1. Advanced Care Mac Cleaner App Free
2. Is Advanced Mac Cleaner Safe

Remove Advanced Mac Cleaner rogue optimization tool from Mac OS X to stop its frustrating alerts and undo the concomitant bad effects it calls forth.

Advanced Mac Cleaner is a deceptive application that falsely claims to enhance computer performance by cleaning junk files, removing unwanted software, and providing other system optimization-related functionality. Judging on appearance alone, Advanced Mac Cleaner might seem legitimate, however, it is a potentially unwanted program (PUP) that typically infiltrates systems without users' consent. Cleaner tool for your system - protects your privacy, makes your computer faster and more secure. The software tries to install Avast too - Spyware, runs in background and collects information to send to Avast.

Update: May 2020

Advanced Mac Cleaner usually appears on Mac boxes out of the blue and floods the victim’s experience with annoying warning messages. Also known as Mac Cleaner, it dupes the user into thinking that their machine has got numerous problems hindering normal performance. According to the fake alerts, the operating system’s productivity is impacted by junk files, duplicate objects, unneeded login items, crammed up cache, trash and logs, as well as rogue apps that are claimed to occupy excessive hard disk space and thus reduce the processing speed as well as responsiveness to commands. The number of these wrongfully reported items is flagrant, going over 1000 even on a well-tuned or new Mac computer.

It’s not a commonplace distribution practice that’s leveraged by Advanced Mac Cleaner makers to promote their nasty brainchild. A great deal of infected users have caught this pseudo optimizer when installing free tools such as FileZilla or updating Adobe Flash Player via downloads from unofficial sources. In these cases, the setup wizard prompts you that an extra applet will be installed as a bonus to make the Mac run smoother. Some people are prudent enough to avoid such offers, which are generally known to deliver adware programs, but this caution doesn’t always help. Unless the bundle is manually unchecked and thus opted out of from the start, Advanced Mac Cleaner will still be installed in the background.

Furthermore, the culprit may additionally cross-promote affiliated scareware like Mac Adware Cleaner by means of prompts on its GUI. To add insult to injury, it may hijack the victim’s default web browser and redirect their traffic to landing pages pushing its licensed version or a copy of another rogue system utility, such as Mac Tonic, Mac Auto Fixer, or Advanced Mac Tuneup. The malware is also known to propagate alongside browser redirect viruses and persistent adware apps that affect the victim’s web surfing experience. One of the notorious campaigns pushing the scareware in question relies on sketchy browser alerts that report alleged infection with a combo of 3 viruses called Tapsnake, CronDNS, and Dubfishicv. The victims are redirected to phony web pages that mimic AppleCare and insist on urgent download of Advanced Mac Cleaner to sort out the problem that isn’t there in the first place. It appears that the gang behind the rogue program in question is deploying a well-orchestrated malicious marketing campaign with a distinct flavor of social engineering.

The user may be unaware of this forcible setup from the get-go, but not until a message like the one above pops up. It says that a huge number of issues have been found, specifying this information as follows “Issues may include duplicate files, system & internet junk, rogue software & recoverable drive space. Fix and enjoy a performance boost.” The ‘Start Repair’ button, if clicked, takes you to the junk application’s main interface that displays high improvement potential for each cluster of problems. Obviously, cleaning the purported bugs is a paid service. At that point, it’s reasonable to contemplate over what’s happening: you are being told to pay for rectifying issues that do not exist. It’s certainly the best move to get rid of the Advanced Mac Cleaner scam rather than follow the evildoers’ recommendations.

To gain a foothold in a system deeply enough to make the victim’s removal efforts futile, this scareware oldie leverages a method used by many modern Mac adware strains to maintain persistence. This technique is about repurposing the configuration profiles feature. In a benign scenario, it is a powerful tool to specify the behavior of a computer or multiple machines belonging to an enterprise network. By putting it to wrong use, Advanced Mac Cleaner operators make sure the traditional edits of the browser settings are off limits for the victim and the fields for the overhauled values simply aren’t clickable. That’s because the unwelcome device profile created by the infection controls a series of important preferences to impose predefined activity, from browser redirect nuisances to fake scan screens splashing up at random.

