ShopTool Adware (Mac)

What is ShopTool?

Identical to CoolShopper, BestSmart Shoppers, WebShoppers, and a number of other applications, ShopTool is a dubious app that falsely claims to save time and money while shopping online.

By claiming to provide coupons and notifications of special deals/discounts available on a variety of online shops, ShopTool often tricks users to install, however, this application is designed to collect various data and deliver intrusive online advertisements.

Furthermore, it infiltrates systems without direct user-permission. For these reasons, ShopTool is classed as a potentially unwanted program (PUP) and adware.

Following system infiltration, ShopTool records IP addresses, website URLs visited, pages viewed, search queries entered into search engines, and other similar data relating to users' web browsing activity.

This recorded data will often be personally identifiable - developers of ShopTool sell/give this collected data to third parties who misuse personal details to generate revenue. Therefore, having ShopTool installed on your system can result in serious privacy issues or even identity theft.

ShopTool generates various intrusive online advertisements that do not originate from users' visited websites and conceal underlying content.

This significantly diminishes the web browsing experience. Ads including pop-ups, banners, coupons, etc. might lead to malicious websites - clicking them will result in high-risk computer infections. We strongly advise you to remove ShopTool adware from your system immediately.

Research shows that many adware-type programs have identical behavior. By offering 'valuable features', apps such as ShopTool attempt to give the impression legitimate software, however, most adware-type apps provide no real value for regular users.

The purpose of all adware is to generate revenue for the developers. Rather than enabling the functions promised, ShopTool and other similar applications collect personally identifiable information (which is shared with third parties), deliver intrusive online advertisements (via the "Pay Per Click" [PPC] advertising model), and occasionally cause unwanted browser redirects.

How did ShopTool install on my computer?

ShopTool is distributed via an official download website and using a deceptive software marketing method called "bundling". This method is essentially stealth installation of PUPs with regular software.

Developers know that many users do not express enough caution when downloading and installing software and intentionally hide bundled programs within the "Advanced" or "Custom" download/installation section. By skipping this section, users inadvertently install applications such as ShopTool.

How to avoid installation of potentially unwanted applications?

Installation of PUPs such as ShopTool can be prevented by taking two simple steps. Firtsly, PUPs are often distributed using the bundling method, and so you should analyze each step of the download/installation processes. Secondly, opt-out of all additionally-included programs and never accept offers to download or install them.

There is a high probability that bundled programs will be malicious and, thus, should never be installed.

ShopTool website frequently asked questions (FAQ):

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Quick menu:

• What is ShopTool?
• STEP 1. Remove ShopTool related files and folders from OSX.
• STEP 2. Remove ShopTool ads from Safari.
• STEP 3. Remove ShopTool adware from Google Chrome.
• STEP 4. Remove ShopTool ads from Mozilla Firefox.

Video showing how to remove adware and browser hijackers from a Mac computer:

ShopTool adware removal:

Remove ShopTool-related potentially unwanted applications from your "Applications" folder:

Click the Finder icon. In the Finder window, select “Applications”. In the applications folder, look for “MPlayerX”,“NicePlayer”, or other suspicious applications and drag them to the Trash. After removing the potentially unwanted application(s) that cause online ads, scan your Mac for any remaining unwanted components.

Remove browser hijacker-related files and folders

Click the Finder icon from the menu bar. Choose Go, and click Go to Folder...

Check for browser hijacker generated files in the /Library/LaunchAgents/ folder:

In the Go to Folder... bar, type: /Library/LaunchAgents/

In the "LaunchAgents" folder, look for any recently-added suspicious files and move them to the Trash. Examples of files generated by browser hijackers - "installmac.AppRemoval.plist", "myppes.download.plist", "mykotlerino.ltvbit.plist", "kuklorest.update.plist", etc. Browser hijacker commonly installs several files with the exact same string.

Check for browser hijacker generated files in the ~/Library/Application Support/ folder:

In the Go to Folder... bar, type: ~/Library/Application Support/

In the "Application Support" folder, look for any recently-added suspicious folders. For example, "MplayerX" or "NicePlayer", and move these folders to the Trash.

