Remove “Managed by your organization” Chrome Extension from Mac

If you see the “Managed by your organization” text when you open the Chrome browser’s menu, then your browser is most likely infected with a browser hijacker or adware.

What is “Managed by your organization”?

The “Managed by your organization” policy is a legitimate tool that allows administrators to create policies that control how the Chrome browser operates on a computer. These policies are designed to make it easier for admins to manage the Chrome settings for all users in their organization.
the browser will now display this message whenever a group policy is configured for the browser.
Unfortunately, when it comes to Home users, malware programs are using this method to force extensions to be installed on Windows and Mac computers knowing that it will be difficult to remove. The reason why they are doing this is that because the malicious Chrome extension that is forcefully installed by group policies cannot be removed or disabled via Chrome’s Extensions page. When a user tries to right-click on the extension to remove it, the normal “Remove” option will not be available and instead, the Chrome user will see a dimmed out message that states “Managed by your organization”.

Why am I seeing the “Managed by your organization” text?

You are seeing the “Managed by your organization” notice because your computer is either infected with a malicious program or you’re using a computer that is part of a business network.

This guide was written to help users remove malware from their devices, so if you’re using a computer that is part of a business network, you should talk with the administrator about the policies that are set on it.

When it comes to adware or browser hijackers, these malicious programs are bundled with other free software that you download off of the Internet. Unfortunately, some free downloads do not adequately disclose that other software will also be installed and you may find that you have installed adware without your knowledge.
Here are a few typical signs that you have adware or browser hijacker on your computer:

• You see the “Managed by your organization” notice when you open your browser menu.
• Advertisements appear in places they shouldn’t be.
• Your web browser’s homepage has mysteriously changed without your permission.
• Your web browser’s search engine has mysteriously changed without your permission.
• Web pages that you typically visit are not displaying properly.
• Website links redirect to sites different from what you expected.
• Browser popups appear which recommend fake updates or other software.
• Other unwanted programs might get installed without your knowledge.

You should always pay attention when installing software because often, a software installer includes optional installs. Be very careful what you agree to install.
Always opt for the custom installation and deselect anything that is not familiar, especially optional software that you never wanted to download and install in the first place. It goes without saying that you should not install software that you don’t trust.

To check your computer for “Managed by your organization” Chrome malware and remove it for free, please use the guide below.

Remove “Managed by your organization” from Chrome for Mac (Guide)

This malware removal guide may appear overwhelming due to the number of steps and numerous programs that are being used. We have only written it this way to provide clear, detailed, and easy-to-understand instructions that anyone can use to remove malware for free.
Please perform all the steps in the correct order. If you have any questions or doubt at any point, stop and ask for our assistance.

• STEP 1: Remove malicious Profiles from your Mac
• STEP 2: Remove the malicious apps from Mac
• STEP 3: Use Malwarebytes to remove “Managed by your organization” Chrome malware
• STEP 4: Remove unwanted browser policies created by the “Managed by your organization” Chrome malware
• STEP 5: Reset Google Chrome settings to their defaults to remove malicious browser extensions and settings

STEP 1: Remove malicious Profiles from your Mac

Profiles are used by IT admins in businesses to control the behavior of their Macs. These profiles can configure a Mac to do many different things, some of which are not otherwise possible.
When it comes to home users, adware and browser hijacker are using the configuration profile to prevent users from removing malicious programs from the computer. This also prevents the user from changing that behavior in the browser’s settings.
In this first step, we will check your computer to see if any configuration profiles are installed. To do this, follow the below steps:

1. Open “System Preferences”

   From the Apple menu, select System Preferences.

2. Search for “Profiles”

   When the System Preferences window opens, search for the Profiles icon.
   

   If there isn’t a Profiles icon, you don’t have any profiles installed, which is normal and you can continue with the next steps.

3. Remove the malicious profiles

   If there’s a Profile icon, click on it and select any suspicious profile that you want to remove, and then press the – (minus) button. Click Remove to remove the profile.
   

STEP 2: Remove malicious apps from your Mac

In this next step, we will try to identify and remove any malicious apps and files that might be installed on your computer.

1. Open “Finder”

   Click the Finder application on your dock.
   

