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How do I remove adware from my Mac!

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How do I remove the adware from my Mac? I get pop-up ads on. (Ads by MacVx seem to be the most popular). Safari browser seems to be unaffected. I would also like to keep all of my bookmarks too if I have to uninstall and start over. Thank you, j

How do I remove the adware from my Mac? I get pop-up ads on. (Ads by MacVx seem to be the most popular). Safari browser seems to be unaffected. I would also like to keep all of my bookmarks too if I have to uninstall and start over. Thank you, j

All Replies (4)

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Hi Jon, you might check Apple's forums for general cleanup recommendations. I'll focus on Firefox add-ons, but additional cleanup might be required to prevent them from getting reinjected into Firefox.

Open Firefox's Add-ons page using either:

  • Cmd+Shift+a
  • "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons

In the left column, click Plugins. Set nonessential and unrecognized plugins to "Never Activate".

In the left column, click Extensions. Then, if in doubt, disable (or Remove, if possible) unrecognized and unwanted extensions. Bear in mind that all extensions are optional, none come with Firefox.

Often a link will appear above at least one disabled extension to restart Firefox. You can complete your work on the tab and click one of the links as the last step.

Any improvement in Firefox's behavior?

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FredMcD: I'm trying the ClamXav right now. I guess it takes a real long while to go through everything? And hopefully when it's done it will tell me what to do. Thank you.

Jscher2000: I just don't trust myself removing files. Do much better when I screenshare and they point at each file. Which Apple did.... but they would not work on the Firefox browser(which is the one that is massively hit by adware) Safari was not hit hard and was fine when they (Apple) were done helping. Although I chose to use Firefox.

Thanks! jf

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You don't need to use Remove. You can use Disable as a test.