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How to remove Smart Mac Booster virus

ind out what kind of an infection the Smart Mac Booster app is, how it may affect a Mac, and what techniques are the most effective for removing this malware.

Some Mac fans believe there is no such thing as too much system optimization. Others are certain that this operating system is intelligent enough to ensure proper self-maintenance, therefore third-party utilities intended for performance improvement are entirely worthless. Let’s leave this discussion to experts. The fact remains, though, that quite a few software publishers provide tools to keep Macs running smooth by continuously monitoring their health and cleaning up junk, cache, and other redundant data that clutters the machines. However, when looking for an app from this category, it’s really important to tell the wheat from the chaff. The problem is that there are plenty of impostor programs out there being distributed by crooks. Smart Mac Booster is an example of a solution that doesn’t do more than pretending to accommodate optimization features in order to rake in license purchases.

The look and feel of Smart Mac Booster scareware

Smart Mac Booster has got some notorious roots. It hails from the same cyber dumpster as the Mac Auto Fixer scareware and an oldie called Advanced Mac Cleaner, so there are several nasty prototypes for it to take after. Just like the forerunners, the pest under consideration is distributed in a dodgy way. Users hardly ever install it because they like its features or have read some great reviews on independent software evaluation sources. The truth isn’t even close to that. The two primary channels for its propagation include web malvertising and unethical bundling. In the former case, people click some fishy ads or catch a browser hijacker that redirects their traffic to fake alert sites. These landing pages host scary popups that wrongfully state there are severe infections on the visiting machine and it’s high time the user performed a cleanup. By clicking the spoof repair button, the victims unknowingly install Smart Mac Booster.

In a bundling scenario, users get their systems contaminated due to a multi-pronged app installation from an unofficial software repository. The catch is that they think they are installing a piece of nifty freeware, such as a streaming video converter or keygen program. The tool of choice might be promoted as part of a tricky package that additionally includes Smart Mac Booster. At the end of the day, the setup of the culprit takes place without the victim’s knowledge and consent. Having crept into a Mac, the rogue app invokes a command to get its binary added to the Login Items so that it’s launched at boot time. It also creates a scheduled task to be triggered at specified intervals.

When running, the scareware displays a system scan that mimics a checkup for the typical unnecessary items that take up disk space and can be safely removed to enhance the performance of the system. These entities span application and browser cache, logs, extra languages, duplicates, large files, and old objects that haven’t been used for a long time. It’s beyond all doubt that every scan will report heaps of such data, alerting the victim on the adverse aftermath of failing to delete them. This is a scare tactic whose objective is to fool the user into hitting the Clean Now button. As you may have figured, the “boost” won’t take effect unless the target person upgrades to premium. In other words, the phony repair requires a license that costs a pretty penny. As another element of pressure, the self-proclaimed optimizer may cause frequent redirects in the prey’s default browser. Again, the resulting sites will say a virus called Bankworm or something similarly creepy has been detected on the computer, only to upsell the commercial product subscription.

If these symptoms are occurring on a Mac, the only way to sort out the quandary is to get rid of Smart Mac Booster. The part below will shed light on how to perform the removal and stop the despicable brainwashing activity in its tracks.

Smart Mac Booster virus manual removal for Mac

The steps listed below will walk you through the removal of this potentially unwanted application. Be sure to follow the instructions in the order specified.

  1. Open up the Utilities folder as shown below

    Open up the Utilities

  2. Locate the Activity Monitor icon on the screen and double-click on it

    Locate the Activity Monitor

  3. Under Activity Monitor, find Smart Mac Booster or some other item that appears suspicious, select it and click Quit Process

    Quit MacDefender process

  4. A dialog should pop up, asking if you are sure you would like to quit the troublemaking process. Select the Force Quit option
  5. Expand the Go menu in Apple Finder and select Go to Folder
  6. Type or paste the following string in the folder search dialog: /Library/LaunchAgents

    Go to the LaunchAgents folder

  7. Once the LaunchAgents directory opens up, find the following entry in it (or any other with “SmartMacBooster” string in it) and move it to the Trash:
    • com.smartmacbooster.SmartMacBooster.Helper.plist
  8. Use the Go to Folder lookup feature again to navigate to the folder named ~/Library/LaunchAgents. When this path opens, look for the same entry (see above) and send it to the Trash
  9. Click the Go button again, but this time select Applications on the list. Find the entry for Smart Mac Booster on the interface or some other one that clearly doesn’t belong there, right-click on it and select Move to Trash. If user password is required, go ahead and enter it

