SearchLetters is a potentially unwanted program (PUP) from the Adware family. Adware can make big problem to your MAC system. Adware also known as ‘ad-supported’ software is harmful program that displays a huge number of advertisements in form of pop ups, discounting deals, banners or even fake alerts on the web-browser. Adware software can seriously affect your privacy, your computer’s performance and security. Adware software can be installed onto your Mac unknowingly (it is frequently a web browser extension).
Unwanted ads
The worst is, the SearchLetters adware may collect your Net browsing activity by recording URLs visited, IP addresses, internet browser version and type, cookie information, Internet Service Provider (ISP) and webpages visited. Such kind of behavior can lead to serious security problems or privacy data theft. This is another reason why the SearchLetters adware should be removed immediately.
You probably want to know how to remove the SearchLetters adware as well as get rid of unwanted ads. In the tutorial below we will tell you about how to solve your problems.
How does the SearchLetters adware get on your MAC
The most popular way to get adware is freeware setup file. Most commonly, a user have a chance to disable all included ‘offers’, but certain installers are designed to confuse the average users, in order to trick them into installing PUPs and adware software. Anyway, easier to prevent adware rather than clean up your machine after one. So, keep your web browser updated (turn on automatic updates), use good antivirus software, double check free programs before you launch it (do a google search, scan a downloaded file with VirusTotal), avoid malicious and unknown websites.
Threat Summary
| Name | SearchLetters, Search Letters 1.0 app |
| Type | adware, potentially unwanted application (PUA), pop-up advertisements, pop-up virus, pop ups |
| Symptoms |
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| Removal | SearchLetters removal guide |
How to Remove SearchLetters adware
In most cases adware software requires more than a simple uninstall with the help of the Finder in order to be fully deleted. For that reason, our team created several removal ways that we’ve combined in a detailed guide. Therefore, if you have the SearchLetters adware on your Apple Mac and are currently trying to have it deleted then feel free to follow the guidance below in order to resolve your problem. Certain of the steps will require you to restart your MAC OS or close this web page. So, read this instructions carefully, then bookmark this page or open it on your smartphone for later reference.
To remove SearchLetters, execute the steps below:
- How to manually remove SearchLetters
- Automatic Removal of SearchLetters adware
- How to stay safe online
- To sum up
How to manually remove SearchLetters
First of all, try to remove SearchLetters adware software manually; to do this, follow the steps below. Of course, manual removal of adware requires more time and may not be suitable for those who are poorly versed in system settings. In this case, we suggest that you scroll down to the section that describes how to remove SearchLetters using free utilities.
Uninstall PUPs through the Finder
First of all, check the list of installed software on your Apple Mac and uninstall all unknown and recently installed programs. If you see an unknown program with incorrect spelling or varying capital letters, it have most likely been installed by malicious software and you should clean it off first with malware removal tool like MalwareBytes Free.
Open Finder and click “Applications”.
Very carefully look around the entire list of apps installed on your MAC system. Most likely, one of them is the SearchLetters adware. If you have many apps installed, you can help simplify the search of malicious apps 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 way is drag the application from the Applications folder to the Trash.
Don’t forget, select Finder -> “Empty Trash”.
Remove SearchLetters from Mozilla Firefox by resetting web browser settings
The Firefox reset will remove the SearchLetters ads, modified preferences, extensions and security settings. When using the reset feature, your personal information such as passwords, bookmarks, browsing history and web form auto-fill data will be saved.
Click the Menu button (looks like three horizontal lines), and click the blue Help icon located at the bottom of the drop down menu as displayed below.
A small menu will appear, press the “Troubleshooting Information”. On this page, press “Refresh Firefox” button as shown on the image below.
Follow the onscreen procedure to revert back your Firefox browser settings to their original state.
Remove SearchLetters adware from Google Chrome
Unwanted SearchLetters ads or other symptom of having adware in your web browser is a good reason to reset Google Chrome. This is an easy method to recover the Chrome settings and not lose any important information.