Another flavor of this scareware problem surfaced in October 2019. It was precipitated by a release of Apple’s macOS Catalina 10.15. After upgrading their operating system to the new version, numerous users started experiencing obnoxious popup activity with Advanced Mac Cleaner at its core. The annoying notifications say, “helperamc will damage your computer. You should move it to the Bin.” The process mentioned on these alerts is spawned by the rogue system tool under scrutiny and can be seen in the Activity Monitor, along with other related executables called “amcuninstall” and “hlpramc”.

Here is what’s happening: the latest macOS build, evidently, leverages an improved algorithm to identify potentially harmful apps. In particular, it will flag a program as a malicious one if it was installed on an unknown date, if its installer was downloaded from an unverified source, or in case some other telltale signs of sketchy activity are spotted. To let the users know about such suspicious objects, the system displays the above-mentioned popup dialogs. In this situation, the infection is probably in a dormant state and doesn’t manifest itself conspicuously. The Catalina update has simply unearthed the issue due to new security perks it delivers. Unfortunately, although the warnings include a “Move to Bin” button, it doesn’t work as intended. Therefore, the victims have to do their homework and find a way to remove Advanced Mac Cleaner despite its persistence.

Advanced Mac Cleaner manual removal for Mac

The steps listed below will walk you through the removal of this malicious application. Be sure to follow the instructions in the specified order.

1. Expand the Go menu in your Mac’s Finder bar and select Utilities as shown below.
2. Locate the Activity Monitor icon on the Utilities screen and double-click on it.
3. In the Activity Monitor app, look for helperamc or another process that appears suspicious. To narrow down your search, focus on unfamiliar resource-intensive entries on the list. Keep in mind that its name isn’t necessarily related to the way the threat is manifesting itself, so you’ll need to trust your own judgement. If you pinpoint the culprit, select it and click on the Stop icon in the upper left-hand corner of the screen.
4. When a follow-up dialog pops up asking if you are sure you want to quit the troublemaking process, select the Force Quit option.
   
5. Click on the Go menu icon in the Finder again and select Go to Folder. You can as well use the Command-Shift-G keyboard shortcut.
   
6. Type /Library/LaunchAgents in the folder search dialog and click on the Go button.
   
7. Examine the contents of the LaunchAgents folder for dubious-looking items. The objects known to be associated with Advanced Mac Cleaner are as follows: com.pcv.hlpramc.plist, com.pcv.helperamc.plist, com.pcv.amcuninstall.plist, and com.PCvark.AdvancedMacCleaner.plist.

   Be advised that the names of files spawned by malware may give no clear clues that they are malicious, so you should look for recently added entities that appear to deviate from the norm. As an illustration, here are several examples of LaunchAgents related to mainstream Mac infections: com.updater.mcy.plist, com.avickUpd.plist, and com.msp.agent.plist. If you spot files that don’t belong on the list, go ahead and drag them to the Trash.

8. Use the Go to Folder lookup feature again to navigate to the folder named ~/Library/Application Support (note the tilde symbol prepended to the path).
   
9. When the Application Support directory is opened, identify recently generated suspicious folders in it and send them to the Trash. A quick tip is to look for items whose names have nothing to do with Apple products or apps you knowingly installed. A few examples of known-malicious folder names are Advanced Mac Cleaner, amc, SoftwareUpdater, and IdeaShared.
10. Enter ~/Library/LaunchAgents string (don’t forget to include the tilde character) in the Go to Folder search area.
    
11. The system will display LaunchAgents residing in the current user’s Home directory. Look for dodgy items related to Advanced Mac Cleaner virus (see logic highlighted in subsections above) and drag the suspects to the Trash.
12. Type /Library/LaunchDaemons in the Go to Folder search field.
    
