February 27, 2020 - Adware and PUPs can actually be far more invasive and dangerous on the Mac than 'real' malware. We demonstrate with analysis of Crossrider, a sophisticated Mac adware that uses evasion and persistence techniques more complex than nation-state malware. Remove Adware from Mac with Malwarebytes Malwarebytes for Mac is a free tool that scans for and removes threats that attack your system or your data, introduce unwanted behaviors, and degrade performance. Making your Mac, once again, your Mac. Download Malwarebytes for Mac.

If your web browser constantly display unwanted Mac Adware Cleaner pop-up ads (offers to install Mac Adware Cleaner), then it is possible that ‘ad-supported’ software (also known as adware) was installed on your MAC. The adware can alter your browser settings, install unwanted browser plugins, display lots of unwanted ads such as Mac Adware Cleaner pop-up advertisements. If you would like to clean your computer of adware and thus get rid of Mac Adware Cleaner pop-ups and are unable to do so, you can use the guidance below to detect and remove this ad supported software and any other malicious software for free.

It is not a good idea to have an unwanted program such as the adware that opens unwanted Mac Adware Cleaner ads. The reason for this is simple, it doing things you don’t know about. The worst is, the adware be able to collect lots of confidential information about you that can be later used for marketing purposes. You do not know if your home address, account names and passwords are safe. And of course you completely do not know what will happen when you click on any Mac Adware Cleaner pop-up.

Adware Scanner Mac

Thus, it’s clear that the presence of ad-supported software on your MAC OS is not desirable, and you need to clean up your MAC system ASAP. Follow the steps below in order to remove Mac Adware Cleaner pop-up ads.

Remove Mac Adware Cleaner pop-ups

Not all undesired apps like the adware that responsible for unwanted Mac Adware Cleaner pop-ups are easily uninstallable. You might see pop-ups, deals, text links, in-text advertisements, banners and other type of ads in the Safari, Firefox and Google Chrome and might not be able to figure out the application responsible for this activity. The reason for this is that many unwanted applications neither appear in the Finder. Therefore in order to completely remove Mac Adware Cleaner pop-ups, you need to follow the steps below. Read this manual carefully, bookmark or print it, because you may need to exit your web browser or reboot your Apple Mac.

To remove Mac Adware Cleaner, use the following steps:

1. How to remove Mac Adware Cleaner pop ups without any software
2. Mac Adware Cleaner popup automatic removal

How to remove Mac Adware Cleaner pop ups without any software

Read this “How to remove” section to know how to manually remove ad-supported software that causes a ton of intrusive Mac Adware Cleaner pop-ups. Even if the steps does not work for you, there are several free malicious software removers below that can easily handle such ‘ad supported’ software related to Mac Adware Cleaner pop-ups.

Removing the Mac Adware Cleaner, check the list of installed apps first

The process of ad supported software removal is generally the same across all versions of Mac operating system. To start with, it’s necessary to check the list of installed applications on your MAC OS and uninstall all unused, unknown and suspicious applications.

Open Finder and click “Applications”.

It will display a list of all software installed on your machine. Scroll through the all list, and remove any suspicious and unknown software. Right click to suspicious program and select “Move to Trash”. Another way is drag the program from the Applications folder to the Trash.

Most important, scroll through the all list, and move to trash any unknown applications. Don’t forget, select Finder -> Empty Trash.

Remove Mac Adware Cleaner pop ups from Safari

If you find that Safari internet browser settings like search provider by default, new tab page and start page having been changed by ‘ad supported’ software that responsible for web browser redirect to the unwanted Mac Adware Cleaner web page, then you may restore your settings, via the reset web browser procedure.

Click Safari menu and select “Preferences”.

It will open the Safari Preferences window. Next, click the “Extensions” tab. Look for unknown and suspicious plugins on left panel, choose it, then click the “Uninstall” button. Most important to remove all unknown extensions from Safari.

Once complete, click “General” tab. Change the “Default Search Engine” to Google.

Find the “Homepage” and type into textfield “https://www.google.com”.

Remove Mac Adware Cleaner popup from Chrome

Like other modern internet browsers, the Google Chrome has the ability to reset the settings to their default values and thereby restore the internet browser’s settings such as newtab, startpage and default search provider that have been changed by the adware that causes web browsers to display unwanted Mac Adware Cleaner pop-ups.

First open the Chrome. Next, click the button in the form of three horizontal dots ().

It will open the Google Chrome menu. Choose More Tools, then press Extensions. Carefully browse through the list of installed addons. If the list has the add-on signed with “Installed by enterprise policy” or “Installed by your administrator”, then complete the following steps: Remove Chrome extensions installed by enterprise policy.

