LookWebResults Adware - How to remove

LookWebResults is a malicious app – an adware infection. LookWebResults causes browser redirects, excessive ads, it redirects searches and collects data about users. And deleting it doesn’t always work. To permanently remove LookWebResults, its files and settings need to be found and deleted.

To avoid infections like LookWebResults in the future, it’s important to recognize and not interact with malicious ads and to only install safe apps from reliable sources.

About LookWebResults:

Classification	Adware, browser hijacker.
How LookWebResults affects an infected Mac	Web browsers are forced to redirect searches, ads are injected into webpages, private data is potentially exposed.
How adware spreads	Bundled with app installers, deceptively advertised as important software.
How to delete LookWebResults	Restore browser, network settings, remove bad configuration profiles, find and delete malicious files manually or with an anti-malware app (Combo Cleaner, Malwarebytes).

What is LookWebResults

You might see system warnings about LookWebResults wanting to accept incoming network connections, LookWebResults being dangerous for your Mac, or LookWebResults wanting to make changes to your Mac.

LookWebResults is a malicious app. It attacks macOS devices. It causes pop-up ads to fill the browser. It changes the browser’s start page and the default search engine. It has the ability to inject ads into every webpage, as well as to read your data (including passwords and credit card numbers) as you type it in your browser.

Occasionally, LookWebResults may cause online apps to crash, block some websites, or even break the internet connection completely. This is probably not intentional and is just a result of LookWebResults trying to hijack your internet traffic and redirect it. Some people may experience a lot of technical issues while others might not see any.

How to remove LookWebResults

The plan

LookWebResults is a malicious app that interferes with web browsers. It shows pop-up ads, redirects searches, and changes the browser’s start page to something like Safe Finder, Search Baron, etc.

• Start your Mac in safe mode.
• Scan it with anti-malware tools.
• Find and delete bad files, including those in the Library folders.
• Find and delete LookWebResults’ configuration profiles.
• Check your network settings.
• Check your browser settings and browser extensions.
• Finally, consider using an ad-blocker or an anti-malware application to block malicious websites.

Detailed instructions

Safe mode

It’s important to start your Mac in safe mode because LookWebResults ads itself to startup items. Safe mode skips these and other unnecessary apps and removes the need to hunt down and quit malicious processes.

Hold the Shift key while booting your Mac to enter safe mode. Reboot normally to exit it.

Deleting malicious files

Next, find the malicious files that need to be deleted. You could just look for files that have “LookWebResults” in their names: open Finder, Go, Computer, search for “LookWebResults”, and then delete the files that come up.

However, there are likely to be more files that need to be deleted. They can usually be found in/Library/Application Support, /Library/LaunchAgents, /Library/LaunchDaemons, and ~/Library. Hidden folders can be accessed through Finder’s Go to Folder window. These folders hold all sorts of application settings and data. Most of the files there are user preferences and application data. But LookWebResults uses these folders to hide its files and to reinstall in case it’s deleted.

But which of those files are malicious is not always obvious. Especially because sometimes their names are deliberately made to look like those of legitimate apps. You can look at their dates added and see if they match those of LookWebResults. However, adware may lurk in a system for months before being noticed, which confuses things.

That’s why it’s advisable to use an anti-malware application, such as Combo Cleaner or Malwarebytes, to scan your files. Or get someone with experience with the LookWebResults kind of adware to take a look at your Library folders.

Fixing settings

Another place where LookWebResults can be found is in System Preferences. Open System Preferences and check a couple of settings there:

• Profiles. Select all items that you didn’t create and remove them by pressing the minus ‘-‘ button.
• Network, Advanced, Proxies. If SOCKS is selected and if you didn’t select it, then untick it and save.

LookWebResults also installs a browser extension and changes browser settings. I put browser instructions at the bottom of this page.

Avoiding infections

LookWebResults and similar infections, such as SoftwareHandler, QuickLookSearches, WizApp, UltraSearchApp, etc., spread online through infected installers and fake software updates.

Have you ever encountered pop-ups telling you that your browser is missing a font or that you need to update your Flash Player? Such messages are designed by cybercriminals to trick people into downloading malicious files. People believe those files to be safe and install them themselves.

Infected installers work similarly. People think they’re installing the single app that was advertised, they don’t know about the junkware that is installed in the background.

It is important to avoid shady and disreputable websites. Malicious actors have a much easier time advertising on such sites than they do on legitimate websites. However, reputable sites get attacked, too. For example, search engine results can be hijacked to redirect to malicious ads. Ad-blockers and anti-malware apps sometimes catch malicious IPs, addresses, ad scripts and block them for you.

Automatic Malware removal tools

Restore browser settings

How to remove LookWebResults 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 LookWebResults 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 LookWebResults 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 LookWebResults Adware from Google Chrome on Mac:

• Open Chrome browser.
• Enter in the url field “chrome://extensions” address and hit Enter.
• Find LookWebResults Adware on the extensions list and click on the recycle bin icon next to it.
• Click on 'Chrome' button at the top left corner. Select 'Preferences' on a drop-down menu box.
• Find 'Search' options on Settings tab. If your search engine is changed, click 'Manage Search Engines' and set your preferred search engine.
• On the same page find 'Show home button' checkbox and change your homepage.

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

• On the 'Preferences' menu window, scroll down to the bottom and find 'Reset settings' button. Click it.
• Confirm your selection and click 'Reset' on the following window.

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

How To remove LookWebResults Adware from Firefox on Mac OS:

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Mozilla window and select the “Add-ons” icon (Or press cmd+Shift+A on your keyboard).
• Go through Extensions list, remove everything LookWebResults 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.
• Enter “about:preferences” in URL bar and hit enter.
• Open Search settings tab.
• If your search engine is changed, click 'Default Search Engines' and set your preferred search engine.
• If your homepage was changed, click on the Firefox menu in the top right corner, select Preferences-> General. Enter a preferable URL to the home page field.

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings If you are still experiencing any issues related to LookWebResults 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.
• Choose Troubleshooting Information on the Help menu.
• Click on the Refresh Firefox button.
• Click on the Refresh 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.