UpgradeAssist is a potentially unwanted program (PUP) from the adware group. How does adware work? Adware is a type of invasive applications — which can affect MAC systems — occasionally reroute your web-browser to certain web pages so the owners of those sites can make revenue by displaying advertisements to visitors. It’s not a good idea to have installed adware software. The reason for this is simple, it doing things you do not know about. And of course you completely do not know what will happen when you click anything in the the UpgradeAssist adverts.
Unwanted ads
Does adware steal your personal data? UpgradeAssist can be used to collect lots of marketing-type data about you which can be later sold to third party companies. You do not know if your home address, account names and passwords are safe.
Threat Summary
| Name | UpgradeAssist, Upgrade Assist app/extension |
| Type | adware software, potentially unwanted application (PUA), pop-up ads, popup virus, pop-ups |
| Symptoms |
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| Removal | UpgradeAssist removal guide |
How does Adware get on your MAC OS
It is very important to pay attention to additional checkboxes during the install of free applications to avoid installing of PUPs, adware or other undesired programs. Never install the third-party applications that the program wants to install with it. Inattentive free software download can result in installation of PUPs and adware.
In this article we will discuss how can you get rid of UpgradeAssist ads from the Safari, Firefox and Chrome manually or with free adware removal utilities compatible with Microsoft Windows 10 (8, 7 and XP).
How to Remove UpgradeAssist adware (removal guide)
According to experienced security researchers, UpgradeAssist removal can be finished manually and/or automatically. These tools which are listed below will help you remove adware, malicious browser extensions, malicious software and potentially unwanted software . However, if you’re not willing to install other apps to remove UpgradeAssist adware, then use following guide to return your MAC settings to defaults.
To remove UpgradeAssist, complete the following steps:
- How to get rid of UpgradeAssist adware software without any software
- Automatic Removal of UpgradeAssist adware
- Use AdBlocker to stay safe online
- To sum up
How to get rid of UpgradeAssist adware software without any software
In this section of the post, we have posted the steps that will help to get rid of UpgradeAssist manually. Although compared to removal tools, this solution loses in time, but you don’t need to download anything on the MAC OS. It will be enough for you to follow the detailed tutorial with pictures. We tried to describe each step in detail, but if you realized that you might not be able to figure it out, or simply do not want to change the Microsoft Windows and web-browser settings, then it’s better for you to use tools from trusted developers, which are listed below.
Removing the UpgradeAssist, check the list of installed apps first
First, go to the Finder and uninstall dubious programs, all programs you don’t remember installing. It’s important to pay the most attention to software you installed just before UpgradeAssist ads appeared on your web-browser. If you don’t know what a program does, look for the answer on the Web.
Open Finder and click “Applications”.
Very carefully look around the entire list of software installed on your computer. Most likely, one of them is the UpgradeAssist adware software. If you have many software installed, you can help simplify the search of malicious software by sort the list by date of installation.
Once you have found a dubious, unwanted or unused program, right click to it and choose “Move to Trash”. Another method is drag the program from the Applications folder to the Trash.
Don’t forget, choose Finder -> “Empty Trash”.
Remove UpgradeAssist adware from Google Chrome
If you have adware software problem or the Google Chrome is running slow, then reset Chrome settings can help you. In the steps below we’ll show you a solution to reset your Google Chrome settings to default state without reinstall. This will also allow to delete UpgradeAssist ads from your browser.
- First start the Google Chrome and press Menu button (small button in the form of three dots).
- It will display the Chrome main menu. Select More Tools, then press Extensions.
- You will see the list of installed extensions. If the list has the add-on labeled with “Installed by enterprise policy” or “Installed by your administrator”, then complete the following tutorial: Remove Chrome extensions installed by enterprise policy.
- Now open the Google Chrome menu once again, press the “Settings” menu.
- You will see the Chrome’s settings page. Scroll down and click “Advanced” link.
- Scroll down again and press the “Reset” button.
- The Chrome will display the reset profile settings page as on the image above.
- Next press the “Reset” button.
- Once this process is finished, your browser’s start page, search engine and new tab page will be restored to their original defaults.
- To learn more, read the post How to reset Google Chrome settings to default.
Get rid of UpgradeAssist from Safari
If you find that Safari internet browser settings like new tab page, search engine and homepage having been modified by UpgradeAssist adware software, then you may restore your settings, via the reset browser procedure.
Click Safari menu and select “Preferences”.
It will open the Safari Preferences window. Next, click the “Extensions” tab. Look for unknown and suspicious addons on left panel, select it, then click the “Uninstall” button. Most important to get rid of all unknown plugins 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”.
Remove UpgradeAssist adware from Mozilla Firefox
This step will allow you delete UpgradeAssist ads, third-party toolbars, disable malicious plugins and revert back your default startpage, new tab and search engine settings.
Click the Menu button (looks like three horizontal lines), and click the blue Help icon located at the bottom of the drop down menu similar to the one below.
A small menu will appear, click the “Troubleshooting Information”. On this page, click “Refresh Firefox” button as displayed on the image below.
Follow the onscreen procedure to return your Firefox web browser settings to their default values.
Automatic Removal of UpgradeAssist adware
Is your Mac computer hijacked by adware? Then don’t worry, in the steps listed below, we are sharing best malicious software removal tools that has the ability to get rid of UpgradeAssist ads from the Mozilla Firefox, Safari and Chrome and your MAC OS.
How to automatically delete UpgradeAssist with MalwareBytes Free
Manual UpgradeAssist adware removal requires some computer skills. Some files that created by the adware can be not fully removed. We suggest that run the MalwareBytes Anti Malware that are fully free your machine of adware software. Moreover, this free tool will help you to get rid of browser hijacker, malware, potentially unwanted apps and toolbars that your MAC OS may be infected too.
- Installing the MalwareBytes Free is simple. First you will need to download MalwareBytes Anti Malware on your Microsoft Windows Desktop from the link below.
Malwarebytes Anti-malware (Mac)
20850 downloads
Author: Malwarebytes
Category: Security tools
Update: September 10, 2020
- When the downloading process is complete, please close all applications and open windows on your computer. Run the downloaded file. Follow the prompts.
- The MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (MBAM) will start and open the main window.
- Further, press the “Scan” button to perform a system scan for the UpgradeAssist . This procedure can take some time, so please be patient. While the MalwareBytes Free utility is checking, you can see how many objects it has identified as being infected by malicious software.
- After the checking is complete, the results are displayed in the scan report.
- Make sure all items have ‘checkmark’ and click the “Remove Selected Items” button.
- Close the AntiMalware and continue with the next step.
Use AdBlocker to stay safe online
It is important to use ad-blocker apps like AdGuard to protect your MAC OS from malicious webpages. Most security experts says that it is okay to block advertisements. You should do so just to stay safe! And, of course, the AdGuard can to stop misleading and other unwanted webpages.
- Please go to the link below to download the latest version of AdGuard for Apple Mac.
AdGuard for Mac download
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” program window. Follow the prompts.
- After the setup is done, press “Skip” to close the installation program and use the default settings, or press “Get Started” to see an quick tutorial which will help you get to know AdGuard better.
- In most cases, the default settings are enough and you don’t need to change anything. Each time, when you start your MAC system, AdGuard will start automatically and stop undesired ads, block harmful or misleading web sites.
To sum up
Once you have complete the step-by-step tutorial shown above, your machine should be free from UpgradeAssist and other malware. The Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Safari will no longer redirect you to various unwanted web-sites such as the UpgradeAssist ads. Unfortunately, if the steps does not help you, then you have caught a new adware, and then the best way – ask for help here.
