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

What is OnlineDisplay

OnlineDisplay is a malicious application that belongs to the Adware category. Adware is type of software created to insert adverts into your Internet surfing or even desktop experience. Adware can change your home page, search engine, search results, or even add toolbars to your internet browser. Adware run in the background when you are online, and it can slow down your Mac and affect its performance.

Another reason why you need to delete the OnlineDisplay adware is its online data-tracking activity. It can analyze the location and which World Wide Web web pages you visit, and then display advertisements to the types of content, goods or services featured there. Its developers can gather and sell your surfing information and behavior to third parties.

How does OnlineDisplay get on your MAC

In most cases, adware spreads together with setup files from file sharing and torrents web pages. So, install free applications is a a good chance that you will find a bundled adware. If you don’t know how to avoid it, then use a simple trick. During the installation, choose the Custom or Advanced installation option. Next, press ‘Decline’ button and clear all checkboxes on offers that ask you to install bundled applications. Moreover, please carefully read Term of use and User agreement before installing any apps or otherwise you can end up with another unwanted application on your computer such as this adware.

Threat Summary

Name	OnlineDisplay, OnlineDisplay 1.0 app
Type	adware, potentially unwanted application (PUA), Mac virus, Mac malware
Detection Names	Adware/Adload!OSX, Osx.Adware.Cimpli, Trojan-Downloader.OSX.Adload, ApplicUnwnt, Adware.MAC.Generic, OSX.Trojan.Gen, MacOS.Agent-MT and Program:MacOS/Vigram.A
Distribution	Free software installers, misleading popup ads, fake updaters and torrent downloads
Symptoms	Your browser is redirected to web pages you did not want, advertising banners appear in places they shouldn’t be, new entries appear in your Applications folder, unwanted internet browser toolbars, unexpected changes in your web browser such as displaying new tabs you didn’t open, slow browsing Internet.
Removal	OnlineDisplay removal guide

How to Remove OnlineDisplay (removal guidance)

Not every adware like OnlineDisplay can be easily removed. You might see popups, deals, text links, in-text ads, banners and other type of advertisements in the Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Safari and might not be able to figure out the application responsible for this activity. The reason for this is that many unwanted apps neither appear in the Finder. Therefore in order to completely get rid of OnlineDisplay adware, you need to use the following steps. Some of the steps will require you to restart your machine or close this website. So, read this tutorial carefully, then bookmark this page or open it on your smartphone for later reference.

To remove OnlineDisplay, perform the steps below:

1. Remove profiles created by OnlineDisplay
2. Check the list of installed programs
3. Remove OnlineDisplay related files and folders
4. Scan your Mac with MalwareBytes
5. Remove OnlineDisplay from Safari, Chrome, Firefox
6. How to stay safe online

Remove profiles created by OnlineDisplay

OnlineDisplay 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 related to OnlineDisplay.

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

Check the list of installed programs

In order to remove browser hijackers, adware and PUPs, open the Finder and click on “Applications”. Check the list of installed programs. For the ones you do not know, run an Internet search to see if they are browser hijackers, adware and PUPs. If yes, remove them off. Even if they are just a software which you do not use, then removing them off will increase your Apple Mac start up time and speed dramatically.

Make sure you have closed all web browsers and other apps. Next, delete any undesired and suspicious applications from Apple Mac using the Finder.

Open Finder and click “Applications”.

Look around the entire list of apps installed on your MAC. Most likely, one of them is the OnlineDisplay adware. Select the questionable program or the program that name is not familiar to you and delete it.

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

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

Remove OnlineDisplay related files and folders

Now you need to try to find OnlineDisplay 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.

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

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

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

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

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

Scan your Mac with MalwareBytes

If you’re still having issues with the OnlineDisplay removal or just wish to scan your Mac occasionally for adware software and other malicious software, then download MalwareBytes AntiMalware (MBAM). It is free for home use, and scans for and removes various undesired apps that attacks your MAC system or degrades Apple Mac performance. MalwareBytes can remove toolbars, PUPs, browser hijackers and adware as well as malware, including ransomware and trojans.

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

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

The MalwareBytes Anti Malware will automatically run and you can see its main window as shown on the image below.

Next, press the “Scan Now” button to locate OnlineDisplay adware. Depending on your MAC system, the scan may take anywhere from a few minutes to close to an hour. When a malicious software, adware or potentially unwanted programs are detected, the number of the security threats will change accordingly.

When MalwareBytes completes the scan, you’ll be shown the list of all found items on your MAC. Make sure to check mark the threats which are unsafe and then click the “Quarantine” button.

The MalwareBytes Free will get rid of OnlineDisplay and move the selected threats to the program’s quarantine.

Remove OnlineDisplay from Safari, Chrome, Firefox

This step will show you how to get rid of harmful extensions. This can delete OnlineDisplay adware and fix some browsing issues, especially after adware software infection.

Google Chrome	Mozilla Firefox
In the top-right corner, expand the Google Chrome menu. Select ‘More tools’, then ‘Extensions’. Click ‘Remove’ to uninstall an extension. Click ‘Remove’ in the dialog box. You can also try to delete OnlineDisplay 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 problems with OnlineDisplay 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

In order to increase your security and protect your computer against new annoying advertisements and harmful web sites, you need to use ad-blocking application that stops an access to harmful ads and webpages. Moreover, the program can block the display of intrusive advertising, which also leads to faster loading of webpages and reduce the consumption of web traffic.

Please go to the link below to download the latest version of AdGuard for Mac.

After the download is complete, start the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” screen. Follow the prompts.

Each time, when you run your computer, AdGuard will launch automatically and stop unwanted pop-up ads, block malicious and misleading web sites.

To sum up

Now your MAC system should be free of the OnlineDisplay adware. We suggest that you keep AdGuard (to help you block unwanted pop-ups and unwanted harmful websites) and MalwareBytes AntiMalware (to periodically scan your MAC OS for new malicious software, browser hijackers and adware). Make sure that you have all the Critical Updates recommended for Mac operating system. Without regular updates you WILL NOT be protected when new browser hijackers, harmful programs and adware software are released.

If you are still having problems while trying to delete OnlineDisplay ads from your browser, then ask for help here.