Learn why the Mac Cleanup Pro app is considered malicious, what it does to an infected Mac, and how to uninstall this pseudo system optimizer in a few steps.
Feb 07, 2017 If your Mac has become frustratingly slow, there are a number of ways you can speed it up again. Before you engage in any maintenance, I would urge you to take caution and back up your data. If you've done any kind of search for a free PC or computer 'cleaner' then you've likely encountered many that were anything but free. Sadly, it's become increasingly common to advertise that a registry or other PC cleaner program is free to 'download' even though the all-important 'cleaning' part will cost you.
Update: October, 2019
The nuts and bolts of hassle-free Mac usage involve periodic maintenance aimed at deleting software leftovers, Internet cache and other unneeded data the operating system and apps routinely generate. There are plenty of nifty tools out there that do the optimization trick. The utility called Mac Cleanup Pro, however, has nothing to do with junk removal done right. It deliberately reports low-severity or nonexistent macOS issues, flagging them critical and offering its paid performance enhancement service. No matter how well-tuned your system is and how scrupulously you’ve been keeping the hard disk space in optimal condition, this application will “detect” numerous issues regardless and emphasize the high improvement potential that can be allegedly squeezed out of the areas it purports to cover.
Speaking of the scan areas, the GUI of Mac Cleanup Pro lists the following: cache, logs, trash, extra languages, Internet history, login items, duplicates files, large files, and rogue apps. The latter, by the way, is really interesting because the program is outright scareware itself. Some insights into its genealogy reveal a direct relation to the most infamous family of bogus Mac optimizers as yet, which is also represented by such malicious heavyweights as Mac Auto Fixer, Advanced Mac Cleaner, Mac Tonic, and the recent one called Similar Photo Cleaner. Hailing from the same rogue cradle, Mac Cleanup Pro is backed by a sizeable distribution campaign that has allowed it to reach thousands of computers already and keep on spreading. Let’s look into one of these propagation tricks.
The unprincipled developers of the scareware in question are known to engage a framework of misleading web pages to push their digital culprit. One of these landing pages is parked at lp.superutils.co/adsph/2/ domain. The site includes a script that determines and displays the visitor’s country and IP address – this way, the users are more likely to fall for the deceptive tactic. A big giveaway, though, is that the “OS version” field says the victim uses OS Sierra, even if they visit the page from a Windows PC. Anyway, the site displays a warning that goes, “Your Mac Might Be Infected!” and provides some pseudo details, namely: “Your Mac might be infected by the latest viruses. If you do not remove them, they may damage your system files and slow down your Internet browsing speed.” (macOS Catalina 10.15 update: “helpermcp will damage your computer. You should move it to the Trash”). To get rid of the viruses (which aren’t there for real), the user is instructed to download and run Mac Cleanup Pro, which is dubbed “Mac Cleaner” on the phony page. Incidentally, another likely source of contamination is a site that renders a counterfeit alert saying “Your Mac is infected with 3 viruses”.
There are two possible ways that Mac users end up on lp.superutils.co/adsph/2/ domain. One is via redirect activity bolstered by a PUA (potentially unwanted application) that infects one’s web browser and forces hits to the misguiding site. In this case, the user needs to get rid of the troublemaking browser add-on or plugin, which may be a nontrivial objective due to obfuscation and persistence mechanisms of these pests. The other way is through hacked websites or online ads that lead to the scareware’s landing page. I98 visual cleaner dont open on my mac.
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Mac Cleanup Pro may re-infect your Mac multiple times unless you delete all of its fragments, including hidden ones. Therefore, it is recommended to download Freshmac and scan your system for these stubborn files. This way, you may reduce the cleanup time from hours to minutes. Download NowLearn how Freshmac works and get insights into its Terms of Use. If the utility spots malicious code, you will need to buy a license to get rid of it.
