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Similar to Mac Cleanup Pro, the Similar Photo Cleaner app allows users to find duplicate photos (multiple copies) and remove them (this is according to its developers). This may seem a legitimate and useful tool to save disk space, however, it is categorized as potentially unwanted application (PUA), since it is often installed inadvertently and promoted and distributed using the 'bundling' method. Dec 26, 2018 Similar Photo Cleaner for Mac is another doubtful optimization tool from infamous PCVARK family. This specific program claims to be the best duplicate photo finder and removal application. By using this tool, users can free up gigabytes of disk space according to Similar Photo Cleaner’s official website.
Get the hang of the best practice techniques to uninstall Similar Photo Cleaner virus from Mac and thereby prevent fake scan reports and alerts from popping up.
The most prolific family of rogue Mac software continues to evolve, with a brand new pseudo optimizer iteration called Similar Photo Cleaner having been recently launched into the wild. The impostor app is making the rounds via a massive malvertising campaign and wreaking just about as much havoc as its forerunners Mac Auto Fixer, Mac Tonic and Advanced Mac Cleaner. Unlike the prototypes, though, it inherits the “tried-and-tested” feature set only partially, yet it appears to be persuasive enough to successfully brainwash users. The culprit pretends to find numerous duplicate and similar photos as well as other graphics files and constantly reminds the victim about the purportedly crammed up disk space and hence poor system health status by displaying recurrent scans and popup warnings.
Again, the manipulative tactic leveraged by Similar Photo Cleaner revolves around faking the detection of similar and duplicate photos in thousands of paths on your Mac. Even if your digital image memories are properly organized and every picture is one of a kind, the scareware will claim to spot lookalikes and issues regardless, thus demonstrating how it overstates the disconcerting HDD space and overall memory status of the host Mac. The scans are configured to reoccur, therefore closing the obnoxious program pane isn’t an effective long-term countermeasure. To add more fuel to the furnace of the victim’s frustration, Similar Photo Cleaner also triggers popup notifications that reiterate the deceptive doom and gloom about the condition of the target macOS due to alleged mess with photos. The persuasiveness effect can be further attained via a deliberate system slowdown, which the crooks expect to encourage the unsuspecting victim to make a hasty decision.
What Similar Photo Cleaner wants is a no-brainer to understand – it tries to dupe the plagued Mac user into buying the “fully functional” version. Although this type of a trick is hardly ever encountered in the Windows ecosystem these days, unlike about a decade ago, Macs are being heavily targeted this way. Therefore, no matter how convincing the alerts and scan reports may appear, it is strongly recommended to refrain from paying for the app’s license. It doesn’t do anything useful, not to mention that it mimics a great deal of the detection activity in the first place.
Most users who are at their wit’s end trying to get rid of Similar Photo Cleaner have no clue how it could have possibly infiltrated their computers without their consent. The method is prosaic, though. The scareware slithers its way into Macs along with other applications, constituting software bundles camouflaged as regular installation clients. The people who click through these setups without peeking beyond the default mode run the risk of being contaminated with rogue programs like Similar Photo Cleaner and other potentially unwanted code. One more attack vector involves malicious landing pages you can be redirected to when visiting a compromise website. In this case, the page will state that your Mac might be infected and insist that you download the “cure”.
To recap, Similar Photo Cleaner is an awfully annoying app that imitates performance enhancement and disk space optimization activity. The two fundamental tips regarding this baddie are as follows: don’t purchase its commercial edition; and remove it from your Mac right away.
Similar Photo Cleaner virus manual removal for Mac
The steps listed below will walk you through the removal of this potentially unwanted application. Be sure to follow the instructions in the order specified.
• Open up the Utilities folder as shown below
• Locate the Activity Monitor icon on the screen and double-click on it
• Under Activity Monitor, find the entry for Similar Photo Cleaner, select it and click Quit Process
• A dialog should pop up, asking if you are sure you would like to quit the Similar Photo Cleaner executable. Select the Force Quit option
• Click the Go button again, but this time select Applications on the list. Find the entry for Similar Photo Cleaner on the interface, right-click on it and select Move to Trash. If user password is required, go ahead and enter it
• Now go to Apple Menu and pick the System Preferences option
• Select Accounts and click the Login Items button. The system will come up with the list of the items that launch when the box is started up. Locate Similar Photo Cleaner there and click on the “-“ button
Use automatic tool to uninstall Similar Photo Cleaner virus from your Mac
When confronted with malicious code like the Similar Photo Cleaner virus on Mac, you can neutralize its toxic impact by leveraging a specially crafted system utility. The Freshmac application (read review) is a perfect match for this purpose as it delivers essential security features along with must-have modules for Mac optimization.
This tool cleans unneeded applications and persistent malware in one click. It also protects your privacy by eliminating tracking cookies, frees up disk space, and manages startup apps to decrease boot time. On top of that, it boasts 24/7 tech support. The following steps will walk you through automatic removal of the Similar Photo Cleaner infection.
1. Download Freshmac installer onto your machine. Double-click the Freshmac.pkg file to trigger the installer window, select the destination disk and click Continue. The system will display a dialog asking for your password to authorize the setup. Type the password and click Install Software.
