Troubleshoot PlaySearchNow Problems with Safari

Infected operating system
macOS Mojave Vesion 10.14.6
Infected device issues
browser on Safari has been hijacked by PlaySearchNow
Browsers affected by infection
  1. Safari
Browser Settings: Homepage and Default Search Engine
Browser extensions
none

sfeath

New Member
Thread author
Apr 26, 2020
1
Hi All, Initially this browser hijacker (PlaySearchNow) took control of both Safari and Chrome on my MacBook Air. Following online instructions I was able to remove it from Chrome. I continue to use the Malwarebytes Free software to scan and remove, but it never fixes the Safari issue. It's not really a super problem functionally since I prefer to use Chrome, but it makes me wonder why I can't remove it and whether there are other maliscious files lurking that I don't know about...
 

Jack

Administrator
Verified
Staff Member
Well-known
Jan 24, 2011
9,377
Hello @sfeath,
Let's see what's going on:

STEP 1: Let's check if there any malicious profiles installed on your Mac:

  1. From the Apple menu, select System Preferences.
  2. 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. 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: Run a scan with Malwarebytes

Please run a new scan with Malwarebytes Free. Report back the results.

STEP 3: Let's delete the Safari's preferences. To do this, follow the below steps:
  1. Quit Safari
  2. In the Finder, choose Go to Folder from the Go menu
  3. Type or copy/paste the following path into the window that opens, then click Go: ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari.plist
  4. If the file is found, delete it, then re-open Safari

Let me know the results for each step.
 

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