Is Advanced Mac Cleaner A Virus

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  1. The reason why viruses, like the Advanced Mac Cleaner threat are a significant menace, is that it has multiple different malicious functions that are utilised on your Mac. The features of a virus may vary, depending on what type it is, but it is safe to assume that the Advanced Mac Cleaner virus can do the following on your PC.
  2. Learn more how to make a full uninstall of advanced Mac Cleaner and Remove Popups. Get rid of Advanced Mac Cleaner virus! In the event that you paid for the product with a Visa, think about detailing the charge to the bank as fake.

Advanced Mac Cleaner is a program that can fix, clean and make your Mac run fast. So it’s like all-around utility tool for Mac computers. However, there are tons of negative reviews of this application online and most of them are regarding the way this application is distributed. For those reasons, we categorise Advanced Mac Cleaner as a PUP (potentially unwanted program).

Helperamc Scam Pop-up (Advanced Mac Cleaner virus) is considered as a rogue system security program that has scammed lots of computer users with fake security alerts. Helperamc Scam Pop-up (Advanced Mac Cleaner virus) comes into your computer and installs itself all of a sudden without your permission.

Advanced Mac Cleaner PUP quicklinksNote: Combo Cleaner trial provides detection of parasites and assists in their removal for free. You can remove detected files, processes and registry entries yourself or purchase a full version.
If Combo Cleaner fails to detect parasite, ask a question in comments and provide as much detail as possible or try scaning with other tools.

User “debwilson” on official Apple discussions forum is asking a question What is advanced mac cleaner, because it was automatically installed on their Mac (without their approval), reports 5000 various issues and asks to pay $34 to solve them all. The question (and it wasn’t the only such question) attained a lot of attention and answers – most of them were correct. It is a PU that gets installed alongside various malware or fake and intrusive pop-up ads. It can cause a lot of problems, since features of this application are not really useful and it can be difficult to get rid of.

Deceptive methods of Advanced Mac Cleaner

Advanced Mac Cleaner is very similar to various PCVARK programs, like Smart Mac Booster, Mac Heal Pro, My Mac Speedup — they’re all basically the same, actually: they scan your Mac and display errors and problems in an effort to get you to pay for a repair. Some of the problems that Advanced Mac Cleaner detects may be real, but others are misleading (harmless files being shown as “issues”) and even false.

While this software might not be the worst, its distribution methods are strange and unfair, to say the least. We have encountered such an attempt to sell this software ourselves, and it wasn’t pleasant.

There are some websites that monetise their traffic by displaying intrusive and often misleading advertisements. That’s the main distribution funnel for this infection. Let’s say you click on some result in Google results page that looks totally legitimate. Instead of that website, you are taken to a full-window notification, that says your Mac is facing some serious problems that have to be solved right now.

This message claims that you have infection on your Mac which came from a website you visited earlier. It also displays some of your personal information – IP address, internet connection provider, and even your location, which is not really an appropriate thing to do. In case you fall for this trick and follow the steps displayed on the screen, your computer will be “scanned” right on that website.

The scan is fake — a website can’t scan your computer unless you allow it to do that explicitly. Other fake threat detection alerts include Advancemactools.live, Errx049.icu, (4) viruses, and others. Such online alerts are used to trick people to download and install software that they don’t need, usually rogue applications and potentially unwanted programs like Advanced Mac Cleaner.

At the end of the “scanning” process, you will be redirected to the website of Advanced Mac Cleaner at advancedmaccleaner.com. The pop-up message is displayed on url reward8324.share1-dc21-storage6.top. Please notice that this url can display other offers as well (fake giveaways, tech support scams, pshishing pages) and Advanced Mac Cleaner can be promoted by other url’s as well.

That is definitely not the only way this unwanted program is distributed. You can also bump into advertisement that says you have visited a porn site and your Mac needs to be fixed, as it can be seen in the image below:

Scarily, Advanced Mac Cleaner might even cause your Mac to show false security warnings that lead to even more malware.

Removal of Advanced Mac Cleaner

If the Advanced Mac Cleaner unwanted program somehow managed to sneak into your Mac or you have installed it yourself but want to get rid of it – following steps should be taken:

  • Quit the Advanced Mac Cleaner application;
  • Find it in the applications folder and drag to the trash bin’
  • Use search and find these files associated to AMC, then remove them:
    /Library/Application Support/amc/
    ~/Library/Advanced Mac Cleaner/
    ~/Library/hlpramc/
    ~/Library/Application Support/Advanced Mac Cleaner/
    ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.pcv.hlpramc.plist
    ~/Library/Logs/helperamc.log
    ~/Library/Preferences/com.PCvark.Advanced-Mac-Cleaner.plist

Also, we would highly recommend to scan your Mac with reliable anti-malware application, such as Malwarebytes Anti-Malware for Mac.

