DigiBanditAll my PC's with Chrome have had the issue you've described. I did a full uninstall of Chrome, manually removed all references from the registry, hidden folders, etc. Ran Malwarebytes Threat and viola - no more PUP.Optional.SoftsonicRebooted & reinstalled Chrome and the error immediately came back. Personally, I think it's something being included in the new versions of Chrome meant to be an advert bar or hook. Just my opinion.For the time being I'm using Firefox or Edge as hardware dictates. Unless this is a False Positive I'm thinking it's an advert hookMisterWeather. It's all good, no worries.
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In that case, follow the instructions in the thread below. It should solves your issue.That's quite the 'resolution,' in effect I would need to sign out and disable Chrome Sync over my 17 devices, fully close down Google Chrome, Clean with MalwareBytes, pray that fixes the problem then go and set up all the devices for Sync Again.To clarify is this a false positive, something that can be ignored/excepted etc or is this some synced extension/tool/search setting that can simply be removed etc.Thanks again. To clarify is this a false positive, something that can be ignored/excepted etc or is this some synced extension/tool/search setting that can simply be removed etc.This isn't a false positive. You can add that file (Web Data) to Malwarebytes' exclusion list, but it won't remove the threat, nor it is recommended. And it is a Google Chrome setting (home page, search engine, etc.) that is flagged and removed correctly by Malwarebytes, but Google Chrome sync feature keeps on adding it back to the Web Data file. Try to follow these instructions on your main computer. If you manually remove a setting from Google Chrome, the change should be sync'd to all your other devices where you are logged in Chrome.
Learn how to remove SearchMine malware from Mac and thereby prevent Safari, Chrome and Firefox from being redirected to searchmine.net rogue site.
Jun 14, 2018 Google Chrome virus scan. Launch the Google Chrome web browser. Open the Google Chrome menu from the upper top right corner using the menu button. In the Google Chrome menu click Settings from the list. Scroll down to Reset and clean up and click Clean up computer.
Update: February 2020
When it comes to one’s online experience, it’s hard to think of a greater nuisance than a browser hijack that gives the web preferences an overhaul without the victim’s consent. The issue is big regardless of the operating system and it has been that way for years, but the macOS territory is currently a rapidly expanding battlefield in this regard. What does it mean to be hit by a piece of browser-twisting malware such as SearchMine? The most conspicuous impact is all about redirects. The culprit keeps on forwarding an ambushed Mac user’s Internet traffic to its landing page at searchmine.net. This activity isn’t haphazard, though, as it follows a fairly strict pattern. The victim’s default browser – be it Safari, Google Chrome, or Mozilla Firefox – undergoes unauthorized manipulation resulting in the custom settings being replaced with a new value.
This attack has one more revolting facet that makes the pest a moving target. Let’s say Chrome on a Mac is being redirected to searchmine.net. In addition to tweaking the browser preferences, the malware sets a Chrome enterprise policy that overrides the admin’s settings and disallows changes that the victim may attempt to make in a regular way. In the upshot, the browser forwarding loop is there to stay until the sketchy policy is removed. A telltale symptom of this tampering is that the homepage, new tab, and default search provider settings may become irresponsive and grayed out to keep the infected person from remediating them by hand. To add insult to injury, the pest may add a rogue device profile called AdminPrefs, Safari Settings or Chrome Settings to enforce one more layer of persistence. The enterprise policy trick and interference at the level of system preferences make SearchMine a really stubborn malware that requires the victims to think outside the box.
The landing page, searchmine.net, might appear to fit the mold of a garden-variety search provider. It contains a keyword entry bar and a few links underneath it that lead to popular services, namely Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and AliExpress. However, this ostensible mundanity turns out to conceal a serious pitfall. If you input an arbitrary query, the site will return opti-page.com which, in turn, displays questionably accurate results that may forward you to other malicious web pages with virus downloads lurking on them. In many cases, the landing pages are valid Yahoo Search results but the route towards this ostensibly safe destination is riddled with dubious URLs and controversial advertising networks.
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SearchMine may re-infect your Mac multiple times unless you delete all of its fragments, including hidden ones. Therefore, it is recommended to download Combo Cleaner and scan your system for these stubborn files. This way, you may reduce the cleanup time from hours to minutes. Download NowLearn how ComboCleaner works. If the utility spots malicious code, you will need to buy a license to get rid of it.
As far as the distribution of the SearchMine Mac virus goes, everything fits the mold of a commonplace adware campaign. The ne’er-do-wells chose to stick with the old school bundling mechanism to deposit the nasty payload onto systems. The installer for this malicious item constitutes fishy setup clients that are allegedly intended to make the process of installing some nifty software seamless. The worst part is that the hoax hides in plain sight, being part of the “express” setup option that most people never deselect. This covertness, paired with numerous Mac users’ affinity with freebies, such as apps available on unofficial sources, explains why the malware under scrutiny is increasingly prolific.
