There has been a remarkable increase in adware on the mac in the last year. When we first opened in 2012, every once in a while we would see a computer come in with Geneio or other adware program injecting ads into websites and changing the search engine to yahoo, but within the last year we have started seeing dozens of cases a month. The range of programs we see has increased to dozens different adware programs including Conduit, Spigot, vidX, Flashmall, and more.
We have also seen an increase in adware causing computers to not load finder completely, freeze, and become generally unstable after an OS upgrade.
How do you get this adware on your machine?
Most of the time it is because something was downloaded online that included the adware as part of the install. Sometimes websites will offer a popular piece of software for download (like Minecraft) that they don’t actually own or have the rights to distribute. When you download the installation file, it will install both the legimate program, and the adware program.
We have also seen adware being downloaded when you visit websites that are displaying video content, and the page says something like, “you don’t have the necessary codec to view this video, please download VidX to view this video”. When you download the file they say will allow you to play the video, you are actually downloading adware onto your mac.
I think I have adware, what should I do?
If you do have adware that needs removed, we offer adware removal services for $50-$75. These types of repairs are completed within 24 hours, but normally only take about 2-6 hours. If you would like to try a DIY approach, we highly recommend starting with Adware Medic.