LoginCheck mac virus (Free Guide)

What is LoginCheck mac virus?

LoginCheck mac virus may cause annoying ads, changed browser settings, and malware infections

LoginCheck was flagged by 22 security vendors as malicious

LoginCheck is a virus developed to specifically target mac devices. It belongs to the Adload adware^[1] family and is much more aggressive than adware created for Windows machines. When it infiltrates a computer it can start causing unwanted symptoms like changed browser settings, including the homepage, new tab address, and search engine.

It may also generate revenue from PPC advertising which results in an increased amount of commercial content, like pop-ups, banners, and redirects. Crooks may use rogue advertising networks that place ads leading to dangerous websites. People can end up on pages that try to lure out personal information, trick users into downloading PUPs (potentially unwanted programs), and malware.^[2]

Many people do not know about the infection until it already starts performing erratic tasks. The mac adware is capable of bypassing Apple's native security system XProtect.^[3] Users can find the main file of the virus in their “Applications” folder. Most of the time, Adload viruses have the same icon – a magnifying glass inside a green, teal, or grey background.

Even though many Mac users are under the impression that they cannot be infected, this has not been true for quite a while now. We previously wrote about many mac viruses, like DataCharacter, ExecutiveBrowser, and MajorLauncher. In this guide, you will find information on how to protect yourself against this threat, and its removal options.

Distribution methods

You should shy away from pages that engage in illegal activities. That includes illegal streaming sites, torrent^[4] pages, and peer-to-peer file-sharing platforms. Pages like these are unregulated, so they are full of deceptive ads and sneaky redirects that can lead to websites that use social engineering techniques to spread malicious apps.

Very often, Adload is spread through fake Flash Player updates. People encounter pages that say their Flash Player is outdated and they need to install the newest version to be able to view media, like videos, or play web-based games. However, Flash Player was discontinued in 2020 and replaced by HTML5.^[5]

Another very common method to spread adware is software bundling. The LoginCheck mac virus could have gotten into your system when you were installing another program. This usually happens on freeware distribution sites. They include additional programs in the installers without clearly disclosing it on their page.

That is why we always recommend using only official web stores and developer websites to install software. Even though it might get costly, you may save in the long run by not having your operating system damaged. Besides web stores have a selection of thousands of apps for free so you will definitely find something useful.

Adload adware infections can cause serious user privacy and security issues, so it is important to be careful while using the Internet and to follow security experts' guidelines.

Remove the LoginCheck mac virus

LoginCheck can scatter the related files across the system making it difficult to remove

Manual removal may be a race against time. With launch agents, daemons, cronjobs, it can sometimes take several attempts to beat all of these before one of them manages to re-write deleted components back. You should not do this yourself unless you know what you are doing and what kind of files you need to delete. Some of the files can have a .plist extension, a standard settings' file, also known as a “properties file,” used by macOS applications. It contains properties and configuration settings for various programs. The app also uses different persistence techniques and drops many files across the system, complicating browser extension and application removal.

To keep your mind at peace, we recommend using professional anti-malware tools SpyHunter 5Combo Cleaner or Malwarebytes, which can detect unwanted programs and eradicate them. You also do not know if the virus installed any additional malicious programs, so this is the safest way to ensure the system is clean.

If you still want to try and delete it manually, proceed with these steps:

• Open Applications folder
• Select Utilities
• Double-click Activity Monitor
• Here, look for suspicious processes related to adware and use Force Quit command to shut them down
• Go back to the Applications folder
• Find LoginCheck in the list and move it to Trash

If you are unable to shut down the related processes or can't move the app to Trash, you should look for malicious profiles and login items:

• Go to Preferences and select Accounts
• Click Login items and delete everything suspicious
• Next, pick System Preferences > Users & Groups
• Find Profiles and remove unwanted profiles from the list

There are likely to be more .plist files hiding in the following locations – delete them all:

• Select Go > Go to Folder.
• Enter /Library/Application Support and click Go or press Enter.
• In the Application Support folder, look for any suspicious entries and then delete them.
• Now enter /Library/LaunchAgents and /Library/LaunchDaemons folders the same way and terminate all the related .plist files.

The manual elimination process might not always result in total virus removal. Therefore, we still strongly suggest you perform a scan with security software.

Remove the browser extension

An extension to your browser is also added by LoginCheck that starts performing all sorts of unwanted tasks. It possibly collects sensitive data and sends it to tracking servers. Some of the data that could be exposed is – IP address, user name, macOS version, browser versions, computer ID, items in the “Applications” folder, a list of agents, daemons, and system configuration profiles.

It would help if you removed the add-on as soon as possible after the dangerous files are eliminated from your system. You can delete cookies and cache automatically with the help of FortectIntego. It will also fix any damaged files and system errors, so you should notice an improvement in the machine's performance.

If you prefer doing this yourself without additional help, here are the instructions. You will find guides for Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox at the bottom of this article:

1. Click Safari > Preferences…
2. In the new window, pick Extensions.
3. Select the unwanted extension and select Uninstall.

Cookies and website data:

1. Click Safari > Clear History…
2. From the drop-down menu under Clear, pick all history.
3. Confirm with Clear History.

The simplest and quickest solution to this is completely resetting Safari:

• Click Safari > Preferences…
• Go to Advanced tab.
• Tick the Show Develop menu in the menu bar.
• From the menu bar, click Develop, and then select Empty Caches.