Remove Advanced Mac Cleaner 'Virus'

While Advanced Mac Cleaner in no way fits the description of a compuer virus, it does, however, act a nuisance for many Mac users. Technically speaking, this makes it a Potentially Unwanted Program (PUP) meaning while some people need the program for its function, others would rather have it removed.It is exclusively distributed amongst Mac users so Linux users needn't worry about this.
"Dark

However dubious the value of its function, this program exists to boost your computer's performance by 'identifying' and repairing any system errors.

Should you have any of these challenges on your machine, please follow these steps to remove the program from your system.

Step 1

Go to your Finder to open up and start your Activity monitor. Proceed to:
"Activity
View all your processes carefully. If it seems suspicious, there's a high likelihood it is. Select these processes which may be contributing to the problem with your mouse and click the " i" button at the top to open this dialogue box:
"Chrome

Proceed by clicking Sample at the bottom:
"Chrome

If you believe any of the processes are a threat, repeat this process to your heart's content and delete each one.

Step 2

Please launch the affected browser or the browser you use most regularly alongside Safari but you must press and hold the Shift key and only let go once the browser is up and running. Doing this prevents any of the previously opened pages from loading again.

Begin by conducting a Force Quit for Safari once again.

If you are connected to the internet via a wireless connection such as Wi-Fi, turn it off as usual. Otherwise, disconnect your Ethernet cable.

Step 3

In your Safari open your Preferences in the Safari menu,
"Preferences"

navigate to the Extensions tab,
"Safari
Once here, click Uninstall to get rid of any extensions you cannot recognize. You are also welcome to completely uninstall all of them. They won't affect the way in which your browser normally operates.

After you finish deleting these extensions, make sure you Empty your Trash folder. It's always good practice when if you feel your system has been compromised in any way, to change your password after getting rid of the threat.

Step 4

Select Preferences in the Safari Menu
Navigate to the Privacy tab.

"Safari

You are going to have to delete all the website data that has been stored in your browser. If you need to access any websites after this, you will have to do so by signing in.

Select Remove All Website Data, confirm with Remove Now.
Select General tab in the Preferences menu.

"General

Here you are welcome to change your Homepage to whichever you might prefer.

"Safari

Select History and click on Clear History to prevent accidentally opening an unwanted web page again.

Next:

  • Turn off the program and Disable its processes from the Activity Monitor.

  • Remove the program from your login items to avoid it automatically running when you boot your computer.

Now that the program is no longer active in any way, you are advised to completely remove it.

The next step involves navigating to your Applications folder and dragging Advanced Mac Cleaner and a few other folders into the Trash.

Here is a list of the folders you must drag to the Trash.

~/Library Folder – Advanced Mac Cleaner; hlpramc

~/Library/Logs – Advanced Mac Cleaner.log; helperamc.log

~/Library/Application Support – Advanced Mac Cleaner; amc

~/Library/Caches – com.pcv.hlpramc; com.PCvark.Advanced-Mac-Cleaner

~/Library/Saved Application State – com.PCvark.Advanced-Mac-Cleaner.savedState

~/Library/Preferences – com.pcv.hlpramc.plist; com.PCvark.Advanced-Mac-Cleaner.plist

~/Library/LaunchAgents – com.pcv.hlpramc.plist; com.PCvark.Advanced-Mac-Cleaner.plist

After you finish deleting these extensions, make sure you Empty your Trash folder. It's always good practice when if you feel your system has been compromised in any way, to change your password after getting rid of the threat.

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