How To Remove QuestSearch (Mac)

Methods To Remove QuestSearch From Mac Systems

The term QuestSearch is simply a mischievous computer infection which is technically a Potentially Unwanted Program and belongs to group of hectic browser hijackers or adware which is specifically designed and developed to attack mostly Mac OS based systems. This malware is basically a malicious software designed and circulated by cyber crime master minds with sole intention to destroy user’s online experiences. Being a browser hijacker, QuestSearch modifies browser’s critical settings like homepage, search engine, new tab, proxy, DNS, and other critical values.

As a result, whenever the user start to surf the web, they will be enforced to see a new and undesired website on browsers which forcibly injects malicious codes to show pop up advertisements, suspicious links or ads, and other promotional options on screen. Also, these problems may appear before users with almost all browser variants like Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Safari, Ie, Edge, and so on. Therefore, the unintentional presence of QuestSearch will be highly precarious and should not be entertained for long time. So, in case if your Mac system has started to disrupt you while browsing the web, we suggest you to read this article to learn some guidelines through which the removal task can be accomplished easily.

Technical Specifications

Name: QuestSearch

Type: Browser hijacker, redirect virus

Description: QuestSearch is said to be a creepy computer infection and is technically an adware or browser hijacker thaty may lead to serious redirects or pop up based eruptions on screen.

Distribution: Bundled software packages, malicious file downloads, freeware or shareware installer packages, and many more.

Removal: For more detailed information about detection and removal of QuestSearch from infected computers, we suggest you to follow here included guidelines

Information about QuestSearch in detail

So, getting installed on a computer somehow, the hijacker application called QuestSearch changes browser’s default settings and assigns a website which seems powered by genuine search engines like yahoo, bing, google, etc. However, surfing the web sessions through such page that brings nasty elements on computer’s screen in form of poisoned search results, frequent commercial pop ups or banners, and many more. All these elements will enforce you to click or interact with unwanted websites which often contains scamming adverts or products which claims to offer a lot without any cost, but sucks the overall system performance. Apart from these, the unintentional presence of QuestSearch can also be disastrous as it easily manage to track and record your personal or sensitive information as well without your consent.

The malware actually keeps running in background and may reveal your details like geo-location, financial details, login credentials, etc to hackers, taking advantage of which they can make more profit, but the victims like you would have to suffer high potential loss. In case you have this malware installed on your machine, then we highly suggest you take a look through guidelines included under this article that will help users to identify and terminate QuestSearch along with all its associated files, processes and leftovers completely. Alternatively, the novice or non technical users can also choose to take a trial with automatic solution to check if the app can clean their Mac system easily.

Antimalware Details And User Guide

Click Here For Windows Click Here For Mac

Important Note: This malware asks you to enable the web browser notifications. So, before you go the manual removal process, execute these steps.

Google Chrome (PC)

• Go to right upper corner of the screen and click on three dots to open the Menu button
• Select “Settings”. Scroll the mouse downward to choose “Advanced” option
• Go to “Privacy and Security” section by scrolling downward and then select “Content settings” and then “Notification” option
• Find each suspicious URLs and click on three dots on the right side and choose “Block” or “Remove” option

Google Chrome (Android)

• Go to right upper corner of the screen and click on three dots to open the menu button and then click on “Settings”
• Scroll down further to click on “site settings” and then press on “notifications” option
• In the newly opened window, choose each suspicious URLs one by one
• In the permission section, select “notification” and “Off” the toggle button

Mozilla Firefox

• On the right corner of the screen, you will notice three dots which is the “Menu” button
• Select “Options” and choose “Privacy and Security” in the toolbar present in the left side of the screen
• Slowly scroll down and go to “Permission” section then choose “Settings” option next to “Notifications”
• In the newly opened window, select all the suspicious URLs. Click on the drop-down menu and select “Block”

Internet Explorer

• In the Internet Explorer window, select the Gear button present on the right corner
• Choose “Internet Options”
• Select “Privacy” tab and then “Settings” under the “Pop-up Blocker” section
• Select all the suspicious URLs one by one and click on the “Remove” option

Microsoft Edge

• Open the Microsoft Edge and click on the three dots on the right corner of the screen to open the menu
• Scroll down and select “Settings”
• Scroll down further to choose “view advanced settings”
• In the “Website Permission” option, click on “Manage” option
• Click on switch under every suspicious URL

Safari (Mac):