Open the Google Chrome menu once again. Further, click the option named “Settings”.

The internet browser will show the settings screen. Another method to show the Google Chrome’s settings – type chrome://settings in the web-browser adress bar and press Enter

Scroll down to the bottom of the page and press the “Advanced” link. Now scroll down until the “Reset” section is visible, as shown on the image below and press the “Reset settings to their original defaults” button.

The Chrome will show the confirmation prompt as on the image below.

You need to confirm your action, click the “Reset” button. The web browser will start the procedure of cleaning. After it’s finished, the browser’s settings including new tab page, search engine and home page back to the values that have been when the Google Chrome was first installed on your MAC system.

Remove Mac Adware Cleaner from Firefox by resetting internet browser settings

Resetting your Firefox is first troubleshooting step for any issues with your web browser program, including the redirect to Mac Adware Cleaner webpage. It’ll save your personal information like saved passwords, bookmarks, auto-fill data and open tabs.

First, run the Mozilla Firefox. Next, click the button in the form of three horizontal stripes (). It will show the drop-down menu. Next, click the Help button ().

In the Help menu press the “Troubleshooting Information”. In the upper-right corner of the “Troubleshooting Information” page click on “Refresh Firefox” button as displayed on the screen below.

Confirm your action, click the “Refresh Firefox”.

Mac Adware Cleaner popup automatic removal

Run malicious software removal utilities to get rid of Mac Adware Cleaner popups automatically. The free software utilities specially created for browser hijacker infections, adware and other potentially unwanted applications removal. These utilities can get rid of most of adware from Mozilla Firefox, Safari and Chrome. Moreover, it can remove all components of ad-supported software from Windows registry and system drives.

Remove Mac Adware Cleaner pop-up with MalwareBytes Free

We recommend using the MalwareBytes AntiMalware (MBAM) which are completely clean your MAC OS of the ad supported software. The free tool is an advanced malicious software removal application made by (c) Malwarebytes lab. This application uses the world’s most popular anti-malware technology. It is able to help you remove unwanted Mac Adware Cleaner popup from your internet browsers, potentially unwanted software, malicious software, browser hijacker infections, toolbars, ransomware and other security threats from your machine for free.

Download MalwareBytes Anti-Malware by clicking on the following link.

When downloading is finished, run it and follow the prompts. Click the “Scan” button . MalwareBytes application will scan through the whole MAC system for the adware that cause annoying Mac Adware Cleaner pop ups to appear. This process can take quite a while, so please be patient. When a threat is found, the number of the security threats will change accordingly. Wait until the the checking is complete. You may get rid of items (move to Quarantine) by simply press “Remove Selected Items” button.

The MalwareBytes AntiMalware (MBAM) is a free application that you can use to remove all detected folders, files, malicious services and so on.

Stop Mac Adware Cleaner popups and other intrusive web-sites

We advise to install an ad-blocking program that may stop Mac Adware Cleaner and other annoying sites. The ad blocker tool like AdGuard is a program which basically removes advertising from the World Wide Web and blocks access to malicious web-pages. Moreover, security experts says that using ad blocking software is necessary to stay safe when surfing the Internet.

1. Please go to the following link to download AdGuard.
   
   AdGuard for Mac download
   2986 downloads
   Author: © Adguard
   Category: Security tools
   Update: January 17, 2018
   
2. Once the download is complete, launch the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” program window. Follow the prompts.
3. When the setup is finished, press “Skip” to close the installation program and use the default settings, or press “Get Started” to see an quick tutorial that will allow you get to know AdGuard better.
4. In most cases, the default settings are enough and you don’t need to change anything. Each time, when you run your MAC system, AdGuard will run automatically and stop unwanted ads, Mac Adware Cleaner pop-ups, as well as other harmful or misleading sites.

Don’t know how your browser has been hijacked by Mac Adware Cleaner pop up?

The adware usually is bundled with various freeware. Most often, it may be bundled within the installers from Softonic, Cnet, Soft32, Brothersoft or other similar pages. So, you should run any files downloaded from the World Wide Web with great caution, read the User agreement, Software license and Terms of use. In the process of installing a new program, you should choose a Manual, Advanced or Custom installation type to control what components and third-party applications to be installed, otherwise you run the risk of infecting your machine with an adware that responsible for the appearance of Mac Adware Cleaner pop-up.

Finish words

After completing the step-by-step tutorial shown above, your Apple Mac should be clean from this adware and other malicious software. The Mozilla Firefox, Chrome and Safari will no longer display Mac Adware Cleaner pop-ups when you browse the Internet. Unfortunately, if the tutorial does not help you, then you have caught a new ad supported software, and then the best way – ask for help.

