I signed into The App store to purchase a utility program that would remove malware from my Mac Yosemite version. Yesterday I notice in my download their is a tray that says start me. Today I notice Advanced Mac Cleaner is trying to over take my co

I signed in today so I could purchase a utility program from the Apple app store. Picked the category and made my selection. It came up on screen was to cost $14.99 after that nothing happened. There was no icon to start the download. After, I hit the price tag under the Major icon it than wanted me to advertise on Facebook, or twitter. So how do I download the product? Adware Doctor was the product.

MAC OS-OTHER, OS X Yosemite (10.10.4)

Posted on Jun 22, 2016 5:12 PM

Reply
4 replies

Jun 23, 2016 1:41 PM in response to Marguerite Thibault

A

Never use any kind of "anti-virus" or "anti-malware" software on a Mac. That's how you cause problems, not how you solve them.

B

You installed a fake "utility" called "Advanced Mac Cleaner" and/or "AdwareCleaner." Like any software that purports to automatically "clean up" or "speed up" a Mac, it's a scam.

To inactivate it, please take the steps below. This procedure may leave a few small files behind, but they have no effect, and trying to remove them all would be more trouble than it's worth.

Some of the files listed may be absent in your case. Back up all data before proceeding.

Malware is always changing to get around the defenses against it. 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.

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

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

~/Library/LaunchAgents

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

Services Open

from the contextual menu.* A folder named "LaunchAgents" may open. If it does, look inside it for files with a name that begins in either of these ways:

com.pcv.

com.adwarecleaner.

Move any such files to the Trash.

Log out or restart the computer and empty the Trash.

*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 may not see what you pasted because a line break is included. Press return.

The malware is now permanently inactivated, as long as you don't reinstall it.

The problem started when you downloaded something, perhaps an application called "FileZilla" or "NicePlayer," when prompted to do so by a popup on a website. Never visit that site again. All legitimate software should be downloaded directly from the developer's website or from the Mac App Store, if applicable.

"Advanced Mac Cleaner" may have been bundled with other malware that was installed at the same time. If you still have problems with web browsers after removing it, ask for instructions.

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

I signed into The App store to purchase a utility program that would remove malware from my Mac Yosemite version. Yesterday I notice in my download their is a tray that says start me. Today I notice Advanced Mac Cleaner is trying to over take my co

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