How to uninstall ActivityInput app/extension from Mac

What is ActivityInput

According to security researchers, ActivityInput is an adware program. In most cases, adware installs on the MAC OS in a bundle with free programs that you downloaded and installed from the Internet. Once it gets inside your MAC, it will configure itself to start automatically when the Mac start. Adware software can modify web-browser settings, redirect your web-browser to unwanted websites, display unwanted advertisements from various third-party ad networks and these intrusive advertisements is troublesome to shut down.

Does adware software steal your privacy data? Adware can gather a wide variety of your confidential information to get profit. Adware can analyze your browsing, and gain access to your personal information and, subsequently, can transfer it to third parties. Thus, there are more than enough reasons to remove adware from your MAC.

How does ActivityInput get on your MAC

The most common way to get adware is a freeware install package. In many cases, a user have a chance to disable all unnecessary modules, but certain setup files are developed to confuse the average users, in order to trick them into installing PUPs and adware software. Anyway, easier to prevent adware software rather than clean up your MAC after one. So, keep your internet browser updated (turn on automatic updates), use good antivirus software, double check free applications before you launch it (do a google search, scan a downloaded file with VirusTotal), avoid shady
and unknown web-pages.

Threat Summary

Name	ActivityInput, ActivityInput 1.0 app
Type	adware, potentially unwanted program (PUP), pop-ups, pop up advertisements, pop-up virus
Symptoms	you experience a large amount of of unexpected popup windows you keep getting redirected to questionable web-pages new entries appear in your Applications folder unwanted browser toolbars your internet browser home page has changed and you cannot change it back slow Internet browsing speeds CPU usage seems unusually high
Removal	ActivityInput removal guide

How to remove ActivityInput from Mac device

We can help you delete ActivityInput from your internet browser without the need to take your MAC OS to a professional. Simply follow the removal guide below if you currently have the unwanted adware on your computer and want to get rid of it. If you’ve any difficulty while trying to remove the adware, feel free to ask for our assist in the comment section below. Read this manual carefully, bookmark it or open this page on your smartphone, because you may need to close your browser or reboot your machine.

To remove ActivityInput, follow the steps below:

1. Remove profiles created by ActivityInput
2. Remove ActivityInput related applications through the Finder
3. Remove ActivityInput related files and folders
4. Scan your Mac with MalwareBytes
5. Remove ActivityInput from Safari, Chrome, Firefox
6. How to stay safe online
7. Finish words

Remove profiles created by ActivityInput

ActivityInput 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 software.

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 computer. If there is Profiles in the list, then click on it, then select a profile related to ActivityInput.

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

Remove ActivityInput related applications through the Finder

Check out the Finder (Applications section) to see all installed applications. If you see any unknown and dubious programs, they are the ones you need to delete.

Make sure you have closed all browsers and other apps. Next, uninstall any unknown and suspicious applications from MAC OS using the Finder.

Open Finder and click “Applications”.

Look around the entire list of applications installed on your Apple Mac. Most probably, one of them is the ActivityInput . Select the suspicious program or the application that name is not familiar to you and remove it.

Drag the suspicious program from the Applications folder to the Trash.

Most important, don’t forget, choose Finder -> Empty Trash.

Remove ActivityInput related files and folders

Now you need to try to find ActivityInput 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 ActivityInput 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, macsearch.plist, com.machelper.plist, ActivityInput.plist and search.plist. Most often, adware, browser hijackers and potentially unwanted programs create several files with similar names.

Check for ActivityInput 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 ActivityInput 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 ActivityInput 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.machelper.plist, com.macsearch.plist, com.ActivityInput.plist, com.search.plist and com.installapp.plist. In most cases, browser hijackers, adware and potentially unwanted programs create several files with similar names.

Scan your Mac with MalwareBytes

If you carefully followed the previous steps, then you should be able to delete ActivityInput. Of course, very often potentially unwanted programs, browser hijackers and adware software hides on a Mac computer, disguising itself as legitimate apps and files. Therefore, in some cases, it is difficult for an inexperienced user to decide whether a particular file is part of browser hijackers, adware software and potentially unwanted programs. Therefore, we suggest you to run MalwareBytes to scan the Mac.

Download MalwareBytes on your Apple Mac by clicking on the link below.

Once downloading is done, close all software 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 on the image below.

Now press the “Scan” button to perform a system scan for the ActivityInput adware. Depending on your MAC OS, the scan can take anywhere from a few minutes to close to an hour.

When the scanning is finished, MalwareBytes Free will display a list of detected items. When you are ready, click the “Quarantine” button. The MalwareBytes AntiMalware (MBAM) will remove ActivityInput adware and move the selected items to the Quarantine.

Remove ActivityInput from Safari, Chrome, Firefox

If you’re still seeing ActivityInput adware software that won’t go away, you might have malicious add-ons installed on your web-browser. Check your internet browser for unwanted plugins using the steps below.

Google Chrome	Mozilla Firefox
In the top right corner, click on Chrome’s main menu button, represented by three vertical dots. When the drop-down menu appears, choose ‘More tools’ and click on ‘Extensions’. Click ‘Remove’ to uninstall an extension. Click ‘Remove’ in the dialog box. You can also try to delete ActivityInput adware software 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 ActivityInput adware removal, you need to reset Mozilla 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

We recommend to install an ad blocker program. The adblocker tool such as AdGuard is a program which basically removes advertising from the Internet and blocks access to malicious web-sites. Moreover, security experts says that using ad-blocking applications is necessary to stay safe when surfing the Net.

1. Download AdGuard from the following link.
   
   

   AdGuard for Mac download
   3687 downloads
   Author: © Adguard
   Category: Security tools
   Update: January 17, 2018
   
2. After the downloading process is complete, launch the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” program window. Follow the prompts.
3. After the setup is done, press “Skip” to close the installation program and use the default settings, or click “Get Started” to see an quick tutorial which will allow you get to know AdGuard better.
4. In most cases, the default settings are enough and you do not need to change anything. Each time, when you run your MAC, AdGuard will run automatically and stop undesired advertisements, block harmful and misleading web pages.

Finish words

Now your machine should be clean of the ActivityInput adware. We suggest that you keep AdGuard (to help you block unwanted pop ups and unwanted malicious websites) and MalwareBytes (to periodically scan your machine for new malicious software, hijackers and adware). 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, malicious programs and adware software are released.

If you are still having problems while trying to delete ActivityInput from your internet browser, then ask for help here.