How To Remove HdTrack Adware From Mac

HdTrack: Complete Uninstall Guide

HdTrack is an adware with hijacking capabilities that usually infects Mac computer devices. If you have been affected with this potentially unwanted program, you might experience an excessive amount of commercial content like pop-up ads and unexpected redirects taking you to dubious portals. The hijacking aspect of this infection modifies the key settings of your browsers. You may have noticed that your homepage and new tab address altered by itself, and questionable toolbars were added. The search provider gets changed to a fake engine that shows unreliable search results and can lead to treacherous websites.

HdTrack Performs Several Malicious Acts:

HdTrack injects sponsored links and ads in the search results which may take you to webpages where you are at risk of getting your device infected or giving away your personal data. Besides, the PUP can also perform tasks in the background without letting users know, like installing other PUPs or even more dangerous cyber threats. Adware designed for Macs is much more aggressive and hard to terminate than those for Windows operating systems. So, if you are an Apple user, you should be very careful of going to unreliable places on the internet.

Unwanted programs like HdTrack track users’ online activities and access details about their browsing habits, can read search queries, history, most viewed and searched items or webpages. PUP developers, providers, third-party advertisers and commercial content creators can track, record, and misuse such details on purpose. Personalized ads lead to intrusive malvertising campaigns, resulting in privacy or identity issues and problems with the infected system. HdTrack hijack can access more private data like social media likes, activities, email, IP addresses. This is not the most personal or identifiable information, but additional disclosure to online content generally leads to spiteful pages where worms, trojans, and keyloggers get hidden.

Such threats have ability to get passwords and logins from the browser easily. Moreover, if scammers could access your credit card details, they can misuse it for making fraudulent transactions, online purchases, etc. which may result in significant financial losses. Even though the app is not malicious or considered damaging, the activities related to the browsing and web surfing tools can always result in more severe issues. It even can end up in system damage when the adware changes settings and files at startup, registry, other directories. So, you need to perform an instant HdTrack removal from the Mac.

Distribution Of Unwanted Programs:

The most common technique PUP developers use to spread their malicious products is software bundling. Adware, browser hijackers and other unwanted apps are added to a single installer together with regular software and disguised under the Quick or Default configuration settings. So, if such an installation option is chosen, all the bundled components get installed alongside without users’ notice and knowledge.

Users can take precautionary steps themselves to protect their devices from cyber infections. Always choose the “Custom” or “Advanced” installation methods so you can see all the contents added to the package. Files that appear unrelated to your desired app should be unchecked. The best thing you could do is download software only from official or verified sources. Apple Store has a large amount of applications to pick from, so there is no reason to access third-party portals. But at the moment, you must remove HdTrack from the Mac as early as possible.

Remove Files and Folders Related to HdTrack

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