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The Apple Thread


Stevo985

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Gone with Currys in the end, I got a tenner discount aswell which helps. Still, for £115 I'd expect the things to massage the boys ears. Flaming heck. 

And yes, I'm old and uncool. 

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38 minutes ago, av1 said:

I thought so mate. When something sounds to great a deal it normally is 

Based in Kowloon, Hong Kong

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15 minutes ago, Xela said:

Based in Kowloon, Hong Kong

You wonder how they get away with it. Half hour ago I nearly clicked 'buy now' 

They must be loads had in by it. 

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  • 1 month later...

Can any Macbook users advise please? @blandy 

I've got a refurbed 2012 (I think) Pro I bought off eBay back in 2015. Got it for a good price and got my use out of it.

However, I started using it less and less as I started spending more time on my desktop PC. That coupled with the fact it's been on a go slow and I think it just needs a good tidy up. For example, some bloody virus of some sort has taken over my search engine. When I open Chrome/Safari I get greeted with some third party search engine called 'weknow' which I can't get rid of! I've got everything backed up so even open to formatting the whole thing and starting over - if thats even possible?

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11 hours ago, MCU said:

Can any Macbook users advise please? @blandy 

I've got a refurbed 2012 (I think) Pro I bought off eBay back in 2015. Got it for a good price and got my use out of it.

However, I started using it less and less as I started spending more time on my desktop PC. That coupled with the fact it's been on a go slow and I think it just needs a good tidy up. For example, some bloody virus of some sort has taken over my search engine. When I open Chrome/Safari I get greeted with some third party search engine called 'weknow' which I can't get rid of! I've got everything backed up so even open to formatting the whole thing and starting over - if thats even possible?

Looking at the internet, it’s not a virus, it’s a disguised, unwanted programme that changes your search engine to we know.

what version of Mac OS are you using? click the Apple top left, then “about this Mac” if you’re unsure. Before I post how to get rid of the nuisance it would be helpful to know. Also it would help to know if you use bookmarks and favourites that you wish to keep and if you sync with google chrome- if you don’t it’s easier to fix.

 

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2 hours ago, blandy said:

Looking at the internet, it’s not a virus, it’s a disguised, unwanted programme that changes your search engine to we know.

what version of Mac OS are you using? click the Apple top left, then “about this Mac” if you’re unsure. Before I post how to get rid of the nuisance it would be helpful to know. Also it would help to know if you use bookmarks and favourites that you wish to keep and if you sync with google chrome- if you don’t it’s easier to fix.

 

Mojave (10.14.2) and no bookmarks saved on either browser.

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15 hours ago, MCU said:

Can any Macbook users advise please? @blandy 

I've got a refurbed 2012 (I think) Pro I bought off eBay back in 2015. Got it for a good price and got my use out of it.

However, I started using it less and less as I started spending more time on my desktop PC. That coupled with the fact it's been on a go slow and I think it just needs a good tidy up. For example, some bloody virus of some sort has taken over my search engine. When I open Chrome/Safari I get greeted with some third party search engine called 'weknow' which I can't get rid of! I've got everything backed up so even open to formatting the whole thing and starting over - if thats even possible?

It looks a bit of pain in the arse to remove.  

There are some step-by-step instructions here: 

https://macreports.com/how-to-remove-weknow-ac-malware-macos/ 

Essentially you need to: 

- Remove the configuration profile
- Remove the application
- Remove the add-ons from your browsers
- Remove any lingering files
- If you're a Chrome user you may need to potentially amend some settings via the terminal (Should just be a case of copy-pasting some commands) 

 

Re-installing MacOs is a fairly painless process, although obviously you'll need to reinstall all your applications etc and back up any files you don't want to lose, it can take a little while. 

If this is the road you want to go down: Restart your Mac and hold down cmd+R it will eventually boot to recovery mode and one of the options here will be to re-install MacOS.

EDIT: 

It looks like re-installing MacOs doesn't touch your data. So to get the "factory setting" effect, you'd first need to go to the Disk Utility option on the recovery menu and erase the disk before then re-installing MacOs. This is obviously the nuclear option.

May be worth seeing what Blandy comes back with before doing anything.

Edited by penguin
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I don't think you need to re-install the Mac OS.

Close brower(s) Delete Google chrome (drag it to the trash) or use appcleaner  <<-- clicking that link will download the right version for your Mac. The point of using it is it also removes an apps clutter, not just the app. Open the DMG, put the app in your applications folder. Then open it and drag chrome onto it's window. Make sure all the boxes are ticked, and then press the delete button. Here's a screenshot (I've used opera as an example, as chrome's not on this Mac)

Screen Shot 2020-08-09 at 11.44.39.png

Next, look in the applications folder - is there an application called "Weknow" or any other App that you don't recognise or want - maybe something like MPlayer or Niceplayer - if there are do the same with them as you did with chrome - delete them, either by putting them in the bin, or using Appcleaner as above. Then Close Appcleaner.

