Troubleshoot Safe Finder impossible to delete

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Infected device issues
Safari loads with the default homepage as safe finder
Steps taken to remove the infection
Removal of all applications associated with it, malwarebytes used to clean, all internet history and caches deleted. checked the library for additional files and found nothing out of the ordinary

clang

New Member
Thread author
Oct 8, 2018
2
Hi All,

I ended up with Safe Finder on my Macbook and now I can't remove it from Safari, I have tried everything that I have found on the web, malwarebytes says the mac is clean, chrome works as normal after a reset, but safari cannot shake it. I have run through the system to the best of my knowledge and can't find anything left of it or any strange aliases after deletion. Please help
 
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clang

New Member
Thread author
Oct 8, 2018
2
Hi,

Yes, I've followed every guide possible and nothing remains that can be found of safefinder or an alias. Yet safari still loads with safe finder search engine... I reset chrome which worked but I can't delete safari from my mac to start over so it's tricky. I'm not sure what else I can try. I can't find anyone else who's had the same issue
 
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sunni77

New Member
Oct 14, 2018
2
I am having this SAME exact issue, I have followed ALL directions there are no extensions, my home page is set to apple.com but it STILL re-directs to SafeFinder :/ please help!
 

sunni77

New Member
Oct 14, 2018
2
I think I may have SOLVED this! It was the thing I didn't think to try, but did, and now it weirdly worked.

1. Go to Safari >> Preferences
2. Under 'General' change the following:
3. "Safari Opens With:" 'a new window'
3. "New windows open with:" change to 'Empty Page'
4. "New tabs open with:" change to 'Empty Page'
5. Close out, open a new Safari window - it should open blank
6. Now go BACK into your preferences and set them back to "Homepage" and set your own desired home page.
7. That should do it!
8. If not clear cache, clear history, clear all website data under 'Privacy'.

(mine was already previously set to home page and my home page was set correctly and there were NO extensions to delete so that wasn't it - I tried this, which is the equivalent of getting out of the car and getting back in kind of thing. ;) lol
 

pomartist

New Member
Nov 5, 2018
1
Hi,

Yes, I've followed every guide possible and nothing remains that can be found of safefinder or an alias. Yet safari still loads with safe finder search engine... I reset chrome which worked but I can't delete safari from my mac to start over so it's tricky. I'm not sure what else I can try. I can't find anyone else who's had the same issue
Hi. I have the same issue. On macOS Mojave. Did everything I could possibly do yet Safe Finder still opens up in Safari. In Safari System Preferences my Homepage tab is grayed out, despite still shows google.com I get Safe Finder opening Safari. Please help!
 

dffn

New Member
Nov 9, 2018
1
Exact same issue in Mojave. Did what sunni77 suggested, worked til step 6, but hompage in preferneces is set to correct homepage, but cannot be changed as its grayed out. I closed Safari, opened and Safe Finder is back. :(((( Anyone worked it out? Thank you.
 

PureShores

New Member
Nov 18, 2018
1
Exact same issue in Mojave. Did what sunni77 suggested, worked til step 6, but hompage in preferneces is set to correct homepage, but cannot be changed as its grayed out. I closed Safari, opened and Safe Finder is back. :(((( Anyone worked it out? Thank you.

okay after many hours I hope ni can help you as I had the same problem ....... I created a new user and made them admin . I then returned to my main user and unlocked so I can make changes - the parental control was ticked !!! when I tried to untick it told me I couldn't as Admins can't have parental control okay so what you do here is - make this account a standard account ( DO NOT DELETE) then using your new admin account uncheck the box for parental control on what was the old admin user , . once its unchecked return to the original admin user ( still standard account ) and go to your safari home page settings in preferences / general - fingers crossed its no longer greyed - change it to your own homepage you want , save it then , you may log out and return to the user profiles and make the Admin Admin once again
hope this makes sense - it seems the home page is greyed out due to some clever parental control setting! was driving me mad as the actual bug was gone but the homepage wouldn't change❤️
 
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Jazzmann

New Member
Jun 24, 2019
1
I had the greyed out Safari Preferences homepage issue, too, so was unable to get rid of Safefinder. When I tried to change my admin to Standard mode I couldn't, and noticed that my admin was a 'managed' account with parental control ticked. I set up a new admin user account as advised above by PureShores, logged in with it, but my original 'managed' admin user account was greyed out, so couldn't be changed. The solution was to log into the new admin account in SAFE MODE (restart the mac holding down the shift key). All controls in user accounts were then accessible and I was able to change my original admin account to Standard mode and then followed instructions to change the Safari Preferences home page. After months of trying suggested fixes from the internet, this finally worked and I think I'm free of Safefinder! A big thank you to PureShores and all contributors for sharing on this forum.
 
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Jack

Administrator
Verified
Staff Member
Well-known
Jan 24, 2011
9,377
Hello @Jazzmann
Can you try these steps:
  1. In Safari, choose Preferences from the Safari menu.
  2. In the window that opens, click the General icon (if necessary)
  3. Enter your desired home page in the "Homepage" field, but DO NOT press return!
  4. At the top of the window, click any of the other icons (eg, Tabs, AutoFill, etc).
  5. You may see a prompt asking for confirmation for changing the home page. If so, confirm.
  6. Switch back to the General page and check to make sure the home page has been changed.
 
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