Possible adware or virus on Macbook Air

Question

My macbook air (purchased late 2013) runs extremely slow, the fan runs at a high rate, and a popup window opens for a computer cleaning site when I turn on my laptop.  I assume this means some kind of adware or maybe a virus?  What should I do?

Answer 1

1. This procedure is a diagnostic test. It changes nothing, for better or worse, and therefore will not, in itself, solve the problem. But with the aid of the test results, the solution may take a few minutes, instead of hours or days.
Don't be put off by the complexity of these instructions. The process is much less complicated than the description. You do harder tasks with the computer all the time.
2. If you don't already have a current backup, back up all data before doing anything else. The backup is necessary on general principle, not because of anything in the test procedure. Backup is always a must, and when you're having any kind of trouble with the computer, you may be at higher than usual risk of losing data, whether you follow these instructions or not.
There are ways to back up a computer that isn't fully functional. Ask if you need guidance.
3. Below are instructions to run a UNIX shell script, a type of program. As I wrote above, it changes nothing. It doesn't send or receive any data on the network. All it does is to generate a human-readable report on the state of the computer. That report goes nowhere unless you choose to share it. If you prefer, you can act on it yourself without disclosing the contents to me or anyone else.
You should be wondering whether you can believe me, and whether it's safe to run a program at the behest of a stranger. In general, no, it's not safe and I don't encourage it.
In this case, however, there are a couple of ways for you to decide whether the program is safe without having to trust me. First, you can read it. Unlike an application that you download and click to run, it's transparent, so anyone with the necessary skill can verify what it does.
You may not be able to understand the script yourself. But variations of it have been posted on this website thousands of times over a period of years. The site is hosted by Apple, which does not allow it to be used to distribute harmful software. Any one of the millions of registered users could have read the script and raised the alarm if it was harmful. Then I would not be here now and you would not be reading this message. See, for example, this discussion.
Nevertheless, if you can't satisfy yourself that these instructions are safe, don't follow them. Ask for other options.
4. Here's a summary of what you need to do, if you choose to proceed:
☞ Copy a line of text in this window to the Clipboard.
☞ Paste into the window of another application.
☞ Wait for the test to run. It usually takes a few minutes.
☞ Paste the results, which will have been copied automatically, back into a reply on this page.
The sequence is: copy, paste, wait, paste again. You don't need to copy a second time. Details follow.
5. You may have started the computer in "safe" mode. Preferably, these steps should be taken in “normal” mode, under the conditions in which the problem is reproduced. If the system is now in safe mode and works well enough in normal mode to run the test, restart as usual. If you can only test in safe mode, do that.
6. If you have more than one user, and the one affected by the problem is not an administrator, then please run the test twice: once while logged in as the affected user, and once as an administrator. The results may be different. The user that is created automatically on a new computer when you start it for the first time is an administrator. If you can't log in as an administrator, test as the affected user. Most personal Macs have only one user, and in that case this section doesn’t apply. Don't log in as root.
7. The script is a single long line, all of which must be selected. You can accomplish this easily by triple-clicking anywhere in the line. The whole line will highlight, though you may not see all of it in the browser window, and you can then copy it. If you try to select the line by dragging across the part you can see, you won't get all of it.