Open safari. press space  and comma to open safari preferences. Go to the search preferences (see pic)

Screen Shot 2020-08-09 at 11.53.36.png

Make sure you pick the search engine you want to use (e.g. Bing, or Google).

Next go to the Extensions tab (to the right of search, see pic above)

In this tab you will see a list of your extensions - (see pic below for mine)

Screen Shot 2020-08-09 at 11.57.10.png

Delete any extensions (including Weknow) you don't want by selecting it/them and clicking uninstall - see pic below

  1. Screen Shot 2020-08-09 at 11.59.03.png

Empty the trash.

Close Safari.

The next bit is mildly more technical

Go to the launch agents folder by doing this  (see pic below): Press cmd + shift + G keys together and paste in (without the inverted commas) "/Library/LaunchAgents"

Screen Shot 2020-08-09 at 12.02.42.png

Click Go

That'll take you to the launch agents folder. Look for anything dubious There's nothing at all in mine - the folder is completely empty.

If you find something dubious - move it to the trash, but don't empty the trash. DO NOT EMPTY THE TRASH - in case you do actually need what you've moved

What you're looking for might be stuff with name of programmes that you don't want or recognise - if you want to share a screenshot, please do.

  1. Repeat for the following folder: /Library/LaunchDaemons

Screen Shot 2020-08-09 at 12.11.56.png

Here's mine

Screen Shot 2020-08-09 at 12.12.29.png

If you want to share yours, via a pic, you can.

All the stuff in mine is meant to be there.

Delete anything you don't want. DO NOT EMPTY THE TRASH

Go to system preferences and USERS and then login items - select anything you don't want to have open at start up and then click the minus sign to remove it from the list.

Restart the computer.

That should do it, I reckon.

The stuff in the trash - leave it there for a bit. If everything is fine, then you can go ahead and empty it. If not come back and report

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One more thing. I assume the unwanted crapware got on your computer through you inadvertently downloading it and then it opening. You can prevent that in Safari by selecting NOT to  automatically open safe files after downloading - see pic below and untick the box at the bottom.Screen Shot 2020-08-09 at 13.21.06.png

 

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And on the general point about possible build up of stuff that slows the machine down, maybe consider running Onyx << - that's the download for the Mojave version.

It'll take 10 minutes to do it's thing, and you can select what you want it to do, but it's likely to help with reducing clutter - it cleans out caches, logs, and stuff. Freeing up space. 

Here's a screenshot of it on mine. It doesn't remove crapware programmes, but it is a good general cleaning tool (with more powerful options, too).

Screen Shot 2020-08-09 at 13.30.17.png

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The last thing before I go for a bike ride is if you still have problems, open activity monitor (press cmd + space and start typing act - see pic and it'll appear, then press enterScreen Shot 2020-08-09 at 13.42.39.png

Then when it's open, have a look to see what's using processor power or memory - see pic

Screen Shot 2020-08-09 at 13.32.38.png

If there's something using a lot of memory or processor capacity that you don't recognise - google it, see what it is. if it's crap - kill it by selecting it and then clicking on the X in the top left and confirming.

then go find it in the applications or utilities folder and delete. But be careful. The Mac won't let you delete apple stuff that's meant to be there, but still, make sure you understand what it is you're getting rid of.

Screen Shot 2020-08-09 at 13.37.31.png

 

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Thanks mate, followed everything.

So I found a couple of files in /LaunchDaemons and /LaunchAgents. com.MyCouponsmart.agent.plist x2 which I've moved to trash and com.microsoft.autoupdate..lper.plist x2 in /LaunchDaemons which looks a bit more genuine so I've left for now. (Feel feel to tell me different if it is crap)

Appcleaner seems to have done a job. However, when I open a new tab on Safari now and type in the search engine address bar at the top, it'll take me via google but then redirect to bing. Looks a bit dodgy but could be nothing.

Just one more thing, system preferences is offering me an update to Catalina. Is it worth doing this before I download Onyx or will that potentially slow the Mac down? Apart from that, everything seems a lot better already.

Appreciate it.👍

EDIT: 'cordeaudiod' is using 6.9% which I don't recognise but everything else looks genuine.

 coreaudiod    6.9    1:18.73    6    352    138    _coreaudiod    3.6 MB    221    24 KB    6.3 MB    64 bit        -    No    No    0 bytes    0 bytes    0 bytes    No    Yes        0 bytes    0 bytes    0    0    0 bytes    0 bytes    Yes    
 

Edited by MCU
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3 hours ago, MCU said:

Thanks mate, followed everything.

