Remove Advanced Mac Cleaner “Virus” (August 2018 Update) There’s a term among the IT community for such software – PUP. The abbreviation stands for Potentially Unwanted Program. In the case of Advanced Mac Cleaner this means that some people like and use the program, others would rather have it removed.
This page aims to help Mac users in removing Searchmarquis.com browser hijacker. To automatically find and delete Search Marquis adware, it is suggested to thoroughly scan the computer with provided virus and malware removal tools.
Searchmarquis.com or Search Marquis homepage is an unpleasant browser extension. It usually adds to Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Safari even if Mac users did not request for it. This malware often sneak into the computer with the aid of free downloadable programs and other dubious applications that are hosted on not so popular websites.
When browser hijacker is completely loaded into the Mac system, existing home page, new tab, and default search engine will be replaced with Searchmarquis.com. Please note that several changes made to browser settings are impossible to reverse while adware is active on the computer.
The sole intention of Searchmarquis.com hijacker is to earn revenue by endorsing commercial items online. Hence, various advertisements will appear on web page every time you browse on the internet. These include banner ads, interstitial, pop-ups, notifications, and so on.
Aside from the above mentioned issues, presence of Searchmarquis.com hijacker may also risk Mac user’s online privacy. This malware may collect sensitive and confidential information you submitted to this dubious search tool. This data may be shared with third party and use it for delivering more customized advertisements. However, gathered information may not just be used for its initial purpose. In some cases, cyber crook also use it for other malicious attack like stealing ones identity.
To stop Searchmarquis.com web site from running each time you launch a new browser tab, you must eliminate this search hijacker as soon as you can. Although security experts declared that it is not a type of computer virus, note that it holds some irregularities.
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Searchmarquis.com Removal Procedures
The following instructions will guide you to get rid of Searchmarquis.com. We highly advise that you fully execute the given procedure to completely remove the unwanted program from your Mac system.Fast and Easy Removal with Combo Cleaner
To quickly find and delete browser hijacker from Mac system, we highly recommend scanning the computer with Combo Cleaner. This comprehensive and complete tool for Mac is equipped with an advanced virus, malware, and adware scan engines.
1Download Combo Cleaner from the link below.
2Double-click on the file to install the program. As show in the image below, drag the Combo Cleaner.app to Applications folder.
3 Open Launchpad and click on the Combo Cleaner icon to run the tool.
4Click on Start Combo Scan button to begin checking the computer for malicious objects.
Free virus scanner of Combo Cleaner checks and detects various kinds of threats. To remove them from the infected computer, you will have to purchase the full version of Combo Cleaner.
Manual Removal and Additional Scan
Step 1 : Manually delete all files dropped by the browser hijacker
1 Navigate the Apple Menu bar and click on 'Go'. Then, select 'Go to Folder'.
2 Copy and paste, or type the following line in the field and press Enter on your keyboard:
/Library/LaunchAgents
3 LaunchAgents folder should open at this point. Look for items with the following file name:
- SearchMarquis.update.plist
- SearchMarquis.AppRemoval.plist
- SearchMarquis.download.plist
- SearchMarquis.ltvbit.plist
- .com.SearchMarquis.agent.plist
4 Move each file to the Trash. This action may require administrator privilege. If you are not logged in as administrator, you need to provide required password.
5 Go to a different folder again using procedure from Step 1 and copy and paste or type the following line:
~/Library/LaunchAgents
6 Do the same process as in Step 3 and move each file to the Trash.
7 Next, we need to look at Application Support folder. Using the same method as above. Go to this location:
~/Library/Application Support
8 Find the same files as in Step 3 and drag them to the Trash.
9 Go back to Apple Menu, click Go, and then select Applications from the drop-down list.
10Delete the following folders just in case they do exist.
- Search Marquis, SearchItNow, or any suspicious entries.
Step 2 : Delete Searchmarquis.com from internet browser
Choose affected browser program from the following tabs to see specific guide in removing the threat. If in case browser hijacker name is not listed as extension, please look for suspicious objects or any unwanted programs.
Safari
Procedures to Remove Searchmarquis.com from Safari
Disable or Remove Relevant Browser Extension
1 Open Safari browser.
2 Go to Safari menu.
3 Choose 'Preferences'.
4 This will open the Safari settings dialog box.
5 Please select 'Extensions' tab to see list of installed extensions.
6 Select Searchmarquis.com from the list. If not found, it may be hiding under a different name. Look for unknown or suspicious item.
