=(system_profiler pmset\ -g nvram fdesetup find syslog df vm_stat sar ps crontab iotop top pkgutil 'PlistBuddy 2>&1 -c "Print' whoami cksum kextstat launchctl smcDiagnose sysctl\ -n defaults\ read stat lsbom 'mdfind -onlyin /' ' for i in ${p[24]};do ${c1[18]} ${c2[27]} $i;done;' pluginkit scutil dtrace profiles sed\ -En awk /S*/*/P*/*/*/C*/*/airport networksetup mdutil lsof test osascript\ -e netstat mdls );S1() { printf kMDItemContentTypeTree=com.apple.$1'|sort';};S2() { printf 'L*/Ca*/com.ap*.Saf*/E*/* -d 1 -name In*t -exec '"${c1[14]}"' :'$1'" {} \;|uniq';};c2=(com.apple.loginwindow\ LoginHook '" /L*/P*/loginw*' "'tell app \"System Events\" to get properties of login items'|tr , \\\n" "`S2 CFBundleDisplayName`" '~ $TMPDIR.. \( -flags +sappnd,schg,uappnd,uchg -o ! -user $UID -o ! -perm -600 \)' '-F \$Message -k Sender kernel -k Message CSeq "I/O e"|sort|uniq -c' :${p[35]}\" :Label\" '{/,}L*/{Con,Pref}* -type f ! -size 0 -name *.plist -exec plutil -s {} \;' "-f'%N: %l' Desktop L*/Keyc*" therm sysload boot-args status " -F '\$Time \$(RefProc): \$Message' -k Sender Req 'fsev|kern|launchd' -k RefProc Rne 'Aq|WebK' -k Message Rne '08012|Goog|ksadm|probe|Roame|SMC:|smcD|sserti|suhel| VALI|ver-r|xpma' -k Message Req 'abn|bad |Beac|caug|corru|dead[^bl]|FAIL|fail|GPU |hfs: Ru|idle ex|inval|jnl:|last value [1-9]|NVDA\(|pagin|pci pa|proc: t|Roamed|rror|SL|TCON|Throttli|tim(ed? ?|ing )o|WARN' " '-du -n DEV -n EDEV 1 10' 'acrx -o comm,ruid,%cpu' '-t1 10 1' '-f -pfc /var/db/r*/com.apple.*.{BS,Bas,Es,J,OSXU,Rem,up}*.bom' '{/,}L*/Lo*/Diag* -type f -regex .\*[cght] ! -name .?\* ! -name \*ag \( -exec grep -lq "^Thread c" {} \; -exec printf \* \; -o -true \) -execdir stat -f:%Sc:%N -t%F {} \;|sort -t: -k2 |tail -n'${p[38]} '/S*/*/Ca*/*xpc* >&- ||echo No' '-L /{S*/,}L*/StartupItems -type f -exec file {} +' "`S1 bundle`" "`S1 mach-o-dylib`" `awk "${s[31]}"<<<${p[23]}` "/e*/{auto,{cron,fs}tab,hosts,{[lp],sy}*.conf,mach_i*/*,pam.d/*,ssh{,d}_config,*.local} {,/usr/local}/etc/periodic/*/* /L*/P*{,/*}/com.a*.{Bo,sec*.ap}*t {/S*/,/,}L*/Lau*/*t .launchd.conf" list getenv /Library/Preferences/com.apple.alf\ globalstate --proxy '-n get default' -I --dns -getdnsservers\ "${p[N5]}" -getinfo\ "${p[N5]}" -P -m\ / '' -n1 '-R -l1 -n1 -o prt -stats command,uid,prt' '--regexp --files com.apple.pkg.*|sort|uniq' -kl -l -s\ / '-R -l1 -n1 -o mem -stats command,uid,mem' '+c0 -i4TCP:0-1023' com.apple.dashboard\ layer-gadgets '-d /L*/Mana*/$USER&&echo On' '-app Safari WebKitDNSPrefetchingEnabled' "+c0 -l|awk '{print(\$1,\$3)}'|sort|uniq -c|sort -n|tail -1|awk '{print(\$2,\$3,\$1)}'" -m 'L*/{Con*/*/Data/L*/,}Pref* -type f -size 0c -name *.plist.???????|wc -l' kern.memorystatus_vm_pressure_level '3>&1 >&- 2>&3' " -F '\$Time \$Message' -k Sender kernel -k Message CSeq 'n Cause: -' " -i '-app Safari UserStyleSheetEnabled' -name\ kMDItem${p[35]} "`S2 ${p[35]}`" );N1=${#c2[@]};for j in {0..10};do c2[N1+j]=SP${p[j]}DataType;done;N2=${#c2[@]};for j in 0 1;do c2[N2+j]="-n ' syscall::'${p[33+j]}':return { @out[execname,uid]=sum(arg0) } tick-10sec { trunc(@out,1);exit(0);} '";done;l=(Restricted\ files I/O\ errors 'Elapsed time (s)' POST Battery Safari\ extensions Bad\ plists 'High file counts' User Heat System\ load boot\ args FileVault Diagnostic\ reports Log 'Free space (MiB)' 'Swap (MiB)' Activity 'CPU per process' Login\ hook 'I/O per process' Mach\ ports