How to block MacKeeper popups in Firefox

Question

Level 1

10 points

How to block MacKeeper popups in Firefox

Hi,

Since more than one week I constantly get popups from "clean my mac" etc. I am using Firefox 47.0 and safari as browser and on my Mac I have OS-X 10.9.5

My MacBook Pro is already more than 4 years old and I don't dare to install a newer version of Os.

I tried everything already (cleaned cookies, uninstalled "Advanced MacCleaner" program etc) but no result it keeps coming back. I never bought or installed any product of MacKeeper.

I followed the guidelines that I found on google (how to remove ...) in 18 steps but no result.

Has anyone an idea how to remove these bandits from my Mac?

Thanks for all help!

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Feb 12, 2018 8:39 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Tesserax

Level 10

157,896 points

Feb 12, 2018 9:54 AM in response to muesli_usa

We get numerous post here at the ASC related to MacKeeper and the issues that it causes. These popups are a form of adware.

To help remove this adware, I would suggest that you consider using EtreCheck and posting the resultant report for us to review. (Note: The EtreCheck reports does NOT contain any personal information.)

You can download EtreCheck from here.
Start EtreCheck from a normal user account. Optionally, you can run it from a user account with Administrator privileges.
Select Options
Verify that the two options: "Ignore expected failures in Apple tasks" and "Hide Apple tasks" are enabled." Note: They should be by default. You can skip this step the next time your run EtreCheck.
Select a problem from the drop-down menu to enable the "Start EtreCheck" button. Optionally, you can add comments on what issues your Mac is experiencing, especially to aide others with similar Mac issues.
Click on Start EtreCheck
Allow the program to run to completion.
When done, you should get a results report.
Select the "Share Report" icon.
Select Copy Report
Paste the report to your reply post.

Reply

Answer 2

muesli_usa Author

Level 1

10 points

Feb 12, 2018 11:33 AM in response to Tesserax

EtreCheck version: 3.4.7 (461)

Report generated 2018-02-12 20:32:43

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime: 2:10

Performance: Excellent

Click the [Lookup] links for more information from Apple Support Communities.

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

Click the [Remove/Report] links to remove adware or update the whitelist of legitimate software.

Problem: Other problem

Description:

adware advancedmaccleaner mackeeper

Hardware Information: ⓘ

MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2013)

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

MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro11,1

1 2.4 GHz Intel Core i5 (i5-4258U) CPU: 2-core

8 GB RAM Not upgradeable

BANK 0/DIMM0

4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

Handoff/Airdrop2: supported

Wireless: en0: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac

Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 270

Video Information: ⓘ

Intel Iris - VRAM: 1536 MB

Color LCD 2560 x 1600

Disk Information: ⓘ

APPLE SSD SM0256F disk0: (251 GB) (Solid State - TRIM: Yes)

[Show SMART report]

(disk0s1) <not mounted> [EFI]: 210 MB

Macintosh HD (disk0s2 - Journaled HFS+) / [Startup]: 250.14 GB (3.31 GB free) (Low!)

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

USB Information: ⓘ

XHCI Root Hub SS Simulation

Apple Internal Memory Card Reader

XHCI Root Hub USB 2.0 Simulation

Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad

Apple, Inc. Keyboard Hub

Logitech USB Optical Mouse

Apple, Inc Apple Keyboard

Thunderbolt Information: ⓘ

Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

System Software: ⓘ

OS X Mavericks 10.9.5 (13F1911) - Time since boot: less than an hour

Gatekeeper: ⓘ

Mac App Store and identified developers

Possible adware: ⓘ

Adware: ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.adscleaner.hlpradc.plist

Adware: ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.pcv.hlpramcn.plist

Adware: ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.youbit.helper.update.plist

3 possible adware files found. [Remove/Report]

System Launch Agents: ⓘ

[not loaded] 4 Apple tasks

[loaded] 147 Apple tasks

[running] 33 Apple tasks

System Launch Daemons: ⓘ

[not loaded] 51 Apple tasks

[loaded] 140 Apple tasks

[running] 58 Apple tasks

Launch Agents: ⓘ

[not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (? ffb65062 ba46f95b - installed 2014-02-19) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist (Google, Inc. - installed 2017-09-28) [Lookup]

Launch Daemons: ⓘ

[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (? 2afb3af7 6cf41d3c - installed 2016-04-16) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.google.keystone.daemon.plist (Google, Inc. - installed 2017-10-13) [Lookup]

[running] org.opensc.pcscd.autostart.plist (Apple, Inc. - installed 2016-07-20)

User Launch Agents: ⓘ

[loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (? 6a3cceca ba46f95b - installed 2014-02-25) [Lookup]

[running] com.adscleaner.hlpradc.plist (Techyutils Software Private Limited - installed 2017-02-08) Adware! [Remove/Report]

~/Library/Application Support/adc/hlpradc.app/Contents/MacOS/hlpradc

[running] com.adwarecleaner.hlprawc.plist (PCVARK software Private Limited - installed 2016-12-22) [Lookup]

[running] com.pcv.hlpramcn.plist (? ? ? - installed 2018-02-08) Adware! [Remove/Report]

~/Library/Application Support/amc/helperamc.app/Contents/MacOS/helperamc

[loaded] com.youbit.helper.update.plist (Tim Serooli - installed 2018-02-12) Adware! [Remove/Report]

~/Library/Application Support/youbit/youbit.app/Contents/MacOS/Installer

User Login Items: ⓘ

iTunesHelper Programma (Apple, Inc. - installed 2017-01-27)

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

Internet Plug-ins: ⓘ

FlashPlayer-10.6: 21.0.0.226 (installed 2016-04-21) [Lookup]

QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (installed 2016-07-20)

Flash Player: 21.0.0.226 (installed 2016-04-21) Outdated! Update

JavaAppletPlugin: 14.9.0 (installed 2015-08-07) Check version

Default Browser: 537 (installed 2014-10-15)

Safari Extensions: ⓘ

[enabled] Search Genius - Operator mac (installed 2016-06-23)

3rd Party Preference Panes: ⓘ

Paragon NTFS for Mac ® OS X (installed 2014-11-10) [Lookup]

Time Machine: ⓘ

Time Machine not configured!

