What is Yahoo Search?
If you are experiencing redirections to search.yahoo.com while searching for something (in case you haven’t set it as a default search engine), then you probably picked up browser hijacker on your Mac. Browser hijacker is a kind of malware that is mostly used for advertising purposes and link promotion. It usually gets on users’ computers along with other freeware. Following infiltration, it takes over your browser so that the user is forced to use Yahoo search. Furthermore, it is responsible for the appearance of countless pop-up ads and redirects. In this article, you will find a step-by-step guide on how to get rid of browser hijacker and remove Yahoo Search from your Mac.
How to remove Yahoo Search?
To make sure that the hijacker won’t appear again, you need to delete Yahoo Search completely. For this, you need to remove the application then check the drives for such leftovers as Yahoo Search files and registry entries.
Norton is a powerful tool that is able to keep your Mac clean. It would automatically search out and delete all elements related to Yahoo Search. It is not only the easiest way to eliminate Yahoo Search but also the safest and most assuring one.
Steps of Yahoo Search manual removal
As it was stated before, more likely that the hijacker appeared on your system brought by other software. So, to get rid of Yahoo Search you need to call to memory what you have installed recently.
Remove Yahoo Search from Applications
- Open a Finder window
- Click Applications line on the sidebar
- Select the application related to Yahoo Search, right-click it and choose Move to Trash
Remove Yahoo Search from Profiles
- Launch System Preferences
- Select Profiles at the bottom of window.
- Choose AdminPrefs profile, click “-“ icon and enter password.
Remove Yahoo Search using Terminal
- Open Terminal
- Copy/paste:
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles YES - Press Return
- Hold the Option/alt key, then right click on the Finder icon in the dock and click Relaunch
- Navigate to: /Users/yourmacname/Library/Application Support/
- Delete Folder: Agent
- Go back to Terminal and copy/paste:
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles NO - Press Return
- Hold the Option/alt key, then right click on the Finder icon in the dock and click Relaunch
Remove Yahoo Search from browsers
Since most of the hijacker threats use a disguise of a browser add-on, you will need to check the list of extensions/add-ons in your browser.
How to remove Yahoo Search from Safari
- Start Safari
- Click on Safari menu button, then go to the Extensions
- Delete Yahoo Search or other extensions that look suspicious and you don’t remember installing them
How to remove Yahoo Search from Google Chrome
- Start Google Chrome
- Click on Tools, then go to the Extensions
- Delete Yahoo Search or other extensions that look suspicious and you don’t remember installing them
How to remove Yahoo Search from Mozilla Firefox
- Start Mozilla Firefox
- Click on the right-upper corner button
- Click Add-ons, then go to Extensions
- Delete Yahoo Search or other extensions that look suspicious and you don’t remember installing them
If the above-mentioned methods didn’t help in eliminating the threat, then it’s better to rely on an automatic way of deleting Yahoo Search.
We also recommend to download and use Norton to scan the system after Yahoo Search removal to make sure that it is completely gone. The antimalware application will detect any vicious components left among system files and registry entries that can recover Yahoo Search.
