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

What is AdminRemote

According to security specialists, AdminRemote is an adware application. Adware is form of malware that displays unwanted ads on the browser screen, redirects search requests to advertising websites and collects confidential information for marketing purposes. Adware can display banner advertisements, full-screen advertisements, popups, videos, or other varieties of online advertising. AdminRemote can attack your MAC’s internet browsers such as the Mozilla Firefox, Safari and Chrome. Maybe you approve the idea that the ads or popups is just a small problem. But these unwanted ads eat Mac resources and slow down your computer performance.

Does adware steal your confidential information? Adware software can collect your user info that may be later transferred to third parties. You do not know if your home address, account names and passwords are safe.

How does AdminRemote get on your Apple Mac

Adware usually come bundled with certain free software that users download off of the Internet. So, think back, have you ever download and run any free software. In order to avoid infection, in the Setup wizard, you should be be proactive and carefully read the ‘Terms of use’, the ‘license agreement’ and other setup screens, as well as to always select the ‘Manual’ or ‘Advanced’ setup mode, when installing anything downloaded from the Internet.

Threat Summary

Name	AdminRemote, AdminRemote 1.0 app
Type	adware software, potentially unwanted program (PUP), Mac malware, Mac virus
Detection Names	Osx.Adware.Cimpli, MacOS.Agent-MT, Trojan-Downloader.OSX.Adload, Adware.MAC.Generic, ApplicUnwnt, Adware/Adload!OSX, OSX.Trojan.Gen and Program:MacOS/Vigram.A
Distribution	Freeware installers, fake software updaters, shady pop up advertisements and torrent downloads
Symptoms	The webpage links redirect to a webpages different from what you expected, pop ups and new tabs are loaded without your request, new entries appear in your Applications folder, unwanted browser add-ons or toolbars keep coming back, unexpected changes in your browser like displaying new tabs you did not open, fast Internet but slow browsing speeds.
Removal	AdminRemote removal guide

How to remove AdminRemote from Mac

There are a simple manual steps which will help you to remove AdminRemote adware from your Apple Mac computer. The most effective method to remove this adware is to complete the manual removal instructions and then run MalwareBytes Anti-Malware automatic utility (it is free). The manual solution will help to weaken this adware software and these malware removal tools will completely remove AdminRemote and return the Safari, Mozilla Firefox and Chrome settings to default.

To remove AdminRemote, use the steps below:

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

Remove profiles created by AdminRemote

AdminRemote 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 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 associated with AdminRemote.

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

Uninstall AdminRemote associated software by using the Finder

In order to get rid of adware, PUPs and browser hijackers, open the Finder and click on “Applications”. Check the list of installed applications. For the ones you do not know, run an Internet search to see if they are potentially unwanted programs, browser hijackers and adware. If yes, uninstall them off. Even if they are just a apps that you do not use, then removing them off will increase your computer start up time and speed dramatically.

Open Finder and click “Applications” as shown on the image below.

You will see a list of applications installed on your MAC OS. We recommend to pay maximum attention to the program you installed last. Most likely, it’s the AdminRemote . If you’re in doubt, you can always check the application by doing a search for her name in Google, Yahoo or Bing.

Once the program which you need to remove is found, simply right click on its name, and select “Move to Trash”.

Don’t forget, choose Finder, then “Empty Trash”.

Remove AdminRemote related files and folders

Now you need to try to find AdminRemote 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.

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

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

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

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

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

Scan your Mac with MalwareBytes

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

1. MalwareBytes Free can be downloaded from the following link.
   
   

   Malwarebytes Anti-malware (Mac)
   20851 downloads
   Author: Malwarebytes
   Category: Security tools
   Update: September 10, 2020
   
2. Once downloading is finished, please close all applications and open windows on your MAC system. Run the downloaded file. Follow the prompts.
3. The MalwareBytes Anti Malware will launch and display the main window.
4. Further, click the “Scan” button to perform a system scan with this tool for the AdminRemote . 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 computer. When a threat is found, the number of the security threats will change accordingly.
5. When that process is complete, MalwareBytes Anti Malware (MBAM) will show a screen which contains a list of malware that has been found.
6. Make sure all threats have ‘checkmark’ and press the “Remove Selected Items” button.
7. Close the AntiMalware and continue with the next step.

Remove AdminRemote from Safari, Chrome, Firefox

Remove unwanted add-ons is a easy solution to get rid of AdminRemote adware software and return internet browser’s settings which 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. Select ‘More tools’, then ‘Extensions’. Click ‘Remove’ to uninstall an extension. Click ‘Remove’ in the dialog box. You can also try to delete AdminRemote adware 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 AdminRemote 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

In order to increase your security and protect your MAC against new annoying ads and harmful websites, you need to use adblocker application that blocks an access to malicious advertisements and web pages. Moreover, the application may stop the show of intrusive advertising, that also leads to faster loading of web-sites and reduce the consumption of web traffic.

Download AdGuard by clicking on the following link.

After downloading is done, run the downloaded file. The “Setup Wizard” window will show up on the computer screen.

Follow the prompts. AdGuard will then be installed. A window will show up asking you to confirm that you want to see a quick guide. Click “Skip” button to close the window and use the default settings, or press “Get Started” to see an quick guide which will allow you get to know AdGuard better.

Each time, when you start your MAC system, AdGuard will launch automatically and stop unwanted pop ups, block malicious and misleading web-sites.

Finish words

Now your MAC system should be clean of the AdminRemote adware. We suggest that you keep AdGuard (to help you stop unwanted popup ads and annoying malicious webpages) and MalwareBytes Anti Malware (to periodically scan your MAC system for new adwares and other malware).

If you are still having problems while trying to get rid of AdminRemote from the Safari, Mozilla Firefox and Chrome, then ask for help here here.