Remove ExploreActivity Adware From Mac

ExploreActivity: Easy Delete Process

ExploreActivity is a nasty adware which tends to silently infiltrate the Mac computers via fake Adobe Flash Player installer and then contribute tons of malicious activities in the background. It can also function as a browser hijacker and make changes to default browser’s settings to promote deceptive search engine. It claims to enhance its users’ online experience by providing most relevant, authentic and fast search results. However, this fake search tool is not even capable of generating results by itself and hence, it often redirects to genuine ones like Google or Yahoo. But, the results are still irrelevant and often contain sponsored links.

Depth Analysis of ExploreActivity:

ExploreActivity inserts tracking cookies on your Chrome, Safari, Edge, Firefox and other browsers and monitors your web activities all the time. It collects browsing-related information like geolocations, IP addresses, URLs of accessed pages, entered search queries and so on. These details are then utilized by the advertisers for generating personalized advertisements that could be very helpful for monetary purposes. Your system screen is constantly flooded with numerous eye-catching advertisements that could be in multiple formats such as deals, offers, banners, coupons, discounts etc.

ExploreActivity ads work on pay-per-click scheme and earn revenues for the creators when clicked. Nonetheless, you need to be very careful while interacting with these adverts as they often contain perilous links and redirect you to multiple scam, phishing and even malware-laced pages that host trojan, ransomware and other spiteful threats. ExploreActivity can also steal your personal data relating to bank account and credit card details and share them with cyber criminals for evil purposes. Your sensitive information can be misused by the scammers for fraudulent purchases and transactions that may result in huge financial loss for you.

This precarious infection downgrades the overall system performance severely as it consumes enormous amount of memory resources and increases the usage of CPU. Due to its presence in your computer, you may have to deal with many other precarious issues in the device such as frequent system crash, hard drive failure, boot errors, application malfunctioning and so on. And hence, an instant ExploreActivity removal is strongly required from the Mac PC.

Penetration of Spread ExploreActivity:

As stated before, this nasty infection is usually distributed via a fake Adobe Flash Player installer. When you click on a malicious ad or hyperlink that usually appear while web surfing, you are redirected to a scam portal where you are presented with fake update notifications stating that your Adobe Flash Player needs to be updated instantly. You are also provided an update link but once you click on it, it triggers the download and installation of the unwanted application. So, you should ignore these fake update alerts and avoid clicking on any suspicious link or button.

Moreover, clicking on malicious ads or hyperlinks, downloading programs from unofficial pages, performing careless installation process etc. also lead to adware intrusion. And therefore, it is highly important to be very cautious while surfing the web and stay away from notorious channels to keep the device safe and secured. In case your PC is already infected with this threat, you must remove ExploreActivity from the Mac computer as early as possible.

Remove Files and Folders Related to ExploreActivity

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