How to Remove Smart Mac Booster

There has been steady growth in production of rogue tool for Mac system in recent years. Probably, cyber criminals saw the potentials of generating swindled funds from Macintosh owners now that they recognizes user’s weakness and exploited it to penetrate the machine. The recent malware to take advantage of user’s fondness on freeware is Smart Mac Booster. Nothing new about this counterfeit program and it is obvious from the graphical user interface (GUI) how it resembles to My Mac Speedup, Super Mac Cleaner, and some other fictitious system optimizer from PCVARK group.

Numbers speak out that a great portion of Mac users have encountered rogue software due to careless downloading of free software particularly those that are supplied by questionable websites. Smart Mac Booster is able to infiltrate the computer in the same manner that most victims do not recall how it manages to sneak-in without giving any authority. Behind their knowledge, they play vital role or partially gave the potentially unwanted program (PUP) a mandate to mount unnecessary apps while installing free software. Rogue software creators often misuse ‘Express’ installation to freely load Smart Mac Booster behind the default setup proceedings. And because of this abuse, computer security professionals advises to abstain from this traditional approach and instead, run the setup using ‘Custom’ mode to inspect what the package is comprise of. As suggested, opt-out in the installation of surplus components including suspicious program like Smart Mac Booster.

Smart Mac Booster

Fake warning and alerts starts to inundate the screen after full installation of the bogus security and optimization tool. Moreover, Mac users may experience grave intimidation via Smart Mac Booster’s scan where result contains nothing but falsified detection of system blunders. The rogue program remains hastening the repair and suggests proceeding immediately via paid edition of Smart Mac Booster. This trick scheme goes on a loop as long as the culprit software is inside the system. In order to isolate the issue, it is very well suggested to get rid of Smart Mac Booster as it is the verified origin of all the abnormality on the computer.

Procedures to Remove Smart Mac Booster

This section contains complete instructions to assist you in removing potentially unwanted program from Mac computer.

Procedures published on this page are written in method that can be easily understand and execute by Mac users.

Quick Fix - Scan the Mac Computer with Combo Cleaner

Combo Cleaner is a trusted Mac utility application with complete antivirus and optimization features. It is useful in dealing with adware and malware. Moreover, it can get rid of unwanted program like Smart Mac Booster. You may need to purchase full version if you require to maximize its premium features.

1. Download the tool from the following page:

2. Double-click the downloaded file and proceed with the installation.

3. In the opened window, drag and drop the Combo Cleaner icon onto your Applications folder icon.

Install Combo Cleaner

4. Open your Launchpad and click on the Combo Cleaner icon.

5. Wait until antivirus downloads its latest virus definition updates and click on "Start Combo Scan" to start removing Smart Mac Booster.

Combo Cleaner Scanner

6. As shown in the image below, Combo Cleaner accurately detects Smart Mac Booster rogue program. Proceed with the removal of the virus by upgrading Combo Cleaner to full version.

Combo Cleaner Scan Result

Free features of Combo Cleaner include Disk Cleaner, Big Files finder, Duplicate files finder, and Uninstaller. To use antivirus and privacy scanner, users have to upgrade to a premium version.

Proceed with the rest of the removal steps if you are comfortable in manually removing malicious objects associated with the threat.

Step 1 : Quit Smart Mac Booster Process

Before proceeding with the steps below, please close Smart Mac Booster window if in case it is open.

1. Go to Launchpad, Utilities folder, open Activity Monitor.

2. Choose All Processes from the upper right corner of the window.

3. Under Process Name column, look for Smart Mac Booster. Click the name to select the malicious process.

4. Next, click the Quit Process button located in the upper left corner of the window.

Force Quit Apps

5. When prompted, click on Force Quit.

6. You may now delete or remove files that belongs to Smart Mac Booster. Proceed to the next steps.

Step 2 : Delete Smart Mac Booster Login Items

Some malware also installs login item into compromised account under System Preferences. This object automatically runs Smart Mac Booster during user log in.

1. Go to Apple menu and choose System Preferences.

2. Select Users & Groups from the preferences window.

3. You may need to Unlock this area in order to make changes. Click on the Lock icon on lower left corner of the window.

4. Next, select user account that runs Smart Mac Booster.

5. Click on Login Items tab.

6. Select Smart Mac Booster from listed entries and click on the minus [-] button and confirm your actions. Please see image below for reference.

Login Items

As stated, the creation of Login Items or profile is case-to-case basis. Some unwanted application may add their entry on this section but others are not concern on making one. So, if Smart Mac Booster Login item is not present, please continue with the succeeding steps.

Step 3 : Delete Smart Mac Booster Application

1. Go to Finder.

2. On the menu, click Go and then, select Applications from the list to open Applications Folder.

3. Find Smart Mac Booster or any unwanted program.

Delete Unwanted App

4. Drag the Smart Mac Booster to Trash Bin to delete the application from Mac.

5. Right-click on Trash icon and click on Empty Trash.

Step 4 : Delete Malicious Files that have installed Smart Mac Booster

1. Select and copy the string below to your Clipboard by pressing Command + C on your keyboard.

~/Library/LaunchAgents

2. Go to your Finder. From the menu bar please select Go > Go to Folder...

3. Press Command + V on your keyboard to paste the copied string. Press Return to go to the said folder.

Command + V

4. You will now see a folder named LaunchAgents. Take note of the following files inside the folder:

  • smbhlpr.app
  • smb.help
  • SmartMacBooster.agent

If you cannot find the specified file, please look for any unfamiliar or suspicious entries. It may be the one causing Smart Mac Booster to be present on your Mac. Arranging all items to see the most latest ones may also help you identify recently installed unfamiliar files. Please press Option + Command + 4 on your keyboard to arrange the application list in chronological order.

Option+Command+4

5. Drag all suspicious files that you may find to Trash.

6. Repeat Step 2, numbers 1-5 procedures on the following folder (without ~):

/Library/LaunchAgents

7. Please restart the computer.

8. Open another folder using the same method as above. Copy and Paste the following string to easily locate the folder.

~/Library/Application Support

9. Look for suspicious objects or folders with the following names and drag them to the Trash.

  • SMB
  • SmartMacBooster
  • Smbhlpr

10. Repeat procedures 8 and 9 on the following folders if necessary.

~/Library/Caches

11. Go to your Finder and open the Applications Folder. Look for subfolders with names similar above and drag them to Trash.

12. Lastly, please Empty your Mac's Trash bin.

Step 5 : Run another Scan using MBAM Tool for Mac

1. Download Malwarebytes Anti-malware for Mac from the link below.

2. Run Malwarebytes Anti-malware for Mac. It will check for updates and download if most recent version is available. This is necessary in finding recent malware threats including Smart Mac Booster.

3. If it prompts to close all running web browser, please do so. Thus, we advise you to PRINT this guide for your reference before going offline.

4. Once it opens the user interface, please click on Scan button to start scanning your Mac computer.

MBAM for Mac

5. After the scan, Malwarebytes Anti-malware for Mac will display a list of identified threats, Smart Mac Booster is surely part of it. Be sure to select all items in the list. Then, click Remove button to clean the computer.

6. You may now restart the computer.

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