How to uninstall SkillFormat app/extension from Mac

What is SkillFormat

SkillFormat is a potentially unwanted program (PUP) that belongs to the Adware group . Adware is ‘advertising supported’ software that tries to generate revenue by redirecting you to unwanted webpages or online advertisements. It has different ways of earning money including showing up adverts on the web-browser forcefully. Most of adware gets installed when you’re downloading freeware or browser plugins.

Does adware steal your privacy data? Adware may monetize its functionality by gathering user info from your surfing sessions. This confidential information, later, can be easily sold to third parties. This puts your privacy info at a security risk.

We recommend to get rid of SkillFormat adware, as soon as you found this problem, as it can redirect your web-browser to web-resources that may load other unwanted programs on your MAC OS.

How does SkillFormat get on your MAC

Adware usually comes on the MAC with free software. In many cases, it comes without the user’s knowledge. Therefore, many users aren’t even aware that their Apple Mac has been infected by PUPs and adware. Please follow the easy rules in order to protect your MAC OS from adware software and PUPs: do not install any suspicious programs, read the user agreement and select only the Custom, Manual or Advanced installation type, don’t rush to press the Next button. Also, always try to find a review of the program on the Internet. Be careful and attentive!

Threat Summary

Name	SkillFormat, SkillFormat 1.0 app
Type	adware, potentially unwanted application (PUA), pop ups, pop up ads, pop-up virus
Symptoms	pop-ups and newtab pages are loaded without your request you keep getting redirected to questionable web-sites unwanted programs installed without your consent unwanted internet browser add-ons or toolbars keep coming back your browser start page or search engine keeps changing or is not set to Google anymor slow Internet or slow browsing your machine starts performing very slowly
Removal	SkillFormat removal guide

How to remove SkillFormat from Mac computer

There are several steps to uninstalling the SkillFormat adware, because it installs itself so deeply into the MAC. You need to uninstall all suspicious and unknown programs, then remove malicious plugins from the Firefox, Safari and Chrome and other web-browsers you have installed. Finally, you need to reset your web-browser settings to delete any changes the adware has made, and then scan your Apple Mac with MalwareBytes Anti-Malware to ensure the adware is fully removed. It will take a while.

To remove SkillFormat, complete the steps below:

1. Remove unwanted profiles on Mac device
2. Delete SkillFormat associated software by using the Finder
3. Remove SkillFormat related files and folders
4. Scan your Mac with MalwareBytes
5. Remove SkillFormat from Safari, Chrome, Firefox
6. How to stay safe online
7. To sum up

Remove unwanted profiles on Mac device

SkillFormat can install a configuration profile on the Mac system to block changes made to the browser settings. Therefore, you need to open system preferences, find and delete the profile installed by the adware.

Click Apple menu ( ) > System Preferences.

In System Preferences, select Profiles. if there is no Profiles in the list of preferences, that means there are no profiles installed on the Mac. If there is Profiles in the list, then click on it, then select a profile related to SkillFormat.

To delete a malicious profile, click on the minus button ( – ) located at the bottom-left of the Profiles screen.

Delete SkillFormat associated software by using the Finder

Check the list of installed programs and remove all unknown or suspicious apps. This is an important step, it so often happens that adware, browser hijackers and PUPs are built into freeware, so by removing these programs you can get rid of web-browser redirects and unwanted advertisements.

Open Finder and click “Applications”.

Very carefully look around the entire list of programs installed on your MAC OS. Most probably, one of them is the SkillFormat adware. Once you’ve found a dubious, unwanted or unused program, right click to it and select “Move to Trash”. Another method is drag the program from the Applications folder to the Trash.

Don’t forget, choose Finder -> “Empty Trash”.

Remove SkillFormat related files and folders

Now you need to try to find SkillFormat related files and folders, and then delete them manually. You need to look for these files in certain directories. To quickly open them, we recommend using the “Go to Folder…” command.

Click on the Finder icon. From the menu bar, select Go and click “Go to Folder…”. As a result, a small window opens that allows you to quickly open a specific directory.

