Malware or adware .

I have owned macs for around 10 years now. Until recently I have never had adware or Malware. Even while I am writing this MacKeeper has invaded my mac. In fact this parasite is the main problem, alongside that is a dating website. I have a well known brand of anti virus (and just about anything else) I have added Malwarebytes today, I have also re cached. I never click anything unbeknown. Is this the future for fortress mac ? Am I the guilty person ? Can anyone suggest what else to do ? I use Chrome mostly, could this be a problem. In fact I will try Safari and see if the problem arises. Any firm help would be appreciated. I will never change from mac but am concerned about this invasion. BTW Malwarebytes and my AV program both report no problems


As I was previewing this post both the dating site and a huge Google sign appeared saying I have virus "" on further inspection it said to download MacKeeper

Sorry just noticed security forum below. Maybe a mod could transfer it

If you have MacKeeper installed you MUST use the uninstaller that comes with the app. In the MacKeeper folder there is an installer, start that up and you will see an option to uninstall MacKeeper. This is about the only thing it does well.
If you do a search (in the search box) on this site for MacKeeper you will find numerous other threads on the topic of this toxic and invasive application.
There are no Mac OS virus' at this time so an Anti Virus app will not necessarily be of any assistance to you but some so called Anti Virus apps for macOS are actually anti malware anyway.
After you have removed it and emptied the Trash you can run Malwarebytes.
You may also need to go offline and clear your browser cache and cookies.

First thing: GET RID OF MacKeeper and any other AV software you have running. How to completely remove MacKeeper. The dating site you were on issued a "scareware" warning trying to suck you in to thinking you have a virus. You don't, as there are no viruses in the wild which can infect your Mac. Remove MacKeeper and any Anti Virus software you may be running. Keep Malwarebytes as that will protect you from malware. And stay away from that particular dating site or your "date" might be one messed up Mac.

To block those kinds of malware, you can use Ghostery, which can block almost anything. It does not remove anything, just blocks most malware. As you have been told already, malwarebytes will remove almost everything that gets past Ghostery. And +1 for getting rid of any A/V software. Not needed and most of them cause more problems than they solve.

As for the future, yep, this is the environment of the internet. And using Chrome you are giving Google a ton of information about where you are going and what you are looking at. They then sell that information to other companies, so you'll start getting more and more junk emails from folks who buy that information. I use NOTHING from Google, and I don't use the Google search engine, either.

Jake I'm with you there. Stopped using the Google search engine about 9 months ago. Ghostery is great and as i am now using Firefox as my Default browser I use thier built in Adguard feature but it's not quite as good as Adblock.

Thanks for the replies. Sorry I omitted to say I have never downloaded Mackeeper. I do have Mcafee for mac and have had installed for a few years now with no problems . All of this has come out of the blue (I also reiterate I never click on anything that I do not require or looks suspicious) I will Ghostry now. already have I malwarebytes installed. I will have to keep chrome for mail and use Safari to see if that helps. Thanks again for the help.

Well let's hope your problems are solved. If not feel free to get back to this forum.
It's not essential that you get rid of the chrome browser but what may make a difference is changing the search engine you use and the Extensions you use with your browser. You can have just as many problems with Safari.
You could for example use Chrome with Adblock and Ghostery and or change your search engine to DuckDuck Go, a search engine that guarantees you will not be tracked. You can add this to the list of optional default browsers in Chrome. see;https://duckduckgo.com/
*Always bearing in mind that some sites (like this one) are reliant on the income generated by ads to keep the site alive. You can of course White List the sites you visit most.
As for trackers I block pretty much all of them except for the ones that provide functionality to the web sites I visit. You can experiment with the settings when you set Ghostery up and it give a pretty good explanation of what each group does.

Thanks again to all. I have added Ghostery,adblock,Duckduckgo I also have livesafe (mcafee). As I logged into this site Mackeeper took over again !! As you may see I am not knowledgable on these measures but learning. How can I stop Mkeeper from ever infesting this mac again. As I see it the applications involved stop adds. What I would like to know is how to stop a complete site from gaining access. A blacklist would be great. As I have never experienced anything like this in 10 years I am now on a learning path ..Again many thanks

I would completely remove Google Chrome, and then reinstall it again. Check these Google Chrome remove instructions out, https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95319?co=GENIE.Platform=Desktop&hl=en

I was going to suggest just clearing the cache, cookies, history etc but a complete removal and reinstall is more thorough. I have in the past given up and done just that with Chrome. I usually save my Bookmarks to Safari and then just load them back to the new version, that has not caused any problems for me.