Trying to eradicate unwelcome WDDiscovery App

[Ginger Clark]

WD showed up on my toolbar on Oct 30. I went to look at apps and see what it was. I’ve apparently had it an my computer since Feb 27 30 but the WD showed up on my toolbar on October 30. I don’t believe I’ve ever opened anything to do with WD. I even had to google it to find out what it was.

I tried to uninstall it. (the uninstall part is under the Oct 30 addition). It begins to uninstall and then asks for my password to continue. It says “WD wants to make changes. Enter your password to allow this” At this point I balk. Is there a way to just haul it to the trash and then use Find any File to find residuals? I don’t believe I’ve ever opened this

Ginger Clark

• This discussion was modified 1 month ago by  Ginger Clark. Reason: Clarification

Discussion

[John]

Perhaps your “toolbar” is the mac menubar. If so you can just drag any 3rd party icon off. You could have acquired this item from a new WD external drive since they often come with garbage backup or security software. That gets deleted when you reformat the drive for mac.

download freesoft appcleaner or the better free..paid nektony appcleaner and uninstaller. The latter will show you potentially leftover files for possible deletion. Check them with google first. Some could be for your printer or other programs.

FindAnyFile can search for any unique strings in the file names of items in the trash.

Check for active processes with Activity Monitor and quit them before uninstalling.

Google found this article on uninstalling:

https://www.technewstoday.com/wd-discovery-for-windows-mac/

[Ginger Clark]

John,

First, yes, you’re right, the word should be Mac Menubar and now I know. (well, maybe for awhile. LOL)

Thank you so much for taking the time to give me a step-by-step method for deleting the file.

I knew that WD was a legitimate company just couldn’t figure out how and why it got onto my computer. (I’ve been spooked about malware ever since my near run-in with it).

I want to especially thank you for the tech news today article! After reading it I understand a lot more. I’m kind of embarrassed I didn’t research enough before asking the group. But I’ll bookmark the link and next time Google more thoroughly before quitting.

Meanwhile, thank you so much for your quick response and knowledgeable reply! Really really appreciate it.

Ginger

[John]

Uncle Google can answer almost any question you have. The internet prior to the advent of Google was virtually useless for normal people. I remember struggling to get closing mutual fund prices on Compuserve for big $$. Now the flood of free information on any topic is wonderful. Just pay attention to the date of an article and use quality sources (appleinsider/macrumors vs macworld and the flat earth society).

attached are 3 slides from a recent nmug talk on recognizing fake attacks. If you think something is real, look up the website or phone on your own rather than use that convenient link you got.

SPOT-FAKEs.pdf 510 KB PDF - Click to view

• Copy Download Link

[Ginger Clark]

John,

Uncle Google and Auntie DuckDuckGo, — nothing like a good free search engine. Good advice about noting the creation-date. Thank you.

I tried to delete WD using the method suggested in ‘tech news today’ and it once again refused to delete itself without my password. Has me very spooked because I don’t know if that’s normal (if unusual) or if it gives someone access. Just can’t see myself clear to doing it. When I get more time I’ll go through your suggested steps and see if they work.

Great info on domain literacy! Thanks

Ginger

[Edith Gralla]

I think asking for your admin password before deleting (or adding) apps is fairly normal, as in, protecting your computer from malicious or accidental deletion (or addition) of important stuff. The window that pops up may tell you why it wants the password . Someone can correct me if I’m wrong.

[Ginger Clark]

Edith,

Thank you for your reply. That would be very comforting if true. I know it’s true for adding apps but I hadn’t seen it for deleting.

Actually I just deleted Chrome which I had found kind of pushy and if any app would ask for a password, you’d think Chrome would. But it disappeared itself without a whimper. So I think it’s safer for me to maintain my suspicion.