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

What is CharacterSearch

CharacterSearch is a malicious application that falls under the category of Adware . Adware is a form of software that is used as an online promotional tool. It is developed with the sole purpose to open dozens of advertisements, and thus to promote the goods and services in an open internet browser window. Adware can substitute the legitimate advertising links on misleading or even banners that can offer to visit harmful webpages.

Even worse, adware often functions like spyware. Spyware can seek out your privacy information stored on the MAC, gather this information and use it to steal your identity. Therefore it is very important to follow the steps below immediately. The tutorial will assist you to remove CharacterSearch as well as clean your web-browser from annoying ads. What is more, the guide below will help you remove other malicious programs such as unwanted toolbars and browser hijackers that can be installed onto MAC along with the adware.

How does CharacterSearch get on your MAC

Adware software usually gets on your computer as a part of certain freeware that you download off of the World Wide Web. So, think back, have you ever download and run any free software. In order to avoid infection, in the Setup wizard, you should be be proactive and carefully read the ‘Terms of use’, the ‘license agreement’ and other installation screens, as well as to always select the ‘Manual’ or ‘Advanced’ installation type, when installing anything downloaded from the World Wide Web.

Threat Summary

Name	CharacterSearch, CharacterSearch 1.0 app
Type	adware software, PUP (potentially unwanted program), Mac malware, Mac virus
Detection Names	Trojan-Downloader.OSX.Adload, Program:MacOS/Vigram.A, OSX.Trojan.Gen, Osx.Adware.Cimpli, Adware.MAC.Generic, Adware/Adload!OSX, ApplicUnwnt and MacOS.Agent-MT
Distribution	Freeware installers, fake updaters, suspicious pop up advertisements and torrent downloads
Symptoms	When you go to a web page, you are occasionally redirected to another web page that you do not intend to visit, advertising pop ups won’t go away, your MAC starts automatically installing unwanted software, an unexpected plugin appears in your web browser, your internet browser homepage has modified and you are unable to change it back, your web browser slows to a crawl.
Removal	CharacterSearch removal guide

How to remove CharacterSearch from Mac

The answer is right here on this web-page. We have put together simplicity and efficiency. It will help you easily to clean your MAC system of CharacterSearch adware. Moreover, you can select manual or automatic removal solution. If you are familiar with the computer then use manual removal, otherwise use the free anti-malware utility developed specifically to remove adware. Of course, you can combine both methods. Read it once, after doing so, please bookmark this page (or open it on your smartphone) as you may need to close your browser or reboot your machine.

To remove CharacterSearch, use the steps below:

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

Remove profiles created by CharacterSearch

CharacterSearch can make changes to the Mac system such as malicious changes to browser settings, and the addition of malicious system profiles. You need to check the system preferences, find and remove malicious profiles and ensure your settings are as you expect.

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 associated with CharacterSearch.

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

Check the list of installed applications

Check out the Finder (Applications section) to see all installed applications. If you see any unknown and dubious applications, they are the ones you need to uninstall.

1. Open the Finder.
2. Click “Applications”.
3. It will open a list of all software installed on the MAC OS.
4. Scroll through the all list, and uninstall suspicious and unknown apps. Pay maximum attention to the application you installed last.
5. Drag the questionable program from the Applications folder to the Trash.
6. Empty Trash.

Remove CharacterSearch related files and folders

Now you need to try to find CharacterSearch 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.

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

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

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

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

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

Scan your Mac with MalwareBytes

You can delete CharacterSearch related files automatically through the use of MalwareBytes AntiMalware (MBAM). We suggest this free malicious software removal tool because it may easily remove browser hijackers, PUPs, adware software and toolbars with all their components such as files, folders and system entries.

1. Please go to the link below to download MalwareBytes Free.
   
   

   Malwarebytes Anti-malware (Mac)
   20842 downloads
   Author: Malwarebytes
   Category: Security tools
   Update: September 10, 2020
   
2. When the download is done, please close all applications and open windows on your machine. Run the downloaded file. Follow the prompts.
3. The MalwareBytes AntiMalware (MBAM) will run and open the main window.
4. Further, click the “Scan” button to perform a system scan with this utility for the CharacterSearch adware software. This process may take some time, so please be patient. When a malicious software, adware or potentially unwanted apps are found, the number of the security threats will change accordingly. Wait until the the checking is complete.
5. Once the scanning is complete, MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (MBAM) will produce a list of unwanted software and adware software.
6. Review the report and then click the “Remove Selected Items” button.
7. Close the AntiMalware and continue with the next step.

Remove CharacterSearch from Safari, Chrome, Firefox

If you’re still seeing CharacterSearch that won’t go away, you might have harmful extensions installed on your browser. Check your browser for unwanted add-ons using the steps below.

Google Chrome	Mozilla Firefox
Click on ‘three dots menu’ button at the top right corner of the Google Chrome window. When the drop-down menu appears, choose ‘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 CharacterSearch 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 problems with CharacterSearch 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

We suggest to install an ad blocking program. The ad-blocking utility such as AdGuard is a application that basically removes advertising from the Web and blocks access to malicious web-pages. Moreover, security experts says that using ad-blocking apps is necessary to stay safe when surfing the Net.

Visit the following page to download the latest version of AdGuard for Apple Mac.

After the downloading process is finished, run the downloaded file. The “Setup Wizard” window will show up on the computer screen.

Follow the prompts. AdGuard will then be installed. A window will show up asking you to confirm that you want to see a quick guidance. Click “Skip” button to close the window and use the default settings, or press “Get Started” to see an quick tutorial which will help you get to know AdGuard better.

Each time, when you start your Apple Mac, AdGuard will run automatically and stop unwanted popup advertisements, block malicious and misleading web-sites.

To sum up

Now your MAC system should be free of the adware software. We suggest that you keep MalwareBytes (to periodically scan your MAC for new adware softwares and other malicious software) and AdGuard (to help you block intrusive pop up advertisements and harmful web sites). Moreover, to prevent any adware software, please stay clear of unknown and third party programs.

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