ShopTool Adware (Mac)

How to remove ShopTool from Mac?

What is ShopTool?

Identical to CoolShopper, BestSmart Shoppers, WebShoppers, and a number of other applications, ShopTool is a dubious app that falsely claims to save time and money while shopping online. By claiming to provide coupons and notifications of special deals/discounts available on a variety of online shops, ShopTool often tricks users to install, however, this application is designed to collect various data and deliver intrusive online advertisements. Furthermore, it infiltrates systems without direct user-permission. For these reasons, ShopTool is classed as a potentially unwanted program (PUP) and adware.

Following system infiltration, ShopTool records IP addresses, website URLs visited, pages viewed, search queries entered into search engines, and other similar data relating to users' web browsing activity. This recorded data will often be personally identifiable - developers of ShopTool sell/give this collected data to third parties who misuse personal details to generate revenue. Therefore, having ShopTool installed on your system can result in serious privacy issues or even identity theft. ShopTool generates various intrusive online advertisements that do not originate from users' visited websites and conceal underlying content. This significantly diminishes the web browsing experience. Ads including pop-ups, banners, coupons, etc. might lead to malicious websites - clicking them will result in high-risk computer infections. We strongly advise you to remove ShopTool adware from your system immediately.

Research shows that many adware-type programs have identical behavior. By offering 'valuable features', apps such as ShopTool attempt to give the impression legitimate software, however, most adware-type apps provide no real value for regular users. The purpose of all adware is to generate revenue for the developers. Rather than enabling the functions promised, ShopTool and other similar applications collect personally identifiable information (which is shared with third parties), deliver intrusive online advertisements (via the "Pay Per Click" [PPC] advertising model), and occasionally cause unwanted browser redirects.

How did ShopTool install on my computer?

ShopTool is distributed via an official download website and using a deceptive software marketing method called "bundling". This method is essentially stealth installation of PUPs with regular software. Developers know that many users do not express enough caution when downloading and installing software and intentionally hide bundled programs within the "Advanced" or "Custom" download/installation section. By skipping this section, users inadvertently install applications such as ShopTool.

How to avoid installation of potentially unwanted applications?

Installation of PUPs such as ShopTool can be prevented by taking two simple steps. Firtsly, PUPs are often distributed using the bundling method, and so you should analyze each step of the download/installation processes. Secondly, opt-out of all additionally-included programs and never accept offers to download or install them. There is a high probability that bundled programs will be malicious and, thus, should never be installed.

ShopTool website frequently asked questions (FAQ):

Instant automatic Mac malware removal: Manual threat removal might be a lengthy and complicated process that requires advanced computer skills. Combo Cleaner is a professional automatic malware removal tool that is recommended to get rid of Mac malware. Download it by clicking the button below:
▼ DOWNLOAD Combo Cleaner for Mac By downloading any software listed on this website you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. To use full-featured product, you have to purchase a license for Combo Cleaner. Limited three days free trial available.

Quick menu:

• What is ShopTool?
• STEP 1. Remove ShopTool related files and folders from OSX.
• STEP 2. Remove ShopTool ads from Safari.
• STEP 3. Remove ShopTool adware from Google Chrome.
• STEP 4. Remove ShopTool ads from Mozilla Firefox.

Video showing how to remove adware and browser hijackers from a Mac computer:

ShopTool adware removal:

Remove ShopTool-related potentially unwanted applications from your "Applications" folder:

Click the Finder icon. In the Finder window, select “Applications”. In the applications folder, look for “MPlayerX”,“NicePlayer”, or other suspicious applications and drag them to the Trash. After removing the potentially unwanted application(s) that cause online ads, scan your Mac for any remaining unwanted components.

Remove ads by shoptool related files and folders:

Click the Finder icon, from the menu bar, choose Go, and click Go to Folder...

Check for adware-generated files in the /Library/LaunchAgents folder:

In the Go to Folder... bar, type: /Library/LaunchAgents

In the “LaunchAgents” folder, look for any recently-added suspicious files and move them to the Trash. Examples of files generated by adware - “installmac.AppRemoval.plist”, “myppes.download.plist”, “mykotlerino.ltvbit.plist”, “kuklorest.update.plist”, etc. Adware commonly installs several files with the same string.

Check for adware-generated files in the /Library/Application Support folder:

In the Go to Folder... bar, type: /Library/Application Support

In the “Application Support” folder, look for any recently-added suspicious folders. For example, “MplayerX” or “NicePlayer”, and move these folders to the Trash.

