Chumsearch

Quick update on chumsearch, ALL the removal pages seam to be out of date, so I'm going to crosspost my reply from the chrome support forums, as this applies to safari equally:

Don't panic, you're almost there if you removed offending software with Malwarebytes.

The reason safari and chrome are not allowing you to change your search provider is because the chumsearch guys updated their malware to put in a group policy on OS X that overrides the search engine for everyone at the system level. No amount of chrome/safari resets will solve the issue. This was happening on Windows so the chrome team came out with a script to clean up group policies. On a mac, we have to clean it manually, but it's not too bad.

To remove, go to the OS X System Preferences and you should see a new icon called "Profiles" at the bottom. There is gonna be an administrator override on the search provider. Select "AdminPrefs", click the minus sign and enter your password (assuming you are an admin). Now that it's nuked, you should be able to relaunch Safari/Chrome and delete the offending chumsearch provider entry.

This happened to me as well. Very irritating. I accidentally downloaded a "Flash" update from a dodgy website and suddenly all of my browsers (Safari and Chrome) were hijacked. The homepage got hijacked and was set to chumsearch.com (Safe Search). Even worse, the ability to edit and reset the homepage was disabled. Every malware detector I tried detected no problem. The solution turned out to be simple. I went to SystemPreferences>Profiles. On the left bar of the Profiles window I found 2 custom user profiles, one for Safari and one for Google. The profiles contained several lines of code that set the homepage to chumsearch.com permanently. I simply deleted these 2 profiles and the problem went away.

Please take all these steps.

1. Use MalwareBytes for Mac to remove malware/adware.

Install guide: https://support.malwarebytes.com/docs/DOC-1817

Uninstall Guide: https://support.malwarebytes.com/docs/DOC-1190

The installer may ask you to allow it in Security & Privacy /System Preference. Allow it.

2. Disable all extensions and test.

Turnoff or uninstall extensions.

Section: Manage extensions: https://support.apple.com/guide/safari/use-safari-extensions-sfri32508/mac

3. Choose a search engine.

Delete all text in the Smart Search field, click the magnifying glass , then choose a search engine from the list.

https://support.apple.com/guide/safari/customize-your-search-ibrwe75c2a3c/mac

4. Set your Home Page. https://support.apple.com/guide/safari/set-your-homepage-ibrw1020/mac

5. Restart your Mac.

6. Launch Safari holding the Shift key down.

Here's what worked for me after an hour or two of Internet searching:

For Mac OS High Sierra - Open Apple System Preferences by clicking on the Apple symbol upper left of your screen. Click on Profiles.

Look for script that sets xxxx.chumsearch.com as a default homepage for Safari or Chrome or any other browser.

Delete.

Restart browser.

Hi David,

I advise you to first check your system through some antimalware program like Malwarebytes, then uninstall suspicious extensions and programs. if that doesn't work, try this step-by-step guide.

I uninstalled Google Chrome and reinstalled it. This allowed me to reset my browser preferences and I didn't loose my bookmarks. Then I went to safari preferences, then in the homepage tab I typed my preferred browser. That worked.

Please use the manual method.

https://howtoremove.guide/what-is-chumsearch-virus-removal-mac/

This is the best and easiest solution for MAC . DO not instal any third party software from internet. Simply delete Chumsearch from MAC Settings. chumsearch virus mac removal - YouTube

Thanks. With having spent12 hours over the last 3 days, I'm turning my lap top over to an authorized Apple service technician. Don't send any further notifications to me regarding this issue. Thank you.

EtreCheck version: 4.2.1 (4C020)

Report generated: 2018-05-06 16:19:14

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime: 41:52

Performance: Poor

Problem: Other problem

Major Issues:

Anything that appears on this list needs immediate attention.

No Time Machine backup - Time Machine backup not found.

Poor performance - EtreCheck report took over 10 minutes to run. This is very unusual.

Minor Issues:

These issues do not need immediate attention but they may indicate future problems.

Upgradeable hard drive - This machine’s hard drive could be replaced with an SSD. This would dramatically improve your machine’s performance.

Unsigned files - There is unsigned software installed. They appear to be legitimate but should be reviewed.

