What is TaskBrowser?
According to security researches, TaskBrowser is a potentially unwanted program (PUP) belonging to the group of Adware. Adware can cause issues for your Mac. TaskBrowser can display unwanted advertising on your computer screen so that your cannot stop them, redirect your web-browser to unsolicited commercials from various merchants and malicious web-pages, and it can cause unwanted web pages to pop up on your web-browser. Adware might end up on your computer after you download and install free programs from a questionable web page.
Unwanted ads
Does adware steal your data? TaskBrowser can collect personal data, including:
- IP addresses;
- URLs visited;
- search queries/terms;
- clicks on links and advertisements;
- web-browser version information.
Threat Summary
| Name | TaskBrowser, Task Browser app |
| Type | adware software, potentially unwanted application (PUA), pop-ups, popup ads, pop-up virus |
| Symptoms |
|
| Removal | TaskBrowser removal guide |
How does TaskBrowser get on your computer
Adware actively distributed with freeware, along with the installation package of these programs. Therefore, it’s very important, when installing an unknown program even downloaded from well-known or big hosting site, read the Terms of use and the Software license, as well as to select the Manual, Advanced or Custom installation type. In this method, you can disable the installation of third-party modules and applications and protect your MAC system from adware. Do not repeat the mistakes of most users when installing unknown software, simply click the Next button, and do not read any information that the free software open them during its setup.
By following few simple steps below it is easy to scan and remove adware software from Firefox, Safari and Chrome and your machine. Learn how to remove TaskBrowser and harmful programs, as well as how to run a full MAC virus scan.
How to Remove TaskBrowser adware software
Without a doubt, the adware is harmful to your MAC OS. So you need to quickly and completely remove this TaskBrowser . To remove this adware, you can use the manual removal guide that are given below or free malware removal tool such as MalwareBytes Anti Malware (MBAM) (it is free). We advise you use automatic removal way which will help you to delete TaskBrowser easily and safely. Manual removal is best used only if you are well versed in MAC system or in the case where adware is not removed automatically. Read it once, after doing so, please bookmark this page (or open it on your smartphone) as you may need to close your web browser or reboot your MAC OS.
To remove TaskBrowser, complete the following steps:
- How to remove TaskBrowser adware software without any software
- Automatic Removal of TaskBrowser adware
- Use AdBlocker to stay safe online
- To sum up
How to remove TaskBrowser adware software without any software
The step-by-step instructions designed by our team will help you manually remove TaskBrowser ads from the internet browser. If you have little experience in using computers, we suggest that you use the free utilities listed below.
Delete PUPs through the Finder
We suggest that you start the machine cleaning process by checking the list of installed apps and uninstall all unknown or suspicious software. This is a very important step, as mentioned above, very often the malicious programs such as adware and hijacker infections may be bundled with freeware. Uninstall the unwanted programs can remove the unwanted advertisements or internet browser redirect.
Make sure you have closed all web browsers and other applications. Next, remove any unrequested and suspicious apps from MAC using the Finder.
Open Finder and click “Applications”.
Look around the entire list of software installed on your MAC system. Most likely, one of them is the TaskBrowser . Select the dubious program or the application that name is not familiar to you and uninstall it.
Drag the suspicious application from the Applications folder to the Trash.
Most important, don’t forget, choose Finder -> Empty Trash.
Remove TaskBrowser from Safari
If you find that Safari browser settings like newtab, default search provider and homepage having been changed by TaskBrowser adware, then you may revert back your settings, via the reset internet browser procedure.
Run Safari browser. Next, choose Preferences from the Safari menu.
First, click the “Security” icon. Here, select “Block pop-up windows”. It will block some types of pop-ups.
Now, click the “Extensions” icon. Look for questionable add-ons on left panel, select it, then press the “Uninstall” button. Most important to delete all suspicious plugins from Safari.
Once complete, check your start page and search engine settings. Click “General” tab. Make sure that the “Homepage” field contains the website you want or is empty.
Make sure that the “Search engine” setting shows your preferred search provider. In some versions of Safari, this setting is in the “Search” tab.
Remove TaskBrowser adware from Google Chrome
Resetting Google Chrome to default state is helpful in removing the TaskBrowser ads from your browser. This solution is always advisable to complete if you have difficulty in removing changes caused by adware software.
