SmartQuestSearch is a potentially unwanted program (PUP) that belongs to the Adware family. Is Adware dangerous? Adware can cause issues for your MAC system. SmartQuestSearch can display unwanted advertising on your computer screen so that your cannot stop them, redirect your browser to malicious web sites, and it can cause unwanted web-sites to pop up on your web browser. Adware software might end up on your computer after you download and install free applications from a dubious source.
Unwanted ads
The worst is, SmartQuestSearch be able to collect a wide variety of your confidential data (your ip address, what is a website you are viewing now, what you are looking for on the Net, which links you are clicking), which can later transfer to third parties.
If you are unfortunate have adware or malware running on your MAC, you can follow the suggestions here to get rid of SmartQuestSearch ads from your web browser.
How does SmartQuestSearch get on your machine
In most cases adware gets on your MAC with various free programs, as a bonus. Therefore it’s very important at the stage of installing applications downloaded from the Web carefully review the Terms of use and the License agreement, as well as to always choose the Advanced, Custom or Manual setup option. In this mode, you can turn off all third-party programs, which will be installed along with the desired application.
Threat Summary
| Name | SmartQuestSearch, Smart Quest Search 1.0 app |
| Type | adware, potentially unwanted application (PUA), pop-ups, popup virus, popup ads |
| Symptoms |
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| Removal | SmartQuestSearch removal guide |
How to remove SmartQuestSearch adware
As with deleting adware, malicious software or potentially unwanted software, there are few steps you can do. We advise trying them all. If you do only one part of the instructions, then it should be run malicious software removal tool, because it should delete adware software and block any further infection. But to completely remove SmartQuestSearch adware software you’ll have to at least reset your browser settings like homepage, search provider by default and new tab page to default state, uninstall all unwanted and suspicious applications, and remove adware software with malware removal tools. Read this manual carefully, bookmark it or open this page on your smartphone, because you may need to close your internet browser or reboot your Apple Mac.
To remove SmartQuestSearch, perform the following steps:
- Manual SmartQuestSearch adware removal
- Automatic Removal of SmartQuestSearch adware software
- How to stay safe online
- To sum up
Manual SmartQuestSearch adware removal
First of all, try to get rid of SmartQuestSearch adware manually; to do this, follow the steps below. Of course, manual adware removal requires more time and may not be suitable for those who are poorly versed in system settings. In this case, we recommend that you scroll down to the section that describes how to remove SmartQuestSearch adware software using free tools.
Removing the SmartQuestSearch, check the list of installed programs first
One of the first things to attempt for removal of adware is to check your MAC OS installed applications screen and look for undesired and dubious programs. If there are any apps you do not recognize or are no longer using, you should uninstall them. If that doesn’t work, then you may need to use adware removal tool such as MalwareBytes Free.
- Open the Finder.
- Click “Applications”.
- It will open a list of all applications installed on the MAC.
- Scroll through the all list, and uninstall questionable and unknown software. Pay maximum attention to the application you installed last.
- Drag the questionable program from the Applications folder to the Trash.
- Empty Trash.
Remove SmartQuestSearch adware from Safari
The Safari reset is great if your web-browser is hijacked by v or you have unwanted add-ons or toolbars on your browser, which installed by malware.
Run Safari web browser. Next, choose Preferences from the Safari menu.
First, click the “Security” icon. Here, select “Block pop-up windows”. It will stop some types of pop ups.
Now, click the “Extensions” tab. Look for suspicious add-ons on left panel, select it, then click the “Uninstall” button. Most important to remove all suspicious extensions from Safari.
Once complete, check your home page and search engine settings. Click “General” tab. Make sure that the “Homepage” field contains the website you want or is empty.
Make sure that the “Search engine” setting shows your preferred search engine. In some versions of Safari, this setting is in the “Search” tab.
Remove SmartQuestSearch from Mozilla Firefox by resetting internet browser settings
If your Firefox web browser is affected by SmartQuestSearch or an unknown search engine opens results for your search, then it may be time to perform the internet browser reset. Your saved bookmarks, form auto-fill information and passwords won’t be cleared or changed.
