How to uninstall SystemMonitor app/extension from Mac

What is SystemMonitor

SystemMonitor is supposed to be an app that will improve the browsing experience, but it is adware. Adware is a type of malicious software. It is developed to bombard you with endless advertisements and pop up windows that could potentially be dangerous for your machine. If you get adware on your MAC OS, it can alter browser settings and install harmful browser extensions.

Another reason why you need to remove the SystemMonitor adware is its online data-tracking activity. Adware can gather lots of marketing-type data about you such as what websites you are opening, what you are looking for the Internet and so on. This privacy information, subsequently, may be transferred third party companies.

As evident, the SystemMonitor adware is quite dangerous. So, we suggest you delete it from your machine ASAP. Follow the tutorial presented below to remove SystemMonitor from your MAC OS and Chrome, Safari and Mozilla Firefox.

How does SystemMonitor get on your machine

These days certain free programs makers bundle PUPs or adware with a view to making some money. These are not freeware as install an unwanted software on to your MAC. So whenever you install a new free applications that downloaded from the Internet, be very careful during install. Carefully read the EULA (a text with I ACCEPT/I DECLINE button), select custom or manual installation option, disable all additional programs.

Threat Summary

Name	SystemMonitor, SystemMonitor 1.0 app
Type	adware, potentially unwanted program (PUP), pop-ups, pop up ads, popup virus
Symptoms	you experience a huge count of of unwanted popup ads every time you perform an Internet search, your web-browser is redirected to another web-site your Apple Mac starts automatically installing unexpected applications new add-ons suddenly added on your web-browser your web-browser startpage or search engine keeps changing or is not set to Google anymor low ping but slow Internet your MAC system is no stable leading to freezes
Removal	SystemMonitor removal guide

How to remove SystemMonitor from Mac computer

According to security experts, SystemMonitor removal can be complete manually and/or automatically. These utilities which are listed below will help you remove adware, malicious web-browser extensions, malicious software and PUPs . However, if you’re not willing to install other apps to remove adware, then use steps listed below to revert back your Apple Mac settings to defaults.

To remove SystemMonitor, complete the steps below:

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

Remove profiles created by SystemMonitor

SystemMonitor can make changes to the Mac system such as malicious changes to browser settings, and the addition of malicious system profiles. You need to check the system preferences, find and remove malicious profiles and ensure your settings are as you expect.

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 SystemMonitor.

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

Remove SystemMonitor related programs through the Finder

Check the list of installed programs on your Mac and delete 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 such as MalwareBytes Free.

Make sure you have closed all browsers and other apps. Next, delete any unrequested and suspicious apps from MAC using the Finder.

Open Finder and click “Applications”.

Look around the entire list of software installed on your MAC OS. Most probably, one of them is the SystemMonitor adware. Choose the questionable program or the application that name is not familiar to you and remove it.

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

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

Remove SystemMonitor related files and folders

Now you need to try to find SystemMonitor 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 SystemMonitor 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: SystemMonitor.plist, installapp.plist, com.machelper.plist, search.plist and macsearch.plist. Most often, adware, browser hijackers and PUPs create several files with similar names.

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

Scan your Mac with MalwareBytes

If you carefully followed the previous steps, then you should be able to get rid of SystemMonitor. Of course, very often adware software, PUPs and browser hijackers 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 adware, PUPs and browser hijackers. Therefore, we advise you to use MalwareBytes to scan the Mac computer.

Download MalwareBytes by clicking on the link below.

Once downloading is complete, run it and follow the prompts. Press the “Scan” button to perform a system scan for the SystemMonitor adware. A system scan can take anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes, depending on your MAC. When a threat is found, the count of the security threats will change accordingly. All detected items will be marked. You can remove them all by simply press the “Quarantine” button.

The MalwareBytes Free is a free program that you can use to remove all detected folders, files, malicious services and so on.

Remove SystemMonitor from Safari, Chrome, Firefox

If you are still getting SystemMonitor , then you can try to delete it by removing harmful extensions.

Google Chrome	Mozilla Firefox
In the top-right corner, expand the Chrome menu. When the drop-down menu appears, select ‘More tools’ and click on ‘Extensions’. Click ‘Remove’ to uninstall an extension. Click ‘Remove’ in the dialog box. You can also try to remove SystemMonitor adware 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 issues with SystemMonitor adware software 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

It’s also critical to protect your web-browsers from harmful websites and advertisements by using an ad-blocking program such as AdGuard. Security experts says that it’ll greatly reduce the risk of malware, and potentially save lots of money. Additionally, the AdGuard can also protect your privacy by blocking almost all trackers.

1. Download AdGuard by clicking on the following link.
   
   

   AdGuard for Mac download
   3687 downloads
   Author: © Adguard
   Category: Security tools
   Update: January 17, 2018
   
2. Once the downloading process is complete, start the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” program window. Follow the prompts.
3. When the setup is complete, click “Skip” to close the installation program and use the default settings, or click “Get Started” to see an quick tutorial which will help 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 launch your MAC system, AdGuard will start automatically and stop intrusive ads, block harmful and misleading web-sites.

Finish words

Now your MAC should be free of the SystemMonitor adware. We suggest that you keep MalwareBytes (to periodically scan your MAC OS for new adwares and other malware) and AdGuard (to help you stop intrusive popup ads and harmful web-pages). Moreover, to prevent any adware, please stay clear of unknown and third party apps.

If you need more help with SystemMonitor related issues, go to here.