MacTonic
MacTonic is a fake system optimization tool promising to get your Mac in shape if you install it. Once in, MacTonic performs regular system scans to warn users of all sorts of threats lying dormant within the machine. It also urges them to purchase the premium version to delete those threats. The efficiency of this tool is a bit questionable, though. Moreover, it often arrives on MacOS systems uninvited — a trait mostly typical of Potentially Unwanted Programs (PUP).
Granted, MacTonic does have its official site on the Web where anyone can get it if they want to. The thing is, that's pretty much the only way to have MacTonic at your own will. More often than not, the PUP will either land as part of a software package or arrive enveloped in a bogus Adobe Flash Player or Adobe Shockwave update. Even if you do get MacTonic from its official site, you will be redirected to Advanced Mac Cleaner instead. The latter is an old fake PC optimization tool.
On the other hand, a software bundle will contain several different apps embedded in a single installation process. Unless you go for custom installation, only picking the components you need, you will get the whole package, including PUPs such as MacTonic. That's MacTonic’s most popular distribution method nowadays.
What's the catch? Paying for a tool that provides dubious results at best does not accurately count as a lucrative investment on the user's part. However, it does count for the guys spreading MacTonic, who earn easy money at the user's expense.
An open MacTonic app will first make sure to gain persistence during system startup. Thus, it will launch itself every time you switch on your Mac. Then, it will bombard you with tons of potential bugs, malfunctions, and parasites, which, according to MacTonic, will seemingly ruin your Mac to the ground, regardless of its current condition. Finally, it won’t stop bugging you to purchase a license to neutralize all the bad stuff it claims to expose.
Since the premium MacTonic app is unlikely to wave a magic wand and fix otherwise nonexistent flaws, you’d be better off getting rid of it altogether. MacTonic occupies a slot in the Utilities folder of your Mac and should be visible under the Activity Monitor. Once you’ve spotted it, make sure to force quit the underlying MacTonic process. Last but not least, check your Applications folder for any residual MacTonic files that may have remained there, and move those to the Trash. Finally, check out the Login Items in your Accounts section as the MacTonic application may be present there, too.
Alternatively, if the hustle and bustle associated with manual removal isn’t your cup of tea, you can always have specialized software do the job for you.