First launch the Chrome. Next, press the button in the form of three horizontal dots (
).
It will display the Chrome menu. Choose More Tools, then press Extensions. Carefully browse through the list of installed addons. If the list has the plugin signed with “Installed by enterprise policy” or “Installed by your administrator”, then complete the following steps: Remove Chrome extensions installed by enterprise policy.
Open the Google Chrome menu once again. Further, click the option named “Settings”.
The web-browser will open the settings screen. Another way to show the Chrome’s settings – type chrome://settings in the web-browser adress bar and press Enter
Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the “Advanced” link. Now scroll down until the “Reset” section is visible, as displayed on the image below and press the “Reset settings to their original defaults” button.
The Google Chrome will open the confirmation dialog box as shown in the figure below.
You need to confirm your action, press the “Reset” button. The browser will launch the procedure of cleaning. After it’s done, the web browser’s settings including search provider, new tab page and startpage back to the values which have been when the Google Chrome was first installed on your computer.
Remove TaskBrowser from Firefox
If the Firefox settings such as homepage, search provider and newtab page have been changed by the adware software, then resetting it to the default state can help. However, your saved bookmarks and passwords will not be lost. This will not affect your history, passwords, bookmarks, and other saved data.
First, open the Firefox and press 
button. It will display the drop-down menu on the right-part of the internet browser. Further, click the Help button (
) as on the image below.
In the Help menu, select the “Troubleshooting Information” option. Another way to open the “Troubleshooting Information” screen – type “about:support” in the internet browser adress bar and press Enter. It will show the “Troubleshooting Information” page as shown on the image below. In the upper-right corner of this screen, click the “Refresh Firefox” button.
It will display the confirmation prompt. Further, press the “Refresh Firefox” button. The Firefox will start a procedure to fix your problems that caused by the TaskBrowser adware software. When, it’s finished, click the “Finish” button.
Automatic Removal of TaskBrowser adware
Manual removal is not always as effective as you might think. Often, even the most experienced users may not completely delete TaskBrowser adware. So, we recommend to scan your MAC OS for any remaining harmful components with free adware software removal programs below.
Use MalwareBytes Free to remove TaskBrowser adware
Remove TaskBrowser manually is difficult and often the adware is not completely removed. Therefore, we advise you to use the MalwareBytes that are fully clean your MAC. Moreover, this free program will help you to remove malicious software, potentially unwanted applications, toolbars and browser hijacker infection that your MAC may be infected too.
Download MalwareBytes by clicking on the link below.
20850 downloads
Author: Malwarebytes
Category: Security tools
Update: September 10, 2020
After the download is done, close all apps and windows on your machine. Run the saved file. Follow the prompts.
The MalwareBytes will automatically start and you can see its main screen as shown in the figure below.
Now click the “Scan” button to start scanning your MAC for the TaskBrowser adware. A system scan can take anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes, depending on your MAC. While the MalwareBytes utility is checking, you can see number of objects it has identified as being affected by malware.
Once the scanning is complete, the results are displayed in the scan report. Review the results once the utility has finished the system scan. If you think an entry should not be quarantined, then uncheck it. Otherwise, simply click “Remove Selected Items” button. The MalwareBytes will get rid of TaskBrowser and add the selected items to the Quarantine.
Use AdBlocker to stay safe online
Use ad-blocking program such as AdGuard in order to stop advertisements, malvertisements, pop-ups and online trackers, avoid having to install malicious and adware browser plug-ins and add-ons which affect your machine performance and impact your MAC security. Browse the Web anonymously and stay safe online!
AdGuard can be downloaded from the following link.
3686 downloads
Author: © Adguard
Category: Security tools
Update: January 17, 2018
When the downloading process is done, launch the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” screen. Follow the prompts.
Each time, when you start your MAC OS, AdGuard will start automatically and stop annoying advertisements, block malicious or misleading websites.
To sum up
Once you’ve complete the steps outlined above, your Apple Mac should be free from TaskBrowser adware and other malware. The Safari, Chrome and Firefox will no longer reroute you to unwanted TaskBrowser ads. Unfortunately, if the tutorial does not help you, then you have caught a new adware software, and then the best way – ask for help here.