Please create a new question by using the “Ask Question” button in the Questions and Answers. Try to give us some details about your problems, so we can try to help you more accurately. Wait for one of our trained “Security Team” or Site Administrator to provide you with knowledgeable assistance tailored to your problem with the undesired Mac Adware Cleaner pop-up.

Adware Cleaner Mac

26 November 2019

Yes, you should!

To protect your system you need to check for and remove adware from your Mac regularly.

Why?

Because adware removal is no longer an option. Despite popular misconceptions that “Macs don’t get viruses,” the opposite is true. In fact, the very first virus - or malware (malicious software) - was designed to infect Apple computers.

Today, the biggest threats to Mac users is adware - the largest category of malware aimed at Mac computers - and potentially unwanted programs (PUPs), also known as potentiallyunwanted applications (PUAs).

The latest AV-TEST reports highlight the threat of MacOS malware and PUPs over the last several years:

Adware Scan Mac

New types of macOS malware diagnosed:

• 57,603 in 2019 (as of November 21, 2019)
• 94,012 in 2018
• 222,774 since 2010

New PUPs identified:

• 2019: 48,077 (as of November 21, 2019)
• 2018: 79,079
• Since 2010: 806,592

According to Malwarebytes, adware and PUP have become pervasive. Even the Mac App Store has been overrun to the extent that certain classes of software - including antimalware and antivirus - cannot be trusted not to be malware.

That’s why you can’t afford to ignore adware.

To begin let’s explain what adware is and why you need to protect yourself against it.

What is Adware and Why is it Dangerous?

Designed to scam advertisers and search engines, adware works in two different ways:

1. It places fraudulent ads on websites where they don’t belong to trick you into clicking on a link and taking you to a website you never intended to visit.
2. It changes your default search engine and hijacks your searches to point to websites who pay the producers of adware affiliate revenue for referrals.

Many versions of adware contain hidden viruses that pose a risk to your data and privacy. However, most antivirus programs won’t detect adware. If they do, they’ll most likely flag it as a PUP without quarantining or removing it.

In most cases, adware is considered to be a PUP. Often bundled with other software, PUPs are adware, ransomware, or spyware unrelated to any program you downloaded. Generally irritating and unwanted, they may include advertising, pop-ups, and toolbars.

PUPs may also be downloaded unwittingly as fake antivirus or anti-adware apps, cleaning apps, or keyloggers (used to monitor the online activities of children or employees).

How do I Know if My Mac is Infected with Adware?

There are several ways to identify the presence of adware on your Mac including:

• Redirection to a seemingly genuine website with incredible offers that seem too good to be true. Small initial donations or payment typically end up as larger amounts assubscriptions to software or various websites - usually pornographic.
• Multiple pop-ups launched simultaneously after clicking on a link advertising software updates or notifying you of the expiration of your software license - even if you don’t use that software.
• More ads than usual appearing in search results and on web pages that you don’t usually expect to see, including banners and advertisements embedded in the text aslinks.
• Your homepage is replaced with another website without your knowledge.
• Toolbars appear unexpectedly in your browser.
• Your Mac performance seems to be slower than normal.

If you see or experience any of these symptoms, you need to take action.

What is the Most Common Adware for Macs?

Adware appears as a Trojan, or Trojan horse, one of the most dangerous types of malware. Often piggybacking on another program, it promises one thing; but delivers another, tricking you into unwittingly installing something you never intended to. These include:

• Intrusive banners
• Pop-ups
• New toolbars
• New plugins

How do I Find Adware on My Mac?

The best way to find and get rid of adware is to either manually discover it or use one of the adware remover tools referred to below. Following either of these approaches will allow you to find adware and remove it from your system.

What are the Best Adware Removal Tools for Macs?

What are your best choices? Here are the top two adware removal tools tools the MacUpdate community recommends:

• Current Version: 4.0
• System Requirements: OS X 10.11 El Capitan, macOS 10.12 Sierra or higher.
• Licensing: 14-day free trial for protection and remediation. Once the trial ends, the product reverts to the free version, which only offers remediation. Subscription for one device is $39.99 per year with a 60-day money-back guarantee.

A no-frills, adware cleaner designed to detect, protect, and remediate. The free version detects the presence of adware and removes it, while the paid version includes additional protection capabilities.

