Apple explains how to remove adware from your Mac

“For a long time, Apple shied away from discussing any types of malware: viruses, trojan horses, even adware,” Kirk McElhearn writes for Kirksville. “This latter form of malware is also called ad-injection software, and, as Apple says, “’come from third-party download sites.’ This can result in annoying ads popping up on your Mac, or being inserted into web pages.”

“Again, quoting Apple: ‘If your Mac has ad-injection software installed, you might see pop-up windows, ads, and graphics while surfing the web, even if ‘Block pop-up windows’ is selected in Safari preferences. Ad-injection software might also change your homepage and preferred search engine,'” McElhearn writes. “Apple has created a technical document, Remove unwanted adware that displays pop-up ads and graphics on your Mac, explaining how to get rid of these annoyances.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Note: Regarding iOS malvertising, please see:

• Malvertising: Unscrupulous website ads again auto-redirecting users to App Store from Safari – March 18, 2015

• Shady app install ads automatically redirecting mobile users to App Store, Google Play – January 16, 2015

21 Comments

  1. They create a tool for removing all those directories. It could scan them, identify them, then ask for permission before deleting them.

    Doing it by hand would be too laborious.

    That said, I have never had any of these malware injections.

  2. So Apple releases regular security updates to OS X — why don’t those updates automatically delete known adware?

    Cmon, Apple, get back to the days when your software JUST WORKED the way a user would expect.

      1. What mentally deranged person WANTS adware? adware = malware, period. If you want more ads in your life, then go to MDN or google or facebook web pages. Mac users should never have to deal with unwanted software like this, period. Apple has the means to clean it up without the need for 3rd party antivirus software.

        Remember, Apple users spent the last 30 years laughing at the antivirus stuff Windows users had to deal with. Now the Mac platform is being actively degraded by malware and you propose that Apple should just let users deal with it? that’s stupid.

  3. What if there was a biological virus, which could pop up ads on your skin? Would you tolerate it? How about a termite that eats ads into the front door of your house? I know, ridiculous.

    But we do have crap that hijacks our computers. To me it’s still all ridiculous and it makes me wish it was “open season” on producers of unsolicited junk mail, spam, adware, and rogue web ad providers. Open season, as in Seal Team 6 them.

    1. I would love to have a terminate that eats ads into the front door of my house, that would be awesome.

      I’d video it and post a fast motion video of it on YouTube (with ad links of course) and make a killing. I’d buy a new house.

    2. If ‘The Singularity’ nightmare ever becomes real, and human beings become integrated with computers, SkinVertising could become real. I think I’d head for the nearest tall building and jump if that happened.

      There’s a rather cheesy B movie about something similar: ‘Hardwired‘. Victims are shown virtual advertising 24-7 via a chip shoved into the back of their brain. The marketing maniac baddies are suitably served justice in the end. The chip is destroyed.

      Note that some ‘adware’ is supposedly acceptable to certain people. Therefore, it’s iffy as to whether such stuff is malware or not. The line is crossed, IMHO, if the victim is social engineered into installing it. If a person does not explicitly REQUEST the ‘adware’, IOW checks ON the installation (as opposed to it being pre-checked for them), then it’s MALWARE IMHO. It’s abuse. It’s Marketing Morons at work ruining their customer’s lives. Not acceptable. Not professional. Seek and destroy.

  4. My usual mini-lecture on the subject of adware:

    1) Only use respectable Mac app download sites. Those are, IMHO within my personal knowledge:
    – A) MacUpdate
    – B) Major Geeks
    I use both and recommend both. I know the guys who run both websites and trust them. Every other up-to-date Mac app download site I’ve encountered is either intensely lame or abuses its victims with adware infliction. Please correct me if I’m wrong!

    2) Go download and regularly run Adware Medic from my colleague Thomas Reed. It’s free (donationware). It works. Thomas is fanatical and brilliant about identifying, discussing and killing off adware. I am a beta-tester for AdwareMedic. Thomas was one of the prime instigators to inspire Apple to get serious about adware and to publish the document to which Kirk links in his article. A lot of the data in that document is Thomas’.

    AdwareMedic by The Safe Mac

    1. Mal Advertizing

      A common form of mal advertizing is the Virus Warning dialog box that appears suddenly when you visit a site.

      When a pop-up window appears warning of a VIRUS and instructs you to click OK on the dialog box. DO NOT CLICK OK!!!!!!!

      Press Command w to close window.

      If that doesn’t work Force Quit Safari.

      In any case after Safari has quit, hold the shift key down and reopen. This will keep Safari from being redirected back to the site.

      If you don’t already have it installed:

      Download – Adware Medic and run to find and delete offending adware.

      http://www.adwaremedic.com/index.php

      😀🖖

      1. There are a few add-ons/extensions for Safari/Firefox/Chromium that claim to identify and block ‘Malvertising’ crap. (Think ‘MacKeeper’, the worst of offenders IMHO). It can’t hurt to try them. I’ve never tested them. Like the cookie control apps, I suspect they’re hit-or-miss, IOW never perfect. But if you’re the administrator for a, ahem, ‘LUSER’*, these tools could be very helpful.

        *[A LUSER is someone who attracts computer infections and other problems. I’ve never liked the term ‘luser’, or as I emphasize: ‘LUSER’. But after enough experience with random computer users out in the world, I’ve found it to be a particularly descriptive and useful term that immediately groks with other computer support personnel. It’s not to be used to upset such people. It’s simply a term that emphasizes how important it is for administrators to keep an eye on such people 24-7 for everyone’s benefit. One such person is my own father, who thankfully is aware enough or the problem to leave all the computer work to my far more tech aware mother. 😀 ]

      1. *sigh* Thanks for pointing that out. Here’s the dirt on it from Wikipedia:

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SourceForge

        In September 2012, Dice Holdings acquired SourceForge….

        DevShare adware controversy

        In July 2013, SourceForge announced that it will provide project owners an optional feature called DevShare, which places closed-source ad-supported content into the binary installers and gives the project part of the ad revenue. Opinions of this new feature vary, with some complaining about downloaders not being as aware of what they are getting or being able to trust the downloaded content, whereas others see it as a reasonably harmless option that keeps individual projects and users in control.

        In November 2013, GIMP, a popular free image manipulation program, removed its download from SourceForge, citing misleading download buttons that can potentially confuse customers, as well as SourceForge’s own Windows installer, which bundles third-party offers. In a statement, GIMP called SourceForge a once “useful and trustworthy place to develop and host FLOSS applications” that now faces “a problem with the ads they allow on their sites …”

        Dice Holdings is a publicly held commercial company, DHX on the NY Stock Exchange.

        😛

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