Automatic Malware removal tools

We might be affiliated with some of these programs. Full information is available in disclosure

Manual removal

Important Note: Although it is possible to manually remove Advanced Mac Cleaner, such activity can permanently damage your system if any mistakes are made in the process, as advanced spyware parasites are able to automatically repair themselves if not completely removed. Thus, manual spyware removal is recommended for experienced users only, such as IT specialists or highly qualified system administrators. For other users, we recommend using Combo Cleaner or other tools found on 2-viruses.com.

Is Advanced Mac Cleaner A Virus Itself

About the author

What is Advanced Mac Cleaner IT security specialists has determined that Advanced Mac Cleaner is a potentially unwanted program (PUP), already at the first sight of which there are various doubts. It’s named “Advanced Mac Cleaner” claims to help users remove unnecessary apps, clean disks, find and remove duplicate and junk files.

Once installed and started, it will perform a scan of whole system and detect a lot of problems. The Advanced Mac Cleaner will offer to purchase its full version to try to fix these problems. This PUP will change your MAC settings to periodically display various annoying pop-ups, alerts and warnings.

Advanced Mac Cleaner usually gets installed as a part of some free applications. Do not be surprised, it happens, especially if you’re an active Internet user. But this does not mean that you should reconcile with these unwanted Advanced Mac Cleaner popup alerts and warnings. Maybe you approve the idea that these popups from it is just a small problem. But the Advanced Mac Cleaner eat MAC system resources and slow down your computer’s performance.

It is not a good idea to have an unwanted program like the Advanced Mac Cleaner. The reason for this is simple, it doing things you don’t know about. Even worse, any PUPS have the ability to collect personal info which can be later transferred to third parties. You do not know if your home address, account names and passwords are safe.

Therefore, the Advanced Mac Cleaner does not really have beneficial features. So, we recommend you uninstall Advanced Mac Cleaner and other PUPs sooner. This will also prevent the PUP from tracking your online activities. A full Advanced Mac Cleaner potentially unwanted program removal can be easily carried out using manual or automatic way listed below.

How to remove Advanced Mac Cleaner (Virus removal guide)

There are a simple manual guidance below that will assist you to remove Advanced Mac Cleaner from your Apple Mac computer. The most effective way to delete this potentially unwanted program is to complete the manual removal instructions and then use MalwareBytes Free automatic tool (it is free). The manual solution will help to weaken this PUP and these malware removal tools will completely uninstall Advanced Mac Cleaner and return the Safari, Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome settings to default.


To remove Advanced Mac Cleaner, execute the following steps:

  1. Manual Advanced Mac Cleaner potentially unwanted program removal
  2. Run free malware removal tools to completely delete Advanced Mac Cleaner

Manual Advanced Mac Cleaner potentially unwanted program removal

If you perform exactly the tutorial below you should be able to get rid of the Advanced Mac Cleaner potentially unwanted program from the Firefox, Chrome and Safari web browsers.

Uninstall Advanced Mac Cleaner using the Finder

First method for manual potentially unwanted program removal is to go into the Finder, then Applications. Take a look at the list of programs on your computer and see if there are Advanced Mac Cleaner, other dubious and unknown applications. If you see any, you need to uninstall them. Of course, before doing so, you can do an Internet search to find details on the program. If it is a potentially unwanted program, potentially unwanted program or malware, you will likely find information that says so.

Open Finder and click “Applications”.

Carefully browse through the list of installed apps and remove all suspicious and unknown software.

When you’ve found anything dubious that may be the Advanced Mac Cleaner potentially unwanted program or other PUP (potentially unwanted program), then right click this application and choose “Move to Trash”. Once complete, Empty Trash.

What Is Mac Advanced Cleaner

Remove Advanced Mac Cleaner from Google Chrome

The Advanced Mac Cleaner can change your Chrome settings without your knowledge. Reset Google Chrome web browser will allow reset the unwanted changes caused by potentially unwanted programs. It will save your personal information such as saved passwords, bookmarks, auto-fill data and open tabs.

First launch the Google Chrome. Next, click the button in the form of three horizontal dots ().

It will show the Chrome menu. Select More Tools, then press Extensions. Carefully browse through the list of installed extensions. If the list has the extension signed with “Installed by enterprise policy” or “Installed by your administrator”, then complete the following guide: Remove Google Chrome extensions installed by enterprise policy.

Open the Google Chrome menu once again. Further, click the option named “Settings”.

How to get rid of mac cleaner

The internet browser will show the settings screen. Another way to open the Google Chrome’s settings – type chrome://settings in the web browser adress bar and press Enter

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

The Google Chrome will show the confirmation prompt as on the image below.