Top Processes by CPU: ⓘ

8% coreservicesd

6% Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5

4% WindowServer

4% Dock

1% fontd

Top Processes by Memory: ⓘ

873 MB firefox

599 MB kernel_task

475 MB Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5

283 MB Finder

120 MB WindowServer

Top Processes by Energy Use: ⓘ

5.04 WindowServer

1.90 firefox

0.08 pcscd

0.08 AdobeCrashDaemon

Virtual Memory Information: ⓘ

4.48 GB Available RAM

1.75 GB Free RAM

3.52 GB Used RAM

2.73 GB Cached files

0 B Swap Used

Software installs (last 30 days): ⓘ

Google Earth: (installed 2018-01-31)

Google Earth: (installed 2018-02-06)

Install information may not be complete.

Diagnostics Events (last 3 days for minor events): ⓘ

2018-02-12 11:59:41 youbit.app Crash [Open]

Reply

Answer 3

Tesserax

Level 10

157,896 points

Feb 12, 2018 11:40 AM in response to muesli_usa

Possible adware: ⓘ

Adware: ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.adscleaner.hlpradc.plist

Adware: ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.pcv.hlpramcn.plist

Adware: ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.youbit.helper.update.plist

3 possible adware files found. [Remove/Report]

User Launch Agents: ⓘ

[running] com.adscleaner.hlpradc.plist (Techyutils Software Private Limited - installed 2017-02-08) Adware! [Remove/Report]

~/Library/Application Support/adc/hlpradc.app/Contents/MacOS/hlpradc

[running] com.adwarecleaner.hlprawc.plist (PCVARK software Private Limited - installed 2016-12-22) [Lookup]

[running] com.pcv.hlpramcn.plist (? ? ? - installed 2018-02-08) Adware! [Remove/Report]

~/Library/Application Support/amc/helperamc.app/Contents/MacOS/helperamc

[loaded] com.youbit.helper.update.plist (Tim Serooli - installed 2018-02-12) Adware! [Remove/Report]

~/Library/Application Support/youbit/youbit.app/Contents/MacOS/Installer

Ok, I'm not sure if you tried using the Remove option for each of these, but if you haven't, please try it. Then run the report. You don't need to repost it again, just look to see if EtreCheck removed all of the above instances of adware. Note, you will need to select the Remove option for each instance.

If after doing so, the adware still exists, we may need to use a dedicated adware remover app to get rid of them.

Reply

Answer 4

Limnos

Level 10

427,151 points

Feb 12, 2018 11:57 AM in response to muesli_usa

There are several library folders on a computer. The one referred to in the messages is the one in your home directory. With the past couple of OSX versions Apple has this hidden from users because it can be dangerous altering files there unless you know exactly what you are doing.

I believe Etrecheck includes an actual feature to remove adware files using the Etrecheck application so you do not need to go into the library yourself.

You clearly have adware which could be contributing to this. Realize that some web sites have pretty determined pop-ups and those web sites get their funding from sources of shady software such as MacKeeper. The only way to prevent those is to simply not visit those web sites.

Reply

Answer 5

muesli_usa Author

Level 1

10 points

Feb 12, 2018 11:11 AM in response to Tesserax

Hi,

Here is the result of the EtreCheck:

EtreCheck version: 3.4.7 (461)

Report generated 2018-02-12 20:08:09

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime: 1:48

Performance: Excellent

Click the [Lookup] links for more information from Apple Support Communities.

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

Click the [Remove/Report] links to remove adware or update the whitelist of legitimate software.

Problem: Other problem

Description:

adware and popups MacKeeper and Advanced Maccleaner

Hardware Information: ⓘ

MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2013)

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

MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro11,1

1 2.4 GHz Intel Core i5 (i5-4258U) CPU: 2-core

8 GB RAM Not upgradeable

BANK 0/DIMM0

4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

Handoff/Airdrop2: supported

Wireless: en0: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac

Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 270

Video Information: ⓘ

Intel Iris - VRAM: 1536 MB

Color LCD 2560 x 1600

Disk Information: ⓘ

APPLE SSD SM0256F disk0: (251 GB) (Solid State - TRIM: Yes)

[Show SMART report]

(disk0s1) <not mounted> [EFI]: 210 MB

Macintosh HD (disk0s2 - Journaled HFS+) / [Startup]: 250.14 GB (3.30 GB free) (Low!)

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

USB Information: ⓘ

XHCI Root Hub SS Simulation

Apple Internal Memory Card Reader

XHCI Root Hub USB 2.0 Simulation

Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad

Apple, Inc. Keyboard Hub

Logitech USB Optical Mouse

Apple, Inc Apple Keyboard

Thunderbolt Information: ⓘ

Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

System Software: ⓘ

OS X Mavericks 10.9.5 (13F1911) - Time since boot: less than an hour

Gatekeeper: ⓘ

Mac App Store and identified developers

Possible adware: ⓘ

Adware: ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.adscleaner.hlpradc.plist

Adware: ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.pcv.hlpramcn.plist

Adware: ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.youbit.helper.update.plist

3 possible adware files found. [Remove/Report]

System Launch Agents: ⓘ

[not loaded] 4 Apple tasks

[loaded] 148 Apple tasks

[running] 32 Apple tasks