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

What is DominantWebService

DominantWebService is a malicious application that belongs to the Adware category. Adware is considered by many to be synonymous with ‘malicious software’. It’s a type of malicious software that displays unwanted ads. Some examples include popup ads, various offers and deals or unclosable windows. Adware can be installed onto Mac computers via infected web sites, when users open email attachments, anytime users download and install free software.

Even worse, adware software can gather and transmit sensitive information without your permission. It is able to track information about webpages visited, web browser and system information, and your MAC system IP address.

How does DominantWebService get on your Apple Mac

Adware usually spreads bundled with certain free software that users download off of the World Wide 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 installation screens, as well as to always select the ‘Manual’ or ‘Advanced’ setup option, when installing anything downloaded from the World Wide Web.

Threat Summary

Name	DominantWebService, DominantWebService 1.0 app
Type	adware, potentially unwanted application (PUA), Mac malware, Mac virus
Detection Names	Program:MacOS/Vigram.A, Osx.Adware.Cimpli, Trojan-Downloader.OSX.Adload, OSX.Trojan.Gen, Adware/Adload!OSX, ApplicUnwnt, MacOS.Agent-MT and Adware.MAC.Generic
Distribution	Freeware installers, torrent downloads, fake updaters and dubious popup advertisements
Symptoms	Every time you perform an Internet search, your browser is redirected to another website, advertising pop-ups won’t go away, unexpected program installed without your knowledge, unwanted toolbars on your desktop, your internet browser search provider has changed without your permission, fast Internet but slow browsing speeds.
Removal	DominantWebService removal guide

How to remove DominantWebService adware

There exist several free adware removal utilities. Also it is possible to remove DominantWebService manually. But we recommend to combine all these solutions below into the one removal algorithm. Follow the steps of the guidance. 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 reboot your machine.

To remove DominantWebService, execute the following steps:

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

Remove profiles created by DominantWebService

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

In System Preferences, click Profiles, then select a profile related to DominantWebService.

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, which is normal.

Uninstall DominantWebService related applications through the Finder

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

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

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

When the program which you need to delete is found, simply right click on its name, and choose “Move to Trash”.

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

Remove DominantWebService related files and folders

Now you need to try to find DominantWebService 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.

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

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

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

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

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

Scan your Mac with MalwareBytes

We advise using MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (MBAM). You can download and install MalwareBytes Anti-Malware to locate and delete DominantWebService associated software from your Mac computer. When installed and updated, the malware remover automatically scans for and deletes all security threats present on the MAC system.

1. MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (MBAM) can be downloaded from the following link.
   
   

   Malwarebytes Anti-malware (Mac)
   20986 downloads
   Author: Malwarebytes
   Category: Security tools
   Update: September 10, 2020
   
2. After the downloading process is done, close all software and windows on your MAC system. Open a folder in which you saved it. Run the downloaded file and follow the prompts.
3. Click the “Scan” button for scanning your computer for the DominantWebService adware. Depending on your computer, the scan can take anywhere from a few minutes to close to an hour. During the scan MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (MBAM) will detect threats present on your MAC OS.
4. Once MalwareBytes has completed scanning, MalwareBytes Anti-Malware will open you the results. Once you have selected what you wish to delete from your MAC click “Quarantine”.

Remove DominantWebService from Safari, Chrome, Firefox

If you have ‘DominantWebService adware’ removal problem, then remove unwanted extensions can help you. In the steps below we’ll show you the method to remove malicious plugins without reinstall. This will also help to delete DominantWebService adware from your internet browser.

Google Chrome	Mozilla Firefox
In the top right hand corner, click on ‘three vertical dots’, and this will open up the main menu on Google Chrome. Select ‘More tools’, then ‘Extensions’. Click ‘Remove’ to uninstall an extension. Click ‘Remove’ in the dialog box. You can also try to remove DominantWebService 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 DominantWebService 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

One of the worst things is the fact that you cannot stop all malicious websites using only built-in Microsoft Windows capabilities. However, there is a program out that you can use to stop annoying web browser redirects, ads and popups in any modern internet browsers including Chrome, Safari and Firefox. It is named Adguard and it works very well.

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

After downloading is finished, launch the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” screen. Follow the prompts.

Each time, when you start your MAC, AdGuard will start automatically and stop intrusive pop up ads, block malicious and misleading websites.

To sum up

Now your MAC should be free of the DominantWebService adware. We suggest that you keep AdGuard (to help you stop unwanted pop-ups and unwanted malicious web-pages) and MalwareBytes AntiMalware (to periodically scan your MAC for new adware softwares and other malware).

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