2. Click on “Applications”

   In the Finder left pane, click on “Applications“.
   

3. Find and remove the malicious app.

   The “Applications” screen will be displayed with a list of all the apps installed on your device. Scroll through the list until you find the malicious app, right-click it, and then click “Move to Trash”.

   Look out for any suspicious program that could be behind all the drama – anything you don’t remember downloading or that doesn’t sound like a genuine program. Here are some known malicious programs: TakeFresh, TopResults, FeedBack, ApplicationEvents, GeneralOpen, PowerLog, MessengerNow, ImagePrime, GeneralNetSearch, Reading Cursors, GlobalTechSearch, PDFOnline-express, See Scenic Elf, MatchKnowledge, Easy Speedtest, or WebDiscover.

   

4. Click “Empty Trash”

   On the dock, right-click on the trash icon and select “Empty Trash”. Doing so deletes the Trash’s contents, including the program that you just sent to the Trash.
   

5. Check and remove for malicious files

   Click the desktop to make sure you’re in the Finder, choose “Go” then click on “Go to Folder“.
   
   Look out for any suspicious files that could be behind all the drama – anything you don’t remember downloading or that doesn’t sound like a genuine program. Here are some known malicious files: “com.adobe.fpsaud.plist” “installmac.AppRemoval.plist”, “myppes.download.plist”, “mykotlerino.ltvbit.plist”, or “com.myppes.net-preferences.plist”. When you find a malicious file move it to the Trash.

   • /Library/LaunchAgents
   • ~/Library/LaunchAgents
   • /Library/Application Support
   • /Library/LaunchDaemons

   

STEP 3: Use Malwarebytes to remove “Managed by your organization” Chrome malware

Malwarebytes Free is one of the most popular and most used anti-malware software for Windows, and for good reasons. It is able to destroy many types of malware that other software tends to miss, without costing you absolutely nothing. When it comes to cleaning up an infected device, Malwarebytes has always been free and we recommend it as an essential tool in the fight against malware.

1. Download Malwarebytes Free.

   You can download Malwarebytes for Mac by clicking the link below.

   MALWAREBYTES FOR MAC DOWNLOAD LINK
   (The above link will open a new page from where you can download Malwarebytes for Mac)

2. Double-click on the Malwarebytes setup file.

   When Malwarebytes has finished downloading, double-click on the setup file to install Malwarebytes on your computer. In most cases, downloaded files are saved to the Downloads folder.

   

3. Follow the on-screen prompts to install Malwarebytes.

   When the Malwarebytes installation begins, you will see the Malwarebytes for Mac Installer which will guide you through the installation process. Click “Continue“, then keep following the prompts in order to continue with the installation process.

   

   

   

   When your Malwarebytes installation completes, the program opens to the Welcome to Malwarebytes screen. Click the “Get started” button.

4. Select “Personal Computer” or “Work Computer”.

   The Malwarebytes Welcome screen will first ask you on what type of computer are you installing this program, click either Personal Computer or Work Computer.
   

5. Select “Use Malwarebytes Free”.

   You’ll be then prompted to select between the Malwarebytes Free and the Premium version. The Malwarebytes Premium edition includes preventative tools like real-time scanning and ransomware protection, however, we will use the Free version to clean up the computer.
   Click on “Use Malwarebytes Free“.
   

6. Click on “Scan”.

   To scan your computer with Malwarebytes, click on the “Scan” button. Malwarebytes will automatically update the antivirus database and start scanning your computer for malware.
   

7. Wait for the Malwarebytes scan to complete.

   Malwarebytes will scan your computer for adware and other malicious programs. This process can take a few minutes, so we suggest you do something else and periodically check on the status of the scan to see when it is finished.
   

8. Click on “Quarantine”.

   When the scan has completed, you will be presented with a screen showing the malware infections that Malwarebytes has detected. To remove the malicious programs that Malwarebytes has found, click on the “Quarantine” button.
   

9. Restart computer.

   Malwarebytes will now remove all the malicious files that it has found. To complete the malware removal process, Malwarebytes may ask you to restart your computer.
   

   When the malware removal process is complete, you can close Malwarebytes and continue with the rest of the instructions.

