Level 1

4 points

Popup ads in new tab in Safari and Chrome

Hi.

I use Safari and Chrome basically everyday, and have adblocker extensions on both. And ONLY those extensions. Not a single other.

Now about a week ago, both my browsers started opening ads in new windows, often from Unibet, and so on. In chrome, the basic search engine was also changed along with the homepage. I changed it back, but it changes back.

I started adding the URLS from the ads into "blocked sites" in chrome, but it seems to never run out of ads pages, so I went into heavy google mode. But I didn't get too far I've been searching files through finder, "go to folder" with a bunch of strings someone suggested to search for, and stared at my activity monitor for an hour, basically googling half of everything in there. But anything I found that seems reliable online is a few years old - and thus (because I know that much) - is probably not relevant anymore - so I dare not stop or delete things. Nothing seemed to be a perfect match with files or folders that the great web tell me could be adware.

Does anyone have some up to date troubleshooting tips for me? Files to search for, or activities to look for in the activity monitor? Or perhaps a good adware cleaner program, that isn't all the pricy? (maybe even free??:O). Or all of the above.

I'm running High Sierra 10.13.6 on a MacBook Pro (late 2011).

(But I've put in an SSD, so it's running like a charm! )

Any input appreciated.

/robert

MacBook Pro, iOS 10.3

Posted on Oct 19, 2018 3:56 PM

Top-ranking reply

Cåts

Level 5

4,584 points

Posted on Oct 19, 2018 4:55 PM

Run this. You can trust it.

https://etrecheck.com

follow the instructions after it’s done and shows your report.

it will show you if you have adware and malware and you can get rid of them yourself. It’s a great program. I’ve used it many times. It’s very user friendly.

here is the bio of the person who created it.

etresoft

https://discussions.apple.com/profile/etresoft/profile

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22 replies

Phayn Author

Level 1

4 points

Oct 20, 2018 9:33 AM in response to Eric Root

Yeah. I figured this out now. That last thing you wrote there clarified things. Now I found the checkbox for "show library", after reealing the home icon in the finder menu.
But as commented on one of your other comments, I've removed the files using EtreCheck. Had no idea I could do that! Only reason I was looking for that one folder in the first place, is because I thought I had to pay a whole bunch of money to have EtreCheck remove it for me. 🙂

Cåts

Level 5

4,584 points

Oct 20, 2018 1:33 PM in response to Phayn

Sorry couldn’t reply earlier ( different time zone and also not home) but wanted to see how you did with Etrecheck. I’m glad it helped you to isolate the problem of pop ups

- and now you learned from Eric Root about the library folder. Etrecheck really is a wonderful tool.

Nei, jeg brukte ikke translator.🙂

Cåts

Level 5

4,584 points

Oct 19, 2018 4:53 PM in response to Phayn

See my reply above, I put a link to something to help you- it’s created by a member here and I’ve used it.

Eric Root

Level 10

685,221 points

Oct 20, 2018 9:30 AM in response to Phayn

You are welcome.

Eric Root

Level 10

685,221 points

Oct 20, 2018 9:36 AM in response to Phayn

Hopefully, everything will work normally again.

Cåts

Level 5

4,584 points

Oct 19, 2018 4:09 PM in response to Phayn

are you referring to those pop ups that show up saying something like “ congratulations! You won etc,etc.etc “ ?

if so, that is a problem with the website itself. There is no way to block those.

Ad Blocker Extensions block ads from showing on your page. They do NOT block pop ups like the one I described Above.

With an ad Blocker ( I use Ad Block Plus) if you navigate to a website, you won’t see ads that display. To see what I mean, disable your ad blocker a webpage of your choosing.

look at the page without the ad blocker enabled.

then, enable it and go view the same webpage again. You will seethat there are white areas where the ads would be.

please screenshot what you are seeing and post it back here so I can help more if needed.

Phayn Author

Level 1

4 points

Oct 20, 2018 3:26 AM in response to Cåts

I am going to assume you google-translated that into Norwegian, so I will skip the comment/reply back with Norwegian, for your leisure 😉
So I've dug into my report from EtreCheck. I have successfully removed adware, which in my second diagnostic, shows to now be gone. Woop woop!

