What is Advanced Mac Cleaner?

Hi there,

Never trust in them. They have stolen my money. Even they tried to get more from my Bank Card i will report them also to my bank. What they do is they make you pay around £35. After that they give you number to call to upload app. They will make connection to your computer to upload the app. After than they start saying you have a virus in your computer to get rid of them pay as $420 🙂 when i told them no, they will come with many other things when they see that you dont want finally coming price such a stupid figure $8. And this is only for this time 🙂 and they keep asking your debit card number. When i asked for refund they keep lying. never trust in them. I trust them because i thought that was an apple based program which is not.

"****ADVANCED MAC CLEANER IS SCUM. ALL THEY TRY TO STEAL YOUR MONEY"

Thanks for this,

If step 1 does not work for people it could be because the filename is different. I have just run through this and the filename for me was scom.pcv.hlpramcn.plist instead. Just attempt navigating to the folder and locating the file similar to the filename suggested.

~/Library/LaunchAgents/

Is there anything else to do to get rid of amc? I did all of this (not necessarily in the same order, deleted some files before seeing your post, but everything you listed is gone from my computer now) and I'm still getting popup windows, and messages in the terminal about 'helperamc'

Per other replies, this is a scam. It just happened to me as well. More disturbing is that it popped up after I clicked on a prompt to update my browser's Java (or something) Player, which is a prompt I've gotten on other sites legitimately before. 😟

Thank you for having such detailed instructions. You helped me remove adware that my "oh so great son" thought it was okay to "click" on. lol. Thanks again for all your great and informative help! Happy New Year...

Very helpful, but just a little bit off and incomplete:

1) AMC file in ~/Library/LaunchAgents/ is now called slightly differently "com.pcv.hlpramcn.plist"

2) if you just remove it and re-login or restart, it is autorestored, you must remove more first
(or maybe just kill "helperamc" after the deletion or before restart, but I didn't test this)

3) there were at least two more directories "Advanced Mac Cleaner" on two different levels:
a) ~/Library/Application Support/Advanced Mac Cleaner/
b) ~/Library/Advanced Mac Cleaner/

Hope this helps, too.

Cheers!
Victor from A'foort

but just a little bit off and incomplete:

To be expected. The post is almost three years old. Adware has changed a lot since it was written.

Very good and helpful of you to update the file names and locations.

Hi,

Off lately , my MAC has been freezing - it stays up all night even when the lid is down :O - only once the battery drains out - I am able to restart it. I did try the power off 10 secs trick- it did work the second time. How do I avoid this from happening in the future? Is there any anti-virus software that I may install to ensure the system is free of any malware and the likes? Also, this Advanced Mac cleaner - I have read here that ppl say its a scam - is there a way to block this ? It shows a lot of issues with the system. 😟

Mia

Also, this Advanced Mac cleaner - I have read here that ppl say its a scam - is there a way to block this?

Have you actually installed this garbage, or are these just scary sounding ads that pop up while you're using your browser?

There are only two apps experienced users recommend for Macs. MalwareBytes for Mac and EtreCheck. These links are each directly to the respective developer's sites. Do not even think about downloading them from anywhere else.

From what you describe, I would suggest you first run EtreCheck. When it's finished, copy/paste the full report here. All personal information is automatically redacted by EtreCheck. All we'll see is relevant information, which is what type of Mac you have, amount of RAM installed, etc., and the most important part, what processes are running. That will show whether or not your Mac is plagued with adware or other junk.

MalwareBytes focuses on finding adware, ransomware and other junk that shouldn't be on your Mac. When it's done searching, it will show a list of anything it finds and offers to remove it. The app never just deletes things without your okay.

Method to remove Advanced Mac Cleaner App .

Enter in System library .

Click on finder > Take the cursor on top menu bar > Go > computer > Macintosh HD

Search the app in following folder .

( a ) Applications - Advanced Mac cleaner

Enter in User library , click on finder > Go > hold option key > click on library .

( a ) Folder Advanced Mac cleaner - click on it , the followings .plist are found .

msets.plist

rlist.plist

( b) In Application Support folder of Mac , there is a subfolder Advanced Mac cleaner

params.plist

Settings.plist

( c) Folder amc

amcuninstall

com.pcv.amcuuninstall.plist

com.pcv.hlpramcn.plist

helperamc

Inf.Adit

( d ) Folder Caches of Mac these are two remnants of the app .

com.Pcv.hlpramc

com.pcv.hlpramc

( e ) Cookies folder of Mac

com.pcv.hlpramc.binarycookies

com.pcv.rlistupdater.binarycookies

com.techyutils.cleaner.binarycookies

( f ) Folder hlpramc

Web settings.plist

( g ) Folder Launch Agents of Mac

com.pcv.hlpramcn.plist

( h ) Folder logs of Mac there are two log files .

helperamc.log

Advanced Mac Cleaner.log

( I ) Preferences folder of Mac

com.pcvhlpramc.plist

com.techyutils.cleaner.plist

( j ) Click on download folder , right click on the advancer cleaner file and delete .

amc_amc apstm.pkg

( k) Users and groups - open the pad lock by entering admin password .

Click on Login items - Advanced Mac Cleaner select the box , the app will be highlighted and click on subtract sign .

These are the files of Advanced Mac cleaner found in system library and user library folders , the individual advanced Mac cleaner folder and .plists found in subfolders are to be deleted .

Open finder > in applications folder right click on Advanced Cleaner app a prompt appears .

Advanced Mac Cleaner helper requires permission to complete the uninstallation .

Please provide the admin password to the next screen continue .

( a ) cancel

( b ) ok

Click on ok .

Again a prompt will appear enter user password .

You have to enter it correctly the app is removed permanently with its remnants also .These are the recent files for advanced Mac cleaner , if the old version of the app is used the name of files are different and folder locations might differ .

Also used Malware bytes Anti - Malware for Mac it removed the above advanced Mac cleaner files from Mac immediately , you can either manually delete or very easy is just click on scan button using malware bytes .

Do not do it. It may 'legitimate' but no so called cleaning or performance application has proven to be beneficial or do anything more than you can do yourself. Save yourself possible grief and aggravation and pass it by.

Ciao.

1. No.

2. It's a scam product. Non-Apple Mac OS X utility software is generally only worth using for specific tasks, and then only by researching the products or getting recommendations to address an issue instead of accepting ones offered in unsolicited popups.

(130417)

You may have installed a fake "utility" called "Advanced Mac Cleaner." Like any software that purports to automatically "clean up" or "speed up" a Mac, it's a scam. To remove it, take the steps below. Some of the files listed may be absent. Back up all data before proceeding.

If you paid for the software with a credit card, consider reporting the charge to the bank as fraudulent.

Step 1

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

~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.pcv.hlpramc.plist

Right-click or control-click the highlighted line and select

Services ▹ Reveal in Finder (or just Reveal)

from the contextual menu.* A folder should open with an item selected. Move the selected item to the Trash. Log out or restart the computer.

*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.

Step 2

Move the following item to the Trash as in Step 1:

/Library/Application Support/amc

This time you may be prompted for your administrator login password. There's no need to log out after taking this step.

Step 3

Move this item to the Trash:

~/Library/AdvancedMacCleaner

Step 4

Open the Applications folder and move the item named "Advanced Mac Cleaner" to the Trash. Empty the Trash.

Make sure you prevent the Advanced Mac Cleaner App from opening when you restart.

This is a Scam. Don't get fooled by such applications. They are just involved in Tech Support activities and will just steal your money. Please don't call the number of Advanced Mac Cleaner as it is a scam.