Home Forums Networks & Cross-Platform Networking FireFox and akamaihd.net

I regularly check Cookies (particularly just prior to going to sites like banking) and a few weeks ago, during one of those checks, I found akamaihd.net. I now believe that FireFox is the door through which this pest enters my computer.

Depending on a site's willingness to play nice with Safari, I will use either Chrome or FireFox to open individual pages. While I am doing so, Safari remains open.

When akamaihd.net was in my Cookies a few weeks ago, it was after I had used FireFox to open a page. I have used Chrome since without issue.

I originally got rid of akamaihd.net by going to Library > Application Support > Mozilla > Extensions and removing a folder called {ec8030f7-c20a-464f-9b0e-13a3a9e97384}. The pest reappeared today, the morning after using FireFox.

Given my Chrome usage does not result in the pest appearing, is it reasonable to think that this is a problem specifically related to FireFox? If so, is there a more permanent solution.

Ya, ya, I know...stop using FireFox. I too recall the old joke: Patient: "Doctor, my arm hurts when I hold it like this." Physician: "Well, don't hold it like that."

I was thinking more along the lines of modifying the way FireFox works.

Firefox has a way to block unwanted cookies. Go to Firefox > Preferences > Privacy and, under History, click Exceptions. You will be able to blacklist cookies from there.

As Jon said, block it under Exceptions in Privacy in Firefox.

I use Firefox exclusively (albeit I haven't updated since 41.0.2 because later versions have decided downsides with respect to Add-ons and other things).
Even inadvertently, I haven't come across an akamaihd.net cookie and nothing has found its way into my browser cache.
But I did take this opportunity to add it to my own Exceptions.

Perhaps a particular site you've been visiting has been dropping that gem as a cookie into your Mac.

I did a quick recce re: akamaihd.net. A search of the net says it is adware related. A search of my Mac found five files. All were video related: Fox news (yeah, yeah - I look at all news sources), Macromedia, Flash, Pepper. So, videos.

I don't use Firefox that often, but my files showed up in my Opera cache. They're now deleted, so I'll be curious to see when they pop up again.

I'm reminded of Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Cookies. Or something like that.

Okay, I've just done that (with Safari also open) but didn't see akamaihd.net in the list, but I'll keep checking whenever I have occasion to use FireFox.


I wouldn't think so as the sites that don't play nice with Safari always seem to be places like banking or airline booking - which I wouldn't expect to install such a cookie. However, I will be checking.


Ha, ha. Fabulous movie and a great example of the impact of black & white shooting in the hands of the right Director of Photography.

In case you haven't done so, try running EasyFind (DEVONtechnologies LLC at www.devon-technologies.com) on your Mac.
It'll find just about anything. Stick akamaihd.net in the search box and see if it's lurking anywhere else, even embedded in another file. If it is, EasyFind shows exactly where it's located so that you can surgically remove it.

I did another EasyFind search looking for akamaihd.net. None of the files I deleted had returned, but I did a search for file contents and got two hits: cache files in Firefox and SeaMonkey. I searched the cache file for akamaihd.net with Text Edit and every occasion was linked to images.

Akamai Technologies is a content delivery service (says Wikipedia) and huge companies use them to host their files around the globe to speed up delivery. Clients like Apple, eBay, FaceBook and healthcare.gov – all of which I've accessed.

I'm going to just keep calm and carry on.

Are you able to see your Library Folder to be able to go Library > Application Support > Mozilla > Extensions to be able to remove the folder called ec8030f7-c20a-464f-9b0e-13a3a9e97384 ?

I note you are OSX 10.10.5 and I understand that on some newer systems the Library Folder is hidden. I can see mine as I'm only 10.8.5.

If you can't see your Library Folder, you can make it visible using Terminal with the command open ~/Library

Yes, I can see the folder. There's nothing in it. What next? Delete?

Apple started 'hiding' Library with Lion (OS X 10.7). The quickest way to access it when it's invisible to to press Option when you open the Go menu in Finder, then select Library when it pops into the list.
There's also a way to make it a permanent part of your hard drive's Favorites, but I've forgotten how to do it. (Perhaps one of the whizzes could chime in with the solution.)

This OSXDaily article 'splains how to make ~/Library permanently visible in Yosemite and El Cap, and the fix also works in Mavericks.

18 ways to view the ~/Library folder in Lion and Mountain Lion | Macworld covers the other versions of OS X in which ~/Library is invisible by default.

Another way to access the user library is to open it in the Finder, then drag it to the side bar. Then it's always available.

Yep. Now that you say it, that's how I did it, lo those many years ago.

No, I wouldn't think so. In my folder, the offending file was visible so I'm sure it would be the same with yours. Ergo, I'd say you don't have it.

or in terminal: setfile -a v ~/Library ; killall Finder

and be done with it

Terminal? Just the word scares me.

I can still clearly remember that feeling. Back in college in 1990, sitting down in front of a terminal, logging into the strange world of the unix command line, wondering what a dark and dangerous world I was seeing as I peered cautiously around the door and into the dark void...

and now I live there. and host tea parties.

Try it. You might like it. You might really like it.

And then freelance can get into reading man pages.

Actually, Terminal is pretty cool once oyu overcome that initial trepidation, but it's often much easier to invoke a GUI app (that, for instance, doesn't allow you to forget the space between rm and /).

Ya, I used to be there. However, after a few occasions of following the instructions that accompanied terminal commands provided at FTM I found that my computer didn't explode, I didn't get warts, and things got fixed quite expeditiously.

Yeah, I only go into Terminal once in a while. On a Mac, there's rarely a reason to. I do remember taking a class in BASIC a long time ago.

Today I went to a news site that doesn't care for Safari and, using Develop "Open Page With", I changed to a different browser. I got the akamaihd.net cookie back.

The different browser was Chrome.

This browser change was needed because the page had an HTML video that would not open (Error escenic-29293658) using Safari.

EDIT: I have subsequently been to another site that would not allow me to view documents using Safari (no video involved), so I used Chrome. Afterward, Safari cookies did not have the akamaihd.net…..looks like it may be related to the news site's video player.