Mac Cleanup Pro is often accompanied by extra threats that allow the attackers to add one more layer of monetization to their fraudulent activity, aside from the scare tactic alone. The infections that typically arrive in the same bundle include TechSignalSearch and TechNetSearch, the former being more common. In fact, both of them share identical characteristics and goals. The objective is to hijack Safari, or whichever browser is the victim’s default one, and redirect their web traffic to Yahoo or Bing via a series of disreputable ad networks. In some cases, the infected users keep visiting tech support scam sites that display fake alerts about Mac health and security problems that aren’t actually there. The shenanigans of TechSignalSearch virus may also result in Internet connectivity issues, where the wireless and LAN connection goes missing at certain intervals, usually every couple of minutes.
Obviously, this type of offending code is subject to immediate removal, but this turns out to be easier said than done. First of all, although the TechSignalSearch.app entry can be found in the infected Mac’s Applications folder, moving it to the Trash only yields a temporary effect and the pest will reappear shortly. Secondly, the rest of the files may be hidden in the LaunchAgents folder, which is a place not every Mac user knows how to access. With that said, a special security procedure is required to spot and completely delete all the elements of the follow-up nasties.
Whereas Mac Cleanup Pro can arrive by means of different techniques, it behaves in the exact same fashion when on board any Mac. It pops up out of the blue and triggers system scans that return really unsettling results over and over. The app thus attempts to persuade the victim that their machine has hundreds of performance issues, ranging from superfluous cache to unused languages that take up a great deal of disk space. It will also notify the user how much space can be recovered in just one click. Predictably, the cleaning feature can only be unlocked by activating the full version of the program, which is a matter of making a payment. This is precisely what the gist of the Mac Cleanup Pro virus is about. It frightens users into purchasing the full version. That’s a disgusting strategy, so there is, obviously, one reasonable way to treat the double-dealing program. Remove it now and mind what you download on untrustworthy websites further on.
Mac Cleanup Pro [helpermcp] virus manual removal for Mac
The steps listed below will walk you through the removal of this potentially unwanted application. Be sure to follow the instructions in the order specified.
Use automatic tool to uninstall Mac Cleanup Pro virus from your Mac
When confronted with malicious code like the Mac Cleanup Pro virus on Mac, you can neutralize its toxic impact by leveraging a specially crafted system utility. The Freshmac application (read review) is a perfect match for this purpose as it delivers essential security features along with must-have modules for Mac optimization.
This tool cleans unneeded applications and persistent malware in one click. It also protects your privacy by eliminating tracking cookies, frees up disk space, and manages startup apps to decrease boot time. On top of that, it boasts 24/7 tech support. The following steps will walk you through automatic removal of the Mac Cleanup Pro infection.
FAQ
No, it’s not. Based on its unethical distribution practices and intrusive activity when on board a computer, Mac Cleanup Pro is flagged as a malicious application. Upon superficial inspection, it might seem that its makers are attempting to cash in on the growing demand for Mac optimization through third-party utilities. However, most users don’t even get a chance to familiarize themselves with its purported features prior to the installation, because the scareware infiltrates their systems in a stealthy way that has nothing to do with an informed decision. It mainly arrives as part of software bundles where the installation client’s default mode conceals the cross-promotion.
Aside from the surreptitious spreading, Mac Cleanup Pro deluges an infected Mac with pesky reports about performance issues that aren’t actually there. Fabricated scan results and follow-up alerts are the common symptoms of the attack.
Furthermore, the rogue optimizer additionally leaves a footprint in the victim’s web browser by redirecting the Internet traffic to fraudulent sites that say the Mac is infected and push a “cleaner” which is a virus in disguise. In summary, Mac Clean Up Pro is not legitimate. It is a fake system utility that does not belong inside your Mac.
Commonplace updates of the operating system and the installed software are actually accompanied by some degree of background maintenance. However, a more thoroughgoing cleanup would imply certain initiative on the user’s end. macOS Sierra and later versions go equipped with a feature called “Optimize Storage”. You can configure it to remove iTunes multimedia content you’ve already watched and handle email attachments in such a way that they won’t be automatically downloaded onto your hard disk. There is additionally an option to empty Trash automatically.
The system also allows you to empty caches and reduce clutter such as large files and the items you probably don’t need anymore. This type of optimization, though, relies on user involvement and cannot be scheduled or otherwise pre-assigned.
