MacKeeper (http:// mackeeperapp.zeobit.com
) has hijacked my Safari browser. I have had to open Firefox, in order to get to the internet. I would rather use Safari, since that is where my bookmarks and favorite links are on the toolbar.
A MacKeeper ad was in the sidebar, of the page I was on. I clicked on a link, to go to a website (not MacKeeper), and the window opened for MacKeeper, with a pop-up to let MacKeeper clean my Mac.
The ONLY option is to click "OK", which I refuse to do, because I know almost all of these "cleaner" apps are malware, with hidden stroke counting codes.
The box says
> > > RECOMMENDED DOWNLOAD < < <
We recommend to clean your Mac with MacKeeper - award-winning system utility.
There is an "OK" button, but no way to close out of the box.
Now, there is no way to get out of the website either. When it first started, I panicked, and pushed the power button, because it froze all the tabs and Safari functions, and I didn’t want it to download to my hard drive. I thought if I shut down the computer, it would stop the app from running, which would prevent it from downloading on my hard drive.
I also thought when I turned my computer back on, The MacKeeper pop-up window would be gone, and then I could close the MacKeeper website. But it wasn't gone. I can't do anything in Safari now. I am guessing MacKeeper figures people will eventually get frustrated, and give in, clicking the button, allowing MacKeeper onto the hard drive.
All of my tabs have the rotating circle, indicating something is happening, but the websites, on those tabs, can’t be opened. I tried clicking on the black “x”, one the tabs, but there is no black “x”. I also can’t close the pop-up window, because there is no black “x” on it either.
I went to Finder, to see if MacKeeper had installed itself on my hard drive, and it is not in my /Applications
folder. If I go to the application Library
, it is not there either. So essentially, MacKeeper has hijacked my browser, but apparently hasn't installed itself on my hard drive.
I found a question, here on Super User, about essentially the same thing:
That user had intentionally installed MacKeeper, and uninstalled it, but missed a file in the uninstall, and was able to delete it in the Library. That is not the case here. I did not want anything to do with MacKeeper. It came onto my browser without being invited.
On that discussion, a couple people said that clicking the “OK” button, won’t allow MacKeeper to be installed on my hard drive, but I don’t trust MacKeeper, to not do it behind the scenes. I have heard of other cleaner apps, that have done the same thing, so I don’t trust any of them.
Also on the same discussion, someone from MacKeeper answered, saying that it is totally safe, and clicking on “OK” wouldn’t do anything. How can I trust him, when others, have had problems with MacKeeper, and some experts have called it “malware”? I have a hard time trusting a company that has a reputation for selling malware.
Can anyone tell me how to get rid of the pop-up box, without clicking on the “OK” button? I can’t use my Safari, until it is gone. I really don’t want to recreate all the bookmarks and favorite links, that I have on Safari, to Firefox. I just did that last Fall, when my hard drive crashed, and it is a real pain!
/Library/Internet Plug-Ins
or~/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/
and see if there's anything suspicious? If Safari is crashing or behaving unexpectedly it's mostly due to third party stuff.