Advanced Mac Tuneup - How to remove

Advanced Mac Tuneup is an application that some would consider unwanted. This app uses adware and malvertising to spread and alarms security programs, so even though it promises “Boost your Mac’s speed”, you might want to think twice before installing this application.

Advanced Mac Tuneup is not the only application that promises to help optimize your Mac. I think there might be more fake optimizers out there than real ones. The truth is that Mac OS is pretty good at keeping your computer in good shape, so various optimizers have a hard time convincing people that they’re needed. So apps like Advanced Mac Tuneup, TuneupMyMac, Smart Mac Tuneup, Mac Tonic, and others resort to deceptive installation and misleading scan results (they try to convince you that your computer is in a bad shape, or in danger). They behave like malware and should not be trusted.

Advanced Mac Tuneup is not a virus, but it does have enough problems to justify deleting it:

Type of threat	Potentially unwanted program (PUP) Rogue optimizer
Problems with Advanced Mac Tuneup	Potentially useful files are implied to be slowing down the computer The application uses deceptive and very aggressive installation methods
Distribution	Malicious ads – fake updates, fake virus detections Bundling – installed hidden with another application Manually installed – downloaded from the home page
Remove Advanced Mac Tuneup	End the process of the application Manually delete the application Scan your computer for suspicious items (Combo Cleaner) and delete them

Advanced Mac Tuneup detects nonexistent problems

One of the first clues that not everything is right with Advanced Mac Tuneup is the list of antivirus tools that mark it as a potentially unwanted program. It’s all right to be skeptical, as false positives do happen and some security programs have different philosophies of what counts as a threat, but more often, if an app is detected, there’s a good reason for it.

Advanced Mac Tuneup is one of those applications that finds every little cookie, cache, temporary file, log, and even deleted items, and declares them “issues” rather than what they are, which is items you might or might not want to delete. I mean, if you delete a cache, the particular website that was using it will take longer to load. If you delete browser cookies, you’ll be logged out of those websites and might need to log back in. Where does Advanced Mac Tuneup get off telling users that all these useful little files are “issues”?

To be fair, some versions of Advanced Mac Tuneup do use “item” instead of “issue” to refer to these findings, but they still use gauges with words like “severe” to imply that deleting the found items can significantly improve the performance of the Mac. Even when the detected items total at a few Megabytes.

Programs like Advanced Mac Tuneup find hundreds of “problems” even in perfectly well-functioning Macs and announce them in bold red letters, like some sort of scareware. So this might manipulate some users into believing that their Mac needs immediate fixing and that Advanced Mac Tuneup is the app for that. Of course, the app is paid.

Advanced Mac Tuneup gets installed without asking

Advanced Mac Tuneup has a nice website from which you can download the application manually. It looks fine and is better than a lot of junkware websites. But it is concerning that some of the traffic to this site comes from various redirect viruses and adware websites similar to Bigclicker.me or Nerinlelighda.pro. I mean, these sites rarely promote safe and good-quality sites. More often they redirect users to fake lotteries and giveaways, adult sites, browser hijackers, get-rich-quick schemes, and fake scans. Plus, they hijack browsers to spam them with dangerous ads. So, Advanced Mac Tuneup being in that company and partnering with those sites is a really bad look.

Then there are the online reports of people finding Advanced Mac Tuneup on their Mac and not knowing where it came from, or seeing constant pop-ups recommending this program. Adware, infected installers, fake updates, malicious ads – these things do affect Macs and seem to be used for Advanced Mac Tuneup. Generally, safe and good-quality programs do not need to resort to using deception to get installed.

As proved by this fake optimizer, there is indeed Mac malware that can waste users’ money by selling them unwanted programs under false pretenses. It would best be deleted from your computer. Possibly with the help of a real malware remover like Combo Cleaner, considering that Advanced Mac Tuneup can be difficult to completely remove manually.

Use Cmd+Alt+Esc to quit Advanced Mac Tuneup. Go to your Applications folder and move the optimizer to Trash. Check your various folders for items related to Advanced Mac Tuneup. Also, check your browser settings as well as your computer for adware. You can also use Combo Cleaner to find suspicious items. But if you bought the Advanced Mac Tuneup subscription, you’ll need to cancel that manually.

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