STEP 4: Remove unwanted browser policies created by the “Managed by your organization” Chrome malware

In this fourth step, we will try to manually remove malicious files and browser policies created by the “Managed by your organization” Chrome malware.

1. Quit Chrome
2. In the Finder, choose Go to Folder from the Go menu
3. Paste the following path into the window that opens, then click Go:

   /Library/Managed Preferences/

   Look for the following files, where [username] is your username:

   com.google.Chrome.plist
[username]/com.google.Chrome.plist
[username]/complete.plist

   These may be legitimate, so open these files with TextEdit and see if they have links to the troublesome site in them. If they do, delete them and restart Chrome.

Next, we will run some specific commands in the Terminal to remove the unwanted policies created by “Managed by your organization” Chrome malware.
You can check if any unwanted policies are loaded into the browser by typing chrome://policy into the URL bar.
To reset these policies, follow these steps:

1. Close Google Chrome, then open a Terminal window. To do this, go to Finder > Go > Utilities > Terminal
2. Enter the following commands, pressing enter after each line:
   • defaults write com.google.Chrome HomepageIsNewTabPage -bool false
   • defaults write com.google.Chrome NewTabPageLocation -string “https://www.google.com/”
   • defaults write com.google.Chrome HomepageLocation -string “https://www.google.com/”
   • defaults delete com.google.Chrome DefaultSearchProviderSearchURL
   • defaults delete com.google.Chrome DefaultSearchProviderNewTabURL
   • defaults delete com.google.Chrome DefaultSearchProviderName
   • defaults delete com.google.Chrome ExtensionInstallSources
3. After running these commands, quit Chrome if you haven’t already done so, then launch it again and check chrome://policy to see if the same keys are still present (you may need to click the “Reload policies” button for changes to show up). If they’re gone, you should be able to change your search engine and home page back to your preferred defaults in Chrome’s settings.

STEP 5: Reset Google Chrome settings to their defaults to remove malicious browser extensions and settings

In this final step, we will reset Google Chrome for Mac to its default settings to remove malicious browser extensions and settings.

1. Click on the three dots at the top right and click “Settings”.

   Click on Chrome’s main menu button, represented by three dots at the top right corner. Now click on the menu option labeled Settings as shown by the arrow in the picture below, which will open the basic settings screen.
   

2. At the bottom, click “Advanced”.

   Chrome’s “Settings” should now be displayed in a new tab or window, depending on your configuration. Next, scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the “Advanced” link (as seen in the below example).
   

3. Under the section “Reset,” click “Reset”.

   Chrome’s advanced settings should now be displayed. Scroll down until the “Reset and clean up” section is visible, as shown in the example below. Next, click on the “Reset settings to their original defaults” button.
   

4. Confirm by clicking “Reset”.

   A confirmation dialog should now be displayed, detailing the components that will be restored to their default state should you continue on with the reset process. To complete the restoration process, click on the “Reset Settings” button.
   

The final option: Completly uninstall Google Chrome from your Mac

If the above steps didn’t help you remove the malicious redirects, it is easier to completely remove Chrome and all data, then reinstall the browser. To do this, click the Finder icon, from the menu bar. Choose Go, and click Go to Folder, then paste one of the below paths into the window that opens.
You will need to delete all of the below items, but before doing this be aware that this will delete all data for all Google apps you have installed, such as your bookmarks, so you will need to export them before doing this.

• /Applications/Chrome.app
• /Library/Application Support/Google/
• /Library/Google/
• ~/Library/Application Support/Google/
• ~/Library/Google/
• ~/Library/Preferences/com.google.Chrome.plist

Note: The “~” indicates that it’s the current user’s Library which is often invisible in recent versions of macOS. To get to it you must hold down the Option (sometimes labeled Alt) key down and select Library from the Finder’s Go menu.

After deleting all of the above files, restart your device. You can now download and re-install Google Chrome on your device. You will need to import any exported bookmarks or other data, and may need to reinstall any other Google apps that you use.

Your computer should now be free of the “Managed by your organization” malicious programs. If your current antivirus allowed a malicious program on your computer, you may want to consider purchasing the full-featured version of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware to protect against these types of threats in the future.
If you are still experiencing problems while trying to a malicious program from your computer, please ask for help in our Mac Malware Removal Help & Support forum.