Otwexplain - is it malware?

You installed one or more variants of the "InstallMac" trojan. Take the steps below to disable it.

The criminal behind this attack tries to make the malware hard to remove by varying the names of the files it installs. This procedure works as of now, as far as I know. It may not work in the future. Anyone finding this comment a few days or more after it was posted should look for a more recent discussion, or start a new one.

Back up all data before continuing.

1. Triple-click the line below on this page to select it, then copy the text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C:

~/Library/LaunchAgents

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. A folder named "LaunchAgents" will open.

2. Inside the folder you just opened, there may files with a name of the form

something.download.plist

something.ltvbit.plist

something.update.plist

where something is usually a meaningless string, such as any of the following:

InKeepr

InstallMac

Javeview

Leperdvil

Listchack

Otwexplain

Texiday

These are examples, not a complete list. The string could be anything. The point is that the same string will appear in the name of three files.

You could have more than one copy of the malware, with different values of something.

Move all such items to the Trash. There may not be any other files in the LaunchAgents folder; in that case, you can delete the folder, but otherwise don't delete it. Other files in the folder are not necessarily malicious (though they could be, if you also installed some other kind of malware.)

Log out or restart the computer. The trojan will now be inactive, but there are a few more components of it that should be cleaned up.

3. Open this folder in the same way as above:

~/Library/Application Support

and move to the Trash any subfolders named with the same something you found in Step 2.

Don't move the Application Support folder or anything else inside it.

4. Open the Applications folder. If there is an item with the same name as in Step 3, or any of the other names listed in Step 2, drag it to the Trash.

If in doubt, press the key combination option-command-4 to arrange the apps by date added. Look at the apps that have been added since you first noticed the problem. If there is one you don't recognize, drag it to the Trash.

Empty the Trash.

If you get an alert that the application is in use, force it to quit.

5. From the Safari menu bar, select

Safari ▹ Preferences... ▹ Extensions

Uninstall all extensions you don't know you need. If in doubt, remove all of them. None is required for normal operation. Do the equivalent in the Chrome and Firefox browsers, if you use either of those.

6. Reset the home page in each of your browsers, if it was changed. In Safari, first load the home page you want, then select

Safari ▹ Preferences... ▹ General

and click

Set to Current Page

Used this procedure to clean the following:

otwexplain

listchack

leperdvil

It worked for all of them, now to keep the 10 y.o off my computer.

Thanks for the help Linc !

Thanks. This was perfect. Now I hope it's never installed again.

Another suspicious folder that seems related to this is 'manroling', which I added as I went along. Many thanks. First virus/trojan I've had in 6 years of mac computing.

Great and clear instructions. Sorting the content of each folder by date was a great tip because all the junk seemed to be added at the same time. I I wrote down all the names mentioned as possible malware sources and when I finished the procedure provided by LINC DAVIS I did a search for each of these names and was not surprised that I missed deleting a couple. Now I will restart and see if everything is back to normal (When I don't know what all these folders do I'm always afraid I will delete something that is needed to function properly)

now to keep the 10 y.o off my computer.

Your ten-year-old cannot install anything if they have their own account, which they should. This keeps them off your files and in a controlled environment where what they do impacts only them.

You should also consider the Account organization I use, which is to have your daily-use account be a non-Admin, and have a completely separate Admin-only account for Installing and maintaining. The only drawback I see is that when Installing, BOTH the Admin-mame and the Admin-password need to be entered to proceed, a small price to pay for increased protection from unintended installs.

I've found another strange one - It's called 'Perfetnight'. I'll delete that one too, and I recommend everyone else does too.