Yet another infection vector engages what’s called “malvertising”. This stratagem involves misleading popup ads shown online that say Adobe Flash Player is out of date. If the unsuspecting user decides to apply the purported update, though, the SearchMine malware will be installed instead. To top it off, there might be a potentially unwanted follow-up application in this package, such as a Mac Cleanup Pro fake system utility that leverages a scare tactic to hoodwink people into buying its license. Another commonly reported pest that may accompany this browser hijacker is Media Downloader, a known adware program that claims to allow users to download streaming videos but ends up inundating web pages with annoying ads.
As if these cross-promoted entities weren’t enough to diminish the user experience, the virus-riddled Flash Player bundle often also includes MyCouponsmart adware. This dubious app injects redundant ads into the visited websites while pretending to be a tool that delivers a better e-shopping experience. A recap of this shady distribution is as follows: SearchMine virus hardly ever arrives at Macs on its own. If it’s in, then it makes sense looking for and deleting more threats that probably infiltrated the system as well. Here’s one more thing to consider: the victims are so baffled by the conspicuous aftermath of this attack that they fail to notice a more subtle, yet unnerving, side effect. Both the adware in question and the accompanying threats get their privileges on a Mac computer escalated to such an extent that there is no obstacle for them to collect sensitive online data. The private information at risk includes browsing history, web searches, and even keystrokes made to sign into personal accounts. Although eclipsed by the super-annoying browser redirects, this activity can entail serious privacy encroachment issues down the road.
No matter how exactly the redirect virus in question has made its way into a Mac, it is undoubtedly subject to removal otherwise the web browsing routine will continue to be a mess. The part below is a one-stop walkthrough to get rid of SearchMine malware.
SearchMine redirect virus manual removal for Mac
The steps listed below will walk you through the removal of this malicious application. Be sure to follow the instructions in the order specified.
Get rid of searchmine.net redirect virus in web browser on Mac
To begin with, settings for the web browser that got hit by SearchMine should be restored to their default values. The overview of steps for this procedure is as follows:
Get rid of SearchMine malware using Combo Cleaner removal tool
The Mac maintenance and security app called Combo Cleaner is a one-stop tool to detect and remove SearchMine virus. This technique has substantial benefits over manual cleanup, because the utility gets hourly virus definition updates and can accurately spot even the newest Mac infections.
Furthermore, the automatic solution will find the core files of the malware deep down the system structure, which might otherwise be a challenge to locate. Here’s a walkthrough to sort out the SearchMine issue using Combo Cleaner:
FAQ
SearchMine is a dodgy web service camouflaged as a typical search engine. It is considered to be a browser hijacker for a number of reasons. First off, it changes a victim’s browsing preferences without their consent and adds an enterprise policy in Google Chrome to complicate the process of reverting to the correct settings. Another vector of establishing persistence on a Mac revolves around a new device profile being created under System Preferences.
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Furthermore, the SearchMine app is installed beyond the victim’s awareness, constituting toxic bundles cloaked by freeware installers. One of these techniques involves phony Adobe Flash Player updates pushed on hacked or malicious websites. On top of that, the infection is usually promoted alongside adware programs and pseudo optimizers, such as Mac Cleanup Pro.
Regarding the search engine resemblance of searchmine.net, it is an illusion because the site will simply redirect all searches to another shady provider, opti-page.com. On the whole, the service in question is neither useful nor safe, therefore you should definitely steer clear of it.
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As mentioned in the article above, the SearchMine virus affects Chrome to a somewhat bigger extent than the other popular web browsers. It tends to set a new Chrome enterprise policy that disables the option of uninstalling the malicious extension by regular means. In this scenario, you may repeatedly get notifications saying that Chrome is “managed by your organization”. This is a hurdle you must get around before applying any fixes. In addition to that, the harmful application may set Chrome as your default browser without asking.
Under the circumstances, you may want to switch to another web browser unaffected by the hijacker or allowing for easier troubleshooting. Fortunately, this isn’t complicated. Here’s what you need to do:
That’s it – your default web browser has been changed.
Simply re-entering the correct Internet preferences is not enough to prevent a browser from being redirected to Searchmine.net. The reason is prosaic: you are dealing with a virus rather than a misconfiguration glitch. Obviously, to get rid of Searchmine.net for good you need to address the security issue first.
Start with a virus hunt. In other words, you should scrutinize your installed apps, Login Items, and browser extensions for an object that got there behind your back. Make sure you delete all suspicious entries you manage to find. This part of the repair can be done manually or through the use of an automatic removal tool, the latter option being more effective and preferable if you aren’t very tech-savvy.
It’s not until the infection has been completely eliminated that you can customize your web browser so that it returns the right sites when you perform web search. In some cases, it may be necessary to reset the browser to its original state and then define the appropriate defaults.
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