    Malicious software icon under Applications

  10. Now go to Apple Menu and pick the System Preferences option

    Pick the System Preferences

  11. Select Accounts and click the Login Items button. Mac OS will come up with the list of the items that launch when the box is started up. Locate Smart Mac Booster or other potentially unwanted app there and click on the "-" button

    Remove malicious software from Login Items

Get rid of Smart Mac Booster popups and redirects in web browser on Mac

To begin with, settings for the web browser that got hit by the Smart Mac Booster malware should be restored to their default values. The overview of steps for this procedure is as follows:

  1. Reset Safari
    • Open the browser and go to Safari menu. Select Preferences in the drop-down list

      Go to Preferences in Safari

    • Once the Preferences screen appears, hit the Privacy tab at the top. Find the option that says Remove All Website Data and click on it

      Remove All Website Data option under Privacy

    • The system will display a confirmation dialog that also includes a brief description of what the reset does. Specifically, you may be logged out of some services and encounter other changes of website behavior after the procedure. If you’re okay with that, go ahead and click the Remove Now button

      Confirmation dialog

    • In order to selectively clear data generated by certain websites only, not all of them, hit the Details button under the Privacy section of Safari Preferences

      Clear data for specific websites in Safari

    • This feature will list all websites that have stored potentially sensitive data, including cache and cookies. Select the one, or ones, that might be causing trouble and click the appropriate button at the bottom (Remove or Remove All). Click the Done button to exit.
  2. Reset Google Chrome
    • Open Chrome, click the More (⁝) icon in the top right-hand part of the window, and select Settings in the drop-down
    • When on the Settings pane, select Advanced
    • Scroll down to the Reset settings section. Under the Restore settings to their original defaults option, click the Reset settings button

      Reset settings in Chrome on Mac

    • Confirm the Chrome reset on a dialog that will pop up. When the procedure is completed, relaunch the browser and check it for malware activity.
  3. Reset Mozilla Firefox
    • Open Firefox and select HelpTroubleshooting Information
    • On the page that opened, click the Reset Firefox button

      Reset Firefox

Get rid of Smart Mac Booster virus using Combo Cleaner automatic removal tool

The Mac maintenance and security app called Combo Cleaner is a one-stop tool to detect and remove Smart Mac Booster virus. This technique has substantial benefits over manual cleanup, because the utility gets hourly virus definition updates and can accurately spot even the newest Mac infections.

Furthermore, the automatic solution will find the core files of the malware deep down the system structure, which might otherwise be a challenge to locate. Here’s a walkthrough to sort out the Smart Mac Booster issue using Combo Cleaner:

  1. Download Combo Cleaner installer. When done, double-click the combocleaner.dmg file and follow the prompts to install the tool onto your Mac.

    Download Combo Cleaner

    By downloading any applications recommended on this website you agree to our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy. The free scanner checks whether your Mac is infected. To get rid of malware, you need to purchase the Premium version of Combo Cleaner.

  2. Open the app from your Launchpad and let it run an update of the malware signature database to make sure it can identify the latest threats.
  3. Click the Start Combo Scan button to check your Mac for malicious activity as well as performance issues.

    Combo Cleaner Mac scan progress

  4. Examine the scan results. If the report says “No Threats”, then you are on the right track with the manual cleaning and can safely proceed to tidy up the web browser that may continue to act up due to the after-effects of the malware attack (see instructions above).

    Combo Cleaner scan report – no threats found

  5. In case Combo Cleaner has detected malicious code, click the Remove Selected Items button and have the utility remove Smart Mac Booster threat along with any other viruses, PUPs (potentially unwanted programs), or junk files that don’t belong on your Mac.

    Combo Cleaner – threats found

  6. Once you have made doubly sure that the malicious app is uninstalled, the browser-level troubleshooting might still be on your to-do list. If your preferred browser is affected, resort to the previous section of this tutorial to revert to hassle-free web surfing.
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