How to remove Smart Mac Booster (Smbstrhlpr)

What is Smart Mac Booster

After updating macOS to latest version (Catalina) users started receiving system errors related to files and processes of Smart Mac Booster: smbstrhlpr and smbstruninstall. In particular, the following messages are shown:

"smbstruninstall" will damage your computer. You should move it to the Bin. This file was downloaded on an unknown date. Report malware to apple to protect other users.

or

"Smbstrhlpr" will damage your computer. You should move it to the Bin. This file was downloaded on an unknown date. Report malware to apple to protect other users.

Here is the screenshot of such a pop-up message. To stop this and remove the reason for such errors, please, use instructions on this page.

Smart Mac Booster is fake anti-virus and optimization software for Mac. It can be called an imposed application, as it is offered for download to users after an “in-browser” virus or error scan, that finds “severe issues”. Of course, a real system scan cannot be performed in any browser, this is just a pretext to get Smart Mac Booster installed on a Mac. After infiltrating the system, the unwanted application initiates a quick scan and finds a huge amount of problems, that have to be fixed. In the end, the results are announced by the female computer voice. When victims try to resolve the problems, the software offers to buy the license. But what really puts the program in a category of badware is, that if users try to uninstall it from Applications, it’ll either won’t allow them to do it by showing alerts and warnings or will leave residual persistent module, that will cause errors in macOS. In this tutorial, we provide you with detailed instructions to remove Smart Mac Booster and get rid of “smbstrhlpr” or “smbstruninstall” errors.

How Smart Mac Booster infected your Mac

Surely no modern user will deliberately download malicious software onto his computer, especially if it is distributed through dubious one-day websites, but a new generation of malware has learned to use new, not too obvious masking methods. Sometimes, Smart Mac Booster is distributed along with Mac File Opener app. But more often, it is spread via phishing pages pretending to perform an online anti-virus scan. Clicking on “Remove” or “Fix” buttons on such pages leads to the download of Smart Mac Booster. Use utilities and utensils, that are given on this page to remove Smart Mac Booster and protect the computer from potentially unwanted programs.

Remove Smart Mac Booster manually for free

Note: Smart Mac Booster sets up to start on Mac OS startup. Therefore, before starting removal, perform these steps:

1. Open System Preferences, choose Users & Groups.
2. Choose your account (set up as Current User).
3. Click Login Items tab.
4. Find “Smart Mac Booster” entry. Select it, and click the “-“ (minus) button to remove it.

Note 2: Smart Mac Booster won’t quit just by closing it, therefor use Force Quit to end the process.

1. Press 3 buttons at the same time: Option, Command, and Esc (Escape). This is similar to Control-Alt-Delete on a Windows PC.
2. Choose Smart Mac Booster in the list.
3. Click Force Quit button.

Here is a manual step-by-step tutorial for full Smart Mac Booster removal from your computer. This works 99% and was checked with the latest versions of Smart Mac Booster installer on operating systems with latest updates and browser versions.

Remove Smart Mac Booster from Applications

Remove Smart Mac Booster from Mac:

1. In the Finder sidebar, click Applications.
2. Smart Mac Booster might have an Uninstaller. If you see Uninstall Smart Mac Booster or Smart Mac Booster Uninstaller, double-click it and follow the onscreen instructions.
3. Otherwise, drag Smart Mac Booster from the Applications folder to the Trash (located at the end of the Dock).
4. Then choose Finder > Empty Trash.

Cannot uninstall Smart Mac Booster

If you can’t uninstall Smart Mac Booster using instructions above, or it keeps coming back, you can use free AppCleaner for Mac to remove all residual data and libraries of Smart Mac Booster. Follow instructions below:

1. Download free AppCleaner.
2. Drag Smart Mac Booster from Applications folder to AppCleaner window.
3. Choose files and folders you want to remove along with Smart Mac Booster.
4. Click Delete button.

Remove following files and folders of Smart Mac Booster


~/Library/Application Support/Smart Mac Booster
~/Library/Application Support/smbstr
~/Library/Logs/Smart Mac Booster.log
~/Library/Smart Mac Booster
~/Library/Preferences/com.techyutils.smartmacbooster.plist
~/Applications/Smart Mac Booster.app
~/Library/Application Support/smbstr/smbstrhlpr
~/Library/Application Support/smbstr/smbstruninstall
~/Library/Application Support/smbstr/com.smbstrhlpr.smbstrhlpr.plist
~/Library/Application Support/smbstr/com.smbstruninstall.smbstruninstall.plist
~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.smbstrhlpr.smbstrhlpr.plist


Download AdGuard for Mac to block malicious pop-ups, that promote Smart Mac Booster

AdGuard is the best ad-blocker, internet filtering and internet security application for macOS. It can cut out unwanted banners from site pages, block pop-ups, stop redirects and prevent users from visiting potentially dangerous resources. Use it to stop ads promoting Smart Mac Booster in browsers.

How to protect Mac OSX from adware, like Smart Mac Booster

Mac OSX is known to be one of the safest operating systems, and for a long time there was no need in antivirus products for Mac. But with the growing popularity of Mac computers and notebooks and evolving technology, viruses, trojans, adware, toolbars, hijackers and other malware paved the way for Mac users. We recommend you to use one of the best anti-malware for Mac available – Malwarebytes for Mac.