• On the upper right side corner, click on “Safari” and then select “Preferences”
• Go to “website” tab and then choose “Notification” section on the left pane
• Search for the suspicious URLs and choose “Deny” option for each one of them

Manual Steps to Remove QuestSearch:

Remove the related items of QuestSearch using Control-Panel

Windows 7 Users

Click “Start” (the windows logo at the bottom left corner of the desktop screen), select “Control Panel”. Locate the “Programs” and then followed by clicking on “Uninstall Program”

Windows XP Users

Click “Start” and then choose “Settings” and then click “Control Panel”. Search and click on “Add or Remove Program’ option

Windows 10 and 8 Users:

Go to the lower left corner of the screen and right-click. In the “Quick Access” menu, choose “Control Panel”. In the newly opened window, choose “Program and Features”

Mac OSX Users

Click on “Finder” option. Choose “Application” in the newly opened screen. In the “Application” folder, drag the app to “Trash”. Right click on the Trash icon and then click on “Empty Trash”.

In the uninstall programs window, search for the PUAs. Choose all the unwanted and suspicious entries and click on “Uninstall” or “Remove”.

After you uninstall all the potentially unwanted program causing QuestSearch issues, scan your computer with an anti-malware tool for any remaining PUPs and PUAs or possible malware infection. To scan the PC, use the recommended the anti-malware tool.

How to Remove Adware (QuestSearch) from Internet Browsers

Delete malicious add-ons and extensions from IE

Click on the gear icon at the top right corner of Internet Explorer. Select “Manage Add-ons”. Search for any recently installed plug-ins or add-ons and click on “Remove”.

Additional Option

If you still face issues related to QuestSearch removal, you can reset the Internet Explorer to its default setting.

Windows XP users: Press on “Start” and click “Run”. In the newly opened window, type “inetcpl.cpl” and click on the “Advanced” tab and then press on “Reset”.

Windows Vista and Windows 7 Users: Press the Windows logo, type inetcpl.cpl in the start search box and press enter.  In the newly opened window, click on the “Advanced Tab” followed by “Reset” button.

For Windows 8 Users: Open IE and click on the “gear” icon. Choose “Internet Options”

Select the “Advanced” tab in the newly opened window

Press on “Reset” option

You have to press on the “Reset” button again to confirm that you really want to reset the IE

Remove Doubtful and Harmful Extension from Google Chrome

Go to menu of Google Chrome by pressing on three vertical dots and select on “More tools” and then “Extensions”. You can search for all the recently installed add-ons and remove all of them.

Optional Method

If the problems related to QuestSearch still persists or you face any issue in removing, then it is advised that your reset the Google Chrome browse settings. Go to three dotted points at the top right corner and choose “Settings”. Scroll down bottom and click on “Advanced”.

At the bottom, notice the “Reset” option and click on it.

In the next opened window, confirm that you want to reset the Google Chrome settings by click on the “Reset” button.

Remove QuestSearch plugins (including all other doubtful plug-ins) from Firefox Mozilla

Open the Firefox menu and select “Add-ons”. Click “Extensions”.  Select all the recently installed browser plug-ins.

Optional Method

If you face problems in QuestSearch removal then you have the option to rese the settings of Mozilla Firefox.

Open the browser (Mozilla Firefox) and click on the “menu” and then click on “Help”.

Choose “Troubleshooting Information”

In the newly opened pop-up window, click “Refresh Firefox” button

The next step is to confirm that really want to reset the Mozilla Firefox settings to its default by clicking on “Refresh Firefox” button.

Remove Malicious Extension from Safari

Open the Safari and go to its “Menu” and select “Preferences”.

Click on the “Extension” and select all the recently installed “Extensions” and then click on “Uninstall”.

Optional Method

Open the “Safari” and go menu. In the drop-down menu, choose “Clear History and Website Data”.

In the newly opened window, select “All History” and then press on “Clear History” option.

Delete QuestSearch (malicious add-ons) from Microsoft Edge

Open Microsoft Edge and go to three horizontal dot icons at the top right corner of the browser. Select all the recently installed extensions and right click on the mouse to “uninstall”

Optional Method

Open the browser (Microsoft Edge) and select “Settings”

Next steps is to click on “Choose what to clear” button

Click on “show more” and then select everything and then press on “Clear” button.

Conclusion

In most cases, the PUPs and adware gets inside the marked PC through unsafe freeware downloads. It is advised that you should only choose developers website only while downloading any kind of free applications.  Choose custom or advanced installation process so that you can trace the additional PUPs listed for installation along with the main program.