You need to confirm your action, press the “Reset” button. The internet browser will run the task of cleaning. Once it is finished, the web browser’s settings including new tab, search provider and home page back to the values that have been when the Google Chrome was first installed on your computer. /mac-download-manager.html.

Get rid of Advanced Mac Cleaner popup from Safari

By resetting Safari browser you revert back your browser settings to its default state. This is basic when troubleshooting problems that might have been caused by Advanced Mac Cleaner and other PUPs.

Click Safari menu and choose “Preferences”.

It will open the Safari Preferences window. Next, click the “Extensions” tab. Look for unknown and suspicious addons 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 Advanced Mac Cleaner popup from Firefox by resetting web browser settings

If the Mozilla Firefox web browser settings have been changed by Advanced Mac Cleaner and you want to restore the Mozilla Firefox settings back to their original state, then you should follow the tutorial below. However, your themes, bookmarks, history, passwords, and web form auto-fill information will not be deleted.

First, run the Firefox. Next, click the button in the form of three horizontal stripes (). It will show the drop-down menu. Next, click the Help button ().

In the Help menu press the “Troubleshooting Information”. In the upper-right corner of the “Troubleshooting Information” page press on “Refresh Firefox” button as displayed in the following example.

Confirm your action, click the “Refresh Firefox”.

Run free malware removal tools to completely delete Advanced Mac Cleaner

Manual removal guide does not always allow to completely delete the Advanced Mac Cleaner, as it’s not easy to identify and remove components of potentially unwanted programs and all malicious files from hard disk. Therefore, it is recommended that you run malicious software removal tool to completely get rid of Advanced Mac Cleaner off your MAC system. The optimum solution would be to run MalwareBytes Anti Malware (MBAM).


Is Advanced Mac Cleaner A Virus

Remove Advanced Mac Cleaner with Malwarebytes

Get rid of Advanced Mac Cleaner manually is difficult and often this PUP is not completely removed. Therefore, we recommend you to use the MalwareBytes Free that are completely clean your computer. Moreover, the free program will allow you to remove malware, potentially unwanted applications, toolbars and browser hijackers that your MAC OS can be infected too.

  1. MalwareBytes AntiMalware can be downloaded from the following link.
    Malwarebytes Anti-malware (Mac)
    10206 downloads
    Author: Malwarebytes
    Category: Security tools
    Update: July 10, 2018
  2. After the downloading process is finished, please close all programs and open windows on your Apple Mac. Run the downloaded file. Follow the prompts.
  3. The MalwareBytes AntiMalware will start and display the main window.
  4. Further, click the “Scan” button for checking your Apple Mac for the Advanced Mac Cleaner and other PUPs. Depending on your MAC, the scan can take anywhere from a few minutes to close to an hour. While the tool is scanning, you can see count of objects and files has already scanned.
  5. Once finished, MalwareBytes Anti Malware will display you the results.
  6. Once you have selected what you wish to get rid of from your Apple Mac click the “Remove Selected Items” button.
  7. Close the Anti-Malware and continue with the next step.

How to stop Advanced Mac Cleaner popup

In order to increase your security and protect your MAC system against new annoying ads and malicious pages, you need to use ad-blocking program that stops an access to harmful advertisements and websites. Moreover, the application can block the display of intrusive advertising, which also leads to faster loading of web pages and reduce the consumption of web traffic.

Visit the page linked below to download AdGuard.

AdGuard for Mac download
1980 downloads
Author: © Adguard
Category: Security tools
Update: January 17, 2018

When the download is complete, 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 instructions. Click “Skip” button to close the window and use the default settings, or press “Get Started” to see an quick instructions that will assist you get to know AdGuard better.

Each time, when you start your computer, AdGuard will start automatically and block unwanted ads, stop Advanced Mac Cleaner popup, as well as other harmful or misleading web pages.

How can you prevent the Advanced Mac Cleaner ?

The Advanced Mac Cleaner and other PUPs mostly comes on the MAC system with various freeware. In most cases, potentially unwanted programs comes without the user’s knowledge. Therefore, many users aren’t even aware that their computer has been infected by malicious software and PUPs. Please follow the easy rules in order to protect your machine from any unwanted applications: don’t install any suspicious programs, read the user agreement and choose only the Custom, Manual or Advanced install type, don’t rush to press the Next button. Also, always try to find a review of the program on the Internet. Be careful and attentive!

If Advanced Mac Cleaner PUP has already come into your machine, then you need to scan your computer for PUPs and other malware. Use our detailed step-by-step guidance that are listed above.

To sum up

After completing the few simple steps above, your Apple Mac should be clean from Advanced Mac Cleaner and other PUPs . The Firefox, Chrome and Safari will no longer display unwanted Advanced Mac Cleaner popup alerts. Unfortunately, if the guide does not help you, then you have caught a new potentially unwanted program, and then the best way – ask for help here.

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