How to uninstall AccessibleTask app/extension from Mac (Virus removal guide)

What is AccessibleTask

AccessibleTask is a PUA (potentially unwanted application) that belongs to the Adware family . Adware is type of programs designed to add advertising into your Web browsing or even desktop experience. Adware software can be designed to change your start page, search engine, search results, or even add toolbars to your internet browser. Adware run in the background when you’re online, and adware can slow down your Apple Mac and affect its performance.

Does adware software steal your personal data? Adware can analyze the location and which World Wide Web websites you visit, and then present ads to the types of content, goods or services featured there. Adware software creators can gather and sell your surfing information and behavior to third parties.

We advise to get rid of AccessibleTask adware, as soon as you found this problem, as it can redirect your browser to web-resources that may load other unwanted applications on your Mac.

How does AccessibleTask get on your MAC OS

Adware software may be spread through the use of trojan horses and other forms of malicious software, but most commonly, adware software is bundled with certain freeware. Many creators of free programs include optional programs in their setup file. Sometimes it’s possible to avoid the install of any adware: carefully read the Terms of Use and the Software license, choose only Manual, Custom or Advanced installation type, uncheck all checkboxes before clicking Install or Next button while installing new freeware.

Threat Summary

Name	AccessibleTask, AccessibleTask 1.0 app
Type	adware software, potentially unwanted program (PUP), Mac virus, Mac malware
Detection Names	ApplicUnwnt, Adware.MAC.Generic, Program:MacOS/Vigram.A, Osx.Adware.Cimpli, MacOS.Agent-MT, Trojan-Downloader.OSX.Adload, Adware/Adload!OSX and OSX.Trojan.Gen
Distribution	Freeware installers, fake updaters, shady pop-up ads and torrent downloads
Symptoms	Your browser is redirected to web-pages you did not want, advertising popups won’t go away, new entries appear in your Applications folder, unwanted internet browser toolbars, your browser startpage has replaced and you cannot change it back, slow Internet or slow browsing.
Removal	AccessibleTask removal guide

How to remove AccessibleTask from Mac computer

There exist several free adware removal utilities. Also it is possible to delete AccessibleTask adware manually. But we recommend to combine all these solutions below into the one removal algorithm. Follow the steps of the instructions. Read this manual carefully, bookmark it or open this page on your smartphone, because you may need to exit your browser or reboot your MAC system.

To remove AccessibleTask, execute the following steps:

1. Remove unwanted profiles on Mac device
2. Uninstall AccessibleTask related software through the Finder
3. Remove AccessibleTask related files and folders
4. Scan your Mac with MalwareBytes
5. Remove AccessibleTask from Safari, Chrome, Firefox
6. How to stay safe online
7. Finish words

Remove unwanted profiles on Mac device

AccessibleTask 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 computer. If there is Profiles in the list, then click on it, then select a profile associated with AccessibleTask.

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

Uninstall AccessibleTask related software through the Finder

Try to identify and remove the application that causes the appearance of annoying ads or browser redirect, using the Applications list which is located in the Finder.

Open Finder and click “Applications”.

Very carefully look around the entire list of programs installed on your machine. Most probably, one of them is the AccessibleTask . Once you have found a suspicious, unwanted or unused program, right click to it and select “Move to Trash”. Another method is drag the application from the Applications folder to the Trash.

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

Remove AccessibleTask related files and folders

Now you need to try to find AccessibleTask 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.

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

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

Some files created by AccessibleTask 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 AccessibleTask 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.machelper.plist, macsearch.plist, com.net-preferences.plist, com.AccessibleTask.service.plist, search.plist, com.google.defaultsearch.plist, and installapp.plist. Most often, adware software, browser hijackers and PUPs create several files with similar names.

Check for AccessibleTask 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.AccessibleTask.system, then this folder must be deleted. Move all suspicious folders and files to the Trash.

Check for AccessibleTask 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 AccessibleTask 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.macsearch.system.plist, com.machelper.system.plist, com.installapp.system.plist, com.AccessibleTask.system.plist and com.search.system.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 remove AccessibleTask. Of course, very often browser hijackers, potentially unwanted programs and adware 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, browser hijackers and PUPs. Therefore, we recommend you to use MalwareBytes Anti-Malware to scan the Mac.

Please go to the link below to download MalwareBytes Free.

When downloading is finished, close all software and windows on your MAC. Open a directory in which you saved it. Run the saved file and follow the prompts.

Once installation is done, you’ll see window as shown on the image below.

Now click the “Scan” button to detect AccessibleTask adware software. When a threat is detected, the count of the security threats will change accordingly.

After finished, you can check all items found on your machine. Review the report and then click “Quarantine” button.

The Malwarebytes will now remove AccessibleTask .

Remove AccessibleTask from Safari, Chrome, Firefox

Remove unwanted extensions is a simple method to remove AccessibleTask adware software and return internet browser’s settings that have been changed by adware software.

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. 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 remove AccessibleTask adware software by reset Google 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 AccessibleTask 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

If you want to get rid of intrusive ads, internet browser redirects and pop ups, then install an ad-blocker program such as AdGuard. It can block unwanted advertisements and pop-ups, stop web sites from tracking your online activities when using the Safari, Mozilla Firefox and Chrome. So, if you like browse the Internet, but you do not like intrusive advertisements and want to protect your machine from harmful web-pages, then the AdGuard is your best choice.

Installing the AdGuard is simple. First you’ll need to download AdGuard on your Microsoft Windows Desktop from the following link.

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

Each time, when you launch your computer, AdGuard will start automatically and stop intrusive pop up advertisements, block harmful and misleading webpages.

Finish words

After completing the step-by-step guidance outlined above, your Mac should be clean from the AccessibleTask adware and other malicious software. The Chrome, Safari and Mozilla Firefox will no longer redirect you to various scam web pages and online ads. Unfortunately, if the few simple steps does not help you, then you have caught a new adware, and then the best way – ask for help here.