At the end of the day, Apple does perform some tidying as long as you configure your Mac appropriately, but a more tangible effect presupposes your action. One way or another, outsourcing this job to a program like Mac Cleanup Pro is a bad idea. You’re better off sorting through your junk files manually or downloading a trusted cleaner from the official store.
There is no on-demand virus scanner built into your Mac. Nevertheless, Apple delivers decent real-time protection against dubious apps you may want to install, plus its Gatekeeper module will generate an alert if a piece of third-party software has been covertly altered since it was last checked. Software updates also maintain an important layer of security through patches of the recently discovered vulnerabilities.
If you need to run a virus scan at will, though, this is doable with a specially crafted tool made by a reputable AV vendor. Be sure to download a security suite of choice from the official Mac App Store only, otherwise you may unknowingly expose your system to a rogue program like Mac Cleanup Pro.
Contrary to a common opinion, Macs aren’t flawless when it comes to self-optimization. You need to do quite a bit of the tedious cleaning work literally by hand to make sure the system runs smooth at all times. Therefore, a third-party app that automates the process of releasing disk space and boosting the Mac’s performance is more than welcome.
Thankfully, there are plenty of reliable Mac cleaners on the market. From where we stand, the apps called Combo Cleaner, Freshmac and MacBooster are among the top utilities in this niche. In addition to identifying and wiping memory hogs along with junk files you don’t need, these tools boast privacy and security essentials to keep your Mac experience both hassle-free and safe.
This Combo Cleaner review gives informative insights into the app’s Mac optimization and antivirus features while singling out its main pros and cons.
October 2019 update
Clutter-free and ever-secure Mac is wishful thinking rather than the objective reality. In fact, tons of duplicates, application leftovers, long-forgotten large files and browser cache can take up gigabytes of drive space and prevent the computer from performing at its peak. Plus, Mac malware is on the rise, scouring the Internet for new victims.
The Combo Cleaner utility by Lithuania-based RCS LT company purports to keep all of these problems at bay. It goes equipped with a disk cleanup feature, big files and duplicates finder, app uninstaller, antivirus, and privacy scanner. Such a fusion of services fine-tuned for Mac is definitely welcome these days. However, there are quite a few other solutions that make similar, if not identical, claims but hardly meet the challenge. Does Combo Cleaner actually do what it says? I’m going to put it through extensive testing to answer that question. So here we go.
Is Combo Cleaner safe and legitimate?
Of course, it is. https://jdsjtg.weebly.com/dmg-real-estate-norman-ok.html. It easily detects Mac viruses thrown at it, moreover, it was certified by OPSWAT Labs in the anti-malware category. It also boasts recognition by such reputable resources as CNET, Cult of Mac, and FileHorse.
Combo Cleaner supports OS X 10.10 (Yosemite) and later versions of the macOS platform (El Capitan, Sierra, High Sierra, It also boasts recognition by such reputable resources as CNET, Cult of Mac, and FileHorse.). Its stub installer can be downloaded from the vendor’s official site as well as the Mac App Store. It is a DMG file sized 4.9 MB that’s specifically tailored to make the setup process smooth and intuitive.
Before I proceed, let’s get one important aspect straight. Some users have a misconception that Combo Cleaner is freeware. In fact, it does go equipped with a few free features, such as the Disk Cleaner, Big Files Finder, and Duplicates Scanner. However, if you’d like to benefit from the app’s Antivirus, Privacy Scanner, and Uninstaller modules, you’ll have to upgrade to premium.
In other words, it won’t charge you for scanning your Mac for all kinds of viruses, malware and privacy issues, but the removal functionality will only become available on a paid subscription basis.
When it comes to the licensing, things are quite clear-cut. There are two plans: single user for 1 Mac ($39.95 for 6 months) and office / family for up to 5 Macs ($69.95 for semi-annual subscription). This isn’t the cheapest offer across the board, but the deal should be worth it as long as the application does a good job protecting and optimizing your Mac.
The installation routine is nothing out of the ordinary: you launch the setup assistant and click through a few garden-variety dialogs to get Combo Cleaner up and running. From where I stand, the app’s GUI makes a great first impression. It’s user-friendly and sleek, with every icon saying precisely what it does. The design and color scheme are undoubtedly on the plus side of the program.
