This article has been created to show you how you can detect adware on your Mac and how to remove any adware components that may currently be in your Mac.
Adware for Mac has dramatically increase in 2018 and will likely follow this trend in 2019. The ads have begin to become more diverse and also harder to detect by victims since they often come as legitimate programs. Since we at SensorsTechForum are dedicated to protecting you, in this article we will explain how you can detect and remove these Mac adware programs and how you can protect yourself and your private information from these programs.
How Do Mac Ads Programs Spread on Macs?
Identifying Mac Ads programs on your Mac can be done by simply looking at the symptoms based on the type of ad-supported programs that are out there
- Mac Adware programs.
- Browser Hijackers for Mac.
- Push notifications viruses for Mac.
These adware components may be added a a result of different types of distribution methods that the adware spammers use to install their unwanted software:
- By pretending the program is a legitimate app.
- By adding it automatically after visiting a website.
- By getting the user to accept some sort of Push Notifications on a news website.
- By slithering the unwanted app in the installer of another app and advertising it “as a free extra” or “an optional offer”.
How to Detect Adware on Your Mac?
Based on the methods of distribution we have shown you above, several main symptoms of such unwanted programs that show ads give them away:
1st Symptom – Slow Performance of Your Mac
The main symptom of having an ad-supported program on your Mac is by experiencing performance slow-downs which are not typical for it. In general MacOS is a very well-optimized operating system and should not lag and even stutter. In case you see it doing those and even freezing at times, this may be a sign of a virus or an ad-supported program on your Mac that is using your CPU and other resources to obtain details about your browsing and later may start to show you ads of all types.
2nd Symptom: Different Types of Ads Randomly Appearing
Probably the biggest symptom of having an Ads virus on your mac is by seeing aggressive advertisements that take over your pages space and also randmly appear. In some forms of adware, the ads can even be shown as search results, as most browser hijackers change the default search engine of the affected Mac to a hoax one. So instead of Google or any other search, you see a fake engine, that shows you ads instead of results.
Another form of ads are the so-called Tech Support scam ads, whose primary purpose is to convince you that there is a serious problem with your Mac and you should either call a fake tech support number or download a fake antivirus or optimizer that will “fix your Mac”.
These fake optimizing software, like Mac Auto Fixer only want to drain money from your account by finding different fake errors detected and asking you to pay a lot of money to buy their licensed version in order to fix your performance problems, caused by the same software that lead you to this hoax optimizer.
Most forms of ads caused by adware often turn out to be:
- Pop-ups.
- Ad-supported search results.
- Highlighted text ads.
- Banners on the sites you visit.
- Highlighted text ads.
3rd Symptom: Having Suspicious Programs Installed on Your Mac
We have mentioned the Mac Auto Fixer program that is likely hoax above. Besides it, there are other programs of this type that you should watch out for:
- Mac Auto Fixer
What is Mac Auto Fixer rogue software? How to remove Mac Auto Fixer from your computer? How to make sure that you stop seeing auto scans by Mac Auto Fixer? - Secure Mac TuneUp Remove Secure Mac Tuneup totally. Follow the Secure Mac Tuneup removal instructions for the unwanted software given at the end of this article.
- Mac Purifier Remove Mac Purifier effectively. Mac Purifier is a PUP. Follow the Mac Purifier removal instructions for the unwanted software given at the bottom.
- Mac Heal Pro Fake Optimizer What is Mac Heal Pro? How to remove the Mac Heal Pro app from your Mac effectively? How to make sure you do not see automatic scans by Mac Heal Pro again?
- Smart Mac Care What is Smart Mac Care? How to remove Smart Mac Care from your Mac effectively? How to restore your Mac to a normal state and stop Smart Mac Care fully?
- MacKeeper What is MacKeeper app? Is MacKeeper a legitimate program or is it a scam? How to remove MacKeeper ads from your Mac and how to stop such content?
- Unpollute My Mac What is Unpollute My Mac? Is Unpollute My Mac cleaner real or a scam? How to remove the Unpollute My Mac unwanted program from your Mac permanently?
These types of programs aim to convince the people who installed them on their Macs to pay for their full versions, which usually end up costing hundreds of dollars and this alleged scam may go as far as to show you pop-ups that your system is at risk. More so, a lot of users have complained for some of these programs to start automatically with the booting of their Macs and to run automatic scans that detect hundreds of errors each time, which is not likely to be true.
4th Symptom: You Have Unfamiliar Browser Extensions
One of the main methods used by adware to slither itself on your Mac is by being automatically added as an Add-on or a browser extension that seems to pretend it is useful. Most adware tends to imitate:
- Toolbars.
- Weather extensions.
- Ad-blockers.
- Movie streamers.
- Geo-restriction unlockers.
- News on-the-go.
- File converters.
- Page translators.
5th Symptom: Suspicious processes running in Activity Monitor
This symptom is also a key to detecting adware components, because most ads come from such processes and they may still remain even after you manually delete the suspicious program from your Mac. They often mean that the adware runs with administrative permissions over your Mac and may even conduct other activities that may be unauthorized on your machine.
How To Remove Ads Viruses from Your Mac?
There are several steps you need to go through to remove these unwanted applications from your Mac, starting with securing it and then going through removing all of the adware components manually or automatically.
Manual Removal of Mac Ads
Step 1: Disconnect from the web and try to stay offline for as long as possible and when possible while you fix the issues.
Step 2: Change all of your passwords from a safe machine and do not type any passwords on your Mac, since some adware programs may use cookies to obtain information about them.
Step 3: Stop the adware and delete it by following the sub-steps below:
Remove a toolbar from Mozilla Firefox
Remove a toolbar from Google Chrome
Remove an extension from Safari and reset it.
Automatic Removal of Mac Ads
When you are facing problems on your Mac as a result of it being affected by unwanted scripts and code from programs such as Mac Ads Viruses, the recommended way of eliminating this risk is to take advantage of a specially designed anti-malware system tool. One such tool is Combo Cleaner, that features advanced security features along with a bunch of other modules and extras that will improve your Mac’s health and protect it in the future.
Keep in mind, that Combo Cleaner needs to purchased to remove the malware threats. Click on the corresponding links to check Combo Cleaner’s EULA and Privacy Policy.
How to Protect Yourself from Mac Ads?
Protection on Macs cannot be assured just by having an anti-malware program, since most browser hijackers and adware use tracking technologies on the affected Macs, that are difficult to detect and collect information during your online browsing. The tracking tech used is usually the following:
- Cookies.
- Locally Shared Objects (Flash Cookies).
- Pixels.
- Tags.
- Geo-locators.
- Search cookies.
- Session cookies.
These information trackers often tend to obtain the following information from your Mac:
- Browsing history.
- What you type online.
- Your search history.
- Your online clicks.
- Your bookmarks.
In order to protect your privacy online you will need to mask your identity and hide your traffic with encryption. The only capable services to do that are VPN software. Below, we have added two suggested VPN programs which can mask your identity and protect it from cookies and other tracking technologies:
