Application.MAC.ProteKeylogger Removal

George Herman

IT Security Expert

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What is Application.MAC.ProteKeylogger

Application.MAC.ProteKeylogger is the detection name of a malicious software, which belongs to the Potentially Unwanted Application (PUA) category. This pest is responsible for all the annoying ads and pop-ups that appear every time you open your browser. And, to make matters worse, it will monitor your online activity, so it can produce targeted content you’ll be most likely to engage with. That’s how the parasite will create revenue for its creators via the pay-per-click scheme. This is a total breach of privacy! Personal information like passwords, browser history, IP addresses and even bank accounts and credit card numbers may get obtained as well! The longer this PUA remains on your Mac unattended, the worse the consequences will get! Your browser will start to crash and freeze on a regular basis, due to the ever-growing quantity of intrusive ads that are being generated by the parasite. What’s more, your internet speed will decrease as well! This article will help you get rid of the Application.MAC.ProteKeylogger PUA, so you can regain control over your browsers and protect your online privacy.

How it is distributed

This PUA is often able to invade its victim’s Mac via fake update messages, freeware and software bundles. Be careful when you stumble across an update message or pop-up while browsing the internet. It is very common for shady pop-up and ads to mislead the user into thinking they are clicking on a reliable link, when in reality, they get rerouted to dubious third-party websites that may be dangerous. For this reason, we recommend checking the settings of the program in question, to see if it indeed is outdated and in need of an update. Then, visit the official page of the software to make the necessary installations. Do not blindly trust a random ad, or click a link suggested by it! Chances are, you may get tricked into installing malicious programs without you even realizing it. And you don’t want that, right?
Other PUA distribution methods are torrent files, infected ads, as well as email attachments.

How it operates

One of Application.MAC.ProteKeylogger‘s main goals is to display as many promotions as possible, featuring shady more shady software that you do not need. The perfect example is the ‘Flash Player’ fake update message. This is a classic tactic, which may even be the reason this PUA managed to invade your Mac in the first place. It can even be a very convincing OS dialog message box, trying to make you believe that you have no suitable program installed on your computer. And, to make sure your Mac is equipped with what it ‘supposedly’ needs, there will be a download link. Do not click it! You’ll only get redirected to an unreliable source, resulting in the installation of other trash application, which will burden your PC even more. The large amount of advertising content generated every day will prove to be very damaging to the affected web browsers, making them unresponsive to your actions. This, combined with your compromised online privacy, will make this PUA’s existence a living hell. The only way to put an end to this nightmare is by removing Application.MAC.ProteKeylogger from your Mac as soon as you detect it!

Staying safe from Application.MAC.ProteKeylogger PUA

Apart from having a reliable AV software installed on your Mac, there are other things you can do to ensure your device’s safety. We highly recommend you to:

• Pay close attention when you install third-party software, especially torrent files, so you don’t install shady additional applications that you don’t want. In most cases, that’s how malicious parasites are able to infect your computer;
• Read any Terms and Conditions you see, so you know exactly what you agree to. The last thing you want is to unknowingly give permission to a nasty virus to infiltrate your Mac;
• Follow links that lead to trustworthy sites only;
• It is best to visit only reliable and official websites. You never know what dangers might lurk behind an unfamiliar site;
• No matter how attractive an ad is, if you are not familiar with the website it redirects to, it might be best to steer clear of it and not click;
• Always check the sender’s email address before opening a message. If it states that it’s from an official company, compare the email with the one given in their official page. If there is no match, delete the message, since it most likely is fake and has malicious aims;
• Don’t open email attachments from unknown senders. More often than not, such files carry infections that can seriously damage your computer.

How to manually remove Application.MAC.ProteKeylogger PUA from Mac

If you’ve had the misfortune of getting your Mac infected with the Application.MAC.ProteKeylogger PUA, the instructions below can help you to remove it manually. Here’s what you need to do:

1. Go to Utilities. You can do that by using the ⇧+⌘+U key combination, or by going to Finder and choosing Utilities from the Go main menu at the top.

2. Find Activity Monitor and double-click it.

3. A list will be displayed. Find any processes that seem suspicious to you and use the ‘Force Quit‘ option to quit them completely.

4. Open Finder. Click on the Go button from the main menu at the top, and choose Applications. An alternative way is to use the ⇧+⌘+A key combination.

5. Look for any suspicious applications, especially ones with a name similar to Application.MAC.ProteKeylogger. If any are found, right-click on them and select the ‘Move to Trash‘ option.

6. Remove any related left-over files by going to Finder‘s search bar and typing the name of the app you want to remove. Make sure to modify the two drop down menus above to ‘System Files‘ and ‘Are Included‘, so that any hidden files are visible for you to remove. Once you find the files you want to remove, simply drag them to Trash.

7. All that’s left for you to do is remove any related extensions to Application.MAC.ProteKeylogger from your Mac browsers.

For Mozilla Firefox extensions:

• Open the Firefox browser and from the ‘burger’ menu in the top right corner of the window select ‘Add-ons’.
• Select any suspicious extensions that may be related to the virus and click ‘Remove’.

For Google Chrome extensions:

• Open the Chrome browser and select Tools > Extensions from the menu (the three dots in the top right corner of the browser window).
• Locate any suspicious extensions that may be related to the virus and remove them.

For Safari extensions:

• Open the Safari browser. From the Safari menu choose Preferences. Select Extensions from the options at the top.
• Find any extensions you think are related to the virus, select them and click ‘Uninstall’. A new window will show up asking for confirmation. Click Uninstall again, for the extension to get deleted permanently from your browser.