Start the Mozilla Firefox and click the menu button (it looks like three stacked lines) at the top right of the internet browser screen. Next, press the question-mark icon at the bottom of the drop-down menu. It will open the slide-out menu.
Select the “Troubleshooting information”. If you’re unable to access the Help menu, then type “about:support” in your address bar and press Enter. It bring up the “Troubleshooting Information” page as shown on the screen below.
Click the “Refresh Firefox” button at the top right of the Troubleshooting Information page. Select “Refresh Firefox” in the confirmation dialog box. The Firefox will start a process to fix your problems that caused by the SmartQuestSearch adware. After, it’s complete, click the “Finish” button.
Remove SmartQuestSearch from Chrome
If you are getting SmartQuestSearch ads, then you can try to remove it by resetting Google Chrome to its original state. It will also clear cookies, content and site data, temporary and cached data. Essential information such as bookmarks, browsing history, passwords, cookies, auto-fill data and personal dictionaries will not be removed.
- First run the Google Chrome and click Menu button (small button in the form of three dots).
- It will display the Google Chrome main menu. Select More Tools, then press Extensions.
- You will see the list of installed add-ons. If the list has the addon labeled with “Installed by enterprise policy” or “Installed by your administrator”, then complete the following tutorial: Remove Chrome extensions installed by enterprise policy.
- Now open the Chrome menu once again, click the “Settings” menu.
- You will see the Chrome’s settings page. Scroll down and click “Advanced” link.
- Scroll down again and press the “Reset” button.
- The Google Chrome will show the reset profile settings page as shown on the image above.
- Next click the “Reset” button.
- Once this process is complete, your web browser’s newtab, home page and search engine by default will be restored to their original defaults.
- To learn more, read the article How to reset Google Chrome settings to default.
Automatic Removal of SmartQuestSearch adware software
Best SmartQuestSearch adware software removal utility should detect and get rid of adware, malware, potentially unwanted apps, toolbars, browser hijackers, and advertisements generators. The key is locating one with a good reputation and these features. Most quality applications listed below offer a free scan and malware removal so you can find and uninstall undesired programs without having to pay.
How to remove SmartQuestSearch with MalwareBytes Free
Get rid of SmartQuestSearch adware manually is difficult and often the adware is not fully removed. Therefore, we suggest you to run the MalwareBytes that are completely clean your MAC system. Moreover, this free program will allow you to get rid of malicious software, PUPs, toolbars and browser hijacker that your MAC OS can be infected too.
Download MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (MBAM) from the link below.
20841 downloads
Author: Malwarebytes
Category: Security tools
Update: September 10, 2020
When the download is done, run it and follow the prompts. Click the “Scan” button . MalwareBytes application will scan through the whole computer for the SmartQuestSearch adware. A scan may take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the number of files on your MAC system and the speed of your MAC. While the utility is scanning, you may see count of objects and files has already scanned. Review the scan results and then click “Remove Selected Items” button.
The MalwareBytes Anti-Malware is a free application that you can use to remove all detected folders, files, malicious services and so on.
How to stay safe online
In order to increase your security and protect your computer against new annoying advertisements and malicious webpages, you need to run ad blocking program that blocks an access to harmful advertisements and web-sites. Moreover, the program can stop the display of intrusive advertising, which also leads to faster loading of web-sites and reduce the consumption of web traffic.
Click the following link to download the latest version of AdGuard for Mac OS.
3677 downloads
Author: © Adguard
Category: Security tools
Update: January 17, 2018
When the download is done, launch the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” screen. Follow the prompts.
Each time, when you launch your MAC system, AdGuard will start automatically and stop unwanted ads, block malicious and misleading web-sites.
To sum up
Now your MAC should be free of the SmartQuestSearch adware. We suggest that you keep AdGuard (to help you stop unwanted popup ads and intrusive harmful webpages) and MalwareBytes Free (to periodically scan your MAC OS for new malware, hijackers and adware). Make sure that you have all the Critical Updates recommended for Mac operating system. Without regular updates you WILL NOT be protected when new browser hijackers, malicious apps and adware are released.
If you are still having problems while trying to remove SmartQuestSearch ads from your browser, then ask for help here.
