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

What is EdgeCentral

EdgeCentral is an adware application that targets Mac computers. Adware is form of malware that displays unwanted ads on a MAC, redirects search results to advertising web pages and gathers personal info for marketing purposes. EdgeCentral can display banner ads, full-screen ads, pop-ups, videos, or other varieties of online advertising. It can attack your Apple Mac’s web browsers such as Safari, Mozilla Firefox and Chrome. Maybe you approve the idea that the advertisements or popups is just a small problem. But these unwanted ads eat MAC resources and slow down your computer performance.

Does adware software steal your personal data? The EdgeCentral adware can be used to gather your personal data to get profit. It can analyze your browsing, and gain access to your personal info and, subsequently, can sell it to third parties. Thus, there are more than enough reasons to delete adware from your computer.

If you are unfortunate have adware, you can follow the step-by-step tutorial below that will allow you to delete EdgeCentral and get rid of annoying advertisements from your browser.

How does EdgeCentral get on your machine

Adware usually spreads as a part of certain freeware that users download off of the Web. So, think back, have you ever download and run any free applications. 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 install screens, as well as to always choose the ‘Manual’ or ‘Advanced’ install method, when installing anything downloaded from the World Wide Web.

Threat Summary

Name	EdgeCentral
Type	adware, PUP (potentially unwanted program), Mac virus, Mac malware
Detection Names	Trojan-Downloader.OSX.Adload, Program:MacOS/Vigram.A, ApplicUnwnt, Osx.Adware.Cimpli, Adware/Adload!OSX, Adware.MAC.Generic, OSX.Trojan.Gen and MacOS.Agent-MT
Distribution	Freeware installers, torrent downloads, fake software updaters and shady pop up advertisements
Symptoms	The web page links redirect to a web pages different from what you expected, advertising pop-ups won’t go away, new entries appear in your Applications folder, unexpected browser add-ons or toolbars keep coming back, your MAC OS settings are being altered without your request, fast Internet but slow browsing speeds.
Removal	EdgeCentral removal guide

How to remove EdgeCentral from Mac

Most commonly adware requires more than a simple uninstall through the use of the Finder in order to be fully deleted. For that reason, our team developed several removal methods which we have summarized in a detailed guide. Therefore, if you have the EdgeCentral adware on your MAC and are currently trying to have it removed then feel free to follow the step-by-step guide below in order to resolve your problem. Read this manual carefully, bookmark it or open this page on your smartphone, because you may need to close your web browser or reboot your MAC OS.

To remove EdgeCentral, follow the steps below:

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

Remove profiles created by EdgeCentral

EdgeCentral 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 associated with EdgeCentral.

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.

Delete EdgeCentral related programs through the Finder

It’s of primary importance to identify and get rid of PUPs, browser hijackers and adware software through ‘Applications’ section of your Finder.

Open Finder and click “Applications” as shown in the figure below.

You will see a list of software installed on your MAC. We recommend to pay maximum attention to the program you installed last. Most likely, it is the EdgeCentral adware software. If you are in doubt, you can always check the application by doing a search for her name in Google, Yahoo or Bing.

When the program which you need to uninstall is found, simply right press on its name, and select “Move to Trash”.

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

Remove EdgeCentral related files and folders

Now you need to try to find EdgeCentral 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.

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

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

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

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

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

Scan your Mac with MalwareBytes

We suggest using MalwareBytes Free. You may download and install MalwareBytes Free to locate and remove EdgeCentral related programs from your Mac device. When installed and updated, the malware remover automatically detects and deletes all security threats exist on the computer.

MalwareBytes Free can be downloaded from the following link.

When the downloading process is done, close all applications and windows on your MAC. Run the saved file. Follow the prompts.

The MalwareBytes Free will automatically start and you can see its main screen like below.

Now press the “Scan” button to start scanning your machine for the EdgeCentral . Depending on your Apple Mac, the scan can take anywhere from a few minutes to close to an hour.

When the scan is finished, it will show the Scan Results. Next, you need to click the “Quarantine” button. The MalwareBytes Anti Malware (MBAM) will get rid of EdgeCentral adware software.

Remove EdgeCentral from Safari, Chrome, Firefox

If you’re still seeing EdgeCentral adware that won’t go away, you might have malicious add-ons installed on your web-browser. Check your internet browser for unwanted plugins using the steps below.

Google Chrome	Mozilla Firefox
In the top-right corner, expand the Chrome menu. When the drop-down menu appears, choose ‘More tools’ and click on ‘Extensions’. Click ‘Remove’ to uninstall an extension. Click ‘Remove’ in the dialog box. You can also try to remove EdgeCentral 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 EdgeCentral adware 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

In order to increase your security and protect your machine against new unwanted ads and harmful web-sites, you need to use ad-blocking application that blocks an access to harmful ads and webpages. Moreover, the application can stop the open of intrusive advertising, which also leads to faster loading of web sites and reduce the consumption of web traffic.

1. Download AdGuard by clicking on the link below.
   
   

   AdGuard for Mac download
   3686 downloads
   Author: © Adguard
   Category: Security tools
   Update: January 17, 2018
   
2. When the download is done, start the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” program window. Follow the prompts.
3. After the installation is complete, click “Skip” to close the setup application and use the default settings, or click “Get Started” to see an quick tutorial that 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 start your Apple Mac, AdGuard will run automatically and stop unwanted advertisements, block harmful and misleading webpages.

Finish words

We suggest that you keep MalwareBytes (to periodically scan your machine for new adwares and other malware) and AdGuard (to help you stop unwanted pop-up ads and harmful websites). Moreover, to prevent any adware, please stay clear of unknown and third party applications.

If you need more help with EdgeCentral adware software related issues, go to here.