What is Search.wharkike.com
The Search.wharkike.com is classified as the browser hijacker (sometimes called hijackware). It is a type of malicious software that changes your Mac’s browser settings such as homepage, new tab page and search engine by default. Once started, this browser hijacker will modify the Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Safari ‘s settings to Search.wharkike.com . To clean your system and back your homepage, you need to perform the instructions below as soon as possible. It will remove the Search.wharkike.com homepage and protect your Mac from more dangerous malware and trojans.
Once installed, the Search.wharkike.com browser hijacker may also replace a search engine, which leads to the fact that use of the web-browser’s search becomes impossible. The reason for this is that the search results will consist of a huge number of ads, links to malicious and misleading pages and only the remaining part – it’s search results for your query from the other, well-known search engines like Google or Bing. Moreover, with this hijacker, an adware can be additionally installed on to your Apple Mac, that will open a lot of advertisements, hindering or completely blocking the work in the browser. Often such advertising may recommend to install other unknown and unwanted software or visit malicious sites.
How to Search.wharkike.com browser hijacker get installed onto Mac
Most often, the Search.wharkike.com hijacker infection gets on your OSX system as a part of various free programs, as a bonus. Therefore it is very important at the stage of installing programs downloaded from the Internet carefully review the Terms of use and the License agreement, as well as to always choose the Advanced, Custom or Manual installation mode. In this mode, you can turn off all unwanted add-ons, including the Search.wharkike.com browser hijacker, which will be installed along with the desired application.
How to manually remove Search.wharkike.com
The following instructions is a step-by-step guide, which will help you manually get rid of Search.wharkike.com homepage from Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Safari.
- Remove Search.wharkike.com associated software by using Finder
- Remove Search.wharkike.com from Chrome
- Remove Search.wharkike.com from Firefox
- Remove Search.wharkike.com homepage from Safari
Remove Search.wharkike.com associated software by using Finder
Open Finder and click Applications.
Look for Wharkike, right click to it and select Move to Trash or drag it from the Applications folder to the Trash. Most important, scroll through the all list, and move to trash any unknown applications. Don’t forget, choose Finder -> Empty Trash.
Remove Search.wharkike.com from Chrome
Like other modern browsers, the Chrome has the ability to reset the settings to their default values and thus restore the home page, newtab page and search provider by default that have been modified by the Search.wharkike.com hijacker.
Click on Chrome’s main menu button () and select Settings option as shown below.
It will open the Chrome settings screen. Scroll to the bottom of the screen and click on the “Show advanced settings” (look the example below).
The Google Chrome’s advanced settings should now be displayed. Scroll down until the “Reset browser settings”. Next, click on the “Reset browser settings” button. It will open the confirmation prompt. Click to “Reset” button to continue.
Remove Search.wharkike.com from Firefox
If the Firefox settings such as home page, newtab page and search provider by default have been changed by the browser hijacker infection, then reseting it to the default state can help.
Open Firefox. Type into the address bar “about:support”.
Press Enter. It will open the “Troubleshooting Information” screen as shown below.
Click on the “Reset Firefox” button. It will open the confirmation prompt. Click to “Reset Firefox” button once again.
Remove Search.wharkike.com homepage from Safari
Click Safai menu and select “Preferences”.
It will open the Safari Preferences window. Next, click the Extensions tab. Look for Wharkike on left panel, select it, then click on the “Uninstall” button. Most important to remove all unknown extensions from Safari.
Once complete, click “General” tab. Change the “Default Search Engine” to Google.
Find the “Homepage” and type into textfield “https://www.google.com”.
How to remove Search.wharkike.com with Antimalware
Remove Search.wharkike.com hijacker infection manually is difficult and often infection is not completely removed. Therefore, we recommend you to use the MalwareBytes Anti-malware Free that are completely clean your Apple Mac. Moreover, the free software will help you to remove adware and toolbars that your OSX may be infected too.
- Download MalwareBytes Anti-malware (MBAM) from the link below.
MalwareBytes Anti-malware for Mac download link - Close all programs and windows on your Mac and run it.
- click on the “Scan” button to start a system scan.
- When the scan is finished, make sure all entries have “checkmark” and click “Remove Selected Items” button.
- MalwareBytes Anti-malware for Mac will start to remove all malicious files and folders.
If the problem with Search.wharkike.com is still remained
If MalwareBytes Anti-malware cannot remove this browser hijacker, then we suggests to ask for help our Myantispyware team. Follow the steps below to get a help for Search.wharkike.com removal.
- Download HijackThis from the link below and save it to your Desktop.
HijackThis download
4710 downloads
Version: 2.0.5
Author: OpenSource
Category: Security tools
Update: November 7, 2015
- Double-click on the HijackThis icon, and click the button labeled “Do a system scan only”.
- Once the scan is complete, the scan button will read “Save log”, click it. Save this log to your desktop
Create a Myantispyware account here. Once you’ve registered, check your e-mail for a confirmation link, and confirm your account. After that, login.
- Copy and paste the contents of the HijackThis log into your post. If you are posting for the first time, please start a new thread by using the “New Topic” button in the Spyware Removal forum. When posting your HJT log, try to give us some details about your problems, so we can try to help you more accurately.
- Wait for one of our trained “Security Team” or Site Administrator to provide you with knowledgeable assistance tailored to your problem with Search.wharkike.com removal.