Pros

• Attractive, icon-based user interface
• Easy to use manual scans
• Scans the average Mac in 30 seconds or less
• Subscription-based with free upgrades and updates

• Free version offers remediation

  • Removes adware programs including Genieo, Vidx, and VSearch

• Paid version includes automated scans and protection

  • Adware, malware, ransomware, spyware, and viruses
  • Proactively blocks adware, PUPs, and downloads of suspect software
  • Automatic updates for the latest Malwarebytes protection

Cons

• Non-standard approach to malware detection
• Some users have experienced machine instability following install
• No detection of Windows malware

Read all about Malwarebytes for Mac with reviews from our readers on MacUpdate.

• Version Reviewed: 4.0.30.3073
• Date Reviewed: 22 November 2019

• Current Version: 1.1.8918
• System Requirements: OS X 10.7 Lion, macOS 10.12 Sierra or higher.
• Licensing: Free.

An easy to use, free tool that identifies and removes unwanted malware including adware, browser add-ons, malicious hijacker programs, and toolbars.

Pros

• Simple, attractive interface
• Non-invasive adware identification and removal
• Does not require installation
• Scans hard disks for adware and removes it
• Identifies adware such as Genio, MacKeeper, and Vsearch

Cons

• None

Read all about Bitdefender Adware Removal Tool for Mac with reviews from real readers on MacUpdate.

• Version Reviewed: 1.1.8918
• Date Reviewed: 14 November 2019

How do I Manually Remove Adware on My Mac?

The first thing that may come to mind is Googling a description of the problem and installing the first thing that claims to fix it. Don’t! You’ll probably just downloading more malware to compound the problem.

To manually find adware on Macs and remove it, follow these steps:

1. Identify and remove suspicious applications

   • Click on your Go on your macOS status bar
   • When the drop-down menu appears, click on Utilities and choose Activity Monitor
   • Review the list for suspect applications, e.g. Genio and InstallMac, and kill the process by clicking the X icon at the top left
   • When the dialogue box appears, choose Force Quit
   • Go back to Applications and drag the malicious application to Trash
   • Reboot your Mac and empty Trash

2. Prevent malicious applications from reinstalling themselves by launching at startup.

   • Click on the Apple logo on your macOS status bar.
   • When the drop-down menu appears, click on System Preferences and choose Users & Groups.
   • Select your account and click on Login Items.
   • Browse the list for any suspicious applications and click on the “-” to prevent it from launching when you boot your Mac.

3. Block and get rid of pop-ups in your browser settings.

   • Safari: Go to Preferences, click on the Security icon at the top of the window, and check the Block pop-up windows box.
   • Chrome: Click on the menu in the top right-hand corner (the three horizontal lines), choose Settings, and click on Show advanced settings. Under Privacy, select Content Settings, and under Pop-ups, click on Do not allow any site to show pop-ups.

4. Confirm that your homepage and search engine settings have not been changed.

   • Safari: Go to Preferences, click on the General tab, and confirm that the Homepage field is either empty or contains the URL of the site you want to appear when you launch your browser. Choose the Search tab and confirm that the default search engine is correct.
   • Chrome: Click on the menu in the top right-hand corner (the three horizontal lines), choose Settings, and click on On Startup. Either select one of the available options or click on Open a specific page or set of pages. Check that the entries are what you want.

5. Remove malicious extensions - programs designed to add value to the browsing experience - and confirm that only the ones you’ve installed are active. If you’re not sure what an extension is or does, remove it.

   • Safari: Go to Preferences, click on the Extensions tab, and uninstall any extensions you’re not sure of.
   • Chrome: Click on the menu in the top right-hand corner (the three horizontal lines), choose Settings, and click on Extensions. Uncheck the Enabled checkbox for any extensions you don’t want or delete it by clicking on the trash icon on the right.

How do I Protect Myself Against Adware?

There are several simple steps that you can take to prevent adware from being installed on your Mac:

1. Avoid clicking on pop-up while browsing the Internet. Close all pop-ups using the red “X” button in the top right corner. DO NOT click on any of the buttons within the pop-up window.
2. Do not open unsolicited email attachments or download software from untrustworthy websites or peer-to-peer file transfer networks.
3. Keep your browsers, operating system, and plugins up-to-date.
4. Only download apps from recognized stores.
5. Use a good antimalware program with layered protection. It should scan and detect malicious activity while offering real-time defence - to proactively block threats such as ransomware - and automated remediation.

The Bottom Line

Adware is on the rise, so you need to protect yourself against it! It’s not difficult, but you need to follow these three simple steps:

1. Be careful about the websites you visit, the attachments you download, and the applications you install.
2. Regularly check for and remove adware.
3. If required, use one of the adware removal tools MacUpdate readers recommend.

As the old saying goes, better safe than... getting malware on your Mac. You know what we mean.