Ads by SRCH (Mac)

What is SRCH?

SRCH is a deceptive application distributed via a fake Adobe Flash Player installation set-up. This app infiltrates systems without users' consent.

Once installed, SRCH delivers various intrusive online advertisements and tracks Internet browsing activity by gathering various user/system information. For these reasons, SRCH is categorized as adware and a potentially unwanted program (PUP).

SRCH employs a 'virtual layer' to generate coupon, banner, pop-up, and other similar advertisements that are usually marked as "Powered by srch". The virtual layer enables placement of third party graphical content on any site. Therefore, the displayed ads often conceal underlying content of visited websites, thereby significantly diminishing the web browsing experience.

Furthermore, they often redirect to malicious websites containing infectious content and, thus, even accidental clicks can result in high-risk adware or malware infections. Another downside is monitoring of browsing activity.

Be aware that SRCH continually records Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, queries entered into search engines, website URLs visited, and other similar information. The collected data might be personally identifiable and shared by developers share with cooperating third party companies who misuse private details to generate revenue.

Therefore, having a data-tracking app installed on your system might result in serious privacy issues. We strongly advise you to remove SRCH adware immediately.

This adware shares many similarities with dozens of other potentially unwanted programs such as Tom, TURBOMAC, MacWizz, SurfMate, and many others. All adware claims to enhance the web browsing experience by enabling various 'useful functionality', however, these false claims are merely attempts to trick users to install.

In fact, adware-type applications provide no value for regular users and are designed only to generate revenue for the developers. They merely deliver intrusive online advertisements (via the "Pay Per Click" advertising model) and continually record various user/system information (which is later shared with third parties to generate revenue).

How did SRCH install on my computer?

Developers proliferate SRCH via a fake Adobe Flash Player installer. This deceptive marketing method is called "bundling". All information regarding installation of PUPs is concealed, thus preventing users from opting-out. This leads to inadvertent installation of potentially unwanted programs.

How to avoid installation of potentially unwanted applications?

All potentially unwanted programs are distributed using the bundling method, however, most are hidden within the "Custom/Advanced" settings of the download/installation processes. Therefore, closely analyze each step of these procedures, never accept offers to download/install third party applications, and opt-out of those already included.

Fake Adobe Flash Player installer distributing SRCH adware:

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Quick menu:

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

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

SRCH adware removal:

Remove SRCH-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 adware-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 exact 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 exact 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 correctly, your Mac should be clean of infections. To ensure 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 the 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 its virus definition database and click the "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.

Remove malicious extensions from Internet browsers

Remove malicious Safari extensions:

Open the 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 regular browser operation.

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

Remove malicious extensions from Google Chrome:

Click the Chrome menu icon (at the top right corner of Google Chrome), select "More Tools" and click "Extensions". Locate all recently-installed suspicious extensions, select these entries and click "Remove".

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

Remove malicious extensions from Mozilla Firefox:

Click the Firefox menu (at the top right corner of the main window) and select "Add-ons and themes". Click "Extensions", in the opened window locate all recently-installed suspicious extensions, click on the three dots and then click "Remove".

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

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