But, I did experience one popup ad as before - now 30 min ago (after the second diagnostic), but so far just the one, but I assume I'm not 100% in the clear. I still have 2 "major issues" - one being the lack of backup, and one being "unassigned files". It says these could be adware, too, so I'd like to remove these. My main problem now, is that I can't find the location/folder for these files :S It shows me a list of unassigned files, and says "library/LaunchAgent" is the location, but I have no folder with this name in my Library. I've also tried the ****+cmnd+G function in finder, and put in the individual file location strings from the etrecheck report, which only takes me to the Library, with the main folder overview (and with no folder called "LaunchAgents").

Do you have any suggestions?
I am posting my etrecheck report here for good measures. (Happy reading?:S)

EtreCheck version: 5.0.6 (5A017)

Report generated: 2018-10-20 12:10:15

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime: 2:22

Performance: Excellent

Problem: Other problem

Description:

Random and frequent popup ads in Safari and Chrome (opening in new tabs), completely unrelated to browser usage. As long as browser is open - and even when not viewing any website - popup ads will appear.

Major Issues:

Anything that appears on this list needs immediate attention.

No Time Machine backup - Time Machine backup not found.

Unsigned files - There are unsigned software files installed that could be adware and should be reviewed.

Minor Issues:

These issues do not need immediate attention but they may indicate future problems.

Upgradeable RAM - This machine has upgradeable RAM that would help its performance.

High battery cycle count - Your battery may be losing capacity.

Apps with heavy CPU usage - There have been numerous cases of apps with heavy CPU usage.

Clean up - There are orphan files that could be removed.

Vintage hardware - This machine may be considered vintage.

32-bit Apps - This machine has 32-bits apps that may have problems in the future.

Abnormal shutdown - Your machine shut down abnormally.

Hardware Information:

MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2011) - Vintage!

MacBook Pro Model: MacBookPro8,2

1 2,2 GHz Intel Core i7 (i7-2675QM) CPU: 4-core

4 GB RAM - Upgradeable

BANK 0/DIMM0 - 2 GB DDR3 1333 ok

BANK 1/DIMM0 - 2 GB DDR3 1333 ok

Battery: Health = Replace Soon - Cycle count = 1137

Video Information:

Intel HD Graphics 3000 - VRAM: 384 MB

AMD Radeon HD 6750M - VRAM: 512 MB

Color LCD 1920 x 1080

BenQ GL2450H 1920 x 1080

Drives:

disk0 - Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB 500.11 GB (Solid State - TRIM: No)

Internal SATA 6 Gigabit Serial ATA

disk0s1 - EFI (MS-DOS FAT32) [EFI] 210 MB

disk0s2 [APFS Container] 499.90 GB

disk1 [APFS Virtual drive] 499.90 GB (Shared by 4 volumes)

disk1s1 - SSD (APFS) (Shared - 40.64 GB used)

disk1s2 - Preboot (APFS) [APFS Preboot] (Shared - 21 MB used)

disk1s3 - Recovery (APFS) [Recovery] (Shared - 519 MB used)

disk1s4 - VM (APFS) [APFS VM] (Shared - 3.22 GB used)

Mounted Volumes:

disk1s1 - SSD 499.90 GB (455.34 GB free)

APFS

Mount point: /

disk1s4 - VM [APFS VM] (Shared - 3.22 GB used)

APFS

Mount point: /private/var/vm

Network:

Interface en0: Ethernet

Proxies: HTTP, HTTPS

Interface en4: iPhone

Proxies: HTTP, HTTPS

Interface fw0: FireWire

Interface en1: Wi-Fi

802.11 a/b/g/n

Proxies: HTTP, HTTPS

Interface en3: Bluetooth PAN

Proxies: HTTP, HTTPS

Interface bridge0: Thunderbolt Bridge

Proxies: HTTP, HTTPS

iCloud Quota: 4.59 GB available

System Software:

macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 (17G65)

Time since boot: About 11 hours

Security:

System	Status
Gatekeeper	Enabled
System Integrity Protection	Enabled

Unsigned Files:

Launchd: ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.Lezghian-frondiform.plist

Executable: ~/Library/splasher-auspicy/BFQwkSii/sujYuTsM/ioShxCnB/Lezghian-frondiform