How to uninstall InitialMachine app/extension from Mac

What is InitialMachine

InitialMachine is supposed to be a program that will improve the browsing experience, but according to security specialists, this program is an adware. Adware is ‘advertising supported’ software that tries to generate money by redirecting you to annoying web-sites or online advertising. It has different solutions of earning profit including showing up ads on the web browser forcefully. Most of adware software gets installed when you are downloading free software or browser add-ons.

Does adware steal your personal information? Adware be able to gather a wide variety of marketing-type data about you that can be later sold to third party companies. You do not know if your home address, account names and passwords are safe.

Thus, the InitialMachine is a an adware and should not be uninstalled. If you noticed any of the symptoms mentioned above, we advise you to perform few simple steps below to remove the adware and delete unwanted ads from your web browser.

How does InitialMachine get on your Apple Mac

The most common way to get adware is a freeware installer. Most commonly, a user have a chance to disable all bundled browser addons, but some installers are developed to confuse the average users, in order to trick them into installing PUPs and adware. Anyway, easier to prevent adware rather than clean up your machine after one. So, keep your browser updated (turn on automatic updates), use good antivirus apps, double check free programs before you run it (do a google search, scan a downloaded file with VirusTotal), avoid malicious and unknown web pages.

Threat Summary

Name	InitialMachine, InitialMachine 1.0 app
Type	adware, potentially unwanted application (PUA), pop ups, pop-up virus, popup ads
Symptoms	you experience a ton of of unwanted advertising pop ups your browser is redirected to webpages you did not want new entries appear in your Applications folder new extensions suddenly added on your internet browser unexpected changes in your web-browser like using a new default search provider low ping but slow Internet your MAC became slower than normal
Removal	InitialMachine removal guide

How to Remove InitialMachine adware (removal instructions)

Without a doubt, the adware is harmful to your Mac. So you need to quickly and completely remove InitialMachine . To get rid of this adware, you can use the manual removal guide that are given below or free malware removal tool like MalwareBytes Free (it is free). We suggest you use automatic removal way which will allow you to delete InitialMachine adware easily and safely. Manual removal is best used only if you’re well versed in machine or in the case where adware is not deleted automatically. Read this manual carefully, bookmark it or open this page on your smartphone, because you may need to exit your web-browser or reboot your MAC OS.

To remove InitialMachine, execute the following steps:

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

Remove profiles created by InitialMachine

InitialMachine 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 Apple menu ( ) > System Preferences.

In System Preferences, select Profiles. if there is no Profiles in the list of preferences, that means there are no profiles installed on the Mac. If there is Profiles in the list, then click on it, then select a profile related to InitialMachine.

To delete a malicious profile, click on the minus button ( – ) located at the bottom-left of the Profiles screen.

Uninstall InitialMachine related programs through the Finder

The next step in uninstalling browser hijackers, PUPs and adware by yourself is to go into the Finder, then Applications. Take a look at the list of applications on your Mac device and see if there are any suspicious and unknown apps. If you see any, you need to remove it. Of course, before doing so, you can do an Internet search to find details on the program. If it is a adware software, PUP and browser hijacker, you will likely find information that says so.

Open Finder and click “Applications”.

Carefully browse through the list of installed apps and get rid of all dubious and unknown apps.

After you’ve found anything dubious that may be the InitialMachine adware or other PUP, then right click this program and select “Move to Trash”. Once complete, Empty Trash.

Remove InitialMachine related files and folders

Now you need to try to find InitialMachine 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.

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 InitialMachine 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, macsearch.plist, InitialMachine.plist, search.plist and com.machelper.plist. Most often, browser hijackers, PUPs and adware create several files with similar names.

Check for InitialMachine 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 folder. Move all suspicious folders to the Trash.

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

Scan your Mac with MalwareBytes

You can remove InitialMachine associated files automatically with a help of MalwareBytes. We recommend this free malicious software removal utility because it can easily remove adware software, PUPs, browser hijackers and toolbars with all their components such as files, folders and system entries.

Visit the page linked below to download the latest version of MalwareBytes AntiMalware for Mac.

After downloading is complete, close all software and windows on your Apple Mac. Open a directory in which you saved it. Run the saved file and follow the prompts.

Once installation is complete, you’ll see window as shown on the image below.

Now press the “Scan” button . MalwareBytes Free program will scan through the whole machine for the InitialMachine adware. A scan can take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the number of files on your computer and the speed of your Apple Mac. While the utility is scanning, you can see number of objects and files has already scanned.

When MalwareBytes Free is finished scanning your MAC system, MalwareBytes Free will display a scan report. All detected threats will be marked. You can delete them all by simply click “Quarantine” button.

The Malwarebytes will now delete InitialMachine adware.

Remove InitialMachine from Safari, Chrome, Firefox

If you are still seeing InitialMachine that won’t go away, you might have harmful extensions installed on your web-browser. Check your web-browser for unwanted addons using the steps below.

Google Chrome	Mozilla Firefox
In the top right hand corner, click on ‘three vertical dots’, and this will open up the main menu on Google 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 get rid of InitialMachine adware 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 InitialMachine adware software 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

By installing an ad-blocker program like AdGuard, you are able to block malicious web pages, stop autoplaying video ads and remove a huge count of distracting and annoying ads on websites.

Download AdGuard from the following link.

After the download is finished, run the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” screen. Follow the prompts.

Each time, when you run your MAC system, AdGuard will start automatically and stop annoying popup ads, block malicious and misleading web-sites.

To sum up

Now your machine should be free of the InitialMachine adware. We suggest that you keep MalwareBytes (to periodically scan your MAC OS for new adwares and other malware) and AdGuard (to help you block annoying popups and harmful web-pages). Moreover, to prevent any adware, please stay clear of unknown and third party apps.

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