Mac Protector

Mac Protector is the newest addition to a line of rogue security programs that target Mac computers. Mac Protector and related threats attack new computers by using fake online scans that are hosted by malicious websites or embedded in malicious advertisements. After Mac Protector infects your computer, a signal will be sent out to alert the criminal in charge of Mac Protector while the infection creates fake infection warnings, redirects your web browser to pornographic websites and causes other system problems. As an advanced and serious threat to your privacy and security, Mac Protector should be removed by applying the best possible anti-malware tools.

Mac Protector: the Permanent Infection Alert

Mac Protector is a newer version of a short line of threats including Mac Security and MAC Defender. These malicious security programs have slightly different interfaces along with their different names, but in terms of major functions and attacks on your computer, each threat is identical to the next.

Mac Protector and Mac Protector's relatives are promoted through websites that use artificial keyword exploits to rank themselves highly in search results. Once you visit the website, you may be presented with a fake system scan that tells you a download is required to remove infections. However, both the infections and the anti-virus tool that the scanner tells you to download are pure figments.

Unlike a real security or anti-virus program, Mac Protector will perpetually state that your computer is 'At Risk' from infections while announcing the presence of nonexistent threats on your system. You should be careful not to act on the information provided by warnings like the ones below, since trying to remove fake infected files may harm your operating system.

Virus Found
Infected file detected:
Virus: Worm
File: Software Update

Virus Found
Infected file detected:
Virus: Dialer
File: Safari

Unregistered Copy
Sorry, the copy of your program is unregistered. Register to have an ability to cleanup your system.

Virus Found
Infected file detected:
Virus: Worm
File: clri

The system is infected
Your system is infected. It's highly recommended to cleanup your system to protect critical information like credit card numbers, etc.

Mac Protector and related rogue security programs may also attack your web browser and redirect it to pornographic or malicious websites. Mac Protector and Mac Security are also known to have the ability to transfer information back to anonymous criminals, which can place your computer at risk for remote attack and be a privacy risk for all information.

Getting Rid of Mac Protector

Mac Protector runs as part of your Login Items and has no Dock icon for easy removal; this makes Mac Protector both perpetually active and difficult to remove. Before trying to remove Mac Protector, you should attempt to disable Mac Protector's running memory process; this can be done by the Activity Monitor.

Once you've disabled the Mac Protector process, removing Mac Protector will be simple if you have available anti-malware program to clean your computer. It's strongly recommended that you use security application designed for removing malware to delete Mac Protector instead of trying to delete Mac Protector on your own – Mac Protector is a relatively advanced threat and may expose you to other infections through malicious websites.

You should also have a care to update your security tool before you scan your computer for Mac Protector. Mac Protector is a recently-emerged threat as of May 2011, and even high-quality security application that's operating without all the relevant threat definition updates may not be able to defeat Mac Protector.