2. Once the installation has been completed, Freshmac will automatically start a scan consisting of 5 steps. It scans cache, logs, unused languages, trash, and checks the Mac for privacy issues.
3. The scan report will then display your current system health status and the number of issues detected for each of the above categories. Click the Fix Safely button tto remove junk files and address privacy issues spotted during the scan.
4. Check whether the Similar Photo Cleaner popups issue has been fixed. If it perseveres, go to the Uninstaller option on Freshmac GUI. Locate an entry that appears suspicious, select it and click Fix Safely button to force-uninstall the unwanted application.
5. Go to Temp and Startup Apps panes on theinterface and have all redundant or suspicious items eliminated as well. The Similar Photo Cleaner malware shouldn’t be causing any further trouble.
The new Mac virus called Similar Photo Cleaner makes itself felt via annoying scans and popups, therefore removal is the only reasonable way to treat it.
The ill-minded creators of a major Mac scareware lineage have come up with a fresh instrument to manipulate users into coughing up money. Its self-explanatory name, Similar Photo Cleaner, has quickly become a buzzword in the Mac community over the past few days. That’s not because of some fancy features or helpfulness whatsoever – instead, it’s due to a massive stealth distribution frenzy and a heavy brainwashing load imposed upon the numerous plagued users. Contrary to the recent rogue program from this family called Mac Auto Fixer that claims to take care of overall macOS stability, the one in question follows a narrower tactic. It purports to find all similar or duplicate photos inside a Mac in mere minutes, providing the feature of obliterating the replicas to reduce redundancy and thereby free up disk space. Is Similar Photo Cleaner actually benign and useful, though? No, it’s not.
A big giveaway is the spreading peculiarities of this applet. Unlike regular software, it ends up on Macs out of the blue, that is, without the users’ knowledge and consent. Such a covertness is attained by means of the “good old” bundling hoax. The installer hides inside setup clients for what appears to be a completely different utility. For example, by opting for the default (recommended) installation mode in a setup wizard for Adobe Flash Player, some neat-looking media downloader or other freeware, Mac users run the risk of additionally agreeing to install the fraudulent solution. The next thing you know, Similar Photo Cleaner GUI pops up all of a sudden and the program starts scanning the Photos Library and other system locations for images that resemble each other.
Predictably, the scan will return a report listing a bevy of excess photos and possibly also system issues that allegedly need to be repaired. The rogue app will flag the disk memory status as poor and strongly recommend that you run a one-click cleanup of what doesn’t belong on your computer. To top it off, recurrent popup alerts will be constantly reiterating the supposed problems, knocking you out of serenity big time. Meanwhile, the pest certainly exaggerates the memory improvement potential in order to convince you to register its licensed version. That’s the whole point of this campaign. The authors of Similar Photo Cleaner first employ shady techniques to make sure their virus-like program infiltrates as many Macs as possible, and then the infection invokes a predefined scenario of defrauding victims out of the license fee. Obviously, this isn’t the way a normal app should behave, so you’d better get down to Similar Photo Cleaner removal from Mac using the following steps.
Remove Similar Photo Cleaner virus from Mac manually
If you are okay with manual troubleshooting, use the following steps to uninstall the Similar Photo Cleaner rogue app from your Mac. Be advised the persistence mechanisms employed by the infection may prevent this technique from being ultimately effective. One way or another, here’s the workflow:
• Open the Utilities directory
• When on the Utilities pane, select Activity Monitor (the Mac equivalent of Task Manager)
• Once the Activity Monitor screen appears, look for Similar Photo Cleaner or spc in the list of running processes. Highlight that entry and click on the Quit Process option. The system will respond to this action with a confirmation dialog, where you should select Force Quit
• Now go back to your desktop, expand the Go menu and pick Applications in the drop-down
• Spot Similar Photo Cleaner under Applications, highlight it and select the Move to Trash option. Your Mac may request your administrator password at this point – enter it if that’s the case
• Next, go to Apple Menu and choose System Preferences in the drop-down as shown below
• Proceed to Accounts and select Login Items. Your Mac will display the list of apps that are executed automatically at boot time. Find Similar Photo Cleaner on that list and click on the “–” (minus) button down at the bottom
When done with the manual process of Similar Photo Cleaner removal, take some time and check if the rogue program has vanished from your Mac. If it continues to pop up and display annoying alerts, move on to the following section of this tutorial.
Remove Similar Photo Cleaner virus using a security suite
The use of automatic security software to identify and delete Mac malware reduces human error and ensures that the stealthiest fragment of the culprit is spotted and terminated.
1. Download and install MacBooster. This tool combines antimalware and performance enhancement features for Mac. Launch the app and hit the Scan button on the System Status pane. The utility will scour your computer for memory issues and malware, including Similar Photo Cleaner, and will shortly report all the detected issues. Once the scan results are ready, click Fix to eliminate the threats
2. To go all the way in Similar Photo Cleaner removal, additionally select the Uninstaller module. It reflects all applications running on your Mac in a single list and allows you to reset or get rid of the unnecessary ones in a few clicks. Simply locate Similar Photo Cleaner if it’s still there, put a checkmark next to it and click Complete Remove at the top.
You’re now done with Similar Photo Cleaner removal from your Mac computer. Last but not least, be sure to exercise some extra caution with suspicious application installs further on.