How to uninstall OperativeUnit app/extension from Mac

What is OperativeUnit

According to security researchers, OperativeUnit is a PUP (potentially unwanted program) that falls under the category of Adware. Adware is form of software developed to inject adverts into your Net browsing or even desktop experience. Adware can be created to modify your home page, search engine, search results, or even add toolbars to your web browser. Adware run in the background when surf the Net, and adware can slow down your MAC and affect its performance.

Does adware software steal your confidential information? Adware has the ability to gather your privacy information (your ip address, what is a web-site you are viewing now, what you are looking for on the World Wide Web, which links you are clicking), which can later transfer to third parties.

By following few simple steps below it’s easy to scan and delete adware from Chrome, Safari and Firefox and your Apple Mac. Learn how to remove OperativeUnit and other adware applications, as well as how to run a full computer virus scan.

How does OperativeUnit get on your computer

Adware usually spreads as a part of free applications . So, when you installing free applications, carefully read the disclaimers, choose the Custom or Advanced install method to watch for additional software that are being installed, because certain of the apps are potentially unwanted applications and adware.

Threat Summary

Name	OperativeUnit, OperativeUnit 1.0 app
Type	adware, potentially unwanted application (PUA), Mac malware, Mac virus
Detection Names	Adware/Adload!OSX, Program:MacOS/Vigram.A, ApplicUnwnt, Trojan-Downloader.OSX.Adload, MacOS.Agent-MT, Adware.MAC.Generic, OSX.Trojan.Gen and Osx.Adware.Cimpli
Distribution	Free software installers, suspicious pop up advertisements, torrent downloads and fake update tools
Symptoms	Your browser is redirected to web-pages you did not want, advertisements appear in places they shouldn’t be, there is an unwanted application in the ‘Applications’ section of the Finder, unwanted browser toolbars, your MAC settings are being changed without your request, fast Internet but slow browsing speeds.
Removal	OperativeUnit removal guide

How to remove OperativeUnit adware

According to cyber security professionals, OperativeUnit removal can be complete manually and/or automatically. These tools which are listed below will help you remove adware, harmful browser extensions, malicious software and potentially unwanted applications . However, if you’re not willing to install other programs to delete OperativeUnit adware, then use guidance listed below to return your machine settings to defaults.

To remove OperativeUnit, complete the following steps:

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

Remove profiles created by OperativeUnit

OperativeUnit 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 computer. If there is Profiles in the list, then click on it, then select a profile related to OperativeUnit.

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

Check the list of installed programs

Check the list of installed applications on your Mac computer and delete all unknown and recently installed applications. If you see an unknown application with incorrect spelling or varying capital letters, it have most likely been installed by malicious software and you should clean it off first with malware removal tool like MalwareBytes Free.

Open Finder and click “Applications”.

Very carefully look around the entire list of software installed on your Apple Mac. Most probably, one of them is the OperativeUnit adware. Once you have found a dubious, unwanted or unused program, right click to it and select “Move to Trash”. Another method is drag the program from the Applications folder to the Trash.

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

Remove OperativeUnit related files and folders

Now you need to try to find OperativeUnit 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.

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

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

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 OperativeUnit 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.OperativeUnit.service.plist, installapp.plist, search.plist, com.machelper.plist, com.net-preferences.plist, macsearch.plist and com.google.defaultsearch.plist, . Most often, browser hijackers, potentially unwanted programs and adware software create several files with similar names.

Check for OperativeUnit 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. Check the contents of suspicious folders, if there is a file with a name similar to com.OperativeUnit.system, then this folder must be deleted. Move all suspicious folders to the Trash.

Check for OperativeUnit 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 OperativeUnit 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.macsearch.system.plist, com.OperativeUnit.system.plist, com.machelper.system.plist, com.search.system.plist and com.installapp.system.plist. In most cases, browser hijackers, adware and potentially unwanted programs create several files with similar names.

Scan your Mac with MalwareBytes

If you are still having problems with the OperativeUnit removal or just wish to check your Mac occasionally for adware and other malware, then download MalwareBytes Anti Malware (MBAM). It’s free for home use, and scans for and removes various unwanted apps that attacks your MAC or degrades MAC OS performance. MalwareBytes AntiMalware (MBAM) can delete adware software, PUPs, toolbars and browser hijackers as well as malicious software, including ransomware and trojans.

Please go to the following link to download the latest version of MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (MBAM) for Mac.

After the downloading process is complete, close all apps and windows on your Apple Mac. Run the saved file. Follow the prompts.

The MalwareBytes will automatically start and you can see its main screen as shown below.

Now click the “Scan” button to perform a system scan with this tool for the OperativeUnit . This procedure can take some time, so please be patient. When a malware, adware or PUPs are detected, the number of the security threats will change accordingly.

When that process is done, the results are displayed in the scan report. Review the results once the tool has done the system scan. If you think an entry should not be quarantined, then uncheck it. Otherwise, simply press the “Quarantine” button. The MalwareBytes will start to uninstall the OperativeUnit adware.

Remove OperativeUnit from Safari, Chrome, Firefox

If you have ‘OperativeUnit adware’ removal problem, then remove unwanted plugins can help you. In the steps below we’ll show you the way to remove malicious plugins without reinstall. This will also help to remove OperativeUnit adware from your web browser.

Google Chrome	Mozilla Firefox
In the top right hand corner, click on ‘three vertical dots’, and this will open up the main menu on 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 OperativeUnit adware by reset 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 OperativeUnit adware software 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

Run an ad-blocking utility like AdGuard will protect you from harmful ads and content. Moreover, you can find that the AdGuard have an option to protect your privacy and stop phishing and spam webpages. Additionally, ad-blocking programs will allow you to avoid unwanted popup advertisements and unverified links that also a good way to stay safe online.

1. Visit the following page to download AdGuard.
   
   

   AdGuard for Mac download
   3678 downloads
   Author: © Adguard
   Category: Security tools
   Update: January 17, 2018
   
2. Once downloading is complete, start the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” program window. Follow the prompts.
3. After the install is complete, click “Skip” to close the setup program and use the default settings, or click “Get Started” to see an quick tutorial which will help 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 MAC OS, AdGuard will start automatically and stop unwanted advertisements, block malicious and misleading web-sites.

To sum up

Now your MAC OS should be free of the OperativeUnit adware. We suggest that you keep AdGuard (to help you stop unwanted pop-up advertisements and unwanted malicious web sites) and MalwareBytes (to periodically scan your MAC system for new adwares and other malicious software).

If you are still having problems while trying to get rid of unwanted ads from the Firefox, Google Chrome and Safari, then ask for help here here.