Solved Anysearchmanager on Mac

[RobPeak]

Hi, I suspect this has been raised before but I can't find an answer.

I have picked up anysearchmanager on my Mac. It has taken over my Safari, Chrome and Firefox settings and I can't reset them. Not even my home page.

It isn't in my list of Applications. MalwareBytes doesn't find it (I have run several scans). I've emptied the trash. I've tried a search with Find Any File.

I don't mind buying an alternative to MalwareBytes - but I thought that should have sorted it, and don't want to spend many if it isn't going to work

All help gratefully received.

 

[Jack]

Hello,

Let's check if there are any malicious profiles installed on your Mac:

1. Go to System Preferences.
2. Click Profiles.
3. The list will include an item “AdminPrefs“. Select this and click the remove “–” button in the lower-left corner.

If there isn’t a Profiles icon, you don’t have any profiles installed, which is normal.

 

[RobPeak]

Thank you for the swift reply. I’ve never looked at those profiles before. I have found quite a few, mostly called “AphroditeResults” and 3 called “”SearchSkilledData” (one of these is a Device Profile” the others are all User Profiles). I don’t know what any of them do or if it is safe to delete them.

 

[Jack]

Thank you for the swift reply. I’ve never looked at those profiles before. I have found quite a few, mostly called “AphroditeResults” and 3 called “”SearchSkilledData” (one of these is a Device Profile” the others are all User Profiles). I don’t know what any of them do or if it is safe to delete them.

Yes, it's safe to remove them all. Please do remove them, then check the browser settings.

 

[RobPeak]

Thanks you so much. That seems to have worked. I'll keep an eye on those profiles.

I have the free version of MalwareBytes. Do you think the Premium version is worth the annual fee? i.e. would it have stopped this happening?

 

[Jack]

Do you think the Premium version is worth the annual fee? i.e. would it have stopped this happening?

Tough question, these potentially unwanted programs/browser hijackers are very hard to stop by anti-malware products because they always change sites and something in the code. The best layer of protection for your computer is you, don't install programs that you don't trust. Now, I would recommend that you install an ad blocker for your browser.
For Safari: AdGuard for Safari | Overview | AdGuard
For Chrome: uBlock Origin
For Firefox: uBlock Origin – Get this Extension for Firefox (en-US)
As far as Malwarebytes Premium, it has great web protection and decent real-time protection, I use it on my laptop and it works great. I would really recommend that you use that 14-days trial and see if you like it. If not, you can try another antivirus, however, I do recommend that you install one.