kexts Daemons Agents XPC\ cache Startup\ items Admin\ access Root\ access Bundles dylibs Apps Font\ issues Inserted\ dylibs Firewall Proxies DNS TCP/IP Wi-Fi Profiles Root\ crontab User\ crontab 'Global login items' 'User login items' Spotlight Memory Listeners Widgets Parental\ Controls Prefetching SATA Descriptors App\ extensions Lockfiles Memory\ pressure SMC Shutdowns Nets Stylesheet );N3=${#l[@]};for i in {0..3};do l[N3+i]=${p[5+i]};done;N4=${#l[@]};for j in 0 1;do l[N4+j]="Current ${p[29+j]}stream data";done;A0() { id -G|grep -qw 80;v[1]=$?;((v[1]==0))&&sudo true;v[2]=$?;v[3]=`date +%s`;clear >&-;date '+Start time: %T %D%n';};for i in 0 1;do eval ' A'$((1+i))'() { v=` eval "${c1[$1]} ${c2[$2]}"|'${c1[30+i]}' "${s[$3]}" `;[[ "$v" ]];};A'$((3+i))'() { v=` while read i;do [[ "$i" ]]&&eval "${c1[$1]} ${c2[$2]}" \"$i\"|'${c1[30+i]}' "${s[$3]}";done<<<"${v[$4]}" `;[[ "$v" ]];};A'$((5+i))'() { v=` while read i;do '${c1[30+i]}' "${s[$1]}" "$i";done<<<"${v[$2]}" `;[[ "$v" ]];};A'$((7+i))'() { v=` eval sudo "${c1[$1]} ${c2[$2]}"|'${c1[30+i]}' "${s[$3]}" `;[[ "$v" ]];};';done;A9(){ v=$((`date +%s`-v[3]));};B2(){ v[$1]="$v";};for i in 0 1;do eval ' B'$i'() { v=;((v['$((i+1))']==0))||{ v=No;false;};};B'$((3+i))'() { v[$2]=`'${c1[30+i]}' "${s[$3]}"<<<"${v[$1]}"`;} ';done;B5(){ v[$1]="${v[$1]}"$'\n'"${v[$2]}";};B6() { v=` paste -d: <(printf "${v[$1]}") <(printf "${v[$2]}")|awk -F: ' {printf("'"${f[$3]}"'",$1,$2)} ' `;};B7(){ v=`grep -Fv "${v[$1]}"<<<"$v"`;};C0() { [[ "$v" ]]&&sed -E "$s"<<<"$v";};C1() { [[ "$v" ]]&&printf "${f[$1]}" "${l[$2]}" "$v"|sed -E "$s";};C2() { v=`echo $v`;[[ "$v" != 0 ]]&&C1 0 $1;};C3() { v=`sed -E "${s[63]}"<<<"$v"`&&C1 1 $1;};for i in 1 2 7 8;do for j in 0 2 3;do eval D$i$j'(){ A'$i' $1 $2 $3; C'$j' $4;};';done;done;{ A0;D20 0 $((N1+1)) 2;D10 0 $N1 1;B0;C2 27;B0&&! B1&&C2 28;D12 15 37 25 8;A1 0 $((N1+2)) 3;C0;D13 0 $((N1+3)) 4 3;D23 0 $((N1+4)) 5 4;D13 0 $((N1+9)) 59 50;for i in 0 1 2;do D13 0 $((N1+5+i)) 6 $((N3+i));done;D13 0 $((N1+8)) 71 $((N3+3));D13 1 10 7 9;D13 1 11 8 10;B1&&D73 19 53 67 55;D22 2 12 9 11;D12 3 13 10 12;D23 4 19 44 13;D13 5 5 69 1;D13 5 54 30 56;D23 5 14 12 14;D22 6 36 13 15;D22 20 52 66 54;D22 7 37 14 16;D23 8 15 38 17;D22 9 16 16 18;B1&&{ D82 35 49 61 51;D82 11 17 17 20;for i in 0 1;do D82 28 $((N2+i)) 45 $((N4+i));done;};D22 12 44 54 45;D22 12 39 15 21;A1 13 40 18;B2 4;B3 4 0 19;A3 14 6 32 0;B4 0 5 11;A1 17 41 20;B7 5;C3 22;B4 4 6 21;A3 14 7 32 6;B4 0 7 11;B3 4 0 22;A3 14 6 32 0;B4 0 8 11;B5 7 8;B1&&{ A8 18 26 23;B7 7;C3 23;};A2 18 26 23;B7 7;C3 24;D13 4 21 24 26;B4 4 12 26;B3 4 13 27;A1 24 22 29;B7 12;B2 14;A4 39 57 70 14;B2 15;B6 14 15 4;C3 29;A1 24 23 32;B7 13;C3 30;B3 4 0 65;A3 14 6 32 0;B4 0 16 11;A1 26 50 64;B7 16;C3 52;D13 24 24 32 31;D13 25 37 32 33;A2 23 18 28;B2 16;A2 16 25 33;B7 16;B3 0 0 34;B2 21;A6 47 21&&C0;B1&&{ D73 21 0 32 19;D73 10 42 32 40;D82 29 35 46 39;};D23 14 1 62 42;D12 34 43 53 44;D12 22 20 32 25;D22 0 $((N1+10)) 51 32;D13 4 8 41 6;D12 21 28 35 34;D13 27 29 36 35;A2 27 32 39&&{ B2 19;A2 33 33 40;B2 20;B6 19 20 3;};C2 36;D23 38 55 68 57;D23 33 34 42 37;B1&&D83 35 45 55 46;D23 32 31 43 38;D12 36 47 32 48;D13 10 42 32 41;D13 37 2 48 43;A1 4 3 60;B2 30;A1 4 58 60;B2 31;B6 30 31 4;C3 5;D12 21 56 35 58;D12 21 48 49 49;B3 4 22 57;A1 21 46 56;B7 22;B3 0 0 58;C3 47;D22 4 4 50 0;D12 4 51 32 53;D23 22 9 37 7;A9;C2 2;} 2>/dev/null|pbcopy;exit 2>&-

Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C.

8. Launch the built-in Terminal application in any of the following ways:

☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

☞ Open LaunchPad and start typing the name.

Click anywhere in the Terminal window and paste by pressing command-V. The text you pasted should vanish immediately. If it doesn't, press the return key.

9. If you see an error message in the Terminal window such as "Syntax error" or "Event not found," enter

exec bash

and press return. Then paste the script again.

10. If you're logged in as an administrator, you'll be prompted for your login password. Nothing will be displayed when you type it. You will not see the usual dots in place of typed characters. Make sure caps lock is off. Type carefully and then press return. You may get a one-time warning to be careful. If you make three failed attempts to enter the password, the test will run anyway, but it will produce less information. In most cases, the difference is not important. If you don't know the password, or if you prefer not to enter it, press the key combination control-C or just press return three times at the password prompt. Again, the script will still run.

If you're not logged in as an administrator, you won't be prompted for a password. The test will still run. It just won't do anything that requires administrator privileges.

11. The test may take a few minutes to run, depending on how many files you have and the speed of the computer. A computer that's abnormally slow may take longer to run the test. While it's running, there will be nothing in the Terminal window and no indication of progress. Wait for the line

[Process completed]

to appear. If you don't see it within half an hour or so, the test probably won't complete in a reasonable time. In that case, close the Terminal window and report what happened. No harm will be done.

12. When the test is complete, quit Terminal. The results will have been copied to the Clipboard automatically. They are not shown in the Terminal window. Please don't copy anything from there. All you have to do is start a reply to this comment and then paste by pressing command-V again.

At the top of the results, there will be a line that begins with the words "Start time." If you don't see that, but instead see a mass of gibberish, you didn't wait for the "Process completed" message to appear in the Terminal window. Please wait for it and try again.

If any private information, such as your name or email address, appears in the results, anonymize it before posting. Usually that won't be necessary.

