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

What is CommandImprovement

CommandImprovement is a malicious application that acts as Adware. Adware is a form of malicious software. When CommandImprovement hijacks your machine, it might carry out various harmful tasks. It can show constant pop up deals and/or unwanted advertisements, redirect your internet browser to unsafe web sites, slow down your computer, change browser settings. CommandImprovement can seek out your privacy data, gather this information and use it to steal your identity.

The adware can install a component which enables its author to track which web-pages you visit, which products you look at upon those pages. They are then able to select the type of ads they display you. So, if you had CommandImprovement on your Apple Mac, there is a good chance you have another that is gathering and sharing your confidential data with third parties, without your consent.

How does CommandImprovement get on your MAC OS

Adware usually gets on MAC computers as a part of certain freeware that you download off of the Web. So, think back, have you ever download and run any free programs. 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 Net.

Threat Summary

Name	CommandImprovement, CommandImprovement 1.0 app
Type	adware, potentially unwanted application (PUA), Mac virus, Mac malware
Detection Names	Program:MacOS/Vigram.A, Osx.Adware.Cimpli, Trojan-Downloader.OSX.Adload, Adware.MAC.Generic, ApplicUnwnt, Adware/Adload!OSX, OSX.Trojan.Gen and MacOS.Agent-MT
Distribution	Freeware installers, suspicious popup ads, torrent downloads and fake software updaters
Symptoms	Your web browser is redirected to web sites you did not want, pop ups and newtabs are loaded without your request, there is an unexpected program in the ‘Applications’ section of the Finder, an unwanted toolbar appears in your browser, unwanted changes in your web browser like displaying new tabs you didn’t open, fast Internet but slow browsing speeds.
Removal	CommandImprovement removal guide

How to remove CommandImprovement from Mac

There are a simple manual guidance below that will assist you to delete CommandImprovement from your Mac. The most effective way to delete this adware is to follow the manual removal guidance and then use MalwareBytes Free automatic tool (it is free). The manual solution will help to weaken this adware and these malicious software removal utilities will completely remove CommandImprovement adware and restore the Safari, Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome settings to default.

To remove CommandImprovement, execute the steps below:

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

Remove unwanted profiles on Mac device

CommandImprovement 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 device. If there is Profiles in the list, then click on it, then select a profile related to CommandImprovement.

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

Uninstall CommandImprovement related programs through the Finder

The next step in removing adware, browser hijackers and PUPs by yourself is to go into the Finder, then Applications. Take a look at the list of applications on your Mac computer and see if there are any questionable and unknown software. If you see any, you need to uninstall it. Of course, before doing so, you can do an Internet search to find details on the program. If it is a potentially unwanted program, adware and browser hijacker, you will likely find information that says so.

Open Finder and click “Applications”.

It will display a list of all software installed on your MAC system. Scroll through the all list, and delete any suspicious and unknown applications. Right click to dubious program and select “Move to Trash”. Another way is drag the program from the Applications folder to the Trash.

Most important, scroll through the all list, and move to trash any unknown applications. Don’t forget, select Finder -> Empty Trash.

Remove CommandImprovement related files and folders

Now you need to try to find CommandImprovement 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.

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

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

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

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

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

Scan your Mac with MalwareBytes

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

1. Installing the MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (MBAM) is simple. First you will need to download MalwareBytes by clicking on the link below. Save it on your Microsoft Windows desktop or in any other place.
   
   

   Malwarebytes Anti-malware (Mac)
   20850 downloads
   Author: Malwarebytes
   Category: Security tools
   Update: September 10, 2020
   
2. After downloading is finished, close all apps and windows on your MAC OS. Open a file location. Run the downloaded file and follow the prompts.
3. Click the “Scan” button for scanning your MAC system for the CommandImprovement . While the MalwareBytes application is scanning, you can see number of objects it has identified as threat.
4. Once the scan is complete, MalwareBytes will show a list of all items detected by the scan. Once you have selected what you wish to delete from your machine click “Quarantine”.

Remove CommandImprovement from Safari, Chrome, Firefox

Remove unwanted extensions is a simple solution to remove CommandImprovement adware and revert back web-browser’s settings which have been replaced by adware software.

Google Chrome	Mozilla Firefox
In the top-right corner, expand the Chrome menu. 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 CommandImprovement 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 CommandImprovement adware software 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 also critical to protect your browsers from malicious web pages and advertisements by using an ad blocker application like AdGuard. Security experts says that it will greatly reduce the risk of malicious software, and potentially save lots of money. Additionally, the AdGuard can also protect your privacy by blocking almost all trackers.

AdGuard can be downloaded from the following link.

Once the download is complete, 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 click “Get Started” to see an quick tutorial that will help you get to know AdGuard better.

Each time, when you start your MAC system, AdGuard will run automatically and stop unwanted pop-up ads, block harmful and misleading web sites.

Finish words

Now your machine should be clean of the CommandImprovement adware. We suggest that you keep MalwareBytes (to periodically scan your Apple Mac for new adware softwares and other malicious software) and AdGuard (to help you stop annoying pop-ups and harmful web-pages). Moreover, to prevent any adware software, please stay clear of unknown and third party apps.

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