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

What is IndexerProject

According to security researchers, IndexerProject is a potentially unwanted application (PUA) that belongs to the Adware family. Adware is form of malicious programs designed to add advertisements into your Internet surfing or even desktop experience. The IndexerProject adware can change your homepage, search provider, search results, or even add toolbars/extensions to your internet browser. It run in the background when you’re online, and it can slow down your MAC and affect its performance.

Another reason why you need to get rid of IndexerProject is its online data-tracking activity. The adware can collect lots of marketing-type data about you to get profit. It can analyze your surfing, and gain access to your user info and, later, can transfer it to third parties. Thus, there are more than enough reasons to uninstall IndexerProject from your Mac.

If you are unfortunate have adware software, you can follow the guide below that will help you to remove IndexerProject and get rid of intrusive ads from your web-browser.

How does IndexerProject get on your MAC OS

Adware spreads as a part of certain freeware. So always read carefully the installation screens, disclaimers, ‘Terms of Use’ and ‘Software license’ appearing during the install procedure. Additionally pay attention for bundled applications that are being installed along with the main program. Ensure that you unchecked all of them! Also, use an ad-blocker application that will help to block dubious and untrustworthy web sites.

Threat Summary

Name	IndexerProject, IndexerProject 1.0 app
Type	adware, potentially unwanted application (PUA), Mac malware, Mac virus
Detection Names	MacOS.Agent-MT, Adware/Adload!OSX, OSX.Trojan.Gen, Trojan-Downloader.OSX.Adload, Program:MacOS/Vigram.A, Adware.MAC.Generic, ApplicUnwnt and Osx.Adware.Cimpli
Distribution	Free software installers, torrent downloads, shady popup advertisements and fake update tools
Symptoms	When you go to a web-page, you are automatically redirected to another website that you do not intend to visit, pop-ups and new tabs are loaded without your request, there is an unwanted program in the ‘Applications’ section of the Finder, unwanted web browser add-ons or toolbars keep coming back, your MAC OS settings are being altered without your request, your web-browser slows to a crawl.
Removal	IndexerProject removal guide

How to Remove IndexerProject adware (removal tutorial)

In the few simple steps below, we will try to cover Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Safari and provide general help to remove IndexerProject adware. You may find some minor differences in your Apple Mac install. No matter, you should be okay if you follow the steps outlined below: uninstall all suspicious and unknown apps, reset web-browsers settings, run free malicious software removal tools. Some of the steps will require you to reboot your MAC or close this web site. So, read this instructions carefully, then bookmark this page or open it on your smartphone for later reference.

To remove IndexerProject, execute the steps below:

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

Remove profiles created by IndexerProject

IndexerProject 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 software.

Click the System Preferences icon ( ) in the Dock, or choose Apple menu ( ) > System Preferences.

In System Preferences, click Profiles, then select a profile associated with IndexerProject.

Click the minus button ( – ) located at the bottom-left of the Profiles screen to remove the profile.
Note: if you do not see Profiles in the System Preferences, that means there are no profiles installed on your Mac device, which is normal.

Delete IndexerProject related programs through the Finder

Check the list of installed applications and uninstall all unknown or suspicious apps. This is an important step, it so often happens that browser hijackers, PUPs and adware are built into free programs, so by removing these programs you can get rid of unwanted advertisements and web browser redirects.

Open Finder and click “Applications”.

It will display a list of all applications installed on your MAC OS. Scroll through the all list, and remove any questionable and unknown software. Right click to suspicious application and choose “Move to Trash”. Another method is drag the program from the Applications folder to the Trash.

Most important, scroll through the all list, and move to trash any unknown applications. Don’t forget, choose Finder -> Empty Trash.

Remove IndexerProject related files and folders

Now you need to try to find IndexerProject 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.

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

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

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

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

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

Scan your Mac with MalwareBytes

If you are still having issues with the IndexerProject removal or just wish to scan your Mac occasionally for adware software and other malware, then download MalwareBytes. It’s free for home use, and searches for and removes various undesired apps that attacks your MAC system or degrades machine performance. MalwareBytes AntiMalware (MBAM) can delete adware, PUPs, browser hijackers and toolbars as well as malware, including ransomware and trojans.

Visit the page linked below to download MalwareBytes Free.

Once the download is done, close all windows on your MAC OS. Further, open the saved file. Follow the prompts.

The MalwareBytes Anti-Malware will automatically start and you can see its main window as displayed in the following example.

Next, click the “Scan Now” button to perform a system scan for the IndexerProject . A system scan can take anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes, depending on your MAC system.

Once MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (MBAM) completes the scan, MalwareBytes will show a screen that contains a list of malicious software that has been detected. Once you’ve selected what you want to remove from your MAC click the “Quarantine” button.

The MalwareBytes Anti Malware will remove IndexerProject adware software and move the selected items to the Quarantine.

Remove IndexerProject from Safari, Chrome, Firefox

If you’re still seeing IndexerProject adware that won’t go away, you might have malicious plugins installed on your browser. Check your web 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, select ‘More tools’ and click on ‘Extensions’. Click ‘Remove’ to uninstall an extension. Click ‘Remove’ in the dialog box. You can also try to remove IndexerProject adware software 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 IndexerProject 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

It’s important to use ad blocker software such as AdGuard to protect your MAC from malicious websites. Most security experts says that it is okay to stop advertisements. You should do so just to stay safe! And, of course, the AdGuard can to stop misleading and other unwanted web pages.

1. Installing the AdGuard is simple. First you’ll need to download AdGuard from the link below. Save it on your Desktop.
   
   

   AdGuard for Mac download
   3684 downloads
   Author: © Adguard
   Category: Security tools
   Update: January 17, 2018
   
2. After the downloading process is done, start the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” program window. Follow the prompts.
3. When the installation is done, click “Skip” to close the setup application and use the default settings, or click “Get Started” to see an quick tutorial which will assist 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 run your machine, AdGuard will start automatically and stop intrusive ads, block harmful and misleading webpages.

To sum up

Now your computer should be free of the IndexerProject adware. We suggest that you keep AdGuard (to help you stop unwanted pop ups and intrusive harmful web-pages) and MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (to periodically scan your machine for new adwares and other malware).

If you are still having problems while trying to remove IndexerProject from Safari, Firefox and Google Chrome, then ask for help here here.