13. In the LaunchDaemons path, try to pinpoint the files the malware is using for persistence. Several examples of such items cropped by Mac infections are com.pplauncher.plist, com.startup.plist, and com.ExpertModuleSearchDaemon.plist. Delete the sketchy files immediately.
    
14. Click on the Go menu icon in your Mac’s Finder and select Applications on the list.
    
15. Find the entry for Advanced Mac Cleaner or another app that clearly doesn’t belong there and move it to the Trash. If this action requires your admin password for confirmation, go ahead and enter it.
16. Expand the Apple menu and select System Preferences.
17. Proceed to Users & Groups and click on the Login Items tab. The system will display the list of items launched when the computer is starting up. Locate the potentially unwanted app there and click on the “-” (minus) button.
18. Now select Profiles under System Preferences. Look for a malicious item in the left-hand sidebar. Several examples of configuration profiles created by Mac adware include TechSignalSearch, MainSearchPlatform, AdminPrefs, and Chrome Settings. Select the offending entity and click on the minus sign at the bottom to eliminate it.
    If your Mac has been infiltrated by adware, the infection will most likely continue to hold sway over your default web browser even after you remove the underlying application along with its components sprinkled around the system. Use the browser cleanup instructions below to address the remaining consequences of this attack.

Get rid of Advanced Mac Cleaner virus virus in web browser on Mac

To begin with, the web browser settings taken over by the Advanced Mac Cleaner virus virus should be restored to their default values. Although this will clear most of your customizations, web surfing history, and all temporary data stored by websites, the malicious interference should be terminated likewise. The overview of the steps for completing this procedure is as follows:

1. Remove Advanced Mac Cleaner virus virus from Safari
   • Open the browser and go to Safari menu. Select Preferences in the drop-down list
   • Once the Preferences screen appears, click on the Advanced tab and enable the option saying “Show Develop menu in menu bar”.
   • Now that the Develop entry has been added to the Safari menu, expand it and click on Empty Caches.
   • Now select History in the Safari menu and click on Clear History in the drop-down list.
   • Safari will display a dialog asking you to specify the period of time this action will apply to. Select all history to ensure a maximum effect. Click on the Clear History button to confirm and exit.
   • Go back to the Safari Preferences and hit the Privacy tab at the top. Find the option that says Manage Website Data and click on it.
   • The browser will display a follow-up screen listing the websites that have stored data about your Internet activities. This dialog additionally includes a brief description of what the removal does: you may be logged out of some services and encounter other changes of website behavior after the procedure. If you’re okay with that, go ahead and click on the Remove All button.
   • Restart Safari
2. Remove Advanced Mac Cleaner virus in Google Chrome
   • Open Chrome, click the Customize and control Google Chrome (⁝) icon in the top right-hand part of the window, and select Settings in the drop-down
   • When on the Settings pane, select Advanced
   • Scroll down to the Reset settings section.
   • Confirm the Chrome reset on a dialog that will pop up. When the procedure is completed, relaunch the browser and check it for malware activity.
3. Remove Advanced Mac Cleaner virus from Mozilla Firefox
   • Open Firefox and go to Help – Troubleshooting Information (or type about:support in the URL bar and press Enter).
   • When on the Troubleshooting Information screen, click on the Refresh Firefox button.
   • Confirm the intended changes and restart Firefox.

Use automatic tool to completely uninstall Advanced Mac Cleaner from your Mac

If you go the manual cleanup route, it may take you hours to find and delete all components of the misbehaving application. You also run the risk of missing hidden files and failing to eliminate the stubborn ones. There is an easier and faster way to sort things out. You can use App Cleaner & Uninstaller, an automatic tool that will thoroughly purge the sketchy program along with all of its junk fragments it may try to conceal.

