Remove InitialWindow Adware (Mac)

Simple Steps To Delete InitialWindow

InitialWindow is a potentially unwanted application designed by a team of vicious cyber criminals for promotional and commercial purposes. Judging on its attributes and behavior, it can be considered as both an adware as well as a browser hijacker. Once this nasty PUP successfully infiltrates your Mac computer, it changes the default browser’s settings to promote fake search engines. It replaces the current homepage, search engine and new tab addresses with its own perilous domain and acquires complete control over the entire browser. It sets z6airr.com on Safari and adjustablesample.com on Chrome browsers.

Depth Analysis if InitialWindow:

InitialWindow injects various spying cookies on the affected browsers and constantly monitors your web activities such as your search queries, pages viewed, links clicked and so on. This notorious adware collects vital information regarding your preferences which is then utilized for the advertisement campaign. And therefore, presence of this nasty malware in your Mac system results in endless flow of intrusive advertisements all over the day that disrupt your web sessions badly. Ads presented by this PUP are in multiple forms such as coupons, deals, discounts, offers, banners etc. that look very attractive and can easily gain your attention.

Ads by InitialWindow are based on pay-per-click mechanism and make commission for the developers upon being clicked. You need to be very careful while interacting with these adverts as they might include vicious links and redirect you to potentially infectious sites when clicked. Such sites might host spyware, trojan and even destructive ransomware. Due to visiting on such harmful web portals, toy may end up with getting more precarious infections in the machine.

InitialWindow may also take you to phishing sites where you are asked to provide your credential information like login details and passwords. Moreover, at some domains, you might be presented with fake security alerts claiming that some issues have been detected in your system and then forced to install rogue software. This notorious adware consumes huge amount of memory resources and drag down the overall PC performance severely. It also makes alterations in default registry settings in order to get automatically activated with each system reboot. Due to these manipulations, some other precarious issues take place such as boot errors, application malfunctioning, software failure and so on. And hence, a quick InitialWindow removal is highly recommended.

Summarize Information

Name: InitialWindow

Type: Mac virus, Adware, Potentially unwanted program

Short Description: Redirects Mac users to third-party sites, promotes sponsored products, services and programs and make online revenues for the creators, Also steals users’ personal and confidential information and share them with hackers for evil purposes.

Symptoms: Endless intrusive adverts, Changes to default browser’s settings, 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: Web browsing tracking (potential privacy issues), exhibition of unwanted ads, redirects to shady websites.

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

Penetration of InitialWindow:

 At most of the occasions, these PUPs are spread through software bundling technique along with other free programs. When you download a product or software from third-party sites such download.com, cnet.com etc. and then install it using pre-selected configuration setting, there is a great chance of getting infected with adware or browser hijacker. These options don’t disclose the list of contents that are included in the software package which also manage to settle down the machine during the installation of carrier application.

How To Avoid PUP Attacks?

To prevent this, it is necessary to be very careful surfing the net. ‘Advanced’ and ‘Custom’ settings give you full control over the incoming downloads and allow you to opt-out all the contents that you don’t want to have in your work-station. So, you should prefer these options instead of the ‘Quick’ or ‘Recommended’ ones while performing software installation. In addition, relying on official sites, trustworthy sources, and direct links to download programs will help you to avoid interacting with PUPs. In case your system is already infected with this adware, you must remove InitialWindow from the machine as early as possible.

Remove Files and Folders Related to InitialWindow

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