13. When you post the results, you might see an error message on the web page: "You have included content in your post that is not permitted," or "You are not authorized to post." That's a bug in the forum software. Please post the test results on Pastebin, then post a link here to the page you created.

14. This is a public forum, and others may give you advice based on the results of the test. They speak only for themselves, and I don't necessarily agree with them.

______________________________________________________________

Copyright © 2014 by Linc Davis. As the sole author of this work, I reserve all rights to it except as provided in the Use Agreement for the Apple Support Communities website ("ASC"). Readers of ASC may copy it for their own personal use. Neither the whole nor any part may be redistributed.

jenart1195 wrote:

my son inadvertently installed k9 optimizer, which is a virus. how do i remove

No, K9Optimizer is not a virus. It's just another piece of junk "cleaning" software, like MacKeeper, CleanMyMac, TuneupMyMac, etc., all of which should be avoided. This app should be removed, but I don't know how that is done. Consult with the developer of this crap software.

As with these other scam "cleaning" tools, K9Optimizer may be installed alongside adware. If you are having symptoms of adware (ads injected in sites where they don't belong, redirects to sites other than the ones you try to go to, etc), see my Adware Removal Guide for help finding and removing it.

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

Hallo Thomas,

I found this:

http://blog.mitechmate.com/remove-k9-mac-optimizer-manually/

It does not seem too difficult, but I am a bit hesitant to recommend this site since I do not know anything about them.

Lex

EDIT: although it says "mac" in the title, it seems that this site only treats the Windows situation....

It does not seem too difficult

Seems very difficult to me, considering that the instructions are for Windows only.

As I said in my post.

I was able to use Adware Medic to remove most of the files that Genieo had placed on my iMac. But I checked and Time Machine still will not allow me to revert to an older version. Any ideas of why and how I can fix this? Otherwise things seem fine now.

syalutsa wrote:

I checked and Time Machine still will not allow me to revert to an older version. Any ideas of why and how I can fix this?

Hard to say without more details about what you're trying to revert and how it's not working. However, that's not really an appropriate topic for this discussion, as that distracts from helping jenart1195 and isn't related to her problem. I'd suggest you start your own discussion for that. In the meantime, perhaps one of the pages here might help:

http://pondini.org/OSX/Home.html

Hi -

This is my first time posting to the apple discussions. Please forgive me if I should have started a new post. My son also inadvertently installed k9-MacOptimizer on his MacBook Air. I have run the script as instructed. Below are the results. Can you offer any advise? Thank-you in advance.

System Version: OS X 10.10.1 (14B25)

Kernel Version: Darwin 14.0.0

Boot Mode: Normal

Model: MacBookAir6,1

System diagnostics

2014-12-17 UserEventAgent crash

2014-12-20 Google Drive crash

2014-12-21 Core Sync crash

2014-12-24 Google Drive crash

2015-01-03 Core Sync crash

2015-01-04 Google Drive crash

2015-01-05 Core Sync crash

2015-01-05 Core Sync crash

2015-01-06 Google Drive crash

2015-01-06 discoveryd crash

Kernel messages

Jan 6 09:27:02 BUG in process suhelperd[277]: over-released legacy external boost assertions (0 total, 0 external, 0 legacy-external)

Jan 6 10:13:55 wl0: Roamed or switched channel, reason #1, bssid 60:33:4b:e0:a7:99, last RSSI -71

Jan 6 10:49:55 BUG in process suhelperd[277]: over-released legacy external boost assertions (0 total, 0 external, 0 legacy-external)

Jan 6 10:50:44 BUG in process suhelperd[277]: over-released legacy external boost assertions (1 total, 1 external, 0 legacy-external)

--- last message repeated 131 times ---

Jan 6 12:24:24 Over-release of kernel-internal importance assertions for pid 5871 (bird), dropping 1 assertion(s) but task only has 0 remaining (0 external).