In addition to the software uninstall feature, this utility allows you to reset Mac applications to their original state, wipe the leftovers of previously removed programs, and get rid of system and browser extensions with a few clicks of a mouse. Here’s how you do it:

1. Download and install App Cleaner & Uninstaller. Download Now
2. Run the program and wait until it scans all your apps.
3. Select the unneeded app in the left-hand sidebar and click Remove.
4. If you have tried to uninstall the unwanted application manually to no avail, chances are that some leftover files keep affecting your Mac. To obliterate these residual objects for good, click Remains (“R” icon), pick the program name in the list, enable Select All checkbox, and click Remove.
5. Hit the Extensions (“E” icon) tab to disable rogue startup items, delete malicious Launch Agents, and remove persistent browser extensions added by Mac malware. Then, choose the appropriate category in the left-hand navigation pane, and delete the items that don’t belong on your machine.
6. In case your web browser is displaying unwanted ads or redirecting you to dodgy sites due to adware activity, you may want to reset it. Go back to the Applications tab, right-click the browser icon, and pick the Select Service Files for Removal option in the context menu. Make sure all boxes are checked and click Remove to get the job done.

FAQ

Unlike benign software, Advanced Mac Cleaner is a stubborn app that attempts to complicate the uninstall process. It means that you need to circumvent its hindrance before deleting the associated components and files. This adds an extra step to the removal logic. In most cases, the following workflow does the trick:

• Open the Activity Monitor, find an entry named “helperamc”, “hlpramc” or another process with “amc” part in its name, and quit the malicious executable.
• Look for related files (com.pcv.hlpramc.plist, com.pcv.helperamc.plist, com.pcv.amcuninstall.plist, com.PCvark.AdvancedMacCleaner.plist, Advanced Mac Cleaner, amc) in the LaunchAgents and Application Support folders. Remove these objects if found.
• Go to the Finder and select Applications. Spot ‘Advanced Mac Cleaner’ app and move it to the Trash. Empty the Trash when done.

Ideally, this technique should eradicate the scareware, but with the caveat that the files may vary as new versions of Advanced Mac Cleaner appear in the wild. Stay tuned for updates in the guide above to make sure your removal efforts are effective.

Advanced Mac Cleaner is a rogue system utility that wrongfully purports to look for and fix Mac performance issues and privacy risks. Instead of carrying through with these promises, it reports non-existent problems and tries to pressure the user into buying its licensed version to unlock the repair features. This scareware is installed behind the user’s back, usually arriving with complex app bundles camouflaged as one useful program.

At first sight, it may seem that the impact of Advanced Mac Cleaner is restricted to annoying scan reports and scary-looking popup alerts. That’s a misconception. This fake optimizer isn’t safe to use, because it can harvest your sensitive information and send it to the cybercriminals in charge of the campaign. Your usernames and passwords, as well as credit card information, are potentially at risk as long as this pest is running on your Mac.

No, it’s not. The huge amount of negative feedback about this program speaks volumes about its dirty practices, not to mention the obvious elements of foul play in its modus operandi. Advanced Mac Cleaner is distributed via covert software bundles and fake virus alerts shown on numerous malicious websites. Once installed, it deluges the host system with deceptive scans and popup alerts reporting hundreds or even thousands of imaginary performance and security issues. The objective of this brainwashing is to coerce the victim to purchase the app’s license, which is supposedly a prerequisite of addressing the detected threats. Another shady quirk is that Advanced Mac Cleaner is harder to uninstall than regular Mac applications. All in all, this scareware is neither legit nor safe.

What is Easy Mac Care?

Easy Mac Care is an app that presents itself as a tool that can speed up a Mac and also increase its security protection. Security researchers have found that this app is distributed as part of the installers of some free programs. Most often, the Easy Mac Care installation is invisible to the user. Programs that are installed in this way on a user’s computer are called potentially unwanted programs (PUPs). Of course, security experts advise against trusting such programs.

