What is Maftask?Maftask is a process name of potentially unwanted application that named Mac Auto Fixer. It can change Apple Mac OS and web-browsers settings, download and install other malware, adware and PUPs. Maftask will make your computer run very slow. On current date, the Maftask virus continues to increase the number of computers which have been infected.
The Maftask can modify Mac settings and files, create new folders, download and install other malware onto infected system, use your computer for harmful actions, send information about you to a remote hacker.
Repair Mail if it crashes or won’t open. 2-Restart the Mail app. Close the mail app (force quit) and reopen again. 3-Remove (sign out) your email account or accounts then re-add them. To do that, go to Settings Accounts & Passwords and then select your account scroll down and tap Sign Out. GoPro Studio won’t Open Mac Mac users are in the same boat as the GoPro Studio software will occasionally not open in Mac OS. Do not forget to make sure you have OS X 10.6 or later as this will cause issues from the start.
How does your computer get infected with Maftask virus? This virus usually is bundled within some free programs that you download off of the Internet. Once started, it will infect your MAC and configure your system to show a large count of annoying Mac Auto Fixer pop-ups. In order to avoid infection, in the Setup wizard, you should be be proactive and carefully read the ‘Terms of use’, the ‘license agreement’ and other install screens, as well as to always choose the ‘Manual’ or ‘Advanced’ installation option, when installing anything downloaded from the World Wide Web.
We strongly recommend that you perform the step-by-step instructions below that will allow you to remove Maftask virus using the standard features of Mac and some proven free software.
Remove Maftask virus (removal steps)
We can assist you remove Maftask virus from your Mac, without the need to take your computer to a professional. Simply follow the removal steps below if you currently have this malware on your machine and want to get rid of it. If you’ve any difficulty while trying to remove the Maftask virus, feel free to ask for our help in the comment section below. Some of the steps will require you to restart your machine or shut down this web-page. So, read this guide carefully, then bookmark or print it for later reference.
To remove Maftask, perform the following steps:
- How to remove Maftask virus without any software
- How to get rid of Maftask virus with free software
How to remove Maftask virus without any software
These steps to get rid of Maftask virus without any applications are presented below. Be sure to carry out the step-by-step guide completely to fully get rid of this Maftask virus that can give a remote malicious hacker access to your MAC system.
Delete Maftask related applications through the Finder
First, you should try to identify and delete the application that causes the appearance of undesired advertisements or web browser redirect, using the ‘Applications’ list that located in the Finder.
Open Finder and click “Applications” like below.
You will see a list of programs installed on your machine. We recommend to pay maximum attention to the program you installed last. Most probably, it’s the Maftask virus that can use your MAC system for click fraud. If you’re in doubt, you can always check the program by doing a search for her name in Google, Yahoo or Bing. After the application which you need to uninstall is found, simply right click on its name, and choose “Move to Trash”.
Don’t forget, choose Finder, then “Empty Trash”.
Remove Maftask from Mozilla Firefox by resetting web-browser settings
If your Mozilla Firefox browser settings are affected by the Maftask virus, then it may be time to perform the web-browser reset. When using the reset feature, your personal information such as passwords, bookmarks, browsing history and web form auto-fill data will be saved.
First, run the Mozilla Firefox. Next, click the button in the form of three horizontal stripes (). It will display the drop-down menu. Next, click the Help button ().
In the Help menu click the “Troubleshooting Information”. In the upper-right corner of the “Troubleshooting Information” page click on “Refresh Firefox” button as shown on the image below.
Confirm your action, press the “Refresh Firefox”.
Remove Maftask virus from Chrome
Reset Google Chrome settings will help you to completely reset your web-browser. The result of activating this function will bring Google Chrome settings back to its default values. This can remove any changes created by Maftask virus and disable malicious extensions. However, your saved bookmarks and passwords will not be lost.
First start the Chrome. Next, click the button in the form of three horizontal dots ().