- First, start the Google Chrome and click the Menu icon (icon in the form of three dots).
- It will open the Chrome main menu. Select More Tools, then click Extensions.
- You will see the list of installed addons. If the list has the plugin labeled with “Installed by enterprise policy” or “Installed by your administrator”, then complete the following guide: Remove Chrome extensions installed by enterprise policy.
- Now open the Chrome menu once again, click the “Settings” menu.
- Next, click “Advanced” link, that located at the bottom of the Settings page.
- On the bottom of the “Advanced settings” page, click the “Reset settings to their original defaults” button.
- The Google Chrome will show the reset settings dialog box as shown on the screen above.
- Confirm the internet browser’s reset by clicking on the “Reset” button.
- To learn more, read the post How to reset Google Chrome settings to default.
Remove SearchLetters adware software from Safari
The Safari reset is great if your internet browser is hijacked by SearchLetters or you have unwanted add-ons or toolbars on your browser, that installed by an malicious software.
Click Safari menu and select “Preferences”.
It will open the Safari Preferences window. Next, click the “Extensions” tab. Look for unknown and suspicious plugins on left panel, select it, then press the “Uninstall” button. Most important to remove all unknown addons 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”.
Automatic Removal of SearchLetters adware
The easiest method to get rid of SearchLetters adware is to run an anti-malware application capable of detecting adware. We advise try MalwareBytes Free or another free malware remover which listed below. It has excellent detection rate when it comes to adware, browser hijackers and other potentially unwanted apps.
Run MalwareBytes Free to remove SearchLetters adware
You can delete SearchLetters automatically through the use of MalwareBytes Anti-Malware. We suggest this free malicious software removal utility because it can easily delete browser hijacker infection, adware software, PUPs and toolbars with all their components such as files, folders and registry entries.
MalwareBytes can be downloaded from the following link.
20850 downloads
Author: Malwarebytes
Category: Security tools
Update: September 10, 2020
Once the downloading process is complete, close all applications and windows on your computer. Open a directory in which you saved it. Run the saved file and follow the prompts.
Once installation is done, you’ll see window as displayed on the screen below.
Now click the “Scan” button to begin checking your computer for the SearchLetters adware. A scan can take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the number of files on your MAC system and the speed of your computer. During the scan MalwareBytes Free will locate threats present on your MAC.
When finished, MalwareBytes Anti Malware (MBAM) will display a list of found threats. Make sure all items have ‘checkmark’ and press “Remove Selected Items” button.
The Malwarebytes will now begin to remove SearchLetters adware software.
How to stay safe online
Running an ad blocking program like AdGuard is an effective way to alleviate the risks. Additionally, ad-blocking applications will also protect you from malicious ads and web pages, and, of course, block redirection chain to misleading and similar webpages.
Download AdGuard by clicking on the link below.
3686 downloads
Author: © Adguard
Category: Security tools
Update: January 17, 2018
When downloading is complete, run the downloaded file. The “Setup Wizard” window will show up on the computer screen.
Follow the prompts. AdGuard will then be installed. A window will show up asking you to confirm that you want to see a quick guidance. Press “Skip” button to close the window and use the default settings, or press “Get Started” to see an quick tutorial that will allow you get to know AdGuard better.
Each time, when you run your MAC, AdGuard will start automatically and stop intrusive popups, block malicious and misleading webpages.
To sum up
Now your machine should be free of the SearchLetters adware. We suggest that you keep AdGuard (to help you stop unwanted ads and undesired malicious webpages) and MalwareBytes AntiMalware (MBAM) (to periodically scan your machine for new malware, browser hijacker infections and adware). Make sure that you have all the Critical Updates recommended for Mac operating system. Without regular updates you WILL NOT be protected when new browser hijacker infections, malicious programs and adware software are released.
If you are still having problems while trying to remove SearchLetters ads from your browser, then ask for help here.
