How to Remove Trojan.OSX.HellRTS from Mac

George Herman
George Herman
IT Security Expert

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What is Trojan.OSX.HellRTS

Trojan.OSX.HellRTS is a representative of the Trojan horse virus category. This dangerous parasite is known to stealthily invade victim’s Macs and perform all kinds of malicious actions, aiming to damage the system. Trojan.OSX.HellRTS also gives cyber criminals the opportunity to spy on the unsuspecting users, whose computers have been affected by the virus. What’s more, your personal information and files may get obtained and shared with other third-parties for profit. That being said, you do not want to keep this parasite on your PC. Fortunately for you, we wrote this article to get you acquainted with the nature of this Trojan horse and explain how you can remove it manually from your Mac.

How it is distributed

It is very important to note, that the Trojan.OSX.HellRTS virus doesn’t have the ability to directly hack into your computer system. It’s just not as advanced. The only way for it to gain access, is if you allow it to invade. This often happens without the user’s knowledge. Let us explain. Such malicious software is most commonly being distributed through freeware and software bundles. Meaning, that while you though you were installing one program, in reality, you’ve installed bonus content you were unaware of. How? By being careless and not paying attention to the whole installation. It is a common practice for some unreliable software companies to not properly disclose additional software, included in a ‘bundle’. But, if you look carefully, you can spot it. This is often done by opting for a Custom/Advanced type of installation, so that any bonus programs will become visible to you. We highly recommend unchecking the boxes next to them, since they’re most likely to be malicious applications, seeking a way into your system. If you chose to ignore such additional programs, they’ll just get automatically installed on your computer. Other ways this Trojan horse can find its way on your mac is via email attachments, torrent files, fake update messages, as well as infected ads and pop-ups.

How it operates

Trojan horse infections are very hard to detect. That’s because they don’t necessarily get active right after a successful infiltration. Some time may pass before they are activated. This, of course, makes their detection a difficult task. Trojan.OSX.HellRTS can modify the Registry, delete or corrupt tasks and files, install other harmful software, change your browser’s settings, etc. The virus will affect the overall performance of your Mac, making it feel sluggish. A drastic change will be present in the internet speed as well – you’ll find it will be slower than before. One of the worst consequences of a Trojan horse infection, is the possibility of data theft and monitoring everything you do. Hackers can exploit the virus to their benefit, using it as means to monitor not only your online activity, but to spy on you through your web camera and microphone. That’s a total breach of privacy! In order to prevent this, you need to look for the above mentioned symptoms of the Trojan.OSX.HellRTS virus, so you can detect it ASAP and proceed with its removal. The faster you act, the better chance you have to prevent your computer system from getting severely damaged, and to protect your personal data from falling into the wrong hands.

Staying safe from Trojan.OSX.HellRTS Trojan horse

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 Trojan.OSX.HellRTS Trojan horse from Mac

If you’ve had the misfortune of getting your Mac infected with the Trojan.OSX.HellRTS Trojan Horse, the instructions below can help you to remove it manually. Here’s what you need to do:

1. First, start by finding all registry entries added by Trojan.OSX.HellRTS and deleting them. You do this by holding down the Option key while looking at the Go menu in Finder to access the ~/Library folder. Find all related entries and delete them one by one.

2. 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.

3. Find Activity Monitor and double-click it.

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

5. 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.

6. Look for any suspicious applications, especially ones with a name similar to Trojan.OSX.HellRTS. If any are found, right-click on them and select the ‘Move to Trash‘ option.

7. 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.

8. All that’s left for you to do is remove any related extensions to Trojan.OSX.HellRTS 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.

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