Remove DominantFormula Hijacker From Mac

DominantFormula: Simple Uninstall Guide

DominantFormula is a potentially unwanted program (PUP) that can be classified as both adware as well as a browser hijacker. This malicious software mainly targets Mac computers and often infiltrates the machine via software bundles and fake Adobe Flash Player updates. As soon as this perilous hijacker enters the Mac systems, it makes alterations to default browser’s settings to promote fraudulent search engines. It also includes data tracking feature that is employed by the commercial content creators for generating personalized ads. And thus, during the presence of this nasty PUP in your work-station, you are bombarded with tons of annoying advertisements all the time which disrupts your web sessions badly.

DominantFormula Redirects To Questionable Sites:

DominantFormula shows adverts in multiple formats e.g., coupons, banners, pop-ups, deals, offers, discounts etc. They are designed to generate revenues via pay-per-click method. The more users click on them, the more income falls directly into developers’ pocket. However, clicking on these adverts can be very risky for your device’s security as they might contain vicious links and redirect you to potentially harmful sites when clicked. They may take you to web portals that contain malware, PUPs, tech support scam, gambling and other malicious content.

And therefore, we strongly recommend avoiding interacting with these adverts as you may end up with exposing your sensitive data to cyber criminals, infecting your PC with malware and so forth. This notorious threat changes the browser’s appearance by assigning its own perilous URL as the default search engine, homepage, and new tab page. The deceptive search tool promoted by this hijacker is not even able to deliver results by itself, so it redirects to Yahoo or other genuine engines. But at the results you obtain are still not relevant as they are filled with ads and sponsored links.

DominantFormula has ability to monitors users’ web activities and collect various browsing-related information such as entered search queries, IP addresses, geolocations, sites visited, links clicked and so on. In some cases, personal data like credit card and banking details could be stolen as well. Afterward, the gathered info is shared with third-parties and could be employed to customize ads, make fraudulent transactions, unauthorized purchases and so on. All the evil deeds performed by this hijacker inside your Mac consume enormous amount of memory resources and drag down the overall system performance severely. Hence, a quick DominantFormula removal is strongly required.

Distribution Of DominantFormula:

PUPs like adware, browser hijackers and others are usually spread via freeware bundles, so before finding the web browser hijacked, you must have downloaded a freeware. Bundling distribution technique is extensively used by third-party software developers and advertising companies. This method allows for propagating unwanted apps broadly because they can be easily disguised under Quick or Basic installation setup as pre-default optional contents.

However, you can prevent the intrusion of browser-based threats that ultimately hijack web browsers. For that, you should start monitoring every freeware’s installation. Always check the reviews of the software that you are about to download to your computer or another device. Also, select the Custom or Advanced installation option in order to see what additional objects are hiding behind the setup. Here you can easily opt-out the unwanted components from the download list and pick only the required one. But at the moment, you must remove DominantFormula from the Mac as early as possible.

Remove Files and Folders Related to DominantFormula

Open the “Menu” bar and click the “Finder” icon. Select “Go” and click on “Go to Folder…”

Step 1: Search the suspicious and doubtful malware generated files in /Library/LaunchAgents folder

Type /Library/LaunchAgents in the “Go to Folder” option

In the “Launch Agent” folder, search for all the files that you have recently downloaded and move them to “Trash”. Few of the examples of files created by browser-hijacker or adware are as follow, “myppes.download.plist”, “mykotlerino.Itvbit.plist”, installmac.AppRemoval.plist”, and “kuklorest.update.plist” and so on.

Step 2: Detect and remove the files generated by the adware in “/Library/Application” Support folder

In the “Go to Folder..bar”, type “/Library/Application Support”

Search for any suspicious newly added folders in “Application Support” folder. If you detect any one of these like “NicePlayer” or “MPlayerX” then send them to “Trash” folder.

Step 3: Look for the files generated by malware in /Library/LaunchAgent Folder:

Go to Folder bar and type /Library/LaunchAgents

You are in the “LaunchAgents” folder. Here, you have to search for all the newly added files and move them to “Trash” if you find them suspicious. Some of the examples of suspicious files generated by malware are “myppes.download.plist”, “installmac.AppRemoved.plist”, “kuklorest.update.plist”, “mykotlerino.ltvbit.plist” and so on.

Step4: Go to /Library/LaunchDaemons Folder and search for the files created by malware

Type /Library/LaunchDaemons in the “Go To Folder” option

In the newly opened “LaunchDaemons” folder, search for any recently added suspicious files and move them to “Trash”. Examples of some of the suspicious files are “com.kuklorest.net-preferences.plist”, “com.avickUpd.plist”, “com.myppes.net-preference.plist”, “com.aoudad.net-preferences.plist” and so on.

