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Mac Optimizer Adware uninstall solution

So, a coworker of mine was trying to find and download an application online, but ended up clicking one of those fake "Download" links that redirects to an ad site. From there, she clicked another link and downloaded an installer for Mac Optimizer, and proceeded to open and click through the entire install process before turning to me and and asking "hey… what's this?" I'll put aside the (big) user error for now, and focus on the issue.


Exasperated, I told her that could be a virus. Sure enough, a quick search told me it was. I quickly deleted the app from Applications, and ran an Avast (business license) scan. Nothing. Unfortunately, a few days later she mentioned that she'd been getting a popup maybe twice a day. It was a notification on the system level (not from a browser), asking to download something along the lines of "Adware Cleaner" because her computer was "at risk."


I did another search, and couldn't find a (correct) solution to get rid of it. They seem to have updated their software to place files in several places to ensure they wouldn't be found. Well, first I found the offending process: mohlp. Searching that process name online came up with zilch, so it must be fairly new. In any case, it shouldn't have been there. I dug through all the user Library folders, searching for suspicious content.


Here's my list of the files owned by Mac Optimizer, and what ultimately stopped the adware from performing further actions:


1. Remove any "mohlp" or "Mac Optimizer" directories or files in these places:

/Users/[user]/Library/Application Support

/Users/[user]/Library/Caches

/Users/[user]/Library/Logs

/Users/[user]/Library/Preferences


2. Remove "Mac" from the user login items. Yes, it's called Mac. You'll notice the icon is not Mac related though.

System Preferences > User Accounts > Login Items


...and that's it! No popups since, no more weird processes. Hope this is useful to someone. Again, I couldn't find anything on this particular piece of software, much less an uninstall process, so it must be rather new.


It must be said: Please look at what you're clicking!

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X El Capitan (10.11.4)

Posted on Apr 5, 2016 1:56 PM

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Mac Optimizer Adware uninstall solution

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