It will open the Google Chrome menu. Choose More Tools, then click Extensions. Carefully browse through the list of installed extensions. If the list has the extension signed with “Installed by enterprise policy” or “Installed by your administrator”, then complete the following guide: Remove Google Chrome extensions installed by enterprise policy.
Open the Google Chrome menu once again. Further, click the option called “Settings”.
The web-browser will show the settings screen. Another method to display the Google Chrome’s settings – type chrome://settings in the web-browser adress bar and press Enter
Scroll down to the bottom of the page and press the “Advanced” link. Now scroll down until the “Reset” section is visible, as displayed in the following example and click the “Reset settings to their original defaults” button.
The Google Chrome will open the confirmation prompt as on the image below.
You need to confirm your action, click the “Reset” button. The browser will start the procedure of cleaning. Once it’s complete, the web-browser’s settings including search provider by default, new tab and start page back to the values which have been when the Google Chrome was first installed on your computer.
Get rid of Maftask virus from Safari
By resetting Safari browser you restore your browser settings to its default state. This is good initial when troubleshooting problems that might have been caused by Maftask virus, which can use your MAC system for click fraud.
Click Safari menu and choose “Preferences”.
It will open the Safari Preferences window. Next, click the “Extensions” tab. Look for unknown and suspicious add-ons on left panel, choose it, then press the “Uninstall” button. Most important to delete all unknown plugins from Safari.
Once complete, click “General” tab. Change the “Default Search Engine” to Google.
Find the “Homepage” and type into textfield “https://www.google.com”.
How to get rid of Maftask virus with free software
If you are not expert at MAC technology, then we recommend to use free removal tools listed below to remove Maftask virus for good. The automatic method is highly recommended. It has less steps and easier to implement than the manual way. Moreover, it lower risk of system damage. So, the automatic Maftask removal is a better option.
Remove Maftask virus with MalwareBytes Anti Malware (MBAM)
Manual Maftask virus removal requires some computer skills. Some files that created by the virus may be not completely removed. We recommend that use the MalwareBytes that are completely free your computer of virus. Moreover, the free program will help you to get rid of malware, potentially unwanted applications, hijackers and toolbars that your MAC system may be infected too.
Download MalwareBytes Free on your machine by clicking on the link below.
Malwarebytes Anti-malware (Mac)
10206 downloads
Author: Malwarebytes
Category: Security tools
Update: July 10, 2018
10206 downloads
Author: Malwarebytes
Category: Security tools
Update: July 10, 2018
When the downloading process is complete, close all software and windows on your Apple Mac. Open a directory in which you saved it. Run the saved file and follow the prompts.
Once installation is done, you’ll see window as shown on the image below.
Mac Won't Boot
Now press the “Scan” button to perform a system scan with this utility for the Maftask virus that can send information about your MAC system to a remote malicious hacker. When a malware, adware or PUPs are detected, the count of the security threats will change accordingly. Wait until the the checking is finished.
Once finished, MalwareBytes Anti-Malware will show a screen which contains a list of malware that has been detected. Once you have selected what you wish to remove from your Apple Mac click “Remove Selected Items” button.
The Malwarebytes will now remove Maftask virus and add items to the Quarantine.
How to stay safe online
It’s also critical to protect your internet browsers from malicious web-pages and advertisements by using an adblocker application like AdGuard. Security experts says that it will greatly reduce the risk of malware, and potentially save lots of money. Additionally, the AdGuard may also protect your privacy by blocking almost all trackers.
AdGuard can be downloaded from the following link.
AdGuard for Mac download
1980 downloads
Author: © Adguard
Category: Security tools
Update: January 17, 2018
1980 downloads
Author: © Adguard
Category: Security tools
Update: January 17, 2018
After downloading is finished, start the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” screen. Follow the prompts.
Each time, when you run your MAC OS, AdGuard will start automatically and block unwanted advertisements, as well as other harmful or misleading web sites.
To sum up
After completing the steps above, your MAC system should be clean from Maftask virus and other malicious software. Unfortunately, if the steps does not help you, then you have caught a new virus, and then the best way – ask for help here.