Step 5: Use Combo Cleaner Anti-Malware and Scan your Mac PC

The malware infections could be removed from the Mac PC if you execute all the steps mentioned above in the correct way. However, it is always advised to be sure that your PC is not infected. It is suggested to scan the work-station with “Combo Cleaner Anti-virus”.

Once the file gets downloaded, double click on combocleaner.dmg installer in the newly opened window. Next is to open the “Launchpad” and press on “Combo Cleaner” icon. It is advised to wait until “Combo Cleaner” updates the latest definition for malware detection. Click on “Start Combo Scan” button.

A depth scan of your Mac PC will be executed in order to detect malware. If the Anti-virus scan report says “no threat found” then you can continue with guide further. On the other hand, it is recommended to delete the detected malware infection before continuing.

Now the files and folders created by the adware is removed, you have to remove the rogue extensions from the browsers.

Remove DominantFormula from Internet Browsers

Delete Doubtful and Malicious Extension from Safari

Go to “Menu Bar” and open “Safari” browser. Select “Safari” and then “Preferences”

In the opened “preferences” window, select “Extensions” that you have recently installed. All such extensions should be detected and click the “Uninstall” button next to it. If you are doubtful then you can remove all the extensions from “Safari” browser as none of them are important for smooth functionality of the browser.

In case if you continue facing unwanted webpage redirections or aggressive advertisements bombarding, you can reset the “Safari” browser.

“Reset Safari”

Open the Safari menu and choose “preferences…” from the drop-down menu.

Go to the “Extension” tab and set the extension slider to “Off” position. This disables all the installed extensions in the Safari browser

Next step is to check the homepage. Go to “Preferences…” option and choose “General” tab. Change the homepage to your preferred URL.

Also check the default search-engine provider settings. Go to “Preferences…” window and select the “Search” tab and select the search-engine provider that you want such as “Google”.

Next is to clear the Safari browser Cache- Go to “Preferences…” window and select “Advanced” tab and click on “Show develop menu in the menu bar.“

Go to “Develop” menu and select “Empty Caches”.

Remove website data and browsing history. Go to “Safari” menu and select “Clear History and Website Data”. Choose “all history” and then click on “Clear History”.

Remove Unwanted and Malicious Plug-ins from Mozilla Firefox

Delete DominantFormula add-ons from Mozilla Firefox

Open the Firefox Mozilla browser. Click on the “Open Menu” present in the top right corner of the screen. From the newly opened menu, choose “Add-ons”.

Go to “Extension” option and detect all the latest installed add-ons. Select each of the suspicious add-ons and click on “Remove” button next to them.

In case if you want to “reset” the Mozilla Firefox browser then follow the steps that has been mentioned below.

Reset Mozilla Firefox Settings

Open the Firefox Mozilla browser and click on “Firefox” button situated at the top left corner of the screen.

In the new menu, go to “Help” sub-menu and choose “Troubleshooting Information”

In the “Troubleshooting Information” page, click on “Reset Firefox” button.

Confirm that you want to reset the Mozilla Firefox settings to default by pressing on “Reset Firefox” option

The browser will get restarted and the settings changes to factory default

Delete Unwanted and Malicious Extensions from Google Chrome

Open the chrome browser and click on “Chrome menu”. From the drop down option, choose “More Tools” and then “Extensions”.

In the “Extensions” option, search for all the recently installed add-ons and extensions. Select them and choose “Trash” button. Any third-party extension is not important for the smooth functionality of the browser.

Reset Google Chrome Settings

Open the browser and click on three line bar at the top right side corner of the window.

Go to the bottom of the newly opened window and select “Show advanced settings”.

In the newly opened window, scroll down to the bottom and choose “Reset browser settings”

Click on the “Reset” button on the opened “Reset browser settings” window

Restart the browser and the changes you get will be applied

The above mentioned manual process should be executed as it is mentioned. It is a cumbersome process and requires a lot of technical expertise. And hence it is advised for technical experts only. To be sure that your PC is free from malware, it is better that you scan the work-station with a powerful anti-malware tool. The automatic malware removal application is preferred because it doesn’t requires any additional technical skills and expertise.

Download the application and execute it on the PC to begin the depth scanning. Once the scanning gets completed, it shows the list of all the files related to DominantFormula. You can select such harmful files and folders and remove them immediately.