After starting the Easy Mac Care, it scans the computer and finds many issues that need to be fixed. The program reports that the detected problems can be fixed using Cache Manager, Misc Cleaner, Logs and Extra Languages manager. Of course, if you click the Clean Now button and try to solve the found issues, the Easy Mac Care will require you to activate it, that is, buy it.

As we have said, potentially unwanted programs cannot be trusted. Such programs display fake scan results and use social engineering methods to trick the user into believing that their computer has many different issues and the only way to fix all the problems is to buy the program. Of course there is no need to buy the full version of Easy Mac Care, since all the problems that it finds are fake and all the warnings that this tool demonstrates can be safely ignored.

These days some freeware creators bundle potentially unwanted apps like the Easy Mac Care with a view to making some money. These are not free programs as install an unwanted app on to your MAC. So whenever you install a new free app that downloaded from the Internet, be very careful during install. Carefully read the EULA (a text with I ACCEPT/I DECLINE button), choose custom or manual installation method, uncheck all bundled programs.

Threat Summary

How to Remove Easy Mac Care (removal guidance)

In many cases potentially unwanted program requires more than a simple uninstall with the help of the Finder in order to be fully removed. For that reason, our team created several removal ways that we’ve summarized in a detailed tutorial. Therefore, if you’ve the intrusive Easy Mac Care PUP on your MAC system and are currently trying to have it deleted then feel free to follow the few simple steps below in order to resolve your problem. Read it once, after doing so, please bookmark this page (or open it on your smartphone) as you may need to exit your web-browser or restart your machine.

To remove Easy Mac Care, perform the following steps:

1. How to manually remove Easy Mac Care
2. Automatic Removal of Easy Mac Care potentially unwanted program

How to manually remove Easy Mac Care

Looking for a method to remove Easy Mac Care potentially unwanted program manually without downloading any apps? Then this section of the post is just for you. Below are some simple steps you can take. Performing these steps requires basic knowledge of web browser and Microsoft Windows setup. If you are not sure that you can follow them, it is better to use free tools listed below that can help you delete Easy Mac Care PUP.

Delete Easy Mac Care related programs through the Finder

First, go to the Finder and remove questionable apps, all applications you don’t remember installing. It is important to pay the most attention to software you installed just before Easy Mac Care appeared on your web browser. If you do not know what a program does, look for the answer on the Net.

Open Finder and click “Applications”.

Very carefully look around the entire list of programs installed on your MAC OS. Most probably, one of them is the Easy Mac Care and other PUPs. If you’ve many apps installed, you can help simplify the search of harmful programs by sort the list by date of installation.

Once you have found a suspicious, unwanted or unused application, right click to it and choose “Move to Trash”. Another solution is drag the program from the Applications folder to the Trash.

Don’t forget, select Finder -> “Empty Trash”.

Delete Easy Mac Care from Safari

The Safari reset is great if your web browser is hijacked or you have unwanted addo-ons or toolbars on your internet browser, that installed by an malware.

Click Safari menu and choose “Preferences”.

It will open the Safari Preferences window. Next, click the “Extensions” tab. Look for unknown and suspicious plugins on left panel, select it, then press the “Uninstall” button. Most important to remove all unknown extensions from Safari.

Once complete, click “General” tab. Change the “Default Search Engine” to Google.

Find the “Homepage” and type into textfield “https://www.google.com”.

Remove Easy Mac Care from Mozilla Firefox by resetting web browser settings

This step will allow you remove third-party toolbars, disable malicious extensions and revert back your default startpage, newtab and search engine settings.

Run the Firefox and click the menu button (it looks like three stacked lines) at the top right of the browser screen. Next, click the question-mark icon at the bottom of the drop-down menu. It will open the slide-out menu.

Select the “Troubleshooting information”. If you are unable to access the Help menu, then type “about:support” in your address bar and press Enter. It bring up the “Troubleshooting Information” page as shown on the screen below.