Triple-click anywhere in the line of text below on this page to select it:
PATH=/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/libexec;clear;cd;p=({Soft,Hard}ware Memory Diagnostics Power FireWire Thunderbolt USB Bluetooth SerialATA Extensions Applications Frameworks PrefPane Fonts 1024 85 percent 20480 1 MB/s 25000 ports KiB/s DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES\ DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH 10 "` route -n get default|awk '/e:/{print $2}' `" 25 N\\/A down up 102400 25600 recvfrom sendto CFBundleIdentifier 25 25 25 1000 MB 'com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0 com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0 com.adobe.AdobeCreativeCloud com.adobe.CS4ServiceManager com.adobe.CS5ServiceManager com.adobe.fpsaud com.adobe.SwitchBoard com.adobe.SwitchBoard com.apple.aelwriter com.apple.AirPortBaseStationAgent com.apple.FolderActions.enabled com.apple.installer.osmessagetracing com.apple.mrt.uiagent com.apple.ReportCrash.Self com.apple.rpmuxd com.apple.SafariNotificationAgent com.apple.usbmuxd com.citrixonline.GoToMeeting.G2MUpdate com.google.keystone.agent com.google.keystone.daemon com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper 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Ru|idle ex|inval|jnl:|last value [1-9]|lv_c|NVDA\(|pagin|pci pa|proc: t|Roamed|rror|SL|TCON|Throttli|tim(ed? ?|ing )o|WARN' " '-du -n DEV -n EDEV 1 10' 'acrx -o comm,ruid,%cpu' '-t1 10 1' '-f -pfc /var/db/r*/com.apple.*.{BS,Bas,Es,J,OSXU,Rem,up}*.bom' '{/,}L*/Lo*/Diag* -type f -regex .\*[cght] ! -name .?\* ! -name \*ag \( -exec grep -lq "^Thread c" {} \; -exec printf \* \; -o -true \) -execdir stat -f:%Sc:%N -t%F {} \;|sort -t: -k2 |tail -n'${p[38]} '/S*/*/Ca*/*xpc* >&- ||echo No' '-L /{S*/,}L*/StartupItems -type f -exec file {} +' "`S1 "{bundle,mach-o-dylib}"`" "`S2 ${p[35]}`" "/e*/{auto,{cron,fs}tab,hosts,{[lp],sy}*.conf,mach_i*/*,pam.d/*,ssh{,d}_config,*.local} {,/usr/local}/etc/periodic/*/* /L*/P*{,/*}/com.a*.{Bo,sec*.ap}*t {/S*/,/,}L*/Lau*/*t .launchd.conf" list getenv /Library/Preferences/com.apple.alf\ globalstate --proxy '-n get default' -I --dns -get{dnsservers,info}\ "${p[N5]}" -P -m\ / '' -n1 '-R -l1 -n1 -o prt -stats command,uid,prt' '--regexp --files com.apple.pkg.*|sort|uniq' -kl -l -s\ / '-R -l1 -n1 -o mem -stats command,uid,mem' '+c0 -i4TCP:0-1023' com.apple.dashboard\ layer-gadgets '-d /L*/Mana*/$USER&&echo On' '-app Safari WebKitDNSPrefetchingEnabled' "+c0 -l|awk '{print(\$1,\$3)}'|sort|uniq -c|sort -n|tail -1|awk '{print(\$2,\$3,\$1)}'" -m 'L*/{Con*/*/Data/L*/,}Pref* -type f -size 0c -name *.plist.???????|wc -l' kern.memorystatus_vm_pressure_level '3>&1 >&- 2>&3' " -F '\$Time \$Message' -k Sender kernel -k Message CSeq 'n Cause: -' " -i '-app Safari UserStyleSheetEnabled' -name\ kMDItem${p[35]} '-nl -print' '-F \$Sender -k Level Nle 3 -k Facility CReq "apple\.(bird|i?clou)"|sort|uniq -c' );N1=${#c2[@]};for j in {0..14};do c2[N1+j]=SP${p[j]}DataType;done;N2=${#c2[@]};for j in 0 1;do c2[N2+j]="-n ' syscall::'${p[33+j]}':return { @out[execname,uid]=sum(arg0) } tick-10sec { trunc(@out,1);exit(0);} '";done;l=({Restricted\ ,Lock,Pro}files POST Battery {Safari,App,{Bad,Loaded}\ kernel}\ extensions Heat System\ load boot\ args FileVault Diagnostic\ reports Log {Free\ space,Swap}' (MiB)' Activity 'CPU per process' Login\ hook 'I/O per process' Mach\ ports User Daemons Agents XPC\ cache Startup\ items {Admin,Root}\ access Bundles {,Inserted\ }dylibs Stylesheet Font\ issues Firewall Proxies DNS TCP/IP Wi-Fi 'Elapsed time (sec)' {Root,User}\ crontab {Global,User}' login items' Spotlight Memory Listeners Widgets Parental\ Controls Prefetching Nets Descriptors Bad\ plists {I/O,iCloud}\ errors SMC Shutdowns 'High file counts' Memory\ pressure );N3=${#l[@]};for i in {0..8};do l[N3+i]=${p[5+i]};done;N4=${#l[@]};for j in 0 1;do l[N4+j]="Current ${p[29+j]}stream data";done;A0() { Q=5;v[2]=1;id -G|grep -qw 80;v[1]=$?;((v[1]))||{ Q=7;sudo true;v[2]=$?;((v[2]))||Q=8;};v[3]=`date +%s`;clear >&-;date '+Start time: %T %D%n';printf '[Process started]\n\n'>&4;printf 'Revision: %s\n\n' ${p[54]};};for i in 0 1;do eval ' A'$((1+i))'() { v=` eval "${c1[$1]} ${c2[$2]}"|'${c1[30+i]}' "${s[$3]}" `;[[ "$v" ]];};A'$((3+i))'() { v=` while read i;do [[ "$i" ]]&&eval "${c1[$1]} ${c2[$2]}" \"$i\"|'${c1[30+i]}' "${s[$3]}";done<<<"${v[$4]}" `;[[ "$v" ]];};A'$((5+i))'() { v=` while read i;do '${c1[30+i]}' "${s[$1]}" "$i";done<<<"${v[$2]}" `;[[ "$v" ]];};A'$((7+i))'() { v=` eval sudo "${c1[$1]} ${c2[$2]}"|'${c1[30+i]}' "${s[$3]}" `;[[ "$v" ]];};';done;A9(){ v=$((`date +%s`-v[3]));};B2(){ v[$1]="$v";};for i in 0 1;do eval ' B'$i'() { v=No;((v['$((i+1))']==0))&&v=;};B'$((3+i))'() { v[$2]=`'${c1[30+i]}' "${s[$3]}"<<<"${v[$1]}"`;} ';done;B5(){ v[$1]="${v[$1]}"$'\n'"${v[$2]}";};B6() { v=` paste -d: <(printf "${v[$1]}") <(printf "${v[$2]}")|awk -F: ' {printf("'"${f[$3]}"'",$1,$2)} ' `;};B7(){ v=`grep -Ev "${v[$1]}"<<<"$v"|sort`;};C0() { [[ "$v" ]]&&sed -E "$s"<<<"$v";};C1() { [[ "$v" ]]&&printf "${f[$1]}" "${l[$2]}" "$v"|sed -E "$s";};C2() { v=`echo $v`;[[ "$v" != 0 ]]&&C1 0 $1;};C3() { v=`sed -E "${s[63]}"<<<"$v"`&&C1 1 $1;};C4() { echo "Part $((++P)) of $Q done at $((`date +%s`-v[3])) sec">&4;};C5() { pbcopy<<<"$o";exit 2>&-;};for i in 1 2 7 8;do for j in 0 2 3;do eval D$i$j'(){ A'$i' $1 $2 $3; C'$j' $4;};';done;done;trap C5 2;o=$({ A0;D20 0 $((N1+1)) 2;D10 0 $N1 1;B0;C2 27;B0&&! B1&&C2 28;D12 15 37 25 22;A1 0 $((N1+2)) 3;C0;D13 0 $((N1+3)) 4 3;D23 0 $((N1+4)) 5 4;D13 0 $((N1+9)) 59 $((N3+4));for i in 0 1 2;do D13 0 $((N1+5+i)) 6 $((N3+i));done;D13 0 $((N1+8)) 71 $((N3+3));D13 1 10 7 9;D13 1 11 8 10;B1&&D73 19 53 67 55;D22 2 12 9 11;D12 3 13 10 12;D23 4 19 44 13;B0&&{ D13 5 5 69 53;D13 5 54 30 56;C4;D23 5 14 12 14;C4;};D22 6 36 13 15;D22 20 52 66 58;D22 7 37 14 16;D23 8 15 38 17;D22 9 16 16 18;C4;B1&&{ D82 35 49 61 51;D82 11 17 17 20;for i in 0 1;do D82 28 $((N2+i)) 45 $((N4+i));done;C4;};D22 12 44 54 45;D22 12 39 15 21;D13 40 58 32 7;A1 13 40 18;B2 4;B3 4 0 19;A3 14 6 32 0;B4 0 5 11;C4;A1 17 41 20;B7 5;C3 8;B4 4 6 21;A3 14 7 32 6;B4 0 7 11;B3 4 0 22;A3 14 6 32 0;B4 0 8 11;B5 7 8;B3 7 7 73;B1&&{ A8 18 26 23;B7 7;B4 0 0 74;C3 23;};A2 18 26 23;B7 7;B4 0 0 74;C3 24;D13 4 21 24 26;B4 4 12 26;C4;for i in {0..3};do A1 0 $((N1+10+i)) 72;B7 12;B4 0 0 31;((i))&&{ B2 14;B4 14 15 52;B6 14 15 4;};C3 $((N3+5+i));done;A1 24 22 29;B7 12;B2 14;A4 39 57 70 0;B2 15;B6 14 15 4;C3 29;C4;B3 4 13 27;A1 24 23 32;B7 13;C3 30;B3 4 0 65;A3 14 6 32 0;B4 0 16 11;A1 26 50 64;B7 16;C3 6;D13 25 37 32 31;A2 23 18 28;B2 16;A2 16 25 33;B7 16;B3 0 0 34;B2 21;A6 47 21&&C0;B1&&{ D73 21 0 32 19;D73 10 42 32 40;D82 29 35 46 2;};D23 14 1 62 42;D12 34 43 53 44;D12 22 20 32 25;D22 0 $((N1+14)) 51 33;D13 4 8 41 52;D12 21 28 35 34;D13 27 29 36 35;A2 27 32 39&&{ B2 19;A2 33 33 40;B2 20;B6 19 20 3;};C2 36;D23 38 55 68 50;D23 33 34 42 37;B1&&D83 35 45 55 46;D23 32 31 43 38;D12 36 47 32 48;D13 10 42 32 41;D13 37 2 48 43;A1 4 3 60;B2 30;A1 4 24 60;B2 31;B6 30 31 4;C3 5;D12 21 56 35 32;D12 21 48 49 49;B3 4 22 57;A1 21 46 56;B7 22;B3 0 0 58;C3 47;D13 5 59 69 54;D22 4 4 50 0;D12 4 51 32 1;D23 22 9 37 57;A9;C2 39;C4;} 4>&2 2>/dev/null;);C5
Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C.
8. Launch the built-in Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad and start typing the name.
Click anywhere in the Terminal window and paste by pressing command-V. The text you pasted should vanish immediately. If it doesn't, press the return key.
9. If you see an error message in the Terminal window such as "Syntax error" or "Event not found," enter
exec bash
and press return. Then paste the script again.
10. If you're logged in as an administrator, you'll be prompted for your login password. Nothing will be displayed when you type it. You will not see the usual dots in place of typed characters. Make sure caps lock is off. Type carefully and then press return. You may get a one-time warning to be careful. If you make three failed attempts to enter the password, the test will run anyway, but it will produce less information. In most cases, the difference is not important. If you don't know the password, or if you prefer not to enter it, just press return three times at the password prompt. Again, the script will still run.
If you're not logged in as an administrator, you won't be prompted for a password. The test will still run. It just won't do anything that requires administrator privileges.
11. The test may take a few minutes to run, depending on how many files you have and the speed of the computer. A computer that's abnormally slow may take longer to run the test. While it's running, there will be a series of messages in the Terminal window like this:
[Process started]
Part 1 of 8 done at … sec
Part 8 of 8 done at … sec
[Process completed]
The messages won't be spaced equally apart in time, but they give a rough indication of progress. The total number of parts may be different from what's shown here.
Wait for the final message "Process completed" to appear. If you don't see it within half an hour or so, the test probably won't complete in a reasonable time. In that case, press the key combination control-C or command-period to stop it. Then go to the next step.
12. When the test is complete, or if you stopped it because it was taking too long, quit Terminal. The results will have been copied to the Clipboard automatically. They are not shown in the Terminal window. Please don't copy anything from there. All you have to do is start a reply to this comment and then paste by pressing command-V again.
At the top of the results, there will be a line that begins with the words "Start time." If you don't see that, but instead see a mass of gibberish, you didn't wait for the "Process completed" message to appear in the Terminal window. Please wait for it and try again.
If any private information, such as your name or email address, appears in the results, anonymize it before posting. Usually that won't be necessary.
13. When you post the results, you might see an error message on the web page: "You have included content in your post that is not permitted," or "You are not authorized to post." That's a bug in the forum software. Please post the test results on Pastebin, then post a link here to the page you created.
14. This is a public forum, and others may give you advice based on the results of the test. They speak only for themselves, and I don't necessarily agree with them.
Copyright © 2014, 2015 by Linc Davis. As the sole author of this work, I reserve all rights to it except as provided in the Use Agreement for the Apple Support Communities website ("ASC"). Readers of ASC may copy it for their own personal use. Neither the whole nor any part may be redistributed.