How to remove ads.ly

Question

Level 1

8 points

How to remove ads.ly

Hi all,

I'm facing a very wired issue over my MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2009) 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo running on OS X EL Capitan, the issue is that over safari and google chrome, a website called add.ly keeps popping up when ever i try to visit any links, simply its an ad website that keeps you for 5 sec looked on this page then allows you to skip the ad, but what ever you do it keeps opening other ads in the background and really its uncontrollable. what is more annoying that this started showing up on my iPhone 6, in apps like Facebook and formula 1 but only while using my Home WiFi.

i cattily tried several options like deleting safari, firefox, and chrome ; after reinstalling them again the problem is the same, i tried using ad blockers, not the best solution, also i tried avira and still am getting the same issue. i even tried to consult a local support engineer how had something similar and advised me that this is a spiware that might be on the ADSL router so i had to call my internet provider and reset my ADSL router to factory settings and reconfigure the router again, believe it or not the problem was fixed for about 3 hours then its back like nothing has happened.

appreciate if anyone could help me with this case

MacBook Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11.4)

Posted on Apr 20, 2016 4:17 PM

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Answer 1

macjack

Level 10

111,242 points

Apr 20, 2016 4:22 PM in response to hadyhussien

Hi hadyhussien, clear your History using Safari > Reset Safari and checkmark Clear History. Then quit out of Safari. Now, restart Safari holding the shift key.

You can check for further adware by running EtreCheck, created by one of own helpers here in ASC. It is a diagnostic tool that's very useful to us in finding problems. Also it will give us further specs on your Mac. After it runs post the log file here. It will contain no personal information

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Answer 2

TildeBee

Level 7

31,923 points

Apr 20, 2016 4:32 PM in response to hadyhussien

Check out this Apple article:

Stop pop-up ads and adware in Safari - Apple Support

ALso, I would

1. Restart your Mac, then restart SAfari holding down the shift key

if that doesn't solve it, then download MalwareBytes, an excellent and free app developed by a very respected helper here:

https://www.malwarebytes.org/antimalware/mac/

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Answer 3

hadyhussien Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 20, 2016 4:43 PM in response to macjack

EtreCheck version: 2.9.11 (264)

Report generated 2016-04-21 01:33:51

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime 4:18

Performance: Good

Click the [Support] links for help with non-Apple products.

Click the [Details] links for more information about that line.

Problem: No problem - just checking

Hardware Information:ⓘ

MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2009)

[Technical Specifications] - [User Guide] - [Warranty & Service]

MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro5,5

1 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU: 2-core

8 GB RAM Upgradeable - [Instructions]

BANK 0/DIMM0

4 GB DDR3 1067 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

4 GB DDR3 1067 MHz ok

Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported

Wireless: en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n

Battery: Health = Check Battery - Cycle count = 871

Video Information:ⓘ

NVIDIA GeForce 9400M - VRAM: 256 MB

Color LCD 1280 x 800

System Software:ⓘ

OS X El Capitan 10.11.4 (15E65) - Time since boot: about 3 days

Disk Information:ⓘ

ST500LT012-1DG142 disk0 : (500.11 GB) (Rotational)

EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

Mac HD (disk0s2) / : 499.25 GB (123.28 GB free)

Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB

HL-DT-ST DVDRW GS23N ()

USB Information:ⓘ

Apple Inc. Built-in iSight

Apple Card Reader

Apple Inc. BRCM2046 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad

Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver

Gatekeeper:ⓘ

Mac App Store and identified developers

Kernel Extensions:ⓘ

/Applications/Toast 11 Titanium/Spin Doctor.app

[not loaded] com.hzsystems.terminus.driver (4 - 2011-05-29) [Support]

/Applications/Toast 11 Titanium/Toast Titanium.app

[not loaded] com.roxio.BluRaySupport (1.1.6 - 2014-01-01) [Support]

[not loaded] com.roxio.TDIXController (2.0 - 2014-01-01) [Support]

/Library/Extensions

[loaded] com.avira.kext.FileAccessControl (1.2.2 - SDK 10.9 - 2016-04-07) [Support]

[loaded] com.paragon-software.filesystems.ntfs (14.0.543 - SDK 10.5 - 2016-04-07) [Support]

