This article has been created to help explain what is the SearchAwesome Mac Adware and show you how to fully remove it from your Mac.
A new Mac adware, called SearchAwesome has been detected to display all types of pop-ups, redirections and many other forms of adware content. The SearchAwesome app is not directly dangerous as it may only slow down your Mac, but the app may show a lot of advertisements that may lead your Mac to dangerous sites and even infect it with malware. To learn more and how you can remove SearchAwesome adware from your Mac, please read the following article.
Threat Name | SearchAwesome |
Category | Adware/PUP/Browser Hijacker/Scam. |
Main Activity | Slithers onto your computer and heavily modifies your web browser settings to display advertisements and collect data. |
Signs of Presence | Multiple third-party advertisements as well as a slow computer. |
Spread | Via malicious e-mail spam and set of infection tools. |
Detection+Removal | DOWNLOAD REMOVAL TOOL FOR SearchAwesome |
What Types of Adware are There?
Usually most hackers who are behind suspicious adware programs, like SearchAwesome Adware aim to make it as difficult as possible to remove their program. But they often give away it’s name by stating it in the pop-ups displayed, for example “Ads by SearchAwesome” on one of the sides of the pop-up or banner or if you drag your mouse over the advertisement.
Another way by which you may detect if you are about to have adware on your computer is to catch it while being installed. Adware programs like _ are usually being spread via third-party programs. The third-party software’s installers can be with included programs that are advertised as free bonus software or other seemingly useful code. However, the SearchAwesome Adware can present a potential harm to your computer and this is why experts often recommend to remove programs like it immediately.
How Does SearchAwesome Work
SearchAwesome was created by developers who also are a brand of the some of the most famous PUA(Potentially Unwanted Application) maker groups. The ad-supported character of this software makes it to often be categorized by users as adware, which is not far from the truth. However, because the application is not malicious and is also classified as a low-level type of threat many antivirus programs tend to skip it.If it is active on your computer, some of the signs to notice it are:
- Seeing “Ads by SearchAwesome” or “A SearchAwesome Ad” or any similarly caption advertisements showing as pop-ups, banners, etc.
- Noticing phishing web pages or browser redirects to third-party search engines, besides the original one used by default on your web browser.
- Sluggish performance of your computer.
In addition to this general activity of SearchAwesome, the add-supported program may also perform multiple different types of advertisements that link to various third-party websites. And this is not good, because those programs may collect certain specific information from your computer using:
- Pixels.
- Flash cookies.
- Tags.
- Web cookies.
- Others.
Such technology can be used to obtain your:
- IP address.
- Search history.
- Mouse clicking history.
- Tracking of your search history.
- Browser history.
This data may then be used to display targeted advertisements or for other purposes that have nothing to do with your interest. Some third-party websites which may be linked either via SearchAwesome or it’s advertised entities, may redirect you to a malicious web link that may prompt you to download a fake installer or a malicious web link. Such malicious objects can even infect your computer with different malware:
- Ransomware.
- Worms.
- Trojans.
- DDoS software./span>
- BitCoin miners.
- Banking malware.
- Keyloggers.
What Does SearchAwesome Adware Do on My Computer?
Adware or ad-supported software is a category of programs which are created to show different types of advertised content on your computer system. This content includes displaying pop-ups, redirecting tabs from your web browser to web pages that are unfamiliar and may cause your PC harm.
Other side effects of having adware programs such as SearchAwesome on your computer is that the software begins to collect your data without your approval. Usually most adware programs do not notify that they collect data and these software are often deemed to be malicious.
How Bad Does SearchAwesome Adware Affect You?
Besides it’s primary goal – do show you various types of adverts and collect your information, _ adware does not aim to show you that it’s there. There may usually be several signs that the program is installed on your computer and these signs may be the:
- Name of the program on the displayed advertisements.
- SearchAwesome installed as a suspicious browser extension, that pretends to be legitimate.
- If it is situated on your Windows Programs and Features.
Since detection of the SearchAwesome Adware program can be a tricky process, because most of the files it creates are concealed in different Windows locations, removal of it may be a tricky process. You can try to locate it’s suspicious web browser extensions on your Chrome, Firefox, Explorer or other browser and you can try to uninstall it from the Programs and Features menu in Windows. However, this does not guarantee that the program won’t be back after this, like it usually happens with such software. This is the main reason why an adware-specific removal program should be used to scan for and delete all of the objects related to SearchAwesome Adware from your computer system.
Note! SearchAwesome could remain on your Mac if you are not careful during removal. We recommend that you download and run a scan with Combo Cleaner now to professionally clean up your Mac in now just in 5 minutes..
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Preparation Before Removing SearchAwesome
1.Make sure to backup your files.
2.Make sure to have this instructions page always open so that you can follow the steps.
3.Be patient as the removal may take some time.
Step 1: Uninstall SearchAwesome from Your Mac:
Step 2: Remove SearchAwesome from Your Web Browsers.
- Open Chrome and click on the drop-down menu at the top-right corner.
- From the menu open “Tools” and click on “Extensions”.
- Find any SearchAwesome – related add-ons and extensions and click on the garbage icon to remove them.
- Open Firefox and select the top-right menu.
- From it, click on “Add-ons” setting.
- Click on the suspicious extension and click “Remove”.
- Restart Firefox.
- Start Safari.
- Click on the Safari drop-down menu on top-right.
- From the drop-down menu, click Preferences.
- Click on “Uninstall” and accept any prompts.
Step 3:Run a free scan now to remove SearchAwesome files and objects from your Mac.
According to security professionals, the best way to effectively secure your Mac against threats such as SearchAwesome is to scan it with an advanced cleaner software. Combo Cleaner has the professional capabilities of detecting all threats and remove them from your Mac safe and fast.