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Though it's not easy to hack into or break through a Mac's security, it is possible, especially if someone accidentally installs malware without realizing it. If your Mac is running slow or you're seeing unusual advertisements within your web browser you might have accidentally installed malware at some point. Don't worry. It happens to the best of us (not me, of course). There are things you can do without having to burn it all down.
The problem: Mac malware in the Library folder
Serenity Caldwell writing for iMore in 2017:
My father-in-law's MacBook Pro had been running into curious slowdowns for a two-year-old laptop and he kept on seeing weird sites taking over his Safari and Firefox search bars. It was clear to me that his browser had been hijacked.
We got rid of the browser hijack pretty quickly — I suggest using Cella's excellent how-to if you ever run into a browser hijack yourself — but the slowdowns were more curious. Upon further investigation, I found a couple of self-professed 'Mac security programs' that popped up, demanding money to 'clean your Mac from junk'.
Spoiler: These programs were the junk. And worst of all, they'd seemingly added a bunch of nonsense files into this computer's Library folder, with random folder names like 'prestidigitation' and 'beeswax'.
Now, I want to preface: I'd never seen an attack like this on a Mac before in my life, and finding this kind of full-Mac hijack is very rare. It's likely that he accidentally installed one of these 'security' programs (or had it installed), which spiraled out of control from there.
These hijacks didn't appear to be able to do much beyond slow down his machine with endless failed attempts to run a program — the process didn't have admin permissions, so it couldn't execute a thing from the library. But because they were there, they were constantly crashing aspects of his Mac. I knew I had a malfunctioning laptop on my hands, so I turned to my age-old troubleshooting checklist.
How to fix a corrupted Mac
If you're working on a computer that has slowed down beyond reasonable aging or is otherwise acting beyond the pale, here are my favorite tactics you can take to try and restore it to its former glory.
Advanced Mac Cleaner Won't Open
Update the system software
This is almost always the first thing I do when troubleshooting Macs: Chances are, the user hasn't installed a security update or other software updates that may be slowing their computer to a crawl.
- Click on the Apple menu icon in the upper left corner of the screen.
- Select App Store to open the Mac App Store.
- Click on the Updates tab at the top of the Mac App Store window.
- Install all relevant updates. (You may need the Apple ID and password for the machine.)
If the computer is running macOS Sierra, you can avoid having to do this troubleshooting step in the future by turning on Automatic Install in System Preferences, which can automatically download newly available updates in the background, and install them overnight.
- With the Mac App Store open, click on App Store in the upper left corner of the Menu bar.
- Click on Preferences.
- Under Automatically check for updates, check the following boxes:
- Download newly available updates in the background
- Install app updates
- Install macOS updates
- Install system data files and security updates
Check the disk for errors
If software updates aren't doing the trick, the next thing to check is the hard drive itself. With Apple's Internet Recovery partition, fixing a cranky drive is an easy process.
- Restart your Mac.
- During reboot, hold down Command-R until it starts up.
- Once rebooted, you should be in the Internet Recovery Partition. Select Disk Utility.
- Click Continue.
- In Disk Utility, click on the First Aid button,
- Click on Run to execute.
Your Mac will then run a cursory check on its hard drive to determine if there's anything wrong — and if so — if it can fix it.
Reset the NVRAM/PRAM and SMC
If neither app updates nor disk repair are helping, sometimes a good cache flush can get your Mac running just a bit more smoothly.
To reset the NVRAM (or, on older Macs, PRAM), reboot the Mac and hold down the following keyboard command during startup for at least twenty seconds: Command-Option-P-R.
After you reset your NVRAM, you may be required to reconfigure some system settings (like sound and time zones), which are stored in that cache.
An SMC reset is a bit more complicated, and Apple recommends it only after all other troubleshooting avenues have been exhausted.
If you're using a laptop:
- Shut down your Mac and plug it in.
- Restart the computer by pressing the Power button along with the keyboard command Shift-Control-Option.