From the get-go, Combo Cleaner performs an assessment of your Mac’s health and welcomes you with the dashboard whose upper section reflects the amount of available disk space, free memory, and current CPU load. Down below are the scan results for each one of the above-mentioned areas covered by the software. This pane is a one-stop system status information that includes both the security and performance essentials.
The solution runs fairly fast and has a moderate system footprint. The first full scan took less than 30 minutes to complete, and the app only added an extra couple of seconds to Mac startup time. Of course, the scan duration is a variable that depends on the size of your disk, but it won’t exceed any reasonable benchmarks whatsoever.
Combo Cleaner features
The feature set of this program aligns with the best practices of delivering Mac maintenance and security services. It should meet the average user’s expectations without encumbering the experience with anything redundant. Here’s the lowdown on the main features of Combo Cleaner.
Disk Cleaner is exactly what it sounds like. It evaluates the contents of your hard disk and advises on the amount of memory that’s safe to remove. This module spots and obliterates unnecessary application caches, downloads, app logs, and allow for emptying the Trash folder in one click. This functionality is entirely free to use.
Big Files Finder is pretty self-explanatory, too. It checks your local and external storage media for items that take up much disk space and may no longer belong on your Mac. The default preset looks for files larger than 100 MB, but you can easily customize this parameter by indicating a smaller value.
It’s also quite handy that Combo Cleaner breaks down the detected objects by the following size criteria: up to 1 GB, 1 GB to 5 GB, and more than 5 GB. Furthermore, you can easily sort these likely-unneeded entities by date. Importantly, this feature doesn’t require any payment to use either.
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Duplicate Files Finder is yet another feature falling into the disk cleanup category whose logic comes down to spotting identical copies or similar matches of the same file. This is particularly relevant for photos, audio files and videos – the types of data people often download repeatedly. The obvious action to take in regard to these items is removal, which is what the app can do in the blink of an eye. Moreover, the software won’t charge you a penny for this.
Antivirus is one of the fundamental components of Combo Cleaner. In fact, lots of users actually install this application to remove malicious code from their Macs in the first place. In case you still think Mac malware is a myth, just look up “Download Valley” on search engines. It is a huge syndicate coining adware that targets macOS alongside other platforms. The Genieo and Weknow.ac infections are some of the most notorious examples plaguing Apple computers for years.
Back to the point, this particular feature is definitely praiseworthy as it identifies Mac adware (including browser hijackers, popup viruses and ad-injecting threats) and other types of malware with an excellent detection rate. The virus database is updated on an hourly basis to ensure protection against new and emerging menaces. Keep in mind, though, that you need to purchase the product’s license to unlock the virus removal functionality. Meanwhile, the scan is free.
Another interesting hallmark is that although the module is tailored for Mac, it can also find Windows malware and therefore keeps you from accidentally or unknowingly sending any pests to other people who use PCs. That’s something I haven’t seen in any competing security solutions.
Privacy Scanner is one more feature that’s a prerogative of premium subscription only. It focuses on analyzing the installed web browsers and email clients for “breadcrumbs” that may disclose your personal data and thus pose risk to your identity. These verbose objects include cookies, browsing and search history logs, cache, saved forms, bookmarks, as well as potentially unwanted browser extensions.
At the end of the day, not only does this module take care of sneaky threats to your online privacy, but it also boosts browser performance by removing the above-mentioned junk.
At first sight, it may appear that the Uninstaller feature does the same as the Mac native app removal mechanism. However, it’s got a game-changing advantage over the latter. Here’s the thing – even after you remove a program from Mac the regular way, its leftovers may persevere in the system and take up disk space. Also, there are stubborn apps that simply prevent you from removing them.
How to burn dmg files. Combo Cleaner can locate obfuscated fragments of previously uninstalled software and force-remove apps that exhibit adverse persistence. Plus it provides an all-in-one list of your installed applications with a quick preview option. The only caveat is that you cannot use this functionality unless you are premium user.
