Remove Mac Adware yourself...

One of the hallmarks of being a Mac user was that we’ve been very lucky with regards to viruses, malware, and other bad things out there. Recently however a new vulnerability has surfaced called Adware. Over the past several weeks, we have seen dozens of our customers become infected with up to six forms of Adware. Thankfully, removing this nasty stuff is very easy and I’m going to tell you exactly how to do it at no cost.

We found a shareware (donations accepted) program called AdwareMedic (Mac OS 10.7 or later required) which scans your computer for all the known Adware and happily removes it for you. The only negative side effect we have seen is that often Adware changes your web browser’s home page so in addition to running AdwareMedic twice, you also may need to change your web browsers homepage to completely rid yourself of all the Adware. If you would rather not bother yourself with downloading AdwareMedic and removing the Adware yourself, you can schedule an appointment to have us remove it for you for a small fee (usually $22.50 to $45.) Just give a call, send an email, or drop by to have us clean your Mac professionally.

One of the most common ways one contracts this Adware is through falsified updates. The most common of which is Adobe Flash Player. Here is the scenario, you visit a site and see a pop up that your "Flash Player is out of date", there is a link to download the update. You follow along and eventually get the installer downloaded, you run the installer and think you have just updated Flash but really you have given permission to an application to install Adware on your pristine Mac. The easy way to avoid this from happening is to only install Flash upgrades from within the Flash Player System Preference panel. Once in the System Preferences, click Flash Player and then choose the "Advanced" tab, there should be a button to check for updates right there. Alternatively you can download Flash Player from the Adobe web site, http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/