- Release these keys, then just press the Power button to properly start your computer.
If you're using a desktop:
- Shut down your Mac.
- Unplug it and wait for at least 20 seconds.
- Plug the Mac back in and wait 5-10 seconds.
- Restart your Mac with the Power button.
Partition your disk (or erase it)
After exhausting all other avenues, this was the solution we came across to properly fix the broken laptop. The hard drive had been so corrupted by these 'security' programs that there was nothing I could do to fix it. When Safari launched over the login screen after a reboot, I knew my usual fixes wouldn't work: It was time to bring out the big guns.
In most cases, I'd grab an external drive, back up the corrupted disk, then wipe the drive clean with the Internet Recovery partition and start over. But there were a couple of reasons that wouldn't work here:
- We were on vacation, and lacking any sort of external media.
- With a semi-corrupted disk, we couldn't just clone the user folder and restore the new disk from a backup — we'd have to do a clean install, which meant moving files over one by one. If we'd missed something and moved all the old files to an external drive, my father-in-law would have had to carry it everywhere just in case.
Given that this laptop had a 500GB hard drive — only 40GB of which was being used — I had an alternate idea: I'd partition the drive, again using Internet Recovery, and install macOS Sierra on the new partition. Essentially, it would be a 'clean' new computer for my father-in-law to work on, but all the original data would still exist on the old partition in case he needed to grab a file.
Note: In order to partition your drive, you'll need enough free space on your drive to do so — at least 30GB. If you're light on space, you may want to back up your corrupted disk to a USB drive, instead.
How to create a partition on your Mac
- Open Finder from your dock.
- Select Applications.
- Scroll down and open the Utilities folder.
- Double-click to open Disk Utility.
- Select your hard drive in the Disk Utility window. It will be the first drive on the list. It might be named 'Fusion,' or 'Macintosh HD.'
- Click on the Partition tab.
- Click the plus (+) button.
- Change the size of the partition you wish to use by dragging the resize controls. The used space is represented in blue.
- Name the new partition.
- Click apply.
Mac Mini Won't Start Up
Disk Utility will check the disk and make changes. This will take several minutes.Disk Utility will then make the changes. After that's completed, quit Disk Utility to return to the main Internet Recovery menu.
- Click on Reinstall macOS.
- Click Continue.
- Click Agree to agree to Apple's licensing agreements.
- Choose the New Mac hard drive as the disk you'd like to install macOS onto.
- Press Install.
- The Mac will download a fresh copy of your operating system from the App Store and will install it. The speed of this process entirely depends on your Mac's connection speed to the Internet. You can wait an hour or longer on a slower connection.
- Your Mac will restart automatically into the new partition once the software has downloaded, then the installation of the operating system will continue.
After you finish setting up the new hard drive, it's time to move your files over. Because of the way partitioning works, your old hard drive partition will show up next to your currently-active partition, just like an external drive; you can then grab any files you need from it.
- Launch a Finder window.
- Under Devices in the sidebar, locate your original Macintosh HD.
- Copy any files you'd like to keep from your old hard drive to the new machine.
Note: If you want to copy over applications, I'd strongly suggest redownloading them from the source — the Mac App Store or the company's website — rather than trying to copy them over from the old partition.
From here, you can follow instructions for setting a Mac up from scratch when it comes to installing and customizing anything else.
I generally recommend keeping the old drive partition around for at least a few months in case you or your family member forgets to move something over; after that period, however, you can easily delete the old partition and move to the new partition full time.
Consider additional anti-malware protection
While malware on the Mac is rare, it does crop up, as we've demonstrated. Having the right tools to get rid of malware can be an important part of keeping your Mac safe and secure. There are a number of tools that you can choose from, including popular programs like BitDefender and Kaspersky, that will help you keep malware from infecting your Mac.
Questions?
Do you have any must-follow troubleshooting steps? Let us know in the comments.
Updated July 2019: Added a sub-section regarding anti-malware protection.
Serenity Caldwell contributed to an earlier version of this guide.
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