Remove Securesearch.me From Mac OS X

Proper Guide To Delete Securesearch.me

Securesearch.me is a browser hijacker that works as a fake search engine. Browser hijackers usually promote fraudulent search tools by making certain changes in browser’s settings. This particular threat also adds the “Managed by your organization” feature to Chrome browsers. It generally infiltrates the Mac computers by stealth and then starts performing evil activities in the background. It assigns itself as the new search provider, home page and new tab URLs and grabs complete control over the entire browser. To prevent the settings from being restored, this potentially unwanted program also installs various suspicious extensions, toolbars, plug-ins etc. on the browser.

Depth Analysis of Securesearch.me:

Securesearch.me constantly monitors your online activities such as pages viewed, links clicked on, search queries typed etc. It gathers information regarding your interest and needs which is then utilized for the advertisement campaign. And thus, you are bombarded with endless intrusive ads and pop-ups all over the day that makes your online surfing very complex and problematic. This perilous hijacker displays attractive-looking deals, offers, banners, coupons, discounts etc. and tries to make users click on them in order to earn revenues via cost-per-click mechanism.

We highly advise to stay away from Securesearch.me ads as they might include vicious links and redirect you to potentially infectious sites that are filled with malevolent contents. Visiting on such harmful web pages might result in more malware infections. This perilous hijacker can also steal your personal and confidential information relating to banking and credit card details and expose them to cyber crooks for evil purposes. Crooks can misuse your sensitive data for generating illicit revenues and cause you to suffer a big financial loss.

Securesearch.me changes the default boot settings by making spiteful entries in it which allows the virus to get automatically activated with each PC reboot. It messes with important system files that are essential for smooth computer functioning and prevents many running apps as well as drivers from working in an appropriate manner. It keeps executing malicious deeds in the background all the time which consume huge amount of memory resources and drag down the overall PC performance severely. Due to this, machine starts responding slower than ever before and takes more than usual time to complete any task. This nasty hijacker may lead to many other precarious issues such as boot errors, application malfunctioning, hard drive crash, software failure and so on. And hence, an instant Securesearch.me removal is strongly required.

Quick Glance

Name: Securesearch.me

Type: Mac virus, Browser hijacker, Potentially unwanted program

Short Description: Makes changes to default browser’s settings, Redirects Mac users to affiliated sites, promotes sponsored products, services and programs and make online revenues for the creators.

Symptoms: Thousands of annoying adverts, home page, search engine, new tab settings, Fake pop-up messages, identity theft. 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 is recommended.

Penetration of Securesearch.me:

These browser hijackers are generally propagated along with other free programs that users download from third-party sites such as softonic.com, cnet.com, etc. When you install a freeware using the ‘Quick’ or ‘Basic’ options, there is huge possibility that you will end up installing such unwanted threats in the machine as well along with the carrier application.

And therefore, it is highly important to be very attentive while installing software. Use only reliable sources to download application and always select the Custom or Advanced configuration settings to install the program. These configuration settings allow you to de-select the components that you don’t want to be installed and pick only the main software. But at the moment, you must remove Securesearch.me from the computer as soon as possible.

Remove Files and Folders Related to Securesearch.me

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