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. 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. 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. 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. 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. One of these landing pages is parked at lp./adsph/2/ domain. The unprincipled developers of the scareware in question are known to engage a framework of misleading web pages to push their digital culprit.

Let’s look into one of these propagation tricks. 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. 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. The latter, by the way, is really interesting because the program is outright scareware itself.

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. 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. It deliberately reports low-severity or nonexistent macOS issues, flagging them critical and offering its paid performance enhancement service. The utility called Mac Cleanup Pro, however, has nothing to do with junk removal done right.

There are plenty of nifty tools out there that do the optimization trick. 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. 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.

Get rid of mac cleaner on macbook pro