Check for browser hijacker generated files in the ~/Library/LaunchAgents/ folder:

In the Go to Folder... bar, type: ~/Library/LaunchAgents/

In the "LaunchAgents" folder, look for any recently-added suspicious files and move them to the Trash. Examples of files generated by browser hijackers - "installmac.AppRemoval.plist", "myppes.download.plist", "mykotlerino.ltvbit.plist", "kuklorest.update.plist", etc. Browser hijacker commonly installs several files with the exact same string.

Check for browser hijacker generated files in the /Library/LaunchDaemons/ folder:

In the "Go to Folder..." bar, type: /Library/LaunchDaemons/

In the "LaunchDaemons" folder, look for recently-added suspicious files. For example "com.aoudad.net-preferences.plist", "com.myppes.net-preferences.plist", "com.kuklorest.net-preferences.plist", "com.avickUpd.plist", etc., and move them to the Trash.

Scan your Mac with Combo Cleaner:

If you have followed all the steps correctly, your Mac should be clean of infections. To ensure your system is not infected, run a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus. Download it HERE. After downloading the file, double click combocleaner.dmg installer. In the opened window, drag and drop the Combo Cleaner icon on top of the Applications icon. Now open your launchpad and click on the Combo Cleaner icon. Wait until Combo Cleaner updates its virus definition database and click the "Start Combo Scan" button.

Combo Cleaner will scan your Mac for malware infections. If the antivirus scan displays "no threats found" - this means that you can continue with the removal guide; otherwise, it's recommended to remove any found infections before continuing.

After removing files and folders generated by the browser hijackers, continue to remove rogue extensions from your Internet browsers.

Remove browser hijackers from Internet browsers

Remove Safari browser hijackers:

Open the Safari browser, from the menu bar, select "Safari" and click "Preferences...".

In the preferences window, select "Extensions" and look for any recently-installed suspicious extensions. When located, click the "Uninstall" button next to it/them. Note that you can safely uninstall all extensions from your Safari browser - none are crucial for regular browser operation.

Change your homepage:

In the "Preferences" window, select the "General" tab. To set your homepage, type the preferred website URL (for example: www.google.com) in the Homepage field. You can also click the "Set to Current Page" button if you wish to set your homepage to the website you are currently visiting.

Change your default search engine:

In the "Preferences" window, select the "Search" tab. Here you will find a drop-down menu labeled "Search engine:" Simply select your preferred search engine from the drop-down list.

• If you continue to have problems with browser redirects and unwanted advertisements - Reset Safari.

Remove Google Chrome browser hijackers:

Click the Chrome menu icon (at the top right corner of Google Chrome), select "More Tools" and click "Extensions". Locate all recently-installed suspicious extensions, select these entries and click "Remove".

Change your homepage

Click the Chrome menu icon (at the top right corner of Google Chrome) and select "Settings". In the "On startup" section, disable the malicious extension (if present), look for a browser hijacker URL below the "Open a specific or set of pages" option. If present, click on the three vertical dots icon and select "Remove".

Change your default search engine:

To change your default search engine in Google Chrome: Click the Chrome menu icon (at the top right corner of Google Chrome), select "Settings", in the "Search engine" section, click "Manage search engines...", in the opened list look for a browser hijacker URL, when located click the three vertical dots near this URL and select "Delete".

• If you continue to have problems with browser redirects and unwanted advertisements - Reset Google Chrome.

Remove malicious extensions from Mozilla Firefox:

Click the Firefox menu (at the top right corner of the main window) and select "Add-ons and themes". Click "Extensions", in the opened window locate all recently-installed suspicious extensions, click on the three dots and then click "Remove".

Change your homepage

To reset your homepage, click the Firefox menu (at the top right corner of the main window), then select "Settings", in the opened window disable malicious extension (if present), remove the browser hijacker URL and enter your preferred domain, which will open each time you start Mozilla Firefox.

Change your default search engine:

In the URL address bar, type "about:config" and press Enter. Click "Accept the Risk and Continue".

In the search filter at the top, type: "extensionControlled". Set both results to "false" by either double-clicking each entry or clicking the button.

• If you continue to have problems with browser redirects and unwanted advertisements - Reset Mozilla Firefox.

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