Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

spyware/adware remover

A

Arcane86

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 16, 2007
15
0
Steel City, Ontario
hey all, im looking for a free adware and or spyware remover for mac's.
im new to macs so im having a hard time trying to find one. i use lavasoft adware remover for my pc, but i dont remember it being mac friendly. and i also have used search and destroy for my pc... so yea i need some help.
would like to have these's applications for a "what if" situation does occur. thanks
 
There is no spyware or adware. There still aren't any viruses in the wild either, despite what any PC techie might try and tell you.
 
dpaanlka said:
There is no spyware or adware. There still aren't any viruses in the wild either, despite what any PC techie might try and tell you.
Click to expand...

so how did i get some stupid "party poker" thingy come up when im brousin the web. and yea it happens randomly... and im not one for online casino and junk so i dunno how the heck that even happened
 
Arcane86 said:
so how did i get some stupid "party poker" thingy come up when im brousin the web. and yea it happens randomly... and im not one for online casino and junk so i dunno how the heck that even happened
Click to expand...

That's not adware, that's a pop-up/pop-under ad that will disappear once you quit your browser. You can set Safari to block pop-up windows, but there are still a few that manage to sneak by.

Adware would be a separate program that installs itself, hides on your system and the ads would appear even if you had your browser and all other programs closed. Adware programs don't exist for the Mac.
 
TheAnswer said:
That's not adware, that's a pop-up/pop-under ad that will disappear once you quit your browser. You can set Safari to block pop-up windows, but there are still a few that manage to sneak by.

Adware would be a separate program that installs itself, hides on your system and the ads would appear even if you had your browser and all other programs closed. Adware programs don't exist for the Mac.
Click to expand...

oooo okie. so i dont have to worry about anything else? how do i disable pop-ups with safari? ive been using firefox since then and its happened once? but i cant remember if i was on safari or firefox.
 
Arcane86 said:
oooo okie. so i dont have to worry about anything else? how do i disable pop-ups with safari? ive been using firefox since then and its happened once? but i cant remember if i was on safari or firefox.
Click to expand...

In Safari, it's Safari > Block Pop-up Windows

You can do the same in Firefox...it's in Firefox > Preferences... > Content
 
You can also turn on Tabs in Safari, which is handy, and do many other things in Safari -> Preferences

Ditto for most programs...
 
Arcane86 said:
if it does keep poping up. any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Hunt down the responsible parties and execute them? :D

Seriously though, the browser manufacturers try to stay on top of these but there are always less-scrupulous advertisers and developers who are finding ways around the blockers. Seems to be a never-ending battle.
 
Arcane86 said:
yea i know thats a given. but i mean how do i stop it COMPLETELY?
Click to expand...

You can't eliminate it 100%, just 99.999%...but as has been mentioned before, it's not going to be as big a problem as before or an problematic as an adware type situation.

The problem is that pop-up ad coders are always trying to find ways around the blockers built into Safari, Firefox, etc. But that said, now that you've disabled pop-ups, you'll probably only see one or two a week, tops.
 
google adware infestation???

hey guys, every time i click a link in google it redirects me to a random site, and ideas what it could be??
cheers :D
 
If some video from questionable sites asks you to install some codecs or any other type of install, don't.

If you must find codecs or apps, go to apple, macupdate, or versiontracker.
 
hmmm i dont remember getting codecs from anywhere but the official places tbh ... any other ideas??
 
jtwell2 said:
hey guys, every time i click a link in google it redirects me to a random site, and ideas what it could be??
cheers :D
Click to expand...

Consultant said:
If some video from questionable sites asks you to install some codecs or any other type of install, don't.

If you must find codecs or apps, go to apple, macupdate, or versiontracker.
Click to expand...

jtwell2 said:
hmmm i dont remember getting codecs from anywhere but the official places tbh ... any other ideas??
Click to expand...

I think jtwell is trying to point out there is a 'trojan' out there that messes with OSX. :rolleyes:
 
never said anything about a trojan no need to take the piss mate all i asked for is whether anyone knew if there was such a thing, not a smart arse comment >-<
cheers to those who were constuctive...
 
jtwell2 said:
never said anything about a trojan no need to take the piss mate all i asked for is whether anyone knew if there was such a thing, not a smart arse comment >-<
cheers to those who were constuctive...
Click to expand...

What's with the attitude?

The poster is trying to tell you that there is a trojan horse program that can change your Hosts information so that links are redirected to adware/spam sites. That trojan is typically delivered inside of a download, which may pretend to be a video codec or some other piece of installable software. So the probability is if your links are being redirected, that you DID download and give permission to install, some manner of trojan horse program.

Alternatively, your ISP themselves may have their DNS compromised. Try using the OpenDNS DNS servers 208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220 in your Primary and Alternate Domain Name Server entries in Network System Preferences -- if the problem goes away, contact your ISP and tell them to get themselves fixed.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back