Jan 6 12:24:29 BUG in process suhelperd[277]: over-released legacy external boost assertions (0 total, 0 external, 0 legacy-external)

--- last message repeated 2 times ---

Jan 6 17:05:27 wl0: Roamed or switched channel, reason #8, bssid 60:33:4b:e0:a7:9a, last RSSI -52

Jan 6 17:06:55 wl0: Roamed or switched channel, reason #1, bssid 60:33:4b:e0:a7:99, last RSSI -71

Jan 6 17:49:22 BUG in process suhelperd[277]: over-released legacy external boost assertions (0 total, 0 external, 0 legacy-external)

Jan 6 17:49:42 wl0: Roamed or switched channel, reason #8, bssid 60:33:4b:e0:a7:9a, last RSSI -63

Jan 6 17:50:28 wl0: Roamed or switched channel, reason #1, bssid 60:33:4b:e0:a7:99, last RSSI -71

Jan 6 18:09:42 PM notification timeout (pid 6503, Creative Cloud)

Jan 6 18:09:42 PM notification timeout (pid 6557, Adobe CEF Helper)

Jan 6 18:22:20 PM notification timeout (pid 6623, Google Chrome He)

Jan 6 18:58:40 wl0: Roamed or switched channel, reason #8, bssid 60:33:4b:e0:a7:9a, last RSSI -57

Jan 6 19:01:20 wl0: Roamed or switched channel, reason #1, bssid 60:33:4b:e0:a7:99, last RSSI -72

Jan 6 19:04:30 PM notification timeout (pid 6503, Creative Cloud)

Jan 6 19:04:30 PM notification timeout (pid 6557, Adobe CEF Helper)

Jan 6 19:04:30 PM notification timeout (pid 6623, Google Chrome He)

--- last message repeated 1 time ---

Jan 6 19:55:15 PM notification timeout (pid 6503, Creative Cloud)

Jan 6 19:55:15 PM notification timeout (pid 6557, Adobe CEF Helper)

Jan 6 20:00:06 wl0: Roamed or switched channel, reason #3, bssid 60:33:4b:e0:a7:99, last RSSI -57

Loaded extrinsic kernel extensions

com.rim.driver.BlackBerryUSBDriverInt (0.0.68)

com.sierrawireless.driver.SierraVSP (1.1)

Extrinsic daemons

com.adobe.fpsaud

Extrinsic agents

com.genieo.completer.ltvbit

com.adobe.AdobeCreativeCloud

com.AT&T.AllAccess_AppStart

com.genieo.completer.download

com.genieo.completer.update

com.google.keystone.user.agent

com.netgear.switchTool

launchd items

/Library/LaunchAgents/com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist

(com.adobe.AAM.Startup-1.0)

/Library/LaunchAgents/com.adobe.AdobeCreativeCloud.plist

(com.adobe.AdobeCreativeCloud)

/Library/LaunchAgents/com.AT&T.AllAccess_AppStart.plist

(com.AT&T.AllAccess_AppStart)

/Library/LaunchAgents/com.netgear.switchTool.plist

(com.netgear.switchTool)

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

(com.adobe.fpsaud)

Library/LaunchAgents/com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist

(com.adobe.AAM.Scheduler-1.0)

Library/LaunchAgents/com.genieo.completer.download.plist

(com.genieo.completer.download)

Library/LaunchAgents/com.genieo.completer.ltvbit.plist

(com.genieo.completer.ltvbit)

Library/LaunchAgents/com.genieo.completer.update.plist

(com.genieo.completer.update)

Library/LaunchAgents/com.google.keystone.agent.plist

(com.google.keystone.user.agent)

Extrinsic loadable bundles

/System/Library/Extensions/HuaweiDataCardDriver.kext

(com.huawei.driver.HuaweiDataCardDriver)

/System/Library/Extensions/JMicronATA.kext

(com.jmicron.JMicronATA)

/System/Library/Extensions/LGEADMobileSolutionFamily.kext

(com.lge.driver.LGEADMobilSolutionFamily)

/System/Library/Extensions/NetgearDIPSupport.kext

(com.sierrawireless.driver.SierraDIPSupport)

/System/Library/Extensions/NetgearFSRSupport.kext

(com.netgear.driver.NetgearFSRSupport)

/System/Library/Extensions/NetgearHSRSupport.kext

(com.netgear.driver.NetgearHSRSupport)

/System/Library/Extensions/NetgearIPDirect.kext

(com.sierrawireless.driver.SierraIPDirect)

/System/Library/Extensions/NetgearQMIDirectIP.kext

(com.netgear.driver.qmiNetDriver)

/System/Library/Extensions/NetgearQMISupport.kext

(com.netgear.driver.NetgearQMISupport)

/System/Library/Extensions/NetgearVSP.kext

(com.sierrawireless.driver.SierraVSP)

/System/Library/Extensions/RIMBBUSB.kext

(com.rim.driver.BlackBerryUSBDriverInt)