System Launch Agents:ⓘ

[not loaded] 8 Apple tasks

[loaded] 154 Apple tasks

[running] 76 Apple tasks

System Launch Daemons:ⓘ

[not loaded] 47 Apple tasks

[loaded] 157 Apple tasks

[running] 84 Apple tasks

Launch Agents:ⓘ

[not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (2016-04-02) [Support]

[running] com.adobe.AdobeCreativeCloud.plist (2014-11-30) [Support]

[loaded] com.avira.antivirus.general.agent.plist (2016-01-21) [Support]

[loaded] com.avira.antivirus.ipm.ui.plist (2016-01-21) [Support]

[loaded] com.avira.antivirus.notifications.agent.plist (2016-01-21) [Support]

[loaded] com.avira.antivirus.odscan.default.plist (2016-04-20) [Support]

[loaded] com.avira.antivirus.scheduler.agent.plist (2016-01-21) [Support]

[running] com.avira.antivirus.systray.plist (2016-01-21) [Support]

[loaded] com.avira.antivirus.telemetry.agent.plist (2016-01-21) [Support]

[loaded] com.avira.antivirus.update.default.plist (2016-01-21) [Support]

[running] com.avira.helper.avstats.plist (2016-01-21) [Support]

[running] com.brother.LOGINserver.plist (2014-10-10) [Support]

[running] com.paragon-software.NTFS.fsnotifyagent.plist (2015-10-25) [Support]

[loaded] com.paragon.updater.plist (2015-10-25) [Support]

Launch Daemons:ⓘ

[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (2016-04-05) [Support]

[failed] com.avira.antivirus.dbcleaner.plist (2016-01-21) [Support]

[loaded] com.avira.antivirus.ipm.loader.plist (2016-01-21) [Support]

[running] com.avira.helper.watchdox.plist (2016-01-21) [Support]

[loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac3.Agent.plist (2016-04-03) [Support]

[loaded] com.malwarebytes.MBAMHelperTool.plist (2016-04-06) [Support]

[loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist (2010-08-25) [Support]

[loaded] com.paragon.NTFS.launch.plist (2015-10-25) [Support]

User Login Items:ⓘ

iTunesHelper Application (/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)

Other Apps:ⓘ

[running] com.brother.utility.NETserver.108192

[running] com.brother.utility.USBserver.107552

[running] com.google.Chrome.63392

[loaded] 408 Apple tasks

[running] 193 Apple tasks

Internet Plug-ins:ⓘ

AdobeExManDetect: AdobeExManDetect 1.1.0.0 - SDK 10.7 (2014-11-30) [Support]

AdobeAAMDetect: AdobeAAMDetect 2.0.0.0 - SDK 10.7 (2014-11-30) [Support]

QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (2016-03-30)

AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: 11.0.15 - SDK 10.6 (2016-04-02) [Support]

Flash Player: 21.0.0.213 - SDK 10.6 (2016-04-08) [Support]

AdobePDFViewer: 11.0.15 - SDK 10.6 (2016-04-02) [Support]

Default Browser: 601 - SDK 10.11 (2016-03-30)

FlashPlayer-10.6: 21.0.0.213 - SDK 10.6 (2016-04-08) [Support]

SharePointBrowserPlugin: 14.0.0 (2010-08-25) [Support]

iPhotoPhotocast: 7.0 (2014-12-10)

User internet Plug-ins:ⓘ

RealPlayer Plugin: Unknown (2014-12-13) [Support]

WebEx64: 1.0 - SDK 10.10 (2016-02-28) [Support]

Safari Extensions:ⓘ

Adblock Plus - Eyeo GmbH - https://adblockplus.org/ (2016-04-07)

3rd Party Preference Panes:ⓘ

Flash Player (2016-04-05) [Support]

Paragon NTFS for Mac ® OS X (2016-04-07) [Support]

Time Machine:ⓘ

Time Machine not configured!

