A real Mac help post.

[iaJim]

I think MacCleaner has seriously messed up my computer. I installed the trial in a completely out of character moment. I immediately got rid of it, but it seems you can never really get rid of it. I've had problems for a long time with my keystrokes not appearing on screen in boxes such as this one I'm using to enter this message. Closing the window and opening a new one solves the problems for a little while. I had a friendly person on Apple Help Forum work through a lot of posts with me to get rid of all traces of MacCleaner and Zeobit, but it still happens. Now, I'm getting a MacCleaner screen that pops up and asks me to install the software on my computer. I can't do anything but quit Safari and reopen it. I'm just about ready to do a complete erase of the drive and just start over. I would want to save my iTunes and iPhoto files and a couple of other documents, but I'm sure i'd be forgetting something else important.

So, do you have any suggestions about what I should do? I am running a backup drive with Time Machine backups.

[iaJim]

Oh, 10.8.3, Mac Mini 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 8 GB

[Speedy]

MacCleaner...

[iaJim]

I know. That's exactly how I feel. I don't know why I did it. Dumb! Let me stand as a warning to everyone else out there.

[DRR]

Restore from the TM backup. That's what it's there for.

[iaJim]

The problem was pre Time Machine backup, so that won't do it. I wish it would.

[WI Boilermaker]

Use AppCleaner to remove any traces of the offensive software.

[DRR]

A clean install is probably your best bet. At this point I'd unplug your TM Backup, and then reinstall OSX on your mini.

After the fresh install, create a new user with the same name(s) as your old install.

Manually move over your Desktop, Music, Photos, Downloads, Documents from your old TM backup. Do it through the finder. Do not move your Library folder. (It's probably hidden anyway) If you're albe to, archive your old TM disk onto some other media (older ext hard drive, for example) just in case you missed something. You'll probably need 500GB but that's not too expensive (http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=RU-554-214-0007&cat=HDD) and once you're confident you don't need that archive any longer, you can reformat and repurpose the disk.

Reinstall any apps you need. Whenever I get a new computer, I start fresh anyway and don't do a User Migration or anything, because it naturally weeds out all the stuff that I don't need/want. It takes a few extra hours but you end up with a leaner, cleaner system, which was your original intent of using MacCleaner anyway.

With a Mini, you don't have any obscure drivers for PCI cards that you need to hunt down, just install whatever apps you need to and you should be back up and running shortly. This may also be a good time to do a personal audit of your filing system - weed out old downloads, sort stuff from the desktop into either Documents or the trash. Think about what would make this whole process easier next time. Hope there isn't a next time, but... be prepared.

After the mini is all set up, repartition/reformat the disk you were using as your TM disk, and continue using it as your TM disk for the new install.

[onthedownlow]

WI Boilermaker wrote:
Use AppCleaner to remove any traces of the offensive software.

This.

As much as I wouldn't normally recommend it - reinstall MacCleaner

...but before you do, download AppCleaner: http://www.freemacsoft.net/appcleaner/

...then once you reinstall MacCleaner - close it out and then use AppCleaner to uninstall all traces of it.

Sort of like Windows back in the day (and some Macintosh apps), you might need to reinstall it to fully uninstall it.

[iaJim]

I did the AppCleaner/reinstall/uninstall route sevreral weeks ago. It didn't work; MacCleaner buries stuff pretty well.