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

What is NetFormatBooster

NetFormatBooster is a malicious application that acts as Adware. Adware’s basic purpose is to present advertisements. These ads are often presented as advertising links, unclosable windows or push notifications. Clicks on the advertisements produce a monetary payoff for the adware producers. Adware cab work like Spyware, since it sends user information such as searches and trends to advertisers.

Another reason why you need to remove NetFormatBooster is its online data-tracking activity. It can monetize its functionality by gathering information from your surfing sessions. This confidential information, subsequently, can be easily transferred to third parties. This puts your confidential data at a security risk.

Do not panic because we have got the solution. Here’s a guide on how to remove NetFormatBooster adware from the machine and clean your internet browser of intrusive advertisements.

How does NetFormatBooster get on your Apple Mac

Adware may be spread with the help of trojan horses and other forms of malware, but in many cases, adware is bundled with certain free software. Many makers of freeware include bundled programs in their setup package. Sometimes it’s possible to avoid the install of any adware: carefully read the Terms of Use and the Software license, select only Manual, Custom or Advanced installation option, uncheck all checkboxes before clicking Install or Next button while installing new freeware.

Threat Summary

Name	NetFormatBooster, NetFormatBooster 1.0 app
Type	adware, PUP (potentially unwanted program), Mac malware, Mac virus
Detection Names	OSX.Trojan.Gen, Trojan-Downloader.OSX.Adload, Adware/Adload!OSX, MacOS.Agent-MT, Osx.Adware.Cimpli, ApplicUnwnt, Adware.MAC.Generic and Program:MacOS/Vigram.A
Distribution	Free software installers, torrent downloads, fake updaters and malicious pop up ads
Symptoms	Every time you perform an Internet search, your internet browser is redirected to another web page, pop up advertisements won’t go away, unexpected program installed without your knowledge, unexpected web-browser plugins or toolbars keep coming back, your browser startpage has replaced and you cannot change it back, slow browsing Internet.
Removal	NetFormatBooster removal guide

How to remove NetFormatBooster from Mac computer

There are a few methods that can be used to delete NetFormatBooster app. But, not all PUPs like this adware can be completely uninstalled utilizing only manual ways. Most often you are not able to remove any adware using standard Mac options. In order to delete the adware you need complete a few manual steps and run reliable removal utilities. Most IT security experts states that MalwareBytes utility is a right choice. The free program is able to search for and remove the NetFormatBooster adware from your computer and restore your web-browser settings to defaults.

To remove NetFormatBooster, perform the steps below:

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

Remove profiles created by NetFormatBooster

NetFormatBooster 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 NetFormatBooster.

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, which is normal.

Delete NetFormatBooster associated software by using the Finder

One of the first things to attempt for removal of adware is to check your Mac installed programs screen and look for unwanted and dubious programs. If there are any apps you do not recognize or are no longer using, you should remove them. If that doesn’t work, then you may need to use malware removal utility such as MalwareBytes AntiMalware (MBAM).

Open Finder and click “Applications”.

Very carefully look around the entire list of programs installed on your MAC OS. Most probably, one of them is the NetFormatBooster adware. Once you have found a dubious, unwanted or unused application, right click to it and choose “Move to Trash”. Another solution is drag the application from the Applications folder to the Trash.

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

Remove NetFormatBooster related files and folders

Now you need to try to find NetFormatBooster 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.

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

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

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

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

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

Scan your Mac with MalwareBytes

If you carefully followed the previous steps, then you should be able to get rid of NetFormatBooster. Of course, very often browser hijackers, PUPs and adware hides on a Mac, disguising itself as legitimate apps and files. Therefore, in some cases, it is difficult for an inexperienced user to decide whether a particular file is part of adware, PUPs and browser hijackers. Therefore, we recommend you to use MalwareBytes Anti Malware to scan the Mac device.

Download MalwareBytes Free by clicking on the link below.

Once the download is done, close all software and windows on your computer. Open a directory in which you saved it. Run the saved file and follow the prompts.

Once installation is complete, you will see window as displayed on the screen below.

Now click the “Scan” button for checking your MAC system for the NetFormatBooster adware. Depending on your MAC, the scan may take anywhere from a few minutes to close to an hour. During the scan MalwareBytes AntiMalware will search for threats exist on your MAC OS.

Once the scanning is complete, the results are displayed in the scan report. Review the report and then click “Quarantine” button.

The Malwarebytes will now remove NetFormatBooster adware software and move the selected threats to the program’s quarantine.

Remove NetFormatBooster from Safari, Chrome, Firefox

If you’re still seeing NetFormatBooster adware that won’t go away, you might have harmful extensions installed on your browser. Check your internet 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 Chrome. 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 remove NetFormatBooster 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 NetFormatBooster 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 is also critical to protect your internet browsers from harmful websites and ads by using an ad blocking application like AdGuard. Security experts says that it will greatly reduce the risk of malware, and potentially save lots of money. Additionally, the AdGuard can also protect your privacy by blocking almost all trackers.

1. Download AdGuard on your MAC from the following link.
   
   

   AdGuard for Mac download
   3677 downloads
   Author: © Adguard
   Category: Security tools
   Update: January 17, 2018
   
2. After downloading is finished, start the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” program window. Follow the prompts.
3. Once the installation is finished, click “Skip” to close the installation application and use the default settings, or click “Get Started” to see an quick tutorial that will assist you get to know AdGuard better.
4. In most cases, the default settings are enough and you do not need to change anything. Each time, when you start your MAC OS, AdGuard will start automatically and stop intrusive ads, block harmful and misleading web pages.

Finish words

Once you’ve done the tutorial outlined above, your MAC system should be clean from the NetFormatBooster adware and other malware. The Firefox, Google Chrome and Safari will no longer display any unwanted ads. Unfortunately, if the few simple steps does not help you, then you have caught a new adware software, and then the best way – ask for help here.