How to uninstall DominantCommand app/extension from Mac

What is DominantCommand

DominantCommand is a potentially unwanted application (PUA) that falls under the category of Adware. Adware is a part of malicious software developed to throw advertisements up on your web-browser screen. Adware software generates money for its developer by constantly showing a large amount of ads and pop-up deals. You might experience a change in your start page or search engine, new tabs opening or even a redirect to shady web-pages.

The worst is, adware has the ability to collect your surfing history and personal info, including passwords and credit card numbers. In the future, marketing-type data about you can be sold to third parties. Adware is usually written in ways common to malicious software, spyware and browser hijackers. In order to remove DominantCommand adware, you will need perform the following steps or run free adware removal tool listed below.

How does DominantCommand get on your computer

Most of unwanted ads and pop ups come from web-browser toolbars and/or addons, BHOs (browser helper objects) and additional software. In many cases, these items claim itself as applications that improve your experience on the Internet by providing a fast and interactive start page or a search engine that does not track you. Remember, how to avoid the unwanted apps. Be cautious, run only reputable software which download from reputable sources. NEVER install any unknown and dubious applications.

Threat Summary

Name	DominantCommand, DominantCommand 1.0 app
Type	adware software, PUP (potentially unwanted program), Mac malware, Mac virus
Detection Names	Adware/Adload!OSX, ApplicUnwnt, Osx.Adware.Cimpli, Trojan-Downloader.OSX.Adload, Adware.MAC.Generic, MacOS.Agent-MT, OSX.Trojan.Gen and Program:MacOS/Vigram.A
Distribution	Freeware installers, malicious pop-up advertisements, fake updaters and torrent downloads
Symptoms	The web site links redirect to a webpages different from what you expected, pop-up ads won’t go away, your machine starts automatically installing unwanted software, new toolbars in your web browser, your web browser startpage has replaced and you are unable to modify it back, your web-browser slows to a crawl.
Removal	DominantCommand removal guide

How to remove DominantCommand from Mac

To remove DominantCommand from your MAC, you must uninstall all suspicious programs and every file that could be related to the adware. Besides, to restore your web browser newtab page, default search provider and homepage, you should reset the hijacked web browsers. As soon as you are finished with adware removal procedure, we suggest you scan your OS with malware removal utilities listed below. It will complete the removal process on your MAC.

To remove DominantCommand, execute the steps below:

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

Remove unwanted profiles on Mac device

DominantCommand 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 the System Preferences icon ( ) in the Dock, or choose Apple menu ( ) > System Preferences.

In System Preferences, click Profiles, then select a profile associated with DominantCommand.

Click the minus button ( – ) located at the bottom-left of the Profiles screen to remove the profile.
Note: if you do not see Profiles in the System Preferences, that means there are no profiles installed on your Mac computer, which is normal.

Delete DominantCommand related apps through the Finder

Some of browser hijackers, PUPs and adware can be removed using the Move to Trash utility that may be found in the Finder. So, if you are running any version of Apple Mac and you have noticed an unwanted program, then first try to get rid of it through the Finder.

Open Finder and click “Applications”.

Carefully browse through the list of installed software and delete all suspicious and unknown apps.

When you’ve found anything suspicious that may be the DominantCommand adware or other PUP, then right click this application and choose “Move to Trash”. Once complete, Empty Trash.

Remove DominantCommand related files and folders

Now you need to try to find DominantCommand 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.

DominantCommand creates several files, these files must be found and removed. Below is a list of files associated with this unwanted program.

• /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.DominantCommand.system.plist
• ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.DominantCommand.service.plist
• /Library/Application Support/.(RANDOM)/System/com.DominantCommand.system
• ~/Library/Application Support/.(RANDOM)/Services/com.DominantCommand.service.app

Some files created by DominantCommand are hidden from the user. To find and delete them, you need to enable “show hidden files”. To do this, use the shortcut CMD + SHIFT + . Press once to show hidden files and again to hide them. There is another way. Click Finder -> Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal. In Terminal, paste the following text: defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles YES

Press Enter. Hold the ‘Option/alt’ key, then right click on the Finder icon in the dock and click Relaunch.

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 DominantCommand 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: com.DominantCommand.service.plist, com.google.defaultsearch.plist, , com.net-preferences.plist, macsearch.plist, installapp.plist, com.machelper.plist and search.plist. Most often, potentially unwanted programs, browser hijackers and adware software create several files with similar names.

Check for DominantCommand 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 folders and files. Check the contents of suspicious folders, if there is a file with a name similar to com.DominantCommand.system, then this folder must be deleted. Move all suspicious folders and files to the Trash.

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

Scan your Mac with MalwareBytes

If you are still having issues with the DominantCommand removal or just wish to scan your Mac occasionally for adware software and other malware, then download MalwareBytes Free. It’s free for home use, and detects and deletes various undesired apps that attacks your machine or degrades Apple Mac performance. MalwareBytes Free can delete toolbars, adware, PUPs and browser hijackers as well as malware, including ransomware and trojans.

Download MalwareBytes AntiMalware by clicking on the following link.

When the download is finished, close all windows on your machine. Further, launch the saved file. Follow the prompts.

The MalwareBytes will automatically start and you can see its main window as displayed on the screen below.

Next, click the “Scan Now” button for checking your Apple Mac for the DominantCommand adware. A scan can take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the number of files on your MAC OS and the speed of your Apple Mac. While the MalwareBytes Anti Malware (MBAM) application is checking, you can see count of objects it has identified as threat.

After the scanning is complete, it will open the Scan Results. When you are ready, press the “Quarantine” button.

The MalwareBytes will delete DominantCommand and move the selected items to the program’s quarantine.

Remove DominantCommand from Safari, Chrome, Firefox

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

Google Chrome	Mozilla Firefox
In the top right hand corner, click on ‘three vertical dots’, and this will open up the main menu on Chrome. In the menu go to ‘More tools’, then ‘Extensions’. Click ‘Remove’ to uninstall an extension. Click ‘Remove’ in the dialog box. You can also try to delete DominantCommand 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 DominantCommand 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

Running an ad-blocking application like AdGuard is an effective way to alleviate the risks. Additionally, ad-blocker apps will also protect you from harmful ads and webpages, and, of course, block redirection chain to misleading, scam and similar webpages.

1. Installing the AdGuard is simple. First you’ll need to download AdGuard from the link below. Save it on your Desktop.
   
   

   AdGuard for Mac download
   3772 downloads
   Author: © Adguard
   Category: Security tools
   Update: January 17, 2018
   
2. After downloading is complete, run the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” program window. Follow the prompts.
3. After the install is finished, click “Skip” to close the installation program and use the default settings, or click “Get Started” to see an quick tutorial which will assist 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 start your Apple Mac, AdGuard will start automatically and stop unwanted advertisements, block harmful and misleading web-pages.

To sum up

Now your MAC OS should be free of the DominantCommand adware. We suggest that you keep AdGuard (to help you stop unwanted pop-ups and annoying harmful web sites) and MalwareBytes AntiMalware (MBAM) (to periodically scan your MAC OS for new malware, hijackers and adware software). 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 hijackers, malicious applications and adware software are released.

If you are still having problems while trying to remove DominantCommand from your web-browser, then ask for help here.