Trend Micro's Dr Cleaner

[JonSpeed]

Hi there, I'm new to this but I can't find an answer to this or anything similar, sorry.

I liked and used Trend Micro's Dr Cleaner - it is free, minimal resources and lets you know what it is doing, freeing up memory and disc space on the fly on software removal (something I do a lot as I try random bits of software and find out it doesn't do what you have been led to believe it will do!) but Apple decided that Trends reporting your usage back to Trend violated privacy rules Apple banned it.

It now has been removed from the Apple store but I still have a copy but Malwarebytes has found it and keeps putting it in quarantine.

My question is is there any way to ask/tell Malwarebytes to ignore this application?

Unless you feel it's a much worse threat than I'm aware of and I will abide by the advice of Apple and Malwarebytes.

[alvarnell]

Please refer to this blog article for the reasons it was removed from the App Store and Malwarebytes suggests you probably don't want to be using it: Mac App Store apps are stealing user data.

There is no way to tell Malwarebytes to ignore it. You can instruct it to "Skip" the Default action for all PUPs in Settings->General, if that's what you decide, then just ignore and cancel remediation for it after scans.

[JonSpeed]

Thanks for that - most helpful. I had no idea browsing data was being captured, nobody needs that!

It has been removed and I will await a similar one to help trace those extra tentacles of file paths that get installed.

Trend Micro I thought was a trusted brand I have used their Anti Virus in the past.

Cheers, Jon

[alvarnell]

In fairness to TrendMicro, I should point you to their side of the story. Not sure I believe all of it and in any case they should have been more up front with what they were doing and why. In any case, they haven't managed to satisfy Apple that they have cleaned up their act, so none of their apps have been allowed back in the App store:

Answers to Your Questions on Our Apps in the Mac App Store

 

[treed]

I'd just like to add that you really shouldn't be using these kinds of "cleaning" apps anyway. The thing they purport to do is not a thing that needs doing. Although a corrupt cache can result in a "cleaning" app showing positive benefits, I've never actually seen cache corruption in person, because it doesn't happen often on modern systems. If it does happen, that's a symptom of some other problem that needs to be solved, rather than just sweeping it under the rug by deleting the caches.

On a normal system, "cleaning" will actually have a negative effect, essentially deleting a bunch of files the system maintains to help improve performance.

[Massimiliano]

@treed

With regard to cleaners and uninstallers, in the past, before knowing from you, that it was better not to use them, I used a uninstaller that when he deleted an app also erased something from the folder VAR.

Now I don't use it for a long time but I'd like to understand what apps stored in that folder.

Thanks

[alvarnell]

A lot of things are stored in /private/var/ but the area that is most relevant to your question is that it's a temporary area for all users and system files. Software updates for OS and Mac App Store Updates are all downloaded into that area and many installers use it for scratch files and Applications often copied or moved from there to final destinations. Many cache files also exist there. Over time, old files that are no longer needed are automagically deleted during normal housecleanings. Without knowing the name of the files your uninstaller found and exactly where, I can't tell you much more, except to say there shouldn't be any actual apps there, just files related to apps and processes that were stored elsewhere and drug to Trash.

Edited April 5, 2019 by alvarnell

[Massimiliano]

The Uninstaller was called APP CLEANER & UNINSTALLER by NEKTONY; once was present on the Mac AppStore but several months ago was removed from Apple and for that they had offered to me an external license. It erased components from the above folder for any type of app, whether it was downloaded from the Store or external (for example Ms Office, Adobe Reader; but the list I think could contain any App that in my short history Mac I installed). About it was deleting were names composed of a readable part and a part of random characters, sometimes I think they were subfolders. 

[alvarnell]

41 minutes ago, MAXBAR1 said:

About it was deleting were names composed of a readable part and a part of random characters, sometimes I think they were subfolders. 

That would almost certainly be your user's temp area. For example, mine is:

/private/var/folders/95/mfq7sh888xl0c_008k8bty_h0000gv/T

There is also a "C" folder for cache and a "0" folder containing additional items needed by my user.

The system temp area is:

/private/var/folders/zz/

with dozens of subfolders (e.g. zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000yw00007q) that all contain 0, C & T subfolders. You won't be able to look into most of them.

[Massimiliano]

Thanks for the directions.

It was a curiosity about the past.

Now to uninstall use the advice he had given me @treed