Virus on Mac, How to get rid of them?

[pabloserrago]

Hello,

I couldn't find any thread with this topic.


Since Tuesday I've been noticing a weird behavior on my Mac when I use any webpage that provides search results such as google, google images, youtube, etc both on Safari and Chrome. Every time I search I get smth similar to this



Notice that I have highlighted the virus results ads. It emulates google ads' look&feel but with and X to close it. It doesn't matter if you try to close it because it just to confuse you because you will get similar ads mixed with the search results.

Obviously it is because I downloaded a program from a non-secure website, so blame on me. Despite this mistake, I want to get rid of the virus.

I have installed and run scans from multiple virus scanners like Bitdefender, Malware Bytes and Adware Doctor. Although I have deleted everything these scanners found and I still get that Also tried searching for similar cases on internet when couldn't find with the exact example or the right solution.

Can you help with this? Do you know a proper Virus Scanner? Do you actually know how to get rid of this specific virus?

Thank you very much guys!

 

[harryb2448]

1. There are np viruses for Mac OS X. As there are viruses all you are doing is downloading Windows virus definition updates and slowing ypour Mac with these resource hogs.

2. Adware and malware sure. Download Malwarebytes for Mac, ignore the paid version and after the 30 day trial it will continue as the free version.

3. Download Ghostery and Ad Block Plus which are available under Safarii Preferences > Extensions.

 

[MacInWin]

And those ads are coming from the websites with the search engines. That's how they make money. You can try Adblock Plus, as Harry suggested, or Ghostery, but I see them and I use both tools. It's just how things are.

 

[Raz0rEdge]

I'll second what Jake said. Google and other companies provide you free access to the search engine by monetizing you (by showing you an ad). Traditionally, Google will show you sponsored (paid) ads on top (the first link) of your search results.

They might sprinkle the ads at various spots as well.

These are not related to any sort of virus. If, however, you do get redirected to a totally random page on searches, that's a hijack which an be remedied by Malware Bytes.

 

[lclev]

I use Ghostery. Make sure you go through the setup they will start you out with. If you do not check what areas you want blocked it will not do as much. I block everything and then if I see I am having a problem on a website I pause it and reload the page. I really like this browser add-on.

I also use Ublock Origin which also works well for me. It is very similar to AdBlock Plus.

If you are getting listings in your searches in different languages you need to go to preferences in the search engine you are using and set it to use only the language you prefer.

Lisa