How to remove Swagbucks Toolbar PUA Mac
Swagbucks Toolbar is dubious application considered as Mac Virus. This nasty application is mostly get installed on Mac computer by clicking malicious or wrong advertisements on Facebook. It is capable to affecting MacOS based devices and Windows OS based computer as well. In sort, this application can’t be trusted. Once the attackers behind this nasty application gain access to your computer, they can make several unwanted modifications in your browser’s settings in order to promotes fake search engines like ‘search.Swagbucks.com’.
Swagbucks Toolbar modifies the default the homepage, new tab URLs and search engine of your browser with ‘search.Swagbucks.com’ – bogus search engine. The purpose of attackers behind this fake search engine is to tricks you into visiting sponsored or untrustworthy sites, and downloading/installing sponsored software, PUAs or malware in your computer. This dubious application claims to help you generating points or Swag Bucks with special offers, surveys, shop, Trade-in program, polls and initiate friends. They ask you to deliver your some personal information to surveys or polls that can be very dangerous for online privacy & system security.
Clicking ads by Swagbucks Toolbar might lead severe privacy issues, financial losses, or even identity theft. It is strongly recommended not sharing any of you personal information with these scams/offers/surveys at any cases. However, they attempt to trigger Swagbucks Virus in your device and make several unwanted modifications in browser’s settings and/or system settings without your knowledge. It also blocks you from revert these changes means you can’t undo the changes made. This Mac Virus redirects you to other shady/scam websites that are designed to run malicious advertisements or can cause unwanted software downloads/installation.
Swagbucks Toolbar also attempts to install other third-party apps, add-ons or extensions that are designed to monitor your online habits and collect your browsing-related data or other sensitive information. They can collect your some information such as IP address, URLs search, browser history, search queries, username & password of your various online accounts, banking information and more details. In other words, this dubious application is unsafe at all. So, it is important to find and remove Swagbucks Toolbar adware in Mac computer as soon as possible.
How did you get Swagbucks Toolbar Mac Virus?
PUAs, adware or malware are mostly distributed through other software package as additional offers. This false marking method of packaging regular or legitimate software with PUAs, adware or malware is known as Software Bundling Method – the mostly used mechanism by cybercriminals. If you ignore terms & conditions given in software installation setup and skip ‘Custom/Advanced/Manual’ settings, then you install all additional programs included in software package setup and this way, all malicious additional programs can also be installed. PUAs can also be distributed through malicious advertisements that are designed to run certain scripts.
How to protect your system against PUAs, adware or malware?
Cybercriminals take advantages of bugs or issues in software installed in your computer and deliver malware or viruses in your computer by exploiting such bugs. So, you should keep up-to-date all software installed in your computer including operating system, antivirus software and other software. You should always try to download any applications from official and verified sources or via direct links, and choose ‘Custom/Advanced/Manual’ installation if you want to avoid browser hijackers, adware or malware. Also, you should run regular system scan for malware or viruses with some powerful antivirus software in computer.
Special Offer (For Macintosh)
Swagbucks Toolbar can be creepy computer infection that may regain its presence again and again as it keeps its files hidden on computers. To accomplish a hassle free removal of this malware, we suggest you take a try with a powerful antimalware scanner to help you getting rid of this virus
Remove Files and Folders Related to Swagbucks Toolbar
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”.
Special Offer (For Macintosh)
Swagbucks Toolbar can be creepy computer infection that may regain its presence again and again as it keeps its files hidden on computers. To accomplish a hassle free removal of this malware, we suggest you take a try with a powerful antimalware scanner to help you getting rid of this 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 Swagbucks Toolbar 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 Swagbucks Toolbar 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.
Special Offer (For Macintosh)
Swagbucks Toolbar can be creepy computer infection that may regain its presence again and again as it keeps its files hidden on computers. To accomplish a hassle free removal of this malware, we suggest you take a try with a powerful antimalware scanner to help you getting rid of this virus
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 Swagbucks Toolbar. You can select such harmful files and folders and remove them immediately.
