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

What is CommonAnalyser

CommonAnalyser is an adware application that targets Apple computers. Adware is not as dangerous as such as a Trojan horse or Ransomware, but its presence can bring various pop ups and/or unwanted ads. Actually developers of adware is associated with some merchants and by showing advertisements to users they generate money for yourself. These adverts not only bother your browsing experience but also redirect your web browser to shady webpages.

Even worse, the CommonAnalyser adware can gather confidential information, including:

• IP addresses;
• URLs visited;
• search queries/terms;
• clicks on links and advertisements;
• browser version information.

How does CommonAnalyser get on your machine

Adware software commonly comes on Apple computers with free applications and fake updates. Most often, it comes without the user’s knowledge. Therefore, many users aren’t even aware that their MAC has been infected by potentially unwanted applications and adware. Please follow the easy rules in order to protect your machine from adware and PUPs: do not install any suspicious apps, read the user agreement and choose only the Custom, Manual or Advanced installation type, do not rush to press the Next button. Also, always try to find a review of the installed software on the World Wide Web. Be careful and attentive!

Threat Summary

Name	CommonAnalyser, CommonAnalyser 1.0 extension
Type	adware software, potentially unwanted program (PUP), Mac malware, Mac virus
Detection Names	MacOS.Agent-MT, ApplicUnwnt, Osx.Adware.Cimpli, OSX.Trojan.Gen, Trojan-Downloader.OSX.Adload, Program:MacOS/Vigram.A, Adware.MAC.Generic and Adware/Adload!OSX
Distribution	Freeware installers, misleading pop-up ads, torrent downloads and fake updaters
Symptoms	Every time you perform an Internet search, your web-browser is redirected to another web-page, pop-ups and new tab pages are loaded without your request, there is an unwanted program in the ‘Applications’ section of the Finder, unexpected internet browser plugins or toolbars keep coming back, your browser homepage has modified without your permission, fast Internet but slow browsing speeds.
Removal	CommonAnalyser removal guide

How to Remove CommonAnalyser (removal steps)

In many cases adware requires more than a simple uninstall with the help of the Finder in order to be fully uninstalled. For that reason, our team developed several removal ways that we have summarized in a detailed guide. Therefore, if you’ve the CommonAnalyser adware on your MAC and are currently trying to have it removed then feel free to follow the few simple steps below in order to resolve your problem. 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 MAC.

To remove CommonAnalyser, follow the steps below:

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

Remove profiles created by CommonAnalyser

CommonAnalyser 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 associated with CommonAnalyser.

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.

Check the list of installed applications

Check the list of installed applications and delete all unknown or suspicious software. This is an important step, it so often happens that PUPs, browser hijackers and adware are built into free applications, so by removing these applications you can get rid of internet browser redirects and intrusive advertisements.

Make sure you have closed all web-browsers and other software. Next, delete any undesired and suspicious programs from computer using the Finder.

Open Finder and click “Applications”.

Look around the entire list of applications installed on your MAC. Most probably, one of them is the CommonAnalyser adware. Choose the questionable application or the application that name is not familiar to you and remove it.

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

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

Remove CommonAnalyser related files and folders

Now you need to try to find CommonAnalyser 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.

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

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

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

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

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

Scan your Mac with MalwareBytes

We recommend using MalwareBytes Anti Malware to scan the Mac computer for PUPs, browser hijackers and adware software. This free utility is an advanced malicious software removal application designed by (c) Malwarebytes lab. This application uses the world’s most popular antimalware technology. It’s able to help you get rid of browser hijackers and other security threats from your Mac for free.

1. MalwareBytes can be downloaded from the following link.
   
   

   Malwarebytes Anti-malware (Mac)
   20850 downloads
   Author: Malwarebytes
   Category: Security tools
   Update: September 10, 2020
   
2. Once the download is complete, close all apps and windows on your MAC system. Open a file location. Run the downloaded file and follow the prompts.
3. Click the “Scan” button for scanning your machine for the CommonAnalyser that redirects your web-browser to annoying ad web pages. This process may take quite a while, so please be patient. While the MalwareBytes Anti Malware is scanning, you may see how many objects it has identified either as being malware.
4. When MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (MBAM) completes the scan, MalwareBytes will show a scan report. In order to delete all threats, simply click “Quarantine”.

Remove CommonAnalyser from Safari, Chrome, Firefox

Annoying CommonAnalyser adware software or other symptoms of adware in your web-browser is a good reason to locate and remove harmful extensions. This is an easy method to recover browsers settings and not lose any important information.

Google Chrome	Mozilla Firefox
In the top right corner, click on Chrome’s main menu button, represented by three vertical dots. 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 get rid of CommonAnalyser adware software 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 issues with CommonAnalyser 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

It’s important to run ad blocker apps like AdGuard to protect your Apple Mac from harmful web-pages. Most security experts says that it is okay to stop ads. You should do so just to stay safe! And, of course, the AdGuard may to stop misleading and other unwanted web-pages.

Download AdGuard from the following link.

When the downloading process is finished, start the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” screen. Follow the prompts.

Each time, when you start your machine, AdGuard will start automatically and stop intrusive popup ads, block malicious and misleading web sites.

To sum up

We suggest that you keep AdGuard (to help you stop unwanted popup advertisements and unwanted malicious web sites) and MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (to periodically scan your MAC OS for new adwares and other malicious software).

If you are still having problems while trying to delete CommonAnalyser from the Mozilla Firefox, Chrome and Safari, then ask for help here here.