Check for SkillFormat generated files in the /Library/LaunchAgents folder

In the “Go to Folder…” window, type the following text and press Go:
/Library/LaunchAgents

This will open the contents of the “/Library/LaunchAgents” folder. Look carefully at it and pay special attention to recently created files, as well as files that have a suspicious name. Move all suspicious files to the Trash. A few examples of files: installapp.plist, com.machelper.plist, search.plist, SkillFormat.plist and macsearch.plist. Most often, adware software, PUPs and browser hijackers create several files with similar names.

Check for SkillFormat generated files in the /Library/Application Support folder

In the “Go to Folder…” window, type the following text and press Go:
/Library/Application Support

This will open the contents of the “Application Support” folder. Look carefully at its contents, pay special attention to recently added/changed folder. Move all suspicious folders to the Trash.

Check for SkillFormat generated files in the “~/Library/LaunchAgents” folder

In the “Go to Folder…” window, type the following text and press Go:
~/Library/LaunchAgents

Proceed in the same way as with the “/Library/LaunchAgents” and “/Library/Application Support” folders. Look for suspicious and recently added files. Move all suspicious files to the Trash.

Check for SkillFormat generated files in the /Library/LaunchDaemons folder

In the “Go to Folder…” window, type the following text and press Go:
/Library/LaunchDaemons

Carefully browse the entire list of files and pay special attention to recently created files, as well as files that have a suspicious name. Move all suspicious files to the Trash. A few examples of files to be deleted: com.SkillFormat.plist, com.installapp.plist, com.macsearch.plist, com.machelper.plist and com.search.plist. In most cases, browser hijackers, adware and potentially unwanted programs create several files with similar names.

Scan your Mac with MalwareBytes

We suggest using MalwareBytes Free. You may download and install MalwareBytes Anti-Malware to search for and delete SkillFormat related applications from your Mac computer. When installed and updated, the malicious software remover automatically detects and removes all security threats present on the Apple Mac.

Installing the MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (MBAM) is simple. First you’ll need to download MalwareBytes Anti Malware by clicking on the following link. Save it to your Desktop so that you can access the file easily.

Once the downloading process is complete, run it and follow the prompts. Press the “Scan” button to perform a system scan for the SkillFormat . Depending on your MAC system, the scan may take anywhere from a few minutes to close to an hour. When a threat is detected, the number of the security threats will change accordingly. When you are ready, click the “Quarantine” button.

The MalwareBytes is a free application that you can use to get rid of all detected folders, files, malicious services and so on.

Remove SkillFormat from Safari, Chrome, Firefox

If you’re still getting unwanted ads, then you can try to remove it by removing malicious extensions.

Google Chrome	Mozilla Firefox
In the top-right corner, expand the Google Chrome menu. Select ‘More tools’, then ‘Extensions’. Click ‘Remove’ to uninstall an extension. Click ‘Remove’ in the dialog box. You can also try to remove SkillFormat by reset Chrome settings.	Click on ‘menu’ button and select ‘Add-ons’. Go to ‘Extensions’ tab. To uninstall an add-on, click on ‘Remove’ button next to it. If you are still experiencing problems with SkillFormat adware removal, you need to reset Firefox browser.
Safari
On the top menu select ‘Safari’, then ‘Preferences’. Select ‘Extensions’ tab. Select an extension you want to delete and click ‘Uninstall’ button next to it.

How to stay safe online

One of the worst things is the fact that you cannot stop all malicious web pages using only built-in Microsoft Windows capabilities. However, there is a application out that you can use to block undesired web-browser redirections, advertisements and popups in any modern web-browsers including Firefox, Safari and Google Chrome. It’s named Adguard and it works very well.

AdGuard can be downloaded from the following link.

After the download is finished, start the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” screen. Follow the prompts.

Each time, when you start your Apple Mac, AdGuard will start automatically and stop intrusive popup advertisements, block malicious and misleading web-pages.

To sum up

After completing the steps outlined above, your Apple Mac should be clean from this adware and other malicious software. The Firefox, Chrome and Safari will no longer display any unwanted ads when you browse the World Wide Web. Unfortunately, if the guidance does not help you, then you have caught a new adware, and then the best way – ask for help.

Please create a new question by using the “Ask Question” button in the Questions and Answers. 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 the SkillFormat adware.