7 Turn off the extension by removing the Check Mark on the box beside 'Enable Searchmarquis.com extension' or similar entry. You can also Uninstall the extension if you need to permanently remove it from the computer.
Reset Safari Homepage and Search Engine
8 Click on General tab, and then look for Homepage section.
9 Replace Searchmarquis.com with your preferred default Homepage.
10 On the same Tab, go to Default Search Engine section.
11 Replace the current entry with you preferred search engine (Google, Bing, Yahoo).
12 Please close Safari browser at the moment and proceed to the next steps.
Google Chrome
Steps to Remove Searchmarquis.com from Google Chrome
1 Open Google Chrome.
2 In the address bar, type the following and press Enter on keyboard: chrome://extensions
3 You will now see Google Chrome's Extensions window.
4 Usually, Google Chrome has empty Extension, unless you have installed other base on your preferences. Also on this area, you can find the item provided by Searchmarquis.com. Click on Trash Icon beside the adware extension to remove it from Google Chrome.
Restore Google Chrome's Home Page
5 Next, you need to reset the default home page of Google Chrome and remove Searchmarquis.com tab during start-up. To do this, click on Settings on left side panel.
6 Go to the area 'On startup' and select 'Open a specific page or set of pages'. Click on Set pages link to open Startup Pages window.
7 To remove Searchmarquis.com from the list, simply hover your mouse to the web address and click X on right most of the entry.
8 Type your desired home page address on the field 'Enter Url...' and press Enter on your keyboard. Since this is the only URL on your Startup Page, it will be set as your default home page.
9 Click OK to save the settings. Remain on Settings page.
Restore Google Chrome's Default Search Engine
10 Scroll down to Search area.
11 Click on Manage Search Engines... button. New window will open with list of installed search engines.
12 Hover your cursor to preferred search engine and click on Make Default.
13 Select unwanted search engine that is relevant to Searchmarquis.com and click on X mark to delete this item.
14 Click Done after removing all suspicious items. You may now restart Google Chrome.
Mozilla Firefox
Directions to Remove Searchmarquis.com from Mozilla Firefox
1 Launch Mozilla Firefox
2 Type the given command in the address bar and press Enter on keyboard: about:addons
3 Click Extensions on left panel. This will show a list of installed extensions.
4 Find the Searchmarquis.com extension. If it does not exist, find related items such as mentioned above. Click the Remove button to uninstall it.
5 Close the Add-ons Manager tab.
Restore Mozilla Firefox's Home Page
6 Back on Mozilla Firefox main page, type the given command in the address bar and press Enter on keyboard: about:preferences
7 To remove Searchmarquis.com from your home page, replace it by selecting General in the sidebar.
8 Under Startup section, make sure that 'When my Firefox starts' is set to 'Show my home page'.
9 Then, on Home Page field, type your desired home page URL. You can also click on 'Restore to Default' button to set Firefox Start Page as your home page.
Restore Mozilla Firefox's Default Search Engine
10 Click Search on the sidebar. Under Search window, set your Default Search Engine option to valid one.
11 On the same window, go to the lists of search engines. Select unwanted entry and click on Remove button to get rid of Searchmarquis.com search engine.
Advanced Settings
12 Back on Mozilla Firefox main page, type this command in the address bar and press Enter on your keyboard: about:config
13 Firefox will display a warning stating 'This might void your warranty!' Please click on 'I'll be careful, I promise!' button.
14 In the search box, type the name of search hijacker. This will show a list of Preference that was modified by Searchmarquis.com.
15Right-click on suspicious Preference Name, and then, select Reset from drop-down list to restore the original setting. Repeat this process to all affected entries.
16 You may now close the window and restart Mozilla Firefox.
Step 3 : Scan with MBAM to easily get rid of Searchmarquis.com
1Download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware for Mac from the link below.
2 Drag the downloaded file MBAM-Mac-[version].dmg to Applications folder.
3 Under Applications folder, right-click on Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and select 'Open' from the given choices.
4 After opening the tool, click on the 'Scan' button to start checking the computer for presence of Searchmarquis.com and other malware.
5 When scanning is done, the tool will display all identified threats. Be sure to select malicious items.
6 Click on 'Remove Selected Items' to delete the threats.
We hope that the procedures and removal tool on this page was able to help you in removing Searchmarquis.com. Your computer should now be malware free.