Check for adware-generated files in the ~/Library/LaunchAgents folder:

In the Go to Folder bar, type: ~/Library/LaunchAgents

In the “LaunchAgents” folder, look for any recently-added suspicious files and move them to the Trash. Examples of files generated by adware - “installmac.AppRemoval.plist”, “myppes.download.plist”, “mykotlerino.ltvbit.plist”, “kuklorest.update.plist”, etc. Adware commonly installs several files with the same string.

Check for adware-generated files in the /Library/LaunchDaemons folder:

In the Go to Folder... bar, type: /Library/LaunchDaemons

In the “LaunchDaemons” folder, look for recently-added suspicious files. For example, “com.aoudad.net-preferences.plist”, “com.myppes.net-preferences.plist”, "com.kuklorest.net-preferences.plist”, “com.avickUpd.plist”, etc., and move them to the Trash.

 Scan your Mac with Combo Cleaner:

If you have followed all the steps in the correct order you Mac should be clean of infections. To be sure your system is not infected run a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus. Download it HERE. After downloading the file double click combocleaner.dmg installer, in the opened window drag and drop Combo Cleaner icon on top of the Applications icon. Now open your launchpad and click on the Combo Cleaner icon. Wait until Combo Cleaner updates it's virus definition database and click "Start Combo Scan" button.

Combo Cleaner will scan your Mac for malware infections. If the antivirus scan displays "no threats found" - this means that you can continue with the removal guide, otherwise it's recommended to remove any found infections before continuing.

After removing files and folders generated by the adware, continue to remove rogue extensions from your Internet browsers.

Ads by ShopTool homepage and default Internet search engine removal from Internet browsers:

Remove malicious extensions from Safari:

Remove ads by shoptool related Safari extensions:

Open Safari browser. From the menu bar, select "Safari" and click "Preferences...".

In the preferences window, select "Extensions" and look for any recently-installed suspicious extensions. When located, click the "Uninstall" button next to it/them. Note that you can safely uninstall all extensions from your Safari browser - none are crucial for normal browser operation.

Change your homepage:

In the "Preferences" window, select the "General" tab. To set your homepage, type the preferred website URL (for example: www.google.com) in the Homepage field. You can also click the “Set to Current Page” button if you wish to set your homepage to the website you are currently visiting.

Change your default search engine:

In the "Preferences" window, select the "Search" tab. Here you will find a drop-down menu labelled "Search engine:" Simply select your preferred search engine from the drop-down list.

• If you continue to have problems with browser redirects and unwanted advertisements - Reset Safari.

Remove malicious plug-ins from Mozilla Firefox:

Remove ads by shoptool related Mozilla Firefox add-ons:

Open your Mozilla Firefox browser. At the top right corner of the screen, click the "Open Menu" (three horizontal lines) button. From the opened menu, choose "Add-ons".

Choose the "Extensions" tab and look for any recently-installed suspicious add-ons. When located, click the "Remove" button next to it/them. Note that you can safely uninstall all extensions from your Mozilla Firefox browser - none are crucial for normal browser operation.

Change your homepage:

To change your homepage, click the "Open Menu" (three horizontal lines) button and choose "Preferences" from the drop-down menu. To set your homepage, type the preferred website URL (for example: www.google.com) in the Homepage Page.

Change default search engine:

In the URL address bar, type "about:config" and click the "I'll be careful, I promise!" button.

In the "Search:" field, type the name of the browser hijacker. Right click on each of the found preferences and click "Reset" from the drop-down menu.

• If you continue to have problems with browser redirects and unwanted advertisements - Reset Mozilla Firefox.

Remove malicious extensions from Google Chrome:

Remove ads by shoptool related Google Chrome add-ons:

Open Google Chrome and click the "Chrome menu" (three horizontal lines) button located in the top-right corner of the browser window. From the drop-down menu, choose "More Tools" and select "Extensions".

In the "Extensions" window, look for any recently-installed suspicious add-ons. When located, click the "Trash" button next to it/them. Note that you can safely uninstall all extensions from your Google Chrome browser - none are crucial for normal browser operation.

Change your homepage:

Click the "Chrome menu" (three horizontal lines) button and choose "Settings". In the "On Startup" section, click the "Set pages" link near to the "Open a specific page or set of pages" option. Remove the URL of the browser hijacker (for example trovi.com) and enter your preferred URL (for example, google.com).

Change default search engine:

Click the "Chrome menu" (three horizontal lines) button and choose "Settings". In the "Search" section, click the "Manage search engines..." button. In the opened window, remove the unwanted Internet search engine by clicking the "X" button next to it. Select your preferred Internet search engine from the list and click the "Make default" button next to it.

• If you continue to have problems with browser redirects and unwanted advertisements - Reset Google Chrome.

Click to post a comment