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

What is MainSearchBoard

According to security experts, MainSearchBoard is a malicious app that falls under the category of Adware. By definition, adware is a piece of software that displays ads on a computer. However, people basically use the word ‘adware’ to describe a type of malicious software that presents unwanted ads to the user. Most commonly, this kind of adware software do not have any uninstall procedures and can use technologies that are similar to those used by trojans to penetrate the MAC.

Adware can display banner advertisements, full-screen ads, pop ups, videos, or other varieties of online advertising. These annoying ads eat MAC system resources and slow down your computer performance. The worst is, adware can have spyware and keyloggers built into the program, leading to greater damage to your MAC and possible invasion of your privacy information.

Below we are discussing the solutions which are very effective in removing adware software. The guidance will also help you to delete MainSearchBoard from your MAC for free.

How does MainSearchBoard get on your computer

Adware come along with some free applications. So always read carefully the installation screens, disclaimers, ‘Terms of Use’ and ‘Software license’ appearing during the install procedure. Additionally pay attention for optional software that are being installed along with the main program. Ensure that you unchecked all of them! Also, run an ad blocker program that will allow to stop malicious and untrustworthy web pages.

Threat Summary

Name	MainSearchBoard, MainSearchBoard 1.0 app
Type	adware, potentially unwanted program (PUP), Mac virus, Mac malware
Detection Names	ApplicUnwnt, Adware/Adload!OSX, Adware.MAC.Generic, Trojan-Downloader.OSX.Adload, OSX.Trojan.Gen, MacOS.Agent-MT, Program:MacOS/Vigram.A and Osx.Adware.Cimpli
Distribution	Free software installers, torrent downloads, fake updaters and dubious pop up advertisements
Symptoms	Every time you perform an Internet search, your web browser is redirected to another web page, popups and new tab pages are loaded without your request, there is an unexpected program in the ‘Applications’ section of the Finder, unwanted web-browser toolbars, your MAC system settings are being altered without your request, speed test good but internet slow.
Removal	MainSearchBoard removal guide

How to Remove MainSearchBoard adware (removal tutorial)

Adware software is a form of malware that you might have difficulty in removing it from your Mac. Thankfully, you have found the effective MainSearchBoard removal steps in this article. Both the manual removal way and the automatic removal way will be provided below and you can just choose the one that best for you. If you’ve any questions or need help then type a comment below. Read this manual carefully, bookmark it or open this page on your smartphone, because you may need to close your browser or restart your Apple Mac.

To remove MainSearchBoard, follow the steps below:

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

Remove profiles created by MainSearchBoard

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

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

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.

Remove MainSearchBoard related software through the Finder

In order to delete MainSearchBoard you need to do is to uninstall unknown and dubious programs from your machine using the Finder. When uninstalling potentially unwanted programs, browser hijackers and adware, check the list of installed apps and try to find dubious programs and remove them all. Pay special attention to recently installed programs, as it is most probably that MainSearchBoard сame along with it.

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 MainSearchBoard . Once you’ve found a dubious, unwanted or unused program, right click to it and select “Move to Trash”. Another solution is drag the program from the Applications folder to the Trash.

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

Remove MainSearchBoard related files and folders

Now you need to try to find MainSearchBoard 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.

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

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

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

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

Check for MainSearchBoard 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 MainSearchBoard 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.system.plist, com.search.system.plist, com.macsearch.system.plist, com.installapp.system.plist and com.MainSearchBoard.system.plist. In most cases, browser hijackers, adware software and PUPs create several files with similar names.

Scan your Mac with MalwareBytes

Manual MainSearchBoard removal requires some computer skills. Some files and system entries that created by the adware software may be not fully removed. We recommend that use MalwareBytes Free to scan the Mac device. Moreover, this application will help you to remove toolbars, potentially unwanted programs, adware software and browser hijackers that your MAC OS can be affected too.

1. Visit the following page to download the latest version of MalwareBytes for Mac.
   
   

   Malwarebytes Anti-malware (Mac)
   20983 downloads
   Author: Malwarebytes
   Category: Security tools
   Update: September 10, 2020
   
2. When the download is done, close all applications and windows on your MAC. Open a file location. Run the downloaded file and follow the prompts.
3. Press the “Scan” button to perform a system scan with this tool for the MainSearchBoard adware software. This task can take some time, so please be patient.
4. After the scan get completed, you will be displayed the list of all found items on your computer. You may delete threats (move to Quarantine) by simply press “Quarantine”.

Remove MainSearchBoard from Safari, Chrome, Firefox

If you’re still seeing MainSearchBoard adware that won’t go away, you might have harmful addons installed on your web browser. Check your web browser for unwanted addons using the steps below.

Google Chrome	Mozilla Firefox
In the top right corner, click on Google Chrome’s main menu button, represented by three vertical dots. 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 delete MainSearchBoard 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 issues with MainSearchBoard 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

It’s important to run ad-blocker software like AdGuard to protect your machine from harmful webpages. Most security experts says that it is okay to stop ads. You should do so just to stay safe! And, of course, the AdGuard can to block misleading and other unwanted webpages.

Visit the following page to download AdGuard.

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

Each time, when you start your computer, AdGuard will run automatically and stop intrusive pop ups, block harmful and misleading web-pages.

To sum up

Now your MAC system should be free of the MainSearchBoard adware. We suggest that you keep MalwareBytes AntiMalware (MBAM) (to periodically scan your machine for new adwares and other malicious software) and AdGuard (to help you stop unwanted pop-up ads and harmful webpages). Moreover, to prevent any adware software, please stay clear of unknown and third party apps.

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