Help see if I have a virus. Malwarebytes did not detect anything.

[nodoubt99]

Hi, I'm pretty sure I downloaded a virus earlier today. I downloaded some pretty malicious items for a sketchy website. (yes I know this was stupid, i didn't think about it until after). I scanned with malwarebytes and it says that it can't detect anything. I've kept scanning over and over but it keeps saying nothing found. When looking for further help on this I stumbled across this forum. They were able to help detect for further viruses. Please help me scan for this. I use a Macbook and I need help.

 

[alvarnell]

The forum link you provided are instructions for Windows user who are much more vulnerable to infection than your Mac is, so ignore all of that.

If Malwarebytes says you are clean, then you should probably trust it's findings. If you are seeing evidence of infection, please share that with us, otherwise just trash whatever those items from the sketchy web site and install the Malwarebytes Browser Guard so you won't be tempted to visit such sites in the future.

[treed]

What specifically did you download, and from where?

[nodoubt99]

I downloaded Nektony App Cleaner & Uninstaller and Osx Uninstaller. (You can use cmd f to find it). I downloaded them from this website. https://wethegeek.com/5-best-uninstaller-apps-for-mac/#appcleaneruninstaller

[nodoubt99]

To clarify I pressed the button that said Download now for Mac OS. It then brought me to a new website which I downloaded it. from.

[alvarnell]

I'm not seeing any issues with wethegeek.com: https://www.virustotal.com/gui/url/63d4e7b096fc46a082ae30ecf5e4abb19c0f8538d8275fc726f1079749bbb91b

nor the site from the Download link nektony.com: https://www.virustotal.com/gui/url/5bb230cecd49eaa6fcfb743baf1a9ebb7d49db77c309e68294b00a41e6053127?nocache=1

I scanned the app itself with a competing anti-malware scanner which found it to be clean and none of the VirusTotal security vendors nor sandboxes flagged this file as malicious.

I'd have to say everything is just fine with your Mac at this time, but I do have to question whether the use of this app is totally safe to do whatever it is you feel needs to be done. 

Again, let us know what you see that makes you think you are infected as well as the exact problem you are trying to solve with this app.

 

[nodoubt99]

Hi again. I also wanted to make sure the OSX website/app was clean. That was the one that I had the most concerns with. I have seen other websites post risk about it. The problem I was trying to solve with using that app was that I needed to completely remove certain apps. I was trying to delete OBS and it had leftover files when I deleted the application. I believe I had a virus just because of the fact other websites have said that OSX is considered a PUP. However, according to Malwarebytes, it wasn’t considered that.

[treed]

We have reviewed Nektony software in the past, but at the time did not find sufficient justification to detect it as a PUP (Potentially Unwanted Program). Thus, we don't detect it.

That said, though, using any kind of "cleaning" app or generic app uninstaller is a bad idea. "Cleaning" apps generally remove things that don't need to be removed, and that actually may harm performance in the short term. They can help only in very specific - and uncommon - cases, such as cache corruption. Generally speaking, if your cache is getting corrupted, there's a problem somewhere, and deleting the caches is only a short-term fix for the symptoms and not a cure for the root cause.

Regarding app uninstallers, most apps should either provide their own uninstall functionality somehow - either within the software, within the installer, or as a separate uninstaller - or should not need any specific uninstallation. Anything from the App Store, for example, can just be dragged to the trash. Generic uninstallers often leave things behind or remove things they shouldn't have.

[nodoubt99]

Do you think I should factory reset my computer? I don’t want the files it removed to slow down my computer.

[treed]

No, that should not be necessary. Files removed by "cleaning" apps tend to be files that macOS will rebuild over time, like caches and logs. They shouldn't cause any long-term issues.

[nodoubt99]

Alright thank you. Do you recommend I take any other action? I have already uninstalled the applications and removed what I think is all of the left over files.

[treed]

Nope, I think you're okay. I'd recommend removing Nektony, but it doesn't sound like you should need to worry about infection or doing anything else.

[nodoubt99]

Ok thank you for the response. I think that's all I will need. If I can leave a good rating anywhere, let me know.