Q: How do I remove Conduit Search malware?

Read http://www.thesafemac.com/arg-conduit/

The Safe Mac » Adware Removal Guide

Helpful Links Regarding Malware Protection

An excellent link to read is Tom Reed's Mac Malware Guide.

Also, visit The XLab FAQs and read Detecting and avoiding malware and spyware.

See these Apple articles:

  Mac OS X Snow Leopard and malware detection

  OS X Lion- Protect your Mac from malware

  OS X Mountain Lion- Protect your Mac from malware

  OS X Mavericks- Protect your Mac from malware

  About file quarantine in OS X

If you require anti-virus protection Thomas Reed recommends using ClamXAV. (Thank you to Thomas Reed for this recommendation.)

From user Joe Bailey comes this equally useful advice:

The facts are:

1. There is no anti-malware software that can detect 100% of the malware out there.

2. There is no anti-malware that can detect anything targeting the Mac because there

     is no Mac malware in the wild, and therefore, no "signatures" to detect.

3. The very best way to prevent the most attacks is for you as the user to be aware that

     the most successful malware attacks rely on very sophisticated social engineering

     techniques preying on human avarice, ****, and fear.

4. Internet popups saying the FBI, NSA, Microsoft, your ISP has detected malware on

    your computer is intended to entice you to install their malware thinking it is a

    protection against malware.

5. Some of the anti-malware products on the market are worse than the malware

    from which they purport to protect you.

6. Be cautious where you go on the internet.

7. Only download anything from sites you know are safe.

8. Avoid links you receive in email, always be suspicious even if you get something

    you think is from a friend, but you were not expecting.

9. If there is any question in your mind, then assume it is malware.

To remove the "Conduit" spyware, take the steps below.

Triple-click the line below on this page to select it:

~/Library/Application Support/Conduit

Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. From the Finder menu bar, select

          Go ▹ Go to Folder…

Paste into the box that opens (command-V), then press return. A Finder window should open with a folder named "Conduit" selected. If it does, delete the selected item.

Repeat with these lines:

~/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/ConduitNPAPIPlugin.plugin

/Applications/Toolbars

You may be prompted for your login password. Next, copy this line: 

/Library

Select Go to Folder… again and paste. Don't delete the Library folder. Delete only the following items inside it, if they exist.

          Application Support/Conduit

          InputManagers/CTLoader

          LaunchAgents/com.conduit.loader.agent.plist

          ScriptingAdditions/ct_scripting.osax

Close the Finder windows you opened. Log out and log back in.

I've seen a report that Conduit may be bundled with a scam "utility" called "MacKeeper." If you installed MacKeeper, you should remove it according to the developer's instructions. It's worthless and causes many problems reported on this site.

If using chrome go to settings, manage search engines and delete that entry.  I had it in two places so be sure you delete all.