Just got my 2009 iMac updated with new hard drive and more ram.
Have been getting lots of "promoted content" ads that are unsavory to me. They are also beginning to show up on my iPad. How can I get rid of these ads?
iMac (24-inch Early 2009)
Hi. On iPad, Settings > Privacy > Advertising > Limit Ad Tracking. If you enable this, you will get random ads, not particularly directed at you. I don't know about your iMac. You might post in one of the Mac forums for that.
On a Mac, I'd suggest you run Etrecheck, a little app written by a long time contributor here that will tell us what possible nasties may be on your system. Post the results here please.
If it finds anything, it may help you remove them; or, if necessary you can also download this little app (also written by a long time contributor here) and run that:
Thank you Diana I made those changes so we will see.
Hi babowa, Thank you for your help.
Below are the etrecheck results. Didn't see any obvious issues. Also ran malwarebytes without any malware noted. Changed some Safari privacy settings that didn't affect my issues. Problem not regular ads but explicit sexual content.
EtreCheck version: 3.0.6 (315)
Report generated 2016-10-03 19:12:02
Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com
Runtime 1:49
Performance: Excellent
Click the [Support] links for help with non-Apple products.
Click the [Details] links for more information about that line.
Problem: Other problem
Description:
unsavory ads
Hardware Information:ⓘ
iMac (24-inch, Early 2009)
[Technical Specifications] - [User Guide] - [Warranty & Service]
iMac - model: iMac9,1
1 2.66 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
Video Information:ⓘ
NVIDIA GeForce 9400 - VRAM: 256 MB
iMac 1920 x 1200
System Software:ⓘ
OS X El Capitan 10.11.6 (15G1004) - Time since boot: about 10 hours
Disk Information:ⓘ
Crucial_CT750MX300SSD1 disk0 : (750.16 GB) (Solid State - TRIM: No)
EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB
imac (disk0s2) / [Startup]: 749.81 GB (628.14 GB free)
OPTIARC DVD RW AD-5670S ()
USB Information:ⓘ
Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver
Apple Inc. BRCM2046 Hub
Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
Apple, Inc. Keyboard Hub
Apple, Inc Apple Keyboard
Apple Inc. Built-in iSight
Gatekeeper:ⓘ
Mac App Store and identified developers
System Launch Agents:ⓘ
[not loaded] 8 Apple tasks
[loaded] 161 Apple tasks
[running] 56 Apple tasks
[killed] 14 Apple tasks
14 processes killed due to insufficient RAM
System Launch Daemons:ⓘ
[not loaded] 44 Apple tasks
[loaded] 157 Apple tasks
[running] 80 Apple tasks
[killed] 10 Apple tasks
10 processes killed due to insufficient RAM
Launch Agents:ⓘ
[failed] com.adobe.ARMDCHelper.cc24aef4a1b90ed56a725c38014c95072f92651fb65e1bf9c8e43c37a2 3d420d.plist (2016-07-11) [Support]
[loaded] com.coupons.coupond.plist (2015-06-02) [Support]
[not loaded] com.teamviewer.teamviewer.plist (2016-07-06) [Support]
[not loaded] com.teamviewer.teamviewer_desktop.plist (2016-07-06) [Support]
[running] com.trusteer.rapport.rapportd.plist (2016-09-28) [Support]
Launch Daemons:ⓘ
[loaded] com.adobe.ARMDC.Communicator.plist (2016-07-11) [Support]
[loaded] com.adobe.ARMDC.SMJobBlessHelper.plist (2016-07-11) [Support]
[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (2016-08-29) [Support]
[loaded] com.malwarebytes.HelperTool.plist (2016-10-03) [Support]
[loaded] com.microsoft.autoupdate.helpertool.plist (2016-08-17) [Support]
[loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensingV2.helper.plist (2016-08-17) [Support]
[loaded] com.teamviewer.Helper.plist (2016-07-06) [Support]
[not loaded] com.teamviewer.teamviewer_service.plist (2016-07-06) [Support]
[running] com.trusteer.rooks.rooksd.plist (2016-09-28) [Support]
User Launch Agents:ⓘ
[loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist (2011-03-06) [Support]
[loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist (2011-05-09) [Support]
[loaded] com.apple.AddressBook.ScheduledSync.PHXCardDAVSource.9325DA2C-C42A-4CD7-B76A-DA3 9E4C633C1.plist (2012-08-23)
[failed] com.apple.CSConfigDotMacCert-@me.com-SharedServices.Agent.plist (2009-06-11)
User Login Items:ⓘ
AdobeResourceSynchronizer Application Hidden (/Applications/Adobe Reader.app/Contents/Support/AdobeResourceSynchronizer.app)
Internet Plug-ins:ⓘ
Default Browser: 601 - SDK 10.11 (2016-07-25)
Flip4Mac WMV Plugin: 2.4.0.11 (2011-06-30) [Support]
OfficeLiveBrowserPlugin: 12.3.6 (2013-03-16) [Support]
AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: 15.017.20053 - SDK 10.11 (2016-08-03) [Support]