Mac Cleaner For FreeSupport
Tech support is probably the weakest link in the whole user experience chain delivered by Combo Cleaner. While the vendor does provide a way for customers to get assistance, the choice is pretty much restricted to submitting a ticket, period. There is no live chat with company reps, nor is there a phone number to dial. What’s more, I couldn’t find any product knowledgebase or FAQs on the publisher’s website.
The only offset for this scarceness of support channels is that the app actually runs smooth, detects and removes Mac malware, finds and wipes unnecessary files, and generally copes with the cleanup task immaculately. At least, I didn’t run into a single issue during the test. Furthermore, the support agents claim to be available 24/7 and respond to tickets quite fast. One way or another, I hope the vendor will expand the range of their support services in the near future.
Free System Cleaner For MacCombo Cleaner – pros and cons
Pros:
● Detects and removes Mac malware flawlessly ● Hourly virus definition updates ● Recovers disk space without deleting anything important ● Basic optimization features are free to use ● User-friendly GUI ● Effective privacy scanner built in
Cons:
● Meager support options ● Quite expensive ● No startup optimization feature Summary
Combo Cleaner combines Mac maintenance and security features under the same hood. Whilst this is a common practice for quite a few software publishers out there, the efficiency of these modules is what really matters. Speaking of which, the app in question can take care of nearly any Mac malware issue – be it a browser redirect or popup ads virus, a rogue system optimizer, spyware, or ransomware. It also has enough optimization power to speed up your machine considerably.
The biggest quirk that makes me frown is the support section on the product’s website, which boils down to filling out a form. This is the tradeoff that will hopefully vanish sometime soon.
Overall, Combo Cleaner is a worthwhile application. It does all the tedious work for you to make your Mac experience hassle-free and secure.
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Absolutely. Its Mac optimization and antivirus capabilities have been verified by a number of authoritative software evaluation services, including OPSWAT and CNET. The former awarded the tool with bronze certification in the Mac anti-malware category. Furthermore, it got positive feedback and endorsements from Cult of Mac, FileHorse, and Soft32 portals. All in all, Combo Cleaner is definitely legit, and in our experience, it proved to be effective in identifying and removing all mainstream Mac viruses. Its performance boosting potential is commendable as well.
Combo Cleaner won’t charge you for scanning your Mac. Moreover, its optimization toolkit is completely free to use, so you can fully benefit from the Disk Cleaner, Big Files Finder, and Duplicates Finder modules without having to purchase a license. Keep in mind, though, that the security-related pool of features is paid. It means that the Antivirus, Privacy Scanner, and Uninstaller functions can be used without limitations on a subscription basis only. Again, you can have your Mac scanned for free, but in case Combo Cleaner detects malware or potential privacy risks and you would like to address them, then you will have to buy the full version of the program.
Best Cleaners For Mac
When Combo Cleaner is first launched, it runs a thorough scan of your Mac to assess the use of disk space and check the machine for known viruses. When the scan is completed, the app will provide the results on its Dashboard pane. You can additionally select any specific feature in the left-hand section of the GUI if you like. In order to fix the reported issues, all you need to do is click the appropriate button that says “Remove” or “Remove Selected Items” in the area of interest. Every scan report allows you to deselect the items you want to keep on your computer – make sure you do it prior to the cleanup. Be advised that the Antivirus, Privacy Scanner, and Uninstaller features are paid. The Antivirus module provides three scan options to choose from: Quick Scan (default one), Full Scan, and Custom Scan. The Quick mode is accurate enough to rely on for everyday protection. To the developers’ credit, all controls are intuitive and include concise explanations of what the features do.
Contrary to a common opinion, Macs aren’t flawless when it comes to self-optimization. You need to do quite a bit of the tedious cleaning work literally by hand to make sure the system runs smooth at all times. Therefore, a third-party app that automates the process of releasing disk space and boosting the Mac’s performance is more than welcome.
If you would like to uninstall Combo Cleaner from your Mac for whatever reason, the procedure is a no-brainer. In fact, the app is just like any other regular macOS software in this regard. Just open your Finder and select ‘Applications’ in the left-hand navigation menu. Scroll down the list of installed applications, find the Combo Cleaner icon, and drag it to the Trash. That’s it.
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