Top Processes by CPU:ⓘ

6% WindowServer

2% kernel_task

0% Creative Cloud

0% avguard-ondemand-mgmt

0% com.apple.WebKit.WebContent(2)

Top Processes by Memory:ⓘ

877 MB com.apple.WebKit.WebContent(2)

757 MB kernel_task

344 MB Safari

221 MB mdworker(6)

156 MB iTunes

Virtual Memory Information:ⓘ

380 MB Free RAM

7.88 GB Used RAM (1.19 GB Cached)

6 MB Swap Used

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Answer 4

hadyhussien Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 20, 2016 4:46 PM in response to macjack

even after going to your steps it is still running

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Answer 5

Apr 20, 2016 4:50 PM in response to hadyhussien

Uninstall Avira. It is a worthless scam on a Mac.

To remove ads.ly, try http://pcviruskiller.blogspot.com/2015/07/remove-adfly-effectively-adfly-removal .html

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Answer 6

pinkstones

Level 5

4,246 points

Apr 20, 2016 4:56 PM in response to hadyhussien

You have several problems that I can see:

You have Avira installed — Macs don't need anti-virus programs, because at this time, there are no viruses that can damage OS X. If that ever changes, then you'll need Avira (or any other similar program). Anti-virus programs have been known to negatively affect the performance of the Mac it's placed on, and thus are more trouble than they're worth. Uninstall it according to the developer's directions, which you can find here --> https://www.avira.com/en/support-for-home-knowledgebase-detail/kbid/1242
You have CleanMyMac installed — CleanMyMac is one of the biggest pieces of fraudulent scamware I've ever seen. It's beyond nonsense. Macs do not need any program that claims it will boost, clean, organize, optimize, refresh, or otherwise perform some kind of maintenance on the hard drive. They're scams because they don't do anything you can't do yourself, but since Macs don't need you to do anything like that, it's even worse. Uninstall it completely as well, following the directions here --> http://macpaw.com/support/cleanmymac/knowledgebase/how-to-uninstall-cleanmymac-3

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Answer 7

hadyhussien Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 20, 2016 5:03 PM in response to pinkstones

how ever i agree with you and i've uninstalled both, but how come its doing the same on my phone and only when connected to the Home wifi

also after removing the two applications i still get this message

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Answer 8

hadyhussien Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 20, 2016 5:13 PM in response to hadyhussien

unfortunately the issue is still there

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Answer 9

pinkstones

Level 5

4,246 points

Apr 20, 2016 5:26 PM in response to hadyhussien

That has nothing to do with malware or adware, I don't believe. Do you use DSL to connect to the Internet?

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Answer 10

hadyhussien Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 20, 2016 5:30 PM in response to pinkstones

yes, DSL is the only way i can connect to the internet

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Answer 11

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,739 points

Apr 20, 2016 5:30 PM in response to hadyhussien

From the menu bar, please select

 ▹ System Preferences... ▹ Network ▹ Advanced... ▹ DNS

Under DNS Servers you should have one or more numerical addresses, such as “192.168.1.1” or “10.0.0.1”. What are those addresses?

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Answer 12

hadyhussien Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 20, 2016 5:35 PM in response to Linc Davis

*******

8.8.4.4

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Answer 13

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,739 points

Apr 20, 2016 7:09 PM in response to hadyhussien

Your router has been hacked to direct DNS queries to a malicious server.

Follow the manufacturer's instructions to reset the router to the default state. Usually that involves inserting the end of a straightened paper clip or a similar tool into a pinhole somewhere in the back of the device, and pressing a switch inside for about 15 seconds. The pinhole may be marked "RESET."

Repeat the initial setup process. Make sure the router does not allow remote setup from the Internet (WAN port), if it has that feature—most do. The DNS servers should be set automatically by your ISP. If you still have trouble with those servers selected, contact your ISP.

Check the router manufacturer's website for a firmware update.

If you have a wireless network, it must be secured with WPA 2 encryption. The passwords for the network and the router must each be a string of at least 10 random upper- and lower-case letters and digits, and they should be different. Any password that you can remember is weak.

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Answer 14

hadyhussien Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 20, 2016 7:09 PM in response to Linc Davis

Thank you Linc Davis,

your advises was the best and i contacted my services provider and reconfigured my router again and things are going well so far, hopefully it stays like that

thank you for you support

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Answer 15

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,739 points

Apr 20, 2016 7:18 PM in response to hadyhussien

You should be fine as long as the router can't be configured from outside your network. Please make sure it's set it up that way.

Beyond that, be careful about downloading software. Never run unknown software just because someone or something on a website tells you to. It's safest to use only applications that come from the App Store.

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