FlashPlayer-10.6: 23.0.0.162 - SDK 10.9 (2016-09-20) [Support]
Silverlight: 5.1.10411.0 - SDK 10.6 (2012-06-21) [Support]
QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (2016-07-25)
Flash Player: 23.0.0.162 - SDK 10.9 (2016-09-20) [Support]
iPhotoPhotocast: 7.0 (2010-04-08)
SiteAdvisor: 2.0 - SDK 10.1 (2012-09-11) [Support]
AdobePDFViewer: 15.017.20053 - SDK 10.11 (2016-08-03) [Support]
CANONiMAGEGATEWAYDL: 3.1.0.2 (2009-09-08) [Support]
CouponPrinter-FireFox_v2: 5.2.0 - SDK 10.6 (2015-06-02) [Support]
JavaAppletPlugin: 15.0.1 - SDK 10.11 (2013-10-03) Check version
Safari Extensions:ⓘ
InvisibleHand - Forward Internet Group - http://www.getinvisiblehand.com (2015-11-30)
Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on - Google, Inc. - http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout (2016-08-29)
3rd Party Preference Panes:ⓘ
Flash Player (2016-08-29) [Support]
Flip4Mac WMV (2011-06-30) [Support]
Trusteer Endpoint Protection (2016-09-30) [Support]
Time Machine:ⓘ
Skip System Files: NO
Mobile backups: OFF
Auto backup: YES
Volumes being backed up:
imac: Disk size: 749.81 GB Disk used: 121.67 GB
Destinations:
My Book for Mac [Local]
Total size: 2.00 TB
Total number of backups: 11
Oldest backup: 6/6/15, 11:03 AM
Last backup: 8/28/16, 5:21 PM
Size of backup disk: Adequate
Backup size 2.00 TB > (Disk used 121.67 GB X 3)
Top Processes by CPU:ⓘ
3% WindowServer
1% kernel_task
1% fontd
0% askpermissiond
Top Processes by Memory:ⓘ
855 MB kernel_task
778 MB com.apple.WebKit.WebContent(2)
254 MB Microsoft Outlook
246 MB mdworker(13)
229 MB Safari
Virtual Memory Information:ⓘ
3.28 GB Free RAM
4.97 GB Used RAM (1.66 GB Cached)
20 MB Swap Used
Diagnostics Information:ⓘ
Oct 3, 2016, 07:08:26 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/com.apple.WebKit.WebContent_2016-10-03-190826_[ redacted].cpu_resource.diag [Details]
/System/Library/StagedFrameworks/Safari/WebKit.framework/Versions/A/XPCServices /com.apple.WebKit.WebContent.xpc/Contents/MacOS/com.apple.WebKit.WebContent
Oct 3, 2016, 09:51:19 AM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/com.apple.WebKit.WebContent_2016-10-03-095119_[ redacted].cpu_resource.diag [Details]
Oct 3, 2016, 08:52:24 AM Self test - passed
I'd get rid of Trusteer. Check their site for uninstall instructions.
And, I'd uninstall the two Safari extensions.
As for Site Advisor (in Internet plugins) - unless you know what it is and need it, you might want to part with it. And, Flip4Mac is a great app, but it hasn't been supported or worked for a while (as far as I know) - I tried it recently and it would not launch. Other than that, I did not see anything obvious (unfortunately).
I suspect you may just need to consider adblocking.
Ublock seems OK on OS X, iOS also has content blockers for Safari or just try the same sites in the adblock browser app (from the store).
This should have extensions for OS X, https://extensions.apple.com/
Use the app store for iOS. Only newer iOS versions & devices can run content blockers so you may need to use a specific app instead.
The web is becoming crammed full of absolute junk on some sites. Sadly the sites claim they need the adverts to exist so it is not helping the situation to block them, I just refuse to be exploited by offensive adverts or risk seeing ones that randomly serve up malware.
Change your browser if you need to see if you have cookies & other trackers that are following you around. It may help to purge all browser history, cookies & then reinstate any opt-out services you signed up for (they seem kind of dubious to me too). There is an 'adtracking identifier' in the iOS privacy settings that were mentioned earlier, use that if you ever reset everything.
Mary's ilife wrote:
... They are also beginning to show up on my iPad.
Then it's not likely anything is wrong with your Mac, but there may beabnormal reasons for what you are encountering.
The following will only work if your Mac is running OS X "Lion" or later:
Restart your Mac normally and describe your results.
If the problem does not occur in Recovery mode, but returns after restarting your Mac normally, please read If Safari is slow, stops responding, quits unexpectedly, or has other issues - Apple Support. The applicable section is "Remove Internet plug-ins and other add-ons" and the Support documents that follow "Learn more".
If there is no change in behavior while in Recovery mode please write back for more suggestions.
How can I get rid of "promoted content" ads