Hardware Information:

MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012)

MacBook Pro Model: MacBookPro9,2

1 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5 (i5-3210M) CPU: 2-core

4 GB RAM Upgradeable

BANK 0/DIMM0 - 2 GB DDR3 1600 ok

BANK 1/DIMM0 - 2 GB DDR3 1600 ok

Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 414

Video Information:

Intel HD Graphics 4000 - VRAM: 1536 MB

Color LCD 1280 x 800

Drives:

disk0 - APPLE HDD HTS545050A7E362 500.11 GB (Mechanical)

Internal SATA 3 Gigabit Serial ATA

disk0s1 - EFI (MS-DOS FAT32) [EFI] 210 MB

disk0s2 () [Core Storage Container] 499.25 GB

disk1 - Macintosh HD (Journaled HFS+) 498.89 GB

disk0s3 - Recovery HD (Journaled HFS+) [Recovery] 650 MB

Mounted Volumes:

disk1 - Macintosh HD 498.89 GB (261.77 GB free)

Journaled HFS+

Mount point: /

Network:

Interface en0: Ethernet

Interface en9: iPhone 3

Interface en6: iPhone

Interface fw0: FireWire

Interface en1: Wi-Fi

802.11 a/b/g/n

One IPv4 address

2 IPv6 addresses

Interface en4: iPhone 2

Interface en10: iPhone 4

Interface en3: Bluetooth PAN

Interface bridge0: Thunderbolt Bridge

iCloud Quota: 2.72 GB available

System Software:

macOS High Sierra 10.13.4 (17E202)

Time since boot: About an hour

System Load: 2.08 (1 min ago) 1.84 (5 min ago) 1.90 (15 min ago)

Security:

Unsigned Files:

Launchd: ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.bittorrent.uTorrent.plist

Executable: /Applications/uTorrent.app -W -a /Applications/uTorrent.app

Kernel Extensions:

/Library/Extensions

[Loaded] MB_MBAM_Protection.kext (Malwarebytes Corporation, 3.3 - SDK 10.13)

System Launch Agents:

System Launch Daemons:

Launch Daemons:

User Launch Agents:

User Login Items:

StartUpHelper SMLoginItem (Spotify - installed 2018-03-28)

(/Applications/Spotify.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/StartUpHelper.app)

HP Product Research SMLoginItem (HP Inc. - installed 2018-01-16)

(/Library/Printers/hp/Utilities/HPPU Plugins/ProductImprovementStudy.hptask/Contents/Helpers/HP Product Research Manager.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/HP Product Research.app)

HP Device Monitor SMLoginItem (HP Inc. - installed 2018-01-16)

(/Library/Printers/hp/Frameworks/HPDeviceMonitoring.framework/Versions/1.0/Help ers/HP Device Monitor Manager.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/HP Device Monitor.app)

Internet Plug-ins:

AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: 17.012.20098 (installed 2018-03-05)

FlashPlayer-10.6: 29.0.0.140 (installed 2018-04-16)

QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (installed 2018-04-11)

AdobePDFViewer: 18.011.20038 (installed 2018-03-05)

Flash Player: 29.0.0.140 (installed 2018-04-16)

Time Machine:

Time Machine Not Configured!

Top Processes by CPU:

Top Processes by Memory:

Top Processes by Network Use:

Top Processes by Energy Use:

Virtual Memory Information:

Diagnostics Information (past 7 days):

2018-05-06 15:32:17 Network.prefPane Crash (once)

2018-05-06 15:04:41 Google Chrome.app Hang (2 times)

2018-05-06 10:32:22 Dr. Antivirus.app CPU (once)

2018-05-04 02:14:33 WhatsApp.app Crash (2 times)

End of report

I went into my system preferences and there were no profiles created to delete, yet I still have chumsearch hijacking my safari. I used the malwarebytes.com already with the help of the Applecare support person. What else can I do?

~NM

I have spent hours (days actually) trying to get rid of chumsearch. I've read so many suggestions and none of them worked. I was even leery of some thinking they might be yet another trick. I followed your simple steps and they worked! I was so thrilled it actually brought me to tears! I cannot thank you enough.

Thank you!!! This is what finally worked for me! No amount of restarting/clearing preferences was working. It was all greyed out on both Safari and Chrome. Normally, I'm really good about not installing anything- but they got me with an Adobe Flash update. Again, thank so much!