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

What is SkilledUnit

SkilledUnit is an adware app. Adware is a form of malware. When adware hijacks your MAC, it might carry out various malicious tasks. Some of the more common acts on computers include: display numerous pop-up windows and/or annoying commercials; redirect your web-browser to misleading web pages; slow down the system; alter internet browser settings.

Another reason why you need to remove the SkilledUnit app/extension is its online data-tracking activity. It can install a component which enables its author to track which web sites you visit, which products you look at upon those pages. They are then able to choose the type of advertisements they display you. So, if you had the adware on your MAC, there is a good chance you have spyware that is collecting and sharing your confidential information with third parties, without your consent.

Therefore, the SkilledUnit adware is quite dangerous. So, we recommend you remove it from your MAC ASAP. Follow the guidance presented below to remove SkilledUnit from your computer and Firefox, Safari and Google Chrome.

How does SkilledUnit get on your Apple Mac

Adware spreads with a simple but quite effective way. It’s integrated into the setup file of various free software. Thus on the process of installation, it will be added onto your MAC system and/or web-browser. In order to avoid adware, you just need to follow a few simple rules: carefully read the Terms of Use and the license, choose only a Manual, Custom or Advanced setup type, which enables you to make sure that the program you want to install, thereby protect your computer from adware software.

Threat Summary

Name	SkilledUnit, SkilledUnit 1.0 app
Type	adware software, potentially unwanted application (PUA), Mac virus, Mac malware
Detection Names	Adware.MAC.Generic, Program:MacOS/Vigram.A, ApplicUnwnt, MacOS.Agent-MT, Osx.Adware.Cimpli, OSX.Trojan.Gen, Adware/Adload!OSX and Trojan-Downloader.OSX.Adload
Distribution	Freeware installers, torrent downloads, dubious pop up ads and fake update tools
Symptoms	Every time you perform an Internet search, your browser is redirected to another web-page, pop ups and newtabs are loaded without your request, unexpected program installed without your consent, new toolbars suddenly installed on your web browser, your web browser settings are being altered without your request, fast Internet but slow browsing speeds.
Removal	SkilledUnit removal guide

How to remove SkilledUnit from Mac

The adware is a form of malware that you might have difficulty in deleting it from your MAC. Happily, you’ve found the effective SkilledUnit adware removal tutorial in this article. Both the manual removal way and the automatic removal way will be provided below and you can just select the one that best for you. If you have any questions or need help then type a comment below. Read it once, after doing so, please bookmark this page (or open it on your smartphone) as you may need to exit your browser or restart your computer.

To remove SkilledUnit, follow the steps below:

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

Remove unwanted profiles on Mac device

SkilledUnit 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 software.

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 SkilledUnit.

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

Uninstall SkilledUnit associated software by using the Finder

The next step to remove adware, PUPs and browser hijackers is to delete unknown and dubious applications. Using the Finder you can do this quickly and easily. We recommend you not to skip this step, as it often helps to get rid of annoying advertisements and browser redirects.

Make sure you have closed all browsers and other programs. Next, remove any undesired and suspicious software from MAC OS using the Finder.

Open Finder and click “Applications”.

Look around the entire list of applications installed on your Apple Mac. Most likely, one of them is the SkilledUnit . Select the dubious program or the application that name is not familiar to you and uninstall it.

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

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

Remove SkilledUnit related files and folders

Now you need to try to find SkilledUnit 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.

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

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

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

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

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

Scan your Mac with MalwareBytes

You can get rid of SkilledUnit related files automatically through the use of MalwareBytes. We recommend this free malware removal tool because it may easily get rid of potentially unwanted programs, browser hijackers, toolbars and adware with all their components such as files, folders and system entries.

MalwareBytes can be downloaded from the following link.

When the downloading process is complete, close all windows on your Apple Mac. Further, launch the saved file. Follow the prompts.

The MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (MBAM) will automatically run and you can see its main window as displayed in the following example.

Next, click the “Scan Now” button to perform a system scan for the SkilledUnit . This procedure can take quite a while, so please be patient. While the MalwareBytes AntiMalware (MBAM) tool is scanning, you can see how many objects it has identified as being affected by malicious software.

Once MalwareBytes completes the scan, MalwareBytes Free will produce a list of unwanted software and adware software. Make sure to check mark the threats that are unsafe and then click the “Quarantine” button.

The MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (MBAM) will get rid of SkilledUnit adware software.

Remove SkilledUnit from Safari, Chrome, Firefox

If you have ‘SkilledUnit ‘ removal problem, then remove unwanted extensions can help you. In the steps below we’ll show you the solution to remove harmful plugins without reinstall. This will also help to get rid of SkilledUnit adware from your browser.

Google Chrome	Mozilla Firefox
Click on ‘three dots menu’ button at the top right corner of the Chrome window. 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 get rid of SkilledUnit 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 problems with SkilledUnit 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

Use ad-blocker program such as AdGuard in order to block ads, malvertisements, pop-ups and online trackers, avoid having to install harmful and adware browser plug-ins and add-ons which affect your MAC performance and impact your MAC OS security. Surf the World Wide Web anonymously and stay safe online!

1. Installing the AdGuard is simple. First you will need to download AdGuard by clicking on the link below.
   
   

   AdGuard for Mac download
   3771 downloads
   Author: © Adguard
   Category: Security tools
   Update: January 17, 2018
   
2. When the downloading process is finished, start the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” program window. Follow the prompts.
3. After the installation is finished, click “Skip” to close the install application and use the default settings, or click “Get Started” to see an quick tutorial which will allow you get to know AdGuard better.
4. In most cases, the default settings are enough and you don’t need to change anything. Each time, when you launch your Apple Mac, AdGuard will run automatically and stop intrusive advertisements, block harmful and misleading web pages.

Finish words

After completing the few simple steps above, your MAC should be clean from this adware and other malicious software. The Safari, Chrome and Mozilla Firefox will no longer dislay any unwanted ads when you browse the Internet. Unfortunately, if the tutorial does not help you, then you have caught a new adware software, and then the best way – ask for help.

Please create a new question by using the “Ask Question” button in the Questions and Answers. Try to give us some details about your problems, so we can try to help you more accurately. Wait for one of our trained “Security Team” or Site Administrator to provide you with knowledgeable assistance tailored to your problem with the annoying SkilledUnit adware.