How To Remove RecognitionAssist Adware From Mac Computer

Complete Guideline To Delete RecognitionAssist From System

RecognitionAssist is a kind of potentially unwanted application that has been specially crafted by a group of vicious hackers for evil purposes. It mainly targets computers running on Mac operating systems and contributes tons of hazardous activities inside the machine soon after getting into it. This nasty PUP works as both an adware as well as a browser hijacker and makes several unexpected changes in default browser’s settings without even asking for users’ permission. All of a sudden, you will find your current home page, search engine and new tab URLs have been replaced with a nasty domain. Your search results are manipulated and include sponsored links which redirect you to affiliated websites.

Know More About RecognitionAssist:

RecognitionAssist bombards your system screen with thousands of annoying ads and pop-ups all over the day that makes your Web surfing very complex and problematic. These ads are in multiple forms such as deals, banners, coupons, offers, discounts etc. that look very eye-catching and can easily gain your attention. They work on pay-per-click scheme and earn profits for the creators upon being clicked. We highly advise to avoid interacting with these adverts as they might lead you to potentially dangerous sites that are fully occupied with malevolent objects. Visiting on such infectious domains may cause more PUPs or other malware intrusion into your system.

RecognitionAssist is able to monitor your Online activates and record important information regarding your interests and needs which is then utilized by the advertisers for the advertisement campaign. Moreover, it can also steal your personal data such as user IDs, passwords, credit card, bank account and other financial details and expose them to Cyber crooks for bad intentions. It displays fake update notifications, error messages, security warnings etc. and tries to deceive victims into installing bogus software. This perilous adware enables remote hackers to get access to your PC and execute evil deeds inside for their delicate welfare. And hence, you must get rid of RecognitionAssist from the machine as early as possible.

Ways To Spread RecognitionAssist:

Such types of potentially unwanted programs may show up on your PC out of nowhere. In most of the cases, it manages to sneak into the targeted devices due to carelessness of the users when they install questionable freeware on their work-stations. You need to be very cautious with these third-party programs such as PDF creators, download managers and similar application. Being cautious means selecting Advanced or Custom wizard while installing freeware, following each installation step and also unchecking all boxes that offer to replace your start page, search engine and new tab URL.

In other cases, you might install RecognitionAssist or other similar PUPs when promised with their special functionality. For example, browser hijacking programs often promise to improve users’ Online experience; video players offer somehow better movie-watching experience and system optimizers claim to increase your PC’s speed and performance. Nonetheless, you should not pay attention to these fake promises and first check reviews to find out whether the program is really helpful and does not have underlying features that are not right away axiomatic.

Summarize Information

Name: RecognitionAssist

Type: Mac Virus, Adware, Redirect virus, Potentially unwanted program

Functionality: Aims to redirect Mac users to affiliated websites, promote sponsored products, services and programs and make Online revenues for the developers, Also steal users’ personal and confidential information and share them with hackers for evil purposes.

Symptoms: Altered default browser’s settings, Endless intrusive ads, default Internet search engine, Fake pop-up messages, identity theft, new tab settings. Users are enforced to visit hijacker’s website and search the Internet using their search engines, slowness of infected system’s performance.

Distribution methods: Free software installers (bundling), Deceptive emails, malicious pop-ups ads, fake flash player installers.

Damage: Internet browsing tracking (potential privacy issues), displaying of unwanted ads, redirects to shady websites.

Removal: To get rid of this infection and other malware threats, our security researchers recommend scanning your computer with a powerful anti-malware tool.

Other Common Symptoms of RecognitionAssist:

RecognitionAssist slows down the overall computer performance drastically as it eats up huge amount of memory resources and increases the usage of CPU. It has ability to deactivate all the running security measures and Windows Firewalls and make the machine vulnerable for more notorious parasites. It may easily bring other Online infections such as Trojans, rootkits, worms, spyware and even dangerous ransomware in your computer and turn the PC into a malware-hub. And hence, to prevent all these threats from being occurred, you must delete RecognitionAssist from the machine without wasting any time.

Remove Files and Folders Related to RecognitionAssist

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 RecognitionAssist 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 RecognitionAssist 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 RecognitionAssist. You can select such harmful files and folders and remove them immediately.