Mac OS X is an operating system which runs solely on Mac computers and laptops, manufactured and designed by Apple. Their computers are well optimized and it’s clear to see that their OS is less prone to viruses and errors since most viruses are designed to run on Windows.
Mac OS X is fairly simple to use which makes it a great choice for business people who will use their laptop for work. However, it’s not perfect and you can also install unwanted programs by accident, leading to errors and unwanted behavior. Let’s check out this particular issue.
How to Uninstall Advanced Mac Cleaner on Mac OS X?
Advanced Mac Cleaner can’t be thought of as a virus because it does not produce any virus-like behavior such as multiplying and copying itself on your computer and causing irreversible damage. This program is a PUP (Potentially Unwanted Program). It displays annoying pop-up windows and it’s often installed unintentionally, arriving with other free programs and shareware.
Users have been struggling with uninstalling this program for a while and it’s always running on your computer and it appears shortly after users close it manually. There are ways to get rid of it and it shouldn’t be a dangerous situation. Let’s find out how.
Solution 1: Getting Rid of It Conventionally
Since the program does not arrive with any uninstall wizard, getting rid of it might require the user to delete it manually from their computer. Other, regular apps are usually self-contained packages and they can be removed from the computer simply by dragging the app to the Trash.
- Try moving the app to the Trash before doing anything else.
- If the first step didn’t produce any results, try to locate an uninstaller wizard if it arrived with the app and run it.
- Sometimes, the uninstaller is located within the installer so try running the installer for the app if you installed it on purpose and try to locate it by clicking on the Customize button.
- Locate the /Home/Library/Applications Support/ and check to see whether the Advanced Mac Cleaner has created a folder there to check for files.
Solution 2: Deleting Its Components Manually
Since Advanced Mac Cleaner was installed most probably without the user’s knowledge, you probably won’t be able to locate a proper uninstaller button which means you will simply have to get rid of it the old fashion way – by deleting its content.
- Open this location on your Mac computer:
~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.pcv.hlpramc.plist
- As soon as you opened and selected it, right-click on it and open Services >> Reveal in Finder (or Reveal).
- This process should open the folder which contains Advanced Mac Cleaner. Delete this folder completely and reboot your device.
- Open Library >> Application Support.
- Once you locate the amc file, delete it. Know that you will need to possess administrator privileges if your account is not an admin so make sure you log in with an admin account or simply type the password once you are asked to.
- Locate the Library folder and look for AdvancedMacCleaner. Delete this as well.
- The next step is to open the Applications folder and, again, look for Advanced Mac Cleaner. Move this to Trash as well.
- Click Go on the top left part of your desktop and open Applications.
- Try to locate Advanced Mac Cleaner, right-click on it, and select Move to Trash.
After you have successfully performed these operations, you should check to see whether Advanced Mac Cleaner is still in your startup menu.
- Open up your System Preferences which are usually located in Dock at the bottom part of your screen.
- One it has opened, click on the Users & Groups option and switch to the Login Items tab.
- If you see an item named Advanced Mac Cleaner, select it and click on the minus sign to remove it.
Solution 3: Clearing Your Computer Completely Along With Your Browsers
It appears that we have successfully gotten rid of the malicious app but there are definitely some files remaining. Let’s try and get rid of all of them while also deleting the extensions it installed into our browsers.
- Open the following line by clicking Go >> Go to Folder and pasting the following:
/Library/LaunchAgents
- There are several items which you should get rid off if you see them so make sure you right-click on each one and select Move to Trash:
Advanced Mac Cleaner.update.plist
Advanced Mac Cleaner.AppRemoval.plist
Advanced Mac Cleaner.download.plist
Advanced Mac Cleaner.ltvbit.plist
.com. Advanced Mac Cleaner.agent.plist
.com.SoftwareUpdater.agent.plist
- Repeat the same process for the following folders by repeating the instructions from Step 2:
~/Library/LaunchAgents
~/Library/Application Support
After you have cleared your computer successfully, you will need to disable the Advanced Mac Cleaner extensions in your browsers. Opening the extensions setting differs from browser to browser and we are going to cover the three major browsers: Safari, Google Chrome, and Mozilla Firefox.
Safari:
- Open your Safari browser and click on the Safari menu.
- Click on Preferences… and navigate to the Extensions tab which should display all extensions installed to your browser.
- Locate the Advanced Mac Cleaner extensions but keep an eye out for all suspicious extensions you might encounter.
- Remove the check mark next to the “Enable Advanced Mac Cleaner extension” box to disable it but it’s better to Uninstall it by clicking on that option.
Google Chrome:
- The easiest way to open Extensions settings in Chrome is by navigating to this link:
chrome://extensions
- Locate the Advanced Mac Cleaner extension and click on the trash can icon next to it to remove it from Chrome permanently.
- Restart your browser.
Mozilla Firefox:
- Copy and paste the following link in your Mozilla Firefox’ address bar:
about:addons
- Navigate to the Extensions or Appearance panel and try to locate the Advanced Mac Cleaner extension.
- Delete it by clicking the Remove button and restart your browser if prompted.
Solution 4: Scanning Your Computer
One can never be too sure whether the unwanted app was removed so your best bet is to use Malwabytes: Anti-Malware for Mac and scan your computer.
- Download the free version from their official website.
- Follow the instructions on screen to install it.
- Click on Scan and wait for the process to finish.
A lot of users recommended using MBAM because of its efficiency with dealing with similar software and it definitely fixed the issue for them.
