safari has ads popping up

What version of Safari and OS X are you running?

would this sort it 100%?

I have no idea. I would never use or recommend any such software.

"Start point search", if that is what you suspect, is an InstallMac variant.

You do not need to download or install anything to fix it.

For a description of how this may have occurred, how to avoid it in the future, and for Apple's recommended actions read How to install adware. Apple's instructions are linked in the Recovery Procedure near the end of that document. Read and follow them carefully. Pay particular attention to the easily overlooked passages directing you to restart your Mac when required.

Review your Gatekeeper settings: OS X : About Gatekeeper - Apple Support. Gatekeeper is designed to help prevent you from inadvertently installing garbage software.

i did a bit of investigating and i think its 'Strt point search " adware or malware.. i dont really know.... i got the Malware bytes app and found a vid to remove it and change my browser back to google .

would this sort it 100%?

If you are speaking of running Malwarebytes Anti-Malware for Mac, that should be your first go-to for this issue, provided it's adware. It is entirely safe and proven effective. Even if your issue turns out to not be adware, there is no harm in running this program; it simply won't find anything.

Your question brings up the subject of removing adware. This is a general comment on that subject.

Under no circumstances should you ever allow anti-virus software to delete something for you.

The only tools that anyone needs to detect and remove adware are the Finder and a web browser, both of which you already have. Anyone who has enough computer skill to install adware can just as well remove it without using anything else.

Apple's general statements about malware protection are here and here, and here are its instructions for removing the most common types of ad-injection malware. Those statements don't mention any third-party "anti-virus" or "anti-malware" product.

You become infected with malware by downloading unknown software without doing research to determine whether it's safe. If you keep making that mistake, the same, and worse, will keep happening, and no anti-malware will rescue you. Your own intelligence and caution are the only reliable defense.

The Windows/Android anti-malware industry had more than $75 billion in sales in 2014 [source: Gartner, Inc.] Its marketing strategy is to convince people that they're helpless against malware attack unless they use its products. But with all that anti-malware, the Windows and Android platforms are still infested with malware—most of it far more harmful than mere adware. The same can be expected to happen to the Mac platform if its users trust the same industry to protect them, instead of protecting themselves.

You are not helpless, and you don't have to give full control of your computer—and your data—to strangers in order to be rid of adware.

These are generalities. Regarding the "malwarebytes" product in particular, you may be told that there are no reports that is has caused damage. In fact, I know of two such reports: one by ASC user Big Kev55 in this thread, and one by LizardMBP in this thread. Read those reports and draw your own conclusions. There are also many reports that the Windows version of the product has deleted essential Windows system files; see, for example, this thread on the developer's own support forum.

Whether the software damages the system or not, it takes full adminstrative control and connects to a server controlled by the developer. The developer's privacy policy, linked directly to the Mac product page, reads in part as follows:

"Without limiting the Privacy Policy, you agree that Malwarebytes may track certain data it obtains from your Computer including data about any malicious software or other threats flagged by the Software, data about your license, data about what version of the Software you are using and what operating conditions it runs under and data concerning your geographic location."

(Emphasis added.) So the developer admits to tracking your location, as well as other unspecified data, and gives itself the legal right to collect any data it chooses. How it uses that right, you don't know. By running the software, you accept these terms.

In case there's any doubt about whether this "anti-malware" product is really anti-malware, the developer's own description distinguishes between adware and malware, and specifically mentions removing malware as a selling point six times. A self-identified employee of the developer wrote in an ASC discussion, "Actually, it's also a malware removal app..." (emphasis added.)

The question then is: as a security-conscious computer user, do you want to take such risks when there is no offsetting benefit?

<Edited By Host>

The only tools that anyone needs to detect and remove adware are the Finder and a web browser, both of which you already have. Anyone who has enough computer skill to install adware can just as well remove it without using anything else. That's not just my opinion; it's the official position of Apple Support, as you can see by following the links below.

Wrong, that's not the opinion of Apple. While Apple may not officially endorse any program for adware removal, neither do they advise against using any, which is what you are trying to say. In fact, it is well known that some Apple tech support staff, both at the Genius Bar and in Telephone Support, have suggested using this very program, which is well regarded everywhere for adware removal. Your specious logic is well summed up here.

These are generalities. Regarding the "malwarebytes" product in particular, you may be told that there are no reports that is has caused damage. In fact, I know of two such reports: one by ASC user Big Kev55 in this thread, and one by LizardMBP in this thread. Read those reports and draw your own conclusions. There are also many reports that the Windows version of the product has deleted essential Windows system files; see, for example, this thread on the developer's own support forum.

You are well aware that both of those links have been discredited, yet you insist on posting them as if they were the truth. With even a cursory reading of either, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that they are not evidence, but only speculation with no real basis in fact. Besides that, and you already know this, it was reported that LizardMBP admitted to fabricating an entire story about how this program affected his system. When caught in this web of lies, he requested that his post be removed, which it was.

