How to Remove Advanced Mac Cleaner Virus

Additionally, whenever I attempt to go to this site and the Apple approved malware removal links within, I get redirected to these virus spoofs

1. Firstly, you will need to turn off the program and disable its process from the Activity Monitor.
2. Secondly, you will have to remove the program from your login items. That way it will no longer start when you turn on your Mac or simply login.
3. The previous two steps will stop the program from operating but we still advise you to outright remove it, even if it is no longer active in any way. This is probably the most annoying and time consuming part. Removing the app from your Applications folder and dragging AMC to Trash most likely won’t be enough (though you should still do that). You will probably also need to access several other folders and delete some of their contents. Here’s a list of those folders and their files and sub-folders that you’ll need to move to delete.

~/Library Folder – Advanced Mac Cleaner; hlpramc

~/Library/Logs – Advanced Mac Cleaner.log; helperamc.log

~/Library/Application Support – Advanced Mac Cleaner; amc

~/Library/Caches – com.pcv.hlpramc; com.PCvark.Advanced-Mac-Cleaner

~/Library/Saved Application State – com.PCvark.Advanced-Mac-Cleaner.savedState

~/Library/Preferences – com.pcv.hlpramc.plist; com.PCvark.Advanced-Mac-Cleaner.plist

~/Library/LaunchAgents – com.pcv.hlpramc.plist; com.PCvark.Advanced-Mac-Cleaner.plist

from https://howtoremove.guide/remove-advanced-mac-cleaner-virus/

Follow my advice earlier on. You need to remove it. You may not have ruined your computer, these things can be resolved but they are a nuisance.

In future check out any download that does not come from Apple or the App Store itself. I am not saying there are not good apps available elsewhere, but you can always ask here what the community thinks about something you have found. Await a reasoned reaction and you will be much safer.

Thanks Linc Davis! I wished I knew that before I downloaded FilleZille. I thought it was legit.

In Step 1, when I do right click it shows 'no results found'. What does this mean? or am I doing something wrong?

I improperly uninstalled by dragging the icon to the trash and emptying it. I need to reinstall Advanced Mac Cleaner to remove it properly. However, I do not know where it came from, as it is not something I installed intentionally in the first place.

Does anyone have a link for me to download the installer again?

I always try to help but in this case, what I wrote is as far as I will go. Anything connected with MacKeeper, Clean my Mac, MacCleaner, Wash my Mac, call it what you will, is out of bounds. Try Malwarebytes to remove the program then don't go in that direction again. Your Mac does not need such aids.

I did the same thing, I dragged the app to the trash. Then I followed the steps that Linc Davis wrote in the post on top of this page to remove the rest of the files. Now, everything is gone.

I think you just need to follow his steps and you will be good to go.

On a side note, I have been installing and using Filezilla for years, never once have I downloaded any spyware or anything else from them. Perhaps because I always do "Custom Install" on everything I install to make sure that I don't download unwanted extras. I believe I got this because of a game I play (War of Beach) let me download a few apps to earn free gems, and that same day I ended up with this Adv. mac cleaner app.

I could really use some help in uninstalling advanced mac cleaner as I am having serious issues to follow the instructions provided. When I try to delete the file in applications, I get error code 43. Also, when I try to follow the instructions posted here, it doesn't work. For example, when someone provided the link to triple click to highlight and then right click, I don't get the option to do anything with it on my computer. I have El Capitan, but my laptop is about 6 years old. Please help. I'm never downloading mac cleaning software again.

Hello and thanks for you information. When LaunchAgents opens for me. I see more than just the "com.pcv" files in that folder. I also have "com.adobe.. com.google.. com.mentmac and a few others. Do I delete those as well? I'm guessing not. Thanks in advance for your additional help regarding this matter.

* Edited

Accidentally followed the outdated steps by Linc Davis. I also thought you were Linc Davis, sorry for the confusion!

I really appreciate your prompt response. I just deleted the one "com.pcv" file that you mentioned and kept all the others. I also just ran a search and checked my apps folder and did not find the "Mac File Opener".

I have never used Quicktime to create a screen recording of my plist and applications before and I'm not sure how to go about the process.

Thanks in advance for your help.

This really does work, no need for any other solution guys, saves loads of time, and also finds and removes any other pesky Malware your Mac may have picked up, only works on OSX 10.8 and upwards though.

This is exactly how I acquired "Advanced Mac Cleaner," and now even when attempting to close the program it says nothing other than "NA" and refuses to be sent to the trash. In the past I have had this virus and removed it fairly easily, however this time has been much more invasive and impossible to remove. Considering the method of how it got in in the first place, thought you'd be a good person to seek advice from! Any such luck?

Thanks a lot - this fixed the problem! Not exactly like you described it, because my finder did not cooperate. It would just not show the file/folder you mentioned after control click > Services > Reveal... Instead it would show a folder I'd just used before. (Luckily I realised that I shouldn't delete that one...)

I went on terminal windows to delete the file/folders in the command line. Hadn't done this in a while and needed to remember the dangerous "rm -r".

I checked when all these files were created, and indeed, they all had the same time stamp!

I restarted the computer a few times and the silly Cleaner pop up window doesn't appear any more :-)

I noticed another used mentioned he had probably gotten this thing from downloading flash player and I think that was the same for me.

Thanks again

The AdwareMedic app referred to in the post marked Apple Recommended was legit, but that was 2015... it's no longer available, as AdwareMedic has now become Malwarebytes Anti-Malware for Mac.

Currently, be cautious of anything calling itself AdwareMedic. There have been several fake AdwareMedic apps taking advantage of the name recognition to scam people, one of which is still in the Mac App Store.

This thread started nearly 19 months ago. If you have recently thought someone is lying to you I suggest you start a new thread with details of where this 'lie' came from. We may then be able to help further.