How to uninstall FocusGuide app/extension (Virus removal guide)

What is FocusGuide

According to security experts, FocusGuide is a malicious application that falls under the category of Adware. Many computer users consider adware, PUPs, keyloggers, trojans as the same thing. They are all types of undesired apps that each behave differently. The word ‘adware’ is a combination of two words ‘ad’ and ‘software’. Adware presents advertisements on an infected machine. Not very dangerous for computer users, but very profitable for the the adware creators.

FocusGuide can generate numerous additional popup, banner, pop-under and in-text link ads flooding on your web browser; gather your privacy data such as login details, online searches, etc; run in the background and drag down the system running speed; give more chances for other adware, PUPs even malicious software to get on the Mac computer.

Does adware software steal your confidential data? The FocusGuide adware may monetize its functionality by collecting personal information from your surfing sessions. This confidential information, later, can be easily used for marketing purposes. This puts your confidential info at a security risk. So, you should remove adware immediately. Here, in this blog post below, you can found the helpful tutorial on How to remove FocusGuide and unwanted advertisements from your machine for free.

How does FocusGuide get on your Apple Mac

In most cases, adware come bundled with the installation packages from file sharing and torrents webpages. 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, select the Custom or Advanced install mode. Next, click ‘Decline’ button and clear all checkboxes on offers that ask you to install third-party programs. Moreover, please carefully read Term of use and User agreement before installing any new applications.

Threat Summary

Name	FocusGuide, FocusGuide 1.0 app
Type	adware, potentially unwanted application (PUA), Mac malware, Mac virus
Detection Names	Osx.Adware.Cimpli, Trojan-Downloader.OSX.Adload, Program:MacOS/Vigram.A, Adware/Adload!OSX, ApplicUnwnt, MacOS.Agent-MT, Adware.MAC.Generic and OSX.Trojan.Gen
Distribution	Freeware installers, torrent downloads, misleading popup ads and fake updaters
Symptoms	The website links redirect to a web sites different from what you expected, you experience lots of of unwanted pop-up ads, unwanted program installed without your consent, new toolbars on your desktop, unwanted changes in your browser such as using a new default search provider, your web browser slows to a crawl.
Removal	FocusGuide removal guide

How to remove FocusGuide

Without a doubt, the FocusGuide adware is harmful to your MAC. So you need to quickly and completely delete this adware. To delete the adware software, you can use the manual removal instructions that are given below or free malicious software removal utility such as MalwareBytes (it is free). We recommend you use automatic removal method which will help you to delete FocusGuide easily and safely. Manual removal is best used only if you are well versed in MAC system or in the case where adware is not removed automatically. Certain of the steps below will require you to exit this webpage. So, please read the steps carefully, after that bookmark it or open it on your smartphone for later reference.

To remove FocusGuide, execute the steps below:

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

Remove unwanted profiles on Mac device

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

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

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 computer, which is normal.

Uninstall FocusGuide associated software by using the Finder

The next step to remove adware, browser hijackers and PUPs is to remove unknown and suspicious apps. 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 browser redirects and intrusive advertisements.

Open Finder and click “Applications”.

Very carefully look around the entire list of programs installed on your MAC. Most likely, one of them is the FocusGuide adware. Once you’ve found a dubious, unwanted or unused program, right click to it and select “Move to Trash”. Another solution is drag the program from the Applications folder to the Trash.

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

Remove FocusGuide related files and folders

Now you need to try to find FocusGuide 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.

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

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

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

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

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

Scan your Mac with MalwareBytes

If you are still having problems with the FocusGuide removal or just wish to scan your Mac occasionally for adware software and other malicious software, then download MalwareBytes Anti Malware (MBAM). It’s free for home use, and detects and removes various undesired applications that attacks your Apple Mac or degrades machine performance. MalwareBytes Anti-Malware can delete adware software, PUPs, browser hijackers and toolbars as well as malware, including ransomware and trojans.

1. Installing the MalwareBytes AntiMalware is simple. First you will need to download MalwareBytes Anti Malware by clicking on the link below.
   
   

   Malwarebytes Anti-malware (Mac)
   19030 downloads
   Author: Malwarebytes
   Category: Security tools
   Update: September 10, 2020
   
2. When the downloading process is complete, please close all applications and open windows on your MAC system. Run the downloaded file. Follow the prompts.
3. The MalwareBytes will run and display the main window.
4. Further, press the “Scan” button to detect FocusGuide adware software. While the MalwareBytes Anti Malware is checking, you can see number of objects it has identified either as being malware.
5. When the scanning is complete, the results are displayed in the scan report.
6. In order to remove all threats, simply press the “Remove Selected Items” button.
7. Close the AntiMalware and continue with the next step.

Remove FocusGuide from Safari, Chrome, Firefox

Remove unwanted add-ons is a simple solution to get rid of FocusGuide adware and revert back browser’s settings that have been modified 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. When the drop-down menu appears, select ‘More tools’ and click on ‘Extensions’. Click ‘Remove’ to uninstall an extension. Click ‘Remove’ in the dialog box. You can also try to remove FocusGuide adware 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 FocusGuide 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

We recommend to install an adblocker program. The adblocker utility such as AdGuard is a application which basically removes advertising from the Net and blocks access to malicious web-pages. Moreover, security experts says that using ad blocker apps is necessary to stay safe when surfing the Net.

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

Once downloading 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 guidance. Click “Skip” button to close the window and use the default settings, or click “Get Started” to see an quick instructions that will allow you get to know AdGuard better.

Each time, when you launch your MAC system, AdGuard will run automatically and stop intrusive pop ups, block malicious and misleading web-pages.

To sum up

Now your MAC system should be free of the FocusGuide adware. We suggest that you keep MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (to periodically scan your MAC for new adware softwares and other malware) and AdGuard (to help you stop unwanted advertisements and malicious websites). Moreover, to prevent any adware software, please stay clear of unknown and third party software.

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

 

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