Whether the software damages the system or not, it takes full adminstrative control and connects to a server controlled by the developer. The developer's privacy policy, linked directly to the Mac product page, reads in part as follows:

That it takes full administrative control is patent nonsense, and another example of your specious logic. This may be linked to the developer's program, but that in no way establishes that the end user of this program is affected by this policy, which is for its Windows A-V. I have installed and run Malwarebytes for Mac on my own system (something which you obviously haven't done to test the validity of your statements). The only outbound connection it made (via Little Snitch) was to the update server for signatures. Besides that, in a related thread, thomas_r. the developer, requested that you install the program and run a tcp dump, in order to see how false this statement you are making is. It's clear you haven't done that either. And you won't, because you are clearly not interested in pursuing the objective truth, wherever it may lead, and letting the chips fall where they may.

"Without limiting the Privacy Policy, you agree that Malwarebytes may track certain data it obtains from your Computer including data about any malicious software or other threats flagged by the Software, data about your license, data about what version of the Software you are using and what operating conditions it runs under and data concerning your geographic location."

(Emphasis added.) So the developer admits to tracking your location, as well as other unspecified data, and gives itself the legal right to collect any data it chooses. How it uses that right, you don't know. By running the software, you accept these terms.

This may be the end user agreement for the Windows version. It has nothing whatsoever to do with the Mac version. At no point, from the download page, the page where the download link appears, opening and running the installer and then opening and running the program itself, was I ever asked to agree to anything of any kind, or is there any statement to this effect.

The question then is: as a security-conscious computer user, do you want to take such risks when there is no offsetting benefit?

I am an extremely security conscious user, and go to great lengths to safeguard my security and privacy. In no way have you established with any convincing evidence that there are any security or privacy risks in running this perfectly safe and effective program.

Please note that the so called damage caused by AdWare Medic in the thread by LizardMBP was nothing more than a fabricated web of lies. When questioned by the author of AdWare Medic regarding test results and times of emails, etc, the OP (LizardMBP) was caught in this web of lies and requested the thread be deleted. The hosts granted that wish. YOU can draw your conclusions from that action.

Also, a high ranking helper here at ASC is quoted as saying:

"The site is hosted by Apple, which does not allow it to be used to distribute harmful software"

he is correct.

Linc Davis wrote:

Regarding the "malwarebytes" product in particular, you may be told that there are no reports that is has caused damage. In fact, I know of two such reports: one by ASC user Big Kev55 in this thread, and one by LizardMBP in this thread. Read those reports and draw your own conclusions. There are also many reports that the Windows version of the product has deleted essential Windows system files; see, for example, this thread on the developer's own support forum.

Whether the software damages the system or not, it takes full adminstrative control and connects to a server controlled by the developer.

These statements are outright libel. There is no actual evidence that Malwarebytes Anti-Malware for Mac has caused any damage to any systems. Linc knows that the two reports he's using to attack this software present only two users opinions without any evidence to back them up, and in one case the report was filled with numerous false statements that were caught and resulted in the post getting removed.

I don't deny the possibility of bugs in any piece of software. However, I also know that many people without a lot of tech experience frequently mis-attribute problems. Case in point, there were numerous complaints here not long ago about how upgrading to Yosemite "caused" adware problems. This was not at all true, but because for some people, adware problems coincided in time with the upgrade, they blamed the update. This is not their fault, but neither would it be appropriate for an expert who knows better to start running around waving his hands and yelling "Yosemite installs adware!"

For the record, I, as the original developer of AdwareMedic (which is now Malwarebytes Anti-Malware for Mac), have never seen a single confirmed case of a system or browser damaged by either AdwareMedic or Malwarebytes Anti-Malware for Mac. If it were to happen at some point in the future, I would address it immediately, but as far as I can tell, it still hasn't happened yet.

As for the implication that Malwarebytes Anti-Malware for Mac "takes full control and connects to a server controlled by the developer" - first, the statement that the software "takes full control" is blatantly false. The Malwarebytes app takes full control of your computer no more than any other third-party app, such as OmniDiskSweeper or GrandPerspective, both of which Linc has been known to recommend running with root privileges.

As for the implications that something fishy is going on with the communication to the server, one has only to use tcpdump to monitor the data being sent and received by Malwarebytes Anti-Malware for Mac. Linc surely knows how this is done, and could verify that the communications are to check for and download updates. Since he has not done so and chooses to make up stories about the network activity instead is deceitful.

In case there's any doubt about whether this "anti-malware" product is really anti-malware, the developer's own description distinguishes between adware and malware, and specifically mentions removing malware as a selling point six times. A self-identified employee of the developer wrote in an ASC discussion, "Actually, it's also a malware removal app..."

I don't understand. Are you criticizing the app for being what the site claims is to be? Are you attempting to imply that it is not what it claims to be, without ever having actually tested it? Are you criticizing me for describing the app accurately? The mind truly boggles here.