So I found a couple of files in /LaunchDaemons and /LaunchAgents. com.MyCouponsmart.agent.plist x2 which I've moved to trash and com.microsoft.autoupdate..lper.plist x2 in /LaunchDaemons which looks a bit more genuine so I've left for now. (Feel feel to tell me different if it is crap)

Appcleaner seems to have done a job. However, when I open a new tab on Safari now and type in the search engine address bar at the top, it'll take me via google but then redirect to bing. Looks a bit dodgy but could be nothing.

Just one more thing, system preferences is offering me an update to Catalina. Is it worth doing this before I download Onyx or will that potentially slow the Mac down? Apart from that, everything seems a lot better already.

Appreciate it.👍

EDIT: 'cordeaudiod' is using 6.9% which I don't recognise but everything else looks genuine.

 coreaudiod    6.9    1:18.73    6    352    138    _coreaudiod    3.6 MB    221    24 KB    6.3 MB    64 bit        -    No    No    0 bytes    0 bytes    0 bytes    No    Yes        0 bytes    0 bytes    0    0    0 bytes    0 bytes    Yes    
 

cordeaudiod is an apple gubbins for handling audio - it's meant to be there.

com.microsoft.autoupdate.helper.plist is a microsoft preference. You can leave or delete it - it's something that is a preference for checking for updates for any Microsoft app you have on the Mac  - If you have microsoft apps like Office or whatever, maybe leave it alone, but if it's a left over legacy from a since deleted app bin it - I don't know what apps you have on there, obviously.

The Google/Bing thing seems odd. It should stay with whatever you've picked. It's not "dodgy" but it's not right either. You could delete Safari's preferences: Quit safari, then go to (using the cmd + shift + G (as earlier post) to this folder (paste the text below into the box and click Go)

~/Library/Preferences

Then in the search box type safari - see pic below

Screen Shot 2020-08-09 at 16.29.19.png

That gives you a list of safari's preferences. I'd delete com.apple.SafariServices.ExtensionHelper.plist and com.apple.Safari.plist.

They will be recreated after a reboot. Then go back to safari's preferences tab after rebooting by opening safari, pressing cmd + comma and set the search engine again.

The onyx link I posted is for the Mojave version only. There's a different one for Catalina ->>  here.

Updating to Catalina will obviously get you the latest version, which is more secure etc. It's also different - it won't run 32 bit apps. iTunes is replaced by Music, Podcasts and TV and that's an improvement. The main reason not to update would be 32 bit apps you use.

The way to find out if you have any and what they are is via this step: click the apple at the top left

Screen Shot 2020-08-09 at 16.15.00.png

Then About this Mac from the list that appears, then System Report, then Software (quite a bit down, on the left hand side, then select applications and on the right hand side you can sort by 32 or 64 bit (the right hand column). The 32 bit ones won't work on Catalina. So if there are any you need, and there's not a 64 bit later version you can update to, don't update.

Screen Shot 2020-08-09 at 16.20.40.png

This Mac is Catalina, so I can't take a snapshot of what's on yours, but it's pretty similar to the image above. Obviously you can scroll down or move the horizontal bar below the list of apps.

If you do decide to update, I strongly recommend making a bootable back up before hand, or at least making a copy of any important files, photos etc. just in case something goes wrong.

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  • 1 month later...
2 hours ago, Genie said:

I’d like it if I could double tap the back to launch a specific app, is that possible?

Yeah I'd like a few more options for that. Like opening the camera for example so you don't have to take your gloves off to use the camera 

(random but on holiday in New York in the winter this annoyed me!)

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 18/09/2020 at 21:45, Stevo985 said:

Yeah I'd like a few more options for that. Like opening the camera for example so you don't have to take your gloves off to use the camera 

(random but on holiday in New York in the winter this annoyed me!)

On 18/09/2020 at 19:33, Genie said:

I’d like it if I could double tap the back to launch a specific app, is that possible?

I’ve done exactly that with mine - here’s how to do it.

Open Shortcuts on your iPhone.

Tap the + button in the upper-right corner.

Tap Add Action.

Tap the search bar.

Search for "Open App".

Tap "Open App" - Its icon looks like a grid of colourful squares.

Tap Choose.

Tap "Camera" from the list ( or whatever app you want to open)

Tap Next.

 Enter a name for your shortcut - "Cam" or whatever

Tap Done.

You've now successfully created a shortcut. To set it up to work from a double (or triple-tap, if you prefer), do the following:

Go to "Settings" on your iPhone.

Tap Accessibility.

Tap Touch.

Scroll to the bottom and tap Back Tap.

Tap Double Tap (or Triple Tap, if that's what you want to do to trigger it).

Scroll down and tap the name of the shortcut that you just created.

And that's it done. The double- or triple-tap gesture will now launch the camera ( or app you chose) no matter what you are doing, or not doing, on your phone.

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