BasicSearchPlatform Adware - How to remove

BasicSearchPlatform is a sort of Mac adware. Likely, you did not install it voluntarily – BasicSearchPlatform uses malicious ads and adware bundles to infect computers. It causes internet slowdown, pop-ups, browser redirects, and helps other malicious apps and browser hijackers make it onto your Mac. It should be removed as quickly as possible.

About BasicSearchPlatform in short:

Type of threat	Adware, trojan.
How to remove BasicSearchPlatform	Use anti-malware apps (Combo Cleaner, Malwarebytes, others), delete the app and its files, restore browser settings.
Problems caused by BasicSearchPlatform	The number of ads in the browser increases, malicious ads are more common, browsing information is logged and used for advertising, the internet is slower.
How to avoid adware infections	Be careful on sites that show malicious ads, use anti-malware programs to scan downloads and to block malicious sites.

How to remove BasicSearchPlatform

Scan your Mac with an anti-malware app if you want to quickly discover the malicious and potentially unwanted files and apps that are on your computer. Any competent scanner will do, such as Combo Cleaner, Malwarebytes, and others.

But you may want to remove BasicSearchPlatform manually, or the anti-malware apps may just fail to detect this malware. Manual removal will take a bit of work, but it’ll be worth it.

First, safe mode. This mode stops unnecessary apps from running. To start your Mac in safe mode, start or restart it and then hold the Shift key on the keyboard. Hold it until you see the login screen, then let go. Now, BasicSearchPlatform won’t run. To exit safe mode, simply reboot your Mac.

Then, remove the profiles that BasicSearchPlatform created. Open System Preferences (you can find it down in your Dock or up in your main menu). Find an icon called Profiles. Open it and remove the profiles named after BasicSearchPlatform. Remove them y selecting each profile and then pressing the minus ‘-‘ button in the bottom left corner of the window.

Open Finder and then open the Applications folder. Find BasicSearchPlatform and drag it to Trash.

Open your web browsers, open the extension screen (in Safari it’s Safari -> Preferences -> Extensions), find BasicSearchPlatform, and click the Uninstall button.

There are also a few files that BasicSearchPlatform made. They are inside hidden folders:

• /Library/LaunchDaemons
• /Library/LaunchAgents
• ~/Library/LaunchAgents
• ~/Library/Application Support

These folders hold important files for some of your apps. They’re hidden to stop us from accidentally deleting or messing up their contents. So, of course BasicSearchPlatform put its own files there. Use the Go to Folder dialog (it’s part of the Finder app) to open the folders. Just open Finder, right-click its icon in the Dock, and choose the Go to Folder option. Then, type in the name of the folder. Find the files that have “BasicSearchPlatform” in their names and remove them.

A note: BasicSearchPlatform may not be the only malware on your Mac. Keep an eye out for other suspicious profiles, apps, and files. Anything with a similar naming convention is suspect. DisplayProgram, SearchSystem, CoordinatorMedia, DisplayUpdate, Top Results, etc. are all fellow adware viruses that should also be removed.

How BasicSearchPlatform got installed

There’s almost no way that you found and installed BasicSearchPlatform on your own, intentionally. Here are a few ways that BasicSearchPlatform manages to infect Macs:

• Bundling with free apps. BasicSearchPlatform can be included as an optional offer with free apps that you can download from the internet. To avoid this, scan every installer with an anti-malware scanner. If it comes back as clean, then open it and start the installation.
• Pretending to be an important app. Malicious webpages show fake warnings about missing updates for Flash Player, macOS, and other apps. Then they offer a file for you to download – an installer full of adware and malware. That’s how Shlayer, the popular Mac trojan, spreads.
• Installed by other malware. Those whose computers were already infected with a trojan may have malware downloaded and installed automatically.

Avoiding shady, ad-filled sites can help stay safe from adware. But if you have to deal with aggressive ads a lot, check out ad-blockers and anti-malware apps. Let them block the worst sites.

Problems caused by adware

BasicSearchPlatform is an adware virus, but what does it actually do?

First, it hijacks internet traffic. BasicSearchPlatform changes your network settings and the default search engine in your browser. This can cause a lot of issues:

• ads to be injected into any webpage on your screen,
• it can cause browser redirects, where a link opens the wrong website,
• BasicSearchPlatform can collect data on your web browsing habits,
• worse, it can steal usernames, passwords, and other private data,
• BasicSearchPlatform may cause issues with internet speed and stability.

BasicSearchPlatform exists to spam you with ads. It also forces you to visit specific websites as a way to inflate their traffic, which makes them more profitable. For you, though, it just wastes time and threatens your privacy.

Automatic Malware removal tools

Restore browser settings

How to remove BasicSearchPlatform Adware from Safari:Top

Remove malicious extensions

• Click on Safari menu on the top left corner of the screen. Select Preferences.
  
• Select Extensions and uninstall BasicSearchPlatform Adware and other suspicious extensions.
  
• If your homepage was changed, click on Safari menu on the top left corner of the screen. Select Preferences and choose General tab. Enter preferable URL to the homepage field.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings(older versions) If you are still experiencing any issues related to BasicSearchPlatform Adware, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on Safari menu on the top left corner of the screen. Select Reset Safari…
  
• Select which options you want to reset (usually all of them come preselected) and click on the Reset button.
  

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.

TopHow To remove BasicSearchPlatform Adware from Google Chrome:

• Click on the 3 horizontal lines icon on a browser toolbar and Select More Tools→Extensions
  
• Select all malicious extensions and delete them.
  
• Click on the 3 horizontal lines icon on a browser toolbar and Select Settings
  
• Select Manage Search engines
  
• Remove unnecessary search engines from the list
  
• Go back to settings. On Startup choose Open blank page (you can remove undesired pages from the set pages link too).
• If your homepage was changed, click on Chrome menu on the top right corner, select Settings. Select Open a specific page or set of pages and click on Set pages.
  
• Delete malicious search websites at a new Startup pages window by clicking “X” next to them.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings

If you are still experiencing any issues related to BasicSearchPlatform Adware, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on a Chrome’s menu button (three horizontal lines) and select Settings.
• Scroll to the end of the page and click on theReset browser settings button.
  
• Click on the Reset button on the confirmation box.
  

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.

How To remove BasicSearchPlatform Adware from Firefox:Top

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Mozilla window and select the “Add-ons” icon (Or press Ctrl+Shift+A on your keyboard).
  
• Go through Extensions and Addons list, remove everything BasicSearchPlatform Adware related and items you do not recognise. If you do not know the extension and it is not made by Mozilla, Google, Microsoft, Oracle or Adobe then you probably do not need it.
  
• If your homepage was changed, click on the Firefox menu in the top right corner, select Options → General. Enter a preferable URL to the homepage field and click Restore to Default.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings If you are still experiencing any issues related to BasicSearchPlatform Adware, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Mozilla Firefox window. Click on the Help button.
  
• ChooseTroubleshooting Information on the Help menu.
  
• Click on theReset Firefox button.
  
• Click on the Reset Firefox button on the confirmation box. Mozilla Firefox will close and change the settings to default.
  

If the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program to identify malicious entries.