/System/Library/Extensions/RIMBBVSP.kext

(com.rim.driver.BlackBerryUSBDriverVSP)

/System/Library/Extensions/USBExpressCardCantWake_Huawei.kext

(com.apple.dts.driver.USBExpressCardCantWake)

/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/AdobeAAMDetect.plugin

(com.AdobeAAMDetectLib.AdobeAAMDetect)

/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/Flash Player.plugin

(com.macromedia.Flash Player.plugin)

/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin

(com.apple.java.JavaAppletPlugin)

/Library/PreferencePanes/Flash Player.prefPane

(com.adobe.flashplayerpreferences)

Application check

com.google.GoogleDrive

User login items

iTunesHelper

AT&T Communication Manager

Google Drive

K9-MacOptimizer

Safari extensions

Omnibar

Restricted user files: 56

Elapsed time (s): 85

You have adware installed. See my previous response:

K9Optimizer is not a virus. It's just another piece of junk "cleaning" software, like MacKeeper, CleanMyMac, TuneupMyMac, etc., all of which should be avoided. This app should be removed, but I don't know how that is done. Consult with the developer of this crap software.

As with these other scam "cleaning" tools, K9Optimizer may be installed alongside adware. If you are having symptoms of adware (ads injected in sites where they don't belong, redirects to sites other than the ones you try to go to, etc), see my Adware Removal Guide for help finding and removing it.

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

You have been infected with the bad Genieo /Omnibar crap:

download AdwareMedic from thesafemac.com and run it.

For the K9 crap, follow thomas_r here.

There is no need to download anything to solve this problem.

You installed the "Genieo" or "InstallMac" ad-injection malware. Follow the instructions on this Apple Support page to remove it.

Back up all data before making any changes.

Besides the files listed in the linked support article, you may also need to remove this file in the same way:

~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.genieo.completer.ltvbit.plist

If there are other items with a name that includes "Genieo" or "genieo" alongside any of those you find, remove them as well.

One of the steps in the article is to remove malicious Safari extensions. Do the equivalent in the Chrome and Firefox browsers, if you use either of those.

After removing the malware, remember to reset your home page in all the web browsers affected, if it was changed.

If you don't find any of the files or extensions listed, or if removing them doesn't stop the ad injection, then you may have one of the other kinds of adware covered by the support article. Follow the rest of the instructions in the article.

Make sure you don't repeat the mistake that led you to install the malware. Chances are you got it from an Internet cesspit such as "Softonic" or "CNET Download." Never visit either of those sites again. You might also have downloaded it from an ad in a page on some other site. The ad would probably have included a large green button labeled "Download" or "Download Now" in white letters. The button is designed to confuse people who intend to download something else on the same page. If you ever download a file that isn't obviously what you expected, delete it immediately.

In the Security & Privacy pane of System Preferences, select the General tab. The radio button marked Anywhere should not be selected. If it is, click the lock icon to unlock the settings, then select one of the other buttons. After that, don't ignore a warning that you are about to run or install an application from an unknown developer.

Still in System Preferences, open the App Store or Software Update pane and check the box marked

Install system data files and security updates (OS X 10.10 or later)

or

Download updates automatically (OS X 10.9 or earlier)

if it's not already checked.

As for "K9," it's just an application. Quit it if it's running and drag it from the Applications folder to the Trash.

Download the AdwareMedic... Much easier and the malware list is updated updated when you run it much easier.

Lex

And I would like to add: AdwareMedic is from the real security specialist here !

If you decide to listen to some anonymous strangers on a website who tell you ignore official Apple documentation, I don't know what will happen—and neither do they, unless they've personally tested their advice on their own computer, as the terms of use of this site require them to do. What I do know is that the habit of trusting strangers that way puts the safety of your data at risk, and no software is going to mitigate that risk. Skepticism is the only defense against malware attack in the long run.

In order to make an informed decision to disregard what the maker of your computer is telling you, and instead run an application that you know nothing about, you would at least have to search the site for discussions in which that same advice was followed by others. Evaluate the reported results and draw your own conclusions. You—not an anonymous stranger on ASC—must make that decision. The fact that someone here tells you it's safe should carry no weight at all.

You do not need, and Apple does not recommend, any program to remove adware. I question whether using such a program, even if it works perfectly, saves any time when the need to research it first is taken into account. Furthermore, you'll be getting very much the wrong idea if you think you can always rely on it to work in the future. The only real safety lies in changing the way you use the computer.