How to remove Searchbaron.com redirect (Mac)

What is Searchbaron.com

Searchbaron.com is an annoying search redirect, that is caused by adware, installed on your Mac. It manifests itself in Safari, Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox browsers. Searchbaron.com may initiate multiple redirects until it reaches a final destination – search results page. The full route looks like this:

www.searchbaron.com/v1/hostedsearch > searchroute-1560352588.us-west-2.elb.amazonaws.com >bing.com, search.yahoo.com or yandex.ru depending on the user's location)

Searchbaron.com redirects are caused by the malicious activity of applications like PasteBoard, Spotlight.app, Spaces.app. Such apps can be presented by the application, add-on, malicious device profile, or just virus file or process. The chain of redirects, that Searchbaron.com starts, serves the goal to collect information about user’s browsing habits. This data is then actively used by advertising companies to create highly targeted ads. The hijacker can be eliminated manually, however, to remove Searchbaron.com effortlessly, we recommend using Spyhunter for Mac to scan your Mac for malware.

How Searchbaron.com infected your Mac

Searchbaron.com often infects Mac computers with fake Adobe Flash updates. Here is how it works: phishing page shows users alerts or pop-ups, that user needs to update the flash player to watch the video, download program, or see the particular content. After the user clicks the “OK” button, it downloads the fake installer (or legal installer bundled with adware) and injects malware into browsers. As a rule, users do not pay attention to the installation process of third-party programs, and this is exploited by hijackers. Use Spyhunter for Mac or CleanMyMac to protect from threats like Searchbaron.com.

Remove Searchbaron.com manually for free

Here is the manual step-by-step tutorial for full Searchbaron.com removal from your computer. This works 99% and was checked with the latest versions of the Searchbaron.com installer on operating systems with the latest updates and browser versions.

Important update: In order to remove Searchbaron.com hijacker you need to get rid of Spaces application. To be able to uninstall Spaces you need to stop its process in Activity Monitor. Problem is, that app is set up to restart after a second it was terminated. Follow instructions below to stop Spaces process.

Stop Spaces.app process

1. In Finder go to /Users/Test/Library/Application Support/.spaces folder.
2. Right-click on Spaces application and in context menu choose Show Package Content.
3. Navigate to Contents/MacOS directory and remove Spaces file (with black icon).
4. If previous step was performed correctly, Spaces application won’t restart automatically, and you will be able to terminate the process in Activity Monitor.
5. Press Command+Option+Escape buttons on your Mac to start Activity Monitor, find Spaces process and click Quit Process button.

Remove Searchbaron.com from Applications

Remove Searchbaron.com from Mac:

1. In the Finder sidebar, click Applications.
2. Spaces might have an Uninstaller. If you see Uninstall Spaces or Spaces Uninstaller, double-click it and follow the onscreen instructions.
3. Otherwise, drag Spaces or Spaces.app from the Applications folder to the Trash (located at the end of the Dock).
4. Then choose Finder > Empty Trash.

Cannot uninstall Searchbaron.com

If you can’t uninstall Searchbaron.com using instructions above, or it keeps coming back, you can use free AppCleaner for Mac to remove all residual data and libraries of Searchbaron.com. Follow instructions below:

1. Download free AppCleaner.
2. Drag Spaces from Applications folder to AppCleaner window.
3. Choose files and folders you want to remove along with Spaces.
4. Click Delete button.

Remove Searchbaron.com add-on from your browsers

Removing Spaces from Applications often does not bring the desired effect. It is a browser extension, and it may still be active in Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. Here are instructions on how to remove the Spaces extension from your browsers manually.

Safari:

1. Start Safari on your Mac, click Safari to open drop-down menu and choose Preferences
2. Click Extensions tab.
3. Find Spaces extension.
4. Click Uninstall button to remove it.

Google Chrome:

1. Start Google Chrome browser
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) chrome://extensions.
3. Find Spaces extension.
4. Click the trash can icon to remove it.

Mozilla Firefox:

1. Start Mozilla Firefox browser.
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) about:addons.
3. Choose Spaces extension.
4. Click Disable or Remove button.

Reset browser settings

To finish Searchbaron.com removal reset your browser settings to make sure, there are no leftover items in browser folders.

Reset Safari:

1. Start Safari on your Mac, click Safari to open drop-down menu and choose Preferences
2. Go to the Privacy section of Safari’s preferences.
3. Click Remove All Website Data button.
4. In opened window click Remove Now button to remove data stored by websites in Safari.
5. Go to the Advanced section of Safari’s preferences.
6. Click the Show Develop menu in menu bar option.
7. In the menu click Develop and select Empty Caches from this menu.
8. Again, go to Safari menu and choose Clear History….
9. Choose to clear all history and click Clear History button.

Reset Google Chrome:

1. Start Google Chrome browser
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) chrome://settings.
3. Scroll down and find Show advanced settings link.
4. Click on it and scroll down to the bottom again.
5. Click Reset settings button and click Reset to confirm.

Reset Mozilla Firefox:

1. Start Mozilla Firefox browser.
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) about:support.
3. Click Refresh Firefox… button.
4. Click Refresh Firefox to confirm.

Remove following files and folders of Searchbaron.com


~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.pasteboard.plist
~/Library/Safari/Extensions/PasteBoard.safariextz
~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.spotlight.plist
~/Library/Safari/Extensions/Spotlight.safariextz


How to protect Mac OSX from adware, like Searchbaron.com

Mac OSX is known to be one of the safest operating systems, and for a long time there was no need for antivirus products for Mac. But with the growing popularity of Mac computers and notebooks and evolving technology, viruses, trojans, adware, toolbars, hijackers and other malware paved the way for Mac users. We recommend you to use one of the best anti-malware for Mac available – Malwarebytes for Mac.