Tried using "trash it" to delete mackeeper and now it's stuck in trash.

Hi, I have a mac mini 2007 with Lion update and somehow mackeeper got installed on our computer. This happened at 5 am and although we are sometimes up at that time we do not install things in the morning so I don't know how it got on our computer. I tried to delete it and when trash wouldn't empty I used "trash it" which has worked great for other files that wouldn't empty but not this one. I realized that there was a way to delete it but when I tried to put it back to do this I get error code -8072.
I would appreciate your help, Thanks.

Have a look at this article it might have some helpful suggestions. Since you've already tried to move it to the trash with no success, it might be necessary to reinstall the program and then move it to the trash.

Thanks Slydude, I unfortunately read this article after using trash it so if I re-install this what will happen to the file that's still stuck in the trash?

Tell me fragrant, after all the advserse talk about this crapware, including recent court decisions giving purchasing millions back for shadey software, had you not read anything adverse about it?

fragrantsound said:

Thanks Slydude, I unfortunately read this article after using trash it so if I re-install this what will happen to the file that's still stuck in the trash?

Click to expand...

OK. I think the following will work. If it doesn't I'll have to do a bit more research. Cant test it since I'm not running MacKeeper.
1. Open the trash select the items there.
2. Right click them and choose Put Back from the drop down menu.
3. If that works you should be able to follow the directions here

I hadn't heard anything about it until I figured out that it was on our computer. We didn't install it.

I am unable to put it back. I get error code 8072

I'm looking for a definitive answer on the cause of that error. I suspect that one or more of the files in the trash have some unusual permissions settings. One of the sites even had a big Download MacKeeper button in the middle of the article. It seemed to suggest that was the fix. Don't think I will be trying that one.

It may well have come with some 'helpful' add-on when you have downloaded something else. Softonic and CNET are noted for these little surprise packages so do not download anything from them. Asking gently and nicely, any chance some person could have installed pirated software or could it hve been there when you purchased the machine.?

Some auction site sellers pirate MS Office, Photoshop, Lightroom etc to make the purchase price look much more attractive with 'free software', but alas without the original install discs and activation codes, they are pirated.

Also have a read of this from Appe Discussions on removing this crapware, which is referred to as a 'virus' but of course it isn't as there are no Mac OS X viruses. Just bad software:-


https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6531782?tstart=0

Well, we have been fooled a couple of times and downloaded fake stuff so it probably was an add on to that. I've heard that scanners for mac can be dangerous, any ideas on how to find any other malicious software that could be there?
Thanks Harry

Thank you Ferrarr, I finally had time to try this but I have an older computer and found that malwarebytes is not compatable with it. I can only update to lion since the computer is a 2007. Any other suggestions?

The only way I can think of to obtain the uninstaller is to reinstall MacKeeper from scratch. The Uninstaller is in the macKeeper folder and from other reports I have had it will remove all traces, past and present but you will need to move the parts you have in the Trash back to their original locations, I think. Try it anyway you have nothing to loose, put the parts currently in the Trash on the desktop and see if they are removed as well.

So mackeeper is no longer stuck in my trash (it somehow disappeared on it's own?) so that problem is weirdly solved but I still have the adware problem. I found an older version of mawarebytes but after downloading I can't open it because it says it wasn't downloaded from the mac app store. I went to the app store and it wasn't there so I tried to download adware doctor but it's not compatible with my computer either.

Hmm try right clicking the .dmg and see if you get an option to open.

This is a feature of Gatekeeper, a form of security and tries to make you download everything from the App Store and recognised Apple developers.


https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT202491

You may still be able to open the malwarebytes app you have already downloaded. Go to system preferences and in Security & Privacy under the General tab you will see at the bottom three greyed out options for downloads. Unlock the settings with the "Padlock" and select "Allow apps downloaded from; Anywhere." You might want to change that back afterwards. That should allow you to open and install Malwarebytes. As stated by harryb2448 this is the default setting of Gatekeeper.

Thant worked, thanks!

Great, we would love to hear the results.

There were probably 10 items that came up when I did the scan but I didn't write them down. I did notice one of them was mediahm

Yep, well if you are really interested you can always google these items, mediahm appears to be a trojan of some sort but whatever, you dont need it and better off without it. I hope you will consider making a small donation to the developers of Malwarebytes, it really is a fantastic free app and I like to do everything I can to show my appreciation to the developers of freeware and shareware.

Yes, I will. Thanks again for your help