How do I get rid of AdChoices on Safari?

I'm having the same problem and I don't know how to fix it. I've seen practically all of the responses that have worked for other people, but they don't seem to work for me. I tried looking at the extensions tab (where some people said intext-nav or some other extension was that shouldn't be there) but I have nothing in my extensions tab. Can somebody please help me?

mjdoran10 wrote:

I called Apple support and they told me it was a virus and I had to wipe my whole computer and reinstall the operating system. It fixed the problem for me

That would fix the problem, but this isn't actually a virus, and that solution would have been overkill.

I was able to get rid of this pesky thing by trashing the following folder:

/Library/Application Support/VSearch

Just use Finder to go here & drag the entire folder to the trash. Then restart your computer to complete the process. Hope this works for everyone else.

willp0wer wrote:

I was able to get rid of this pesky thing by trashing the following folder:

If you had that folder, deleting it by itself isn't enough. You need to follow the instructions here:

http://www.thesafemac.com/arg-downlite/

Hi there, I am wondering if you can break your advice on this issue down into simpler steps.

I am having the identical issue to the screen shots demonstrated above

I can find the 'inspect elements' prompt, and the higlighted line within that info reads the following:
<span class="umhl04" id="umhl04_3">Performers</span>

.... and then I have no idea what to do

My laptop is still brand new and this is doing my head in so a full reset may be the best plan.

Thoughts? Thanks for your help.

The post you have responded to contains bad advice. Inspecting the raw HTML code of a page will not help you, and neither will editing the hosts file, which you really shouldn't be messing with.

Instead, see some of the other advice that has been posted, such as my advice to see my Adware Removal Guide.

Removing the /Library/Application Support/VSearch folder solved the problem for me.

But I trashed the following remnant files just to be thorough:

/Library/LaunchAgents/com.vsearch.agent.plist

/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.vsearch.daemon.plist

/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.vsearch.helper.plist

/System/Library/Frameworks/VSearch.framework

(The 'Jack' files referenced in the article were not found.)

Hope this works for everyone else! 🙂

But I trashed the following remnant files just to be thorough:

Yes, you need to do that in order to be truly rid of the thing. You might be able to cure the visible symptoms by just removing that one VSearch folder, but you would be leaving some components still active behind the scenes.

(The 'Jack' files referenced in the article were not found.)

Not all variants of this adware include those "Jack" files, so that's not unexpected.

rtpftguy wrote:

Adware Medic did not work, either. But AdBlock Plus did. http://adblockplus.org

Programs like AdBlock Plus typically don't work so well against adware... so, I'm guessing that, since AdwareMedic didn't find anything and AdBlock Plus solved the problem, you were just seeing ads that were normal for the site(s) being visited.

However, if you were seeing ads on sites where they should not exist (like Apple's site), then you may still have a problem that AdBlock Plus is just covering up. One strong possibility would be a compromised network of some kind. If you think this may be the problem in your case, I'd strongly recommend looking at the FAQ in the AdwareMedic help for some additional steps to take to solve these kinds of problems.

Sorry but you are wrong. All you are pointing out is that you are infected with AdChoices as well.

The adware actually hijacks other peoples websites and injects adverts into them without paying the owners of the site. The injection happens at the browser level, it intentionally hides and the owners of the adware do not give instructions on how to remove it.

I've had to remove it from a few machines now, and they keep changing it to prevent you. It's very annoying and I'm surprised Apple put up with this.

Sorry but you are wrong. All you are pointing out is that you are infected with AdChoices as well.

I'm quite well aware of what adware is. I'm actually the developer of the AdwareMedic adware removal utility and The Safe Mac's Adware Removal Guide. So I definitely am NOT infected with adware, and I can say definitively that in LindsyRay's case, the behavior was entirely normal and not caused by adware. Unless you have some kind of ad blocker installed, there is ALWAYS an AdChoices ad below the search bar on Yahoo's home page.

To LD and the thread: I have installed the Adblock Plus extension to Safari, and the so-called AdChoices along with other annoying ad's are now gone. Someone out there should realize that showing the same ad hundreds of times can get annoying. This simple solution is working very well so far.

Looks like you need to update your software then. Although Adchoices does come on sites directly, they have a browser hijacker plugin. It embeds adverts into websites (normally every 2-3 paragraphs of text). It is no longer called VSearch either.

Simod wrote:

Looks like you need to update your software then. Although Adchoices does come on sites directly, they have a browser hijacker plugin.

Yes, I'm already aware of adware that injects AdChoices ads. LindsyRay's problem was NOT caused by adware, however. You're making some bad assumptions here.

Hi! I have the same issue (see John.A screen shots) and I have run your Adware Removal program which helped but I still have some issues. Some words on webpages are highlighted green and have a pop up ad when you scroll over it. Do you have any additional advice?