According to security researchers, SearchMainInfo is a PUP (potentially unwanted program) that belongs to the Adware family. How can Adware be dangerous to your MAC OS? Adware is form of software designed to insert ads into your Internet surfing or even desktop experience. Adware software can be developed to alter your home page, search provider, search results, or even add toolbars to your web browser. Adware run in the background when you’re online, and adware can slow down your computer and affect its performance.
Unwanted ads
Another reason why you need to remove SearchMainInfo is its online data-tracking activity. It has the ability to gather a wide variety of your personal data such as what websites you are opening, what you are looking for the Internet and so on. This personal information, subsequently, may be sold to third party companies.
By following steps below it’s easy to remove adware and unwanted ads from Safari, Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox and your MAC system. Learn how to uninstall SearchMainInfo and other PUPs, as well as how to run a full MAC system virus scan.
How does SearchMainInfo get on your computer
Adware software most likely to occur during the setup of freeware due the fact that potentially unwanted software like this are mostly hidden in the installer. Thus, if you have installed some free software using Quick(Standard) method, you may have let adware software get inside your machine. Keep in mind that the Quick mode is unreliable because it do not warn about optional programs. Thus, third-party programs will be installed automatically unless you select Advanced/Custom method and disable its installation.
Threat Summary
| Name | SearchMainInfo, Search Main Info 1.0 app |
| Type | adware, potentially unwanted application (PUA), pop up virus, pop up ads, popups |
| Symptoms |
|
| Removal | SearchMainInfo removal guide |
Remove SearchMainInfo adware (removal tutorial)
Fortunately, it is not hard to uninstall SearchMainInfo. In the following guide, we will provide two methods to free your Apple Mac of the adware software. One is the manual removal method and the other is automatic removal method. You can select the solution that best fits you. Please follow the removal guidance below to remove the SearchMainInfo adware right now!
To remove SearchMainInfo, use the following steps:
- How to get rid of SearchMainInfo adware without any software
- Automatic Removal of SearchMainInfo adware software
- How to stay safe online
- To sum up
How to get rid of SearchMainInfo adware without any software
The step-by-step tutorial will help you manually delete SearchMainInfo ads from your internet browser. If you have little experience in using computers, we suggest that you use the free utilities listed below.
Remove PUPs through the Finder
Check out the Finder (Applications section) to see all installed apps. If you see any unknown and questionable programs, they are the ones you need to delete.
Open Finder and click “Applications”.
Carefully browse through the list of installed applications and get rid of all suspicious and unknown applications.
After you have found anything questionable that may be the SearchMainInfo adware or other potentially unwanted program, then right click this application and choose “Move to Trash”. Once complete, Empty Trash.
Remove SearchMainInfo adware software from Chrome
In this step we are going to show you how to reset Google Chrome settings. PUPs like the adware software can make changes to your browser settings, add toolbars and undesired extensions. By resetting Chrome settings you will remove SearchMainInfo ads and reset unwanted changes caused by adware software. It’ll keep your personal information such as browsing history, bookmarks, passwords and web form auto-fill data.
Open the Google Chrome menu by clicking on the button in the form of three horizontal dotes (
). It will show the drop-down menu. Choose More Tools, then press Extensions.
Carefully browse through the list of installed add-ons. If the list has the addon labeled with “Installed by enterprise policy” or “Installed by your administrator”, then complete the following guidance: Remove Google Chrome extensions installed by enterprise policy otherwise, just go to the step below.
Open the Chrome main menu again, click to “Settings” option.
Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the “Advanced” link. Now scroll down until the Reset settings section is visible, like the one below and press the “Reset settings to their original defaults” button.
Confirm your action, click the “Reset” button.
Get rid of SearchMainInfo adware from Safari
If you find that Safari browser settings such as default search provider, startpage and new tab page having been changed by the SearchMainInfo adware, then you may revert back your settings, via the reset web-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 dubious add-ons on left panel, select it, then click the “Uninstall” button. Most important to remove all questionable extensions from Safari.
Once complete, check your start page and search provider 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 engine. In some versions of Safari, this setting is in the “Search” tab.
Delete SearchMainInfo from Mozilla Firefox
If the Firefox settings are hijacked by the SearchMainInfo adware, then resetting it to the default state can help. However, your saved passwords and bookmarks will not be changed, deleted or cleared.
Click the Menu button (looks like three horizontal lines), and click the blue Help icon located at the bottom of the drop down menu like below.
A small menu will appear, click the “Troubleshooting Information”. On this page, click “Refresh Firefox” button as displayed in the following example.
Follow the onscreen procedure to return your Firefox web browser settings to their default values.
Automatic Removal of SearchMainInfo adware software
If you are not expert at MAC system technology, then we suggest to run free removal tools listed below to get rid of SearchMainInfo adware for good. The automatic way is highly recommended. It has less steps and easier to implement than the manual method. Moreover, it lower risk of system damage. So, the automatic SearchMainInfo removal is a better option.
Use MalwareBytes to remove SearchMainInfo adware
If you’re still having issues with the SearchMainInfo adware removal or just wish to check your Apple Mac occasionally for adware software and other malicious software, then download MalwareBytes AntiMalware. It’s free for home use, and searches for and removes various undesired programs that attacks your MAC or degrades machine performance. MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (MBAM) can delete browser hijacker, adware software, PUPs as well as malicious software, including ransomware and trojans.
- Download MalwareBytes on your Apple Mac from the following link.
Malwarebytes Anti-malware (Mac)
20984 downloads
Author: Malwarebytes
Category: Security tools
Update: September 10, 2020
- After downloading is finished, close all programs and windows on your MAC system. Open a directory in which you saved it. Run the downloaded file and follow the prompts.
- Click the “Scan” button . MalwareBytes program will scan through the whole MAC system for the SearchMainInfo adware.
- When MalwareBytes completes the scan, you can check all items detected on your MAC. Once you’ve selected what you want to remove from your machine press “Remove Selected Items”.
How to stay safe online
If you browse the Internet, you cannot avoid malvertising. But you can protect your browser against it. Download and run an ad-blocking program. AdGuard is an adblocker which can filter out a large amount of of the malvertising, stoping dynamic scripts from loading harmful content.
Please go to the following link to download AdGuard.
3772 downloads
Author: © Adguard
Category: Security tools
Update: January 17, 2018
When the download is done, launch the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” screen. Follow the prompts.
Each time, when you launch your machine, AdGuard will start automatically and stop intrusive advertisements, block harmful and misleading web-sites.
To sum up
Now your Apple Mac should be free of the SearchMainInfo adware software. We suggest that you keep AdGuard (to help you stop unwanted pop up advertisements and intrusive harmful web pages) and MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (to periodically scan your machine for new malware, browser hijacker infections and adware software). Make sure that you have all the Critical Updates recommended for Mac OS. Without regular updates you WILL NOT be protected when new browser hijackers, harmful software and adware are released.
If you are still having problems while trying to remove SearchMainInfo ads from your web-browser, then ask for help here.