Click the “Refresh Firefox” button at the top right of the Troubleshooting Information page. Select “Refresh Firefox” in the confirmation dialog box. The Firefox will begin a procedure to fix your problems that caused by the Easy Mac Care PUP. When, it is done, press the “Finish” button.

Remove Easy Mac Care PUP from Google Chrome

Reset Google Chrome settings is a simple method to remove malicious and adware add-ons, web browser’s newtab, startpage and search provider that have been modified by potentially unwanted program.

Open the Chrome menu by clicking on the button in the form of three horizontal dotes (). It will open the drop-down menu. Choose More Tools, then press Extensions.

Carefully browse through the list of installed addons. If the list has the extension labeled with “Installed by enterprise policy” or “Installed by your administrator”, then complete the following steps: Remove Chrome extensions installed by enterprise policy otherwise, just go to the step below.

Open the Chrome main menu again, press to “Settings” option.

Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the “Advanced” link. Now scroll down until the Reset settings section is visible, such as the one below and press the “Reset settings to their original defaults” button.

Confirm your action, click the “Reset” button.

Automatic Removal of Easy Mac Care potentially unwanted program

If you are unsure how to uninstall Easy Mac Care PUP easily, consider using automatic PUP removal programs which listed below. It will identify the Easy Mac Care and other PUPs and get rid of it from your Apple Mac for free.

How to remove Easy Mac Care with MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (MBAM)

Manual Easy Mac Care removal requires some computer skills. Some files that created by the PUP may be not completely removed. We recommend that run the MalwareBytes Anti Malware (MBAM) that are completely clean your computer of PUP. Moreover, this free utility will help you to remove hijacker, malware, potentially unwanted applications and toolbars that your MAC system can be infected too.

1. Visit the following page to download the latest version of MalwareBytes Free for Mac OS.
   
   Malwarebytes Anti-malware (Mac)
   14186 downloads
   Author: Malwarebytes
   Category: Security tools
   Update: July 10, 2018
   
2. When the downloading process is finished, please close all programs and open windows on your machine. Run the downloaded file. Follow the prompts.
3. The MalwareBytes Free will start and show the main window.
4. Further, click the “Scan” button to perform a system scan for the Easy Mac Care potentially unwanted program and other unwanted apps. A scan may take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the number of files on your MAC system and the speed of your machine. When a threat is found, the number of the security threats will change accordingly. Wait until the the checking is finished.
5. Once the system scan is done, MalwareBytes Free will produce a list of unwanted applications and PUP.
6. Next, you need to press the “Remove Selected Items” button.
7. Close the Anti-Malware and continue with the next step.

How to stay safe online

If you surf the Net, you cannot avoid malicious advertising. But you can protect your internet browser against it. Download and run an ad-blocker program. AdGuard is an adblocker that can filter out lots of of the malicious advertising, stoping dynamic scripts from loading malicious content.

Click the following link to download the latest version of AdGuard for Mac.

Once downloading is finished, run the downloaded file. The “Setup Wizard” window will show up on the computer screen.

Follow the prompts. AdGuard will then be installed. A window will show up asking you to confirm that you want to see a quick guide. Click “Skip” button to close the window and use the default settings, or press “Get Started” to see an quick tutorial which will allow you get to know AdGuard better.

Each time, when you start your MAC OS, AdGuard will launch automatically and stop unwanted pop ups, block malicious or misleading websites.

Finish words

Once you’ve done the guidance above, your MAC OS should be clean from the Easy Mac Care and other potentially unwanted programs. Unfortunately, if the instructions does not help you, then you have caught a new PUP, and then the best way – ask for help.

Please create a new question by using the “Ask Question” button in the Questions and Answers. Try to give us some details about your problems, so we can try to help you more accurately. Wait for one of our trained “Security Team” or Site Administrator to provide you with knowledgeable assistance tailored to your problem with the unwanted Easy Mac Care .

Advanced Care Mac Cleaner App Free

Is Advanced Mac Cleaner Safe