How does search Marquis get on your computer?

Search Marquis is a new type of malware that can invade your computer and act as a browser hijacker. It is also a kind of fake search engine. It manifests itself by forcing users to visit unwanted web pages, as well as by collecting personal information. To avoid interference with normal web browsing and for general security reasons, this virus should be removed from your Mac as soon as possible.

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Is the Search Marquis virus really dangerous?

Again, Search Marquis is a virus that takes control of a web browser. At first glance, it does not seem to be as malicious as other viruses. It just looks very annoying as it constantly redirects you to websites you were not planning to visit. However, under the hood Search Marquis is a serious threat to your privacy.

Since the virus controls all your browser settings and preferences, it can also copy cookies, passwords, and other personal data. This info is then often sold to advertising companies as well as cyber crooks who will obsessively offer you myriads of ads. Moreover, hackers may launch various types of attacks aimed at your computer. You need to be ready and know who to protect yourself from malware and cybercrime.

How does Search Marquis penetrate your computer?

The most common way for this malware to enter your Mac is through the installation of unreliable applications offered at unofficial app stores. Another mechanism to spread Search Marquis is to add it to the free content/files you download from the Internet. Sometimes, if you read the small print at the bottom of the web page, you may find that you agree to give third party software permission to view and change your system settings. Unfortunately, in most cases, the infection enters user devices unnoticed.

Therefore, the most effective way to avoid this virus and other similar ones is to stop downloading files from sites you do not trust and to stay away from unofficial app stores.

How to identify the presence of Search Marquis on your Mac?

Below are the most common signs of the infection:
Searchmarquis.com opens up every time you try to open a new page, or even if a new site does not load, Searchmarquis.com URL appears at the address bar.
Your browser automatically redirects you to the Bing or Yahoo search engine.
Pop-ups or new tabs with unsolicited content are open.
The browser is terribly slow since any new tab or website is filled with plenty of ads.

How to remove Search Marquis?

Once you determine if there is a Search Marquis on your computer, you need to delete it. This process consists of several steps. You need to remove the virus and also reset your browser's settings. You can do it yourself or use special removal tools. Virus scanners and removers, once installed, will scan your computer, and clean up all unwanted and suspicious files. Regardless of which way (manual or automatic) you prefer, you can find detailed Search Marquis removal tips on BitAdvisors.com.

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Do you notice your browser acting weirdly and redirecting you to sketchy search engines and unwanted web pages? If so, your Mac may be infected with a malware called Search Marquis. Below, I’ll tell you everything about this browser hijacker and how to remove Search Marquis from your Mac.

What is Search Marquis?
How to know if your Mac is infected with Search Marquis
How does Search Marquis get on Mac
How to remove Search Marquis from Mac

What is Search Marquis?

It is pretty uncommon for Macs to be affected by malware and viruses. That’s why it pays to know the most common Mac viruses and how to remove them.

Search Marquis is a browser hijacker pretending to be a useful browser extension that targets Safari, Google Chrome, and other web browsers on Macs.

Once installed, this tool hijacks your browser and modifies your browser settings and preferences without your permission. It changes your search engine and homepage into Search Marquis.

While it appears like a legit search engine, it isn’t an actual search engine. The main goal of this malicious software is to redirect users to several unwanted websites and generate income for its developers through online advertising.

How to know if your Mac is infected with Search Marquis

You’ll first notice that your web browser’s default engine, homepage, and new tab page have been replaced with Search Marquis, and all the search queries are redirected to searchmarquis.com. The bad part is your browser makes it impossible for you to revert to your preferred homepage.

If you attempt to perform an online search with it, you’ll be redirected to Bing.com. But before you reach Bing, it will first lead you to sketchy sites. Some of the domains promoted by Search Marquis include:

searchnewworld.com
search.surfharvest.xyz
mybrowser-search.com
search2.me
searchitnow.info
searchsnow.com
chillsearch.xyz
api.lisumanagerine.club
nearbyme.io

It also installs sketchy add-ons and shows you a lot of suspicious pop-up ads, in-text links, and banners. Search Maquis overloads your Mac’s CPU, reduces its system performance, and freezes your browser, giving you a poor browsing experience.

The worst part? It may collect cookies and other personal data from your computer to ad affiliate networks.

The primary way Search Marquis enters your Mac is through a software packaging scheme called bundling. This technique involves sneakily bundling unwanted software with legitimate software.

Knowing that many people skip them, ad affiliate networks bury the details about the bundled software in the accompanying terms and conditions. In turn, users unknowingly consent to the download and allow the affiliate networks to operate legally.

To prevent this, paying attention to the things you install on your device is crucial. Don’t skip the steps, read the terms and conditions, and opt for a custom installation.

How to remove Search Marquis from Mac

If your Mac is infected with Search Marquis, don’t worry. I’ll guide you through different ways to help get rid of Search Marquis on your Mac.

Find and delete malicious files and apps

To begin, hunt for malicious files and apps on your Mac where Search Marquis may be hiding. To do this:

Select Finder → click Go on the menu bar.
Select Utilities.
Open Activity Monitor.
Look for suspicious or unfamiliar resource-intensive activities in the CPU, Memory, and Battery tabs.
Usually, it hides under an unthreatening name. If something seems questionable, Google about it.
Once you’ve found the culprit, select the x button at the top left.
Select Force Quit to confirm.

Note: You have to be careful when deleting files or processes. Deleting the wrong file may damage your system.

The process is similar when reviewing and deleting suspicious apps:

Head to Finder → select Applications.
Alternatively, press Shift + Cmd + A.
Look through your apps and see if there are any recent apps that you don’t remember downloading.
Drag the app to the Trash and empty it.

In business and company settings, IT admins use profiles to control the behavior of their employees’ devices. These profiles may restrict specific actions and configure their Macs to do different things.

Similarly, browser hijackers and adware may use configuration profiles to prevent users from removing malicious programs from their devices, including changing their browser settings. To check:

Go to System Preferences → Users & Groups.
Usually, you can’t see this icon.
If you see a Profiles icon, click it.
Select any suspicious profile you may want to remove → hit the – button.
Some examples of profile configurations include TechSignalSearch, AdminPrefs, Chrome Settings, and MainSearchPlatform.
Choose Remove.

Login items are items that are launched during startup. There may be potentially unwanted apps in here that you may want to delete:

Go to System Preferences → Users & Groups.
Click the Login items tab.
Check if any login items shouldn’t be there.

Remove rogue files and leftovers

There may be some leftover and rogue files associated with Search Marquis hiding on your Mac. To find them, open Finder → Go → select Go to Folder. Next, type these in the folder search dialog box one at a time to hunt for any rogue files and leftovers associated with Search Marquis:

/Library/LaunchAgents: Examine the contents of the LaunchAgents for sketchy-looking items. As noted above, these malicious files do not go with malicious-sounding names. Thus, it is important to search for recently added entities. Several examples of LaunchAgents related to Mac infections include: com.avickUpd.plist, com.updater.mcy.plist, com.pcv.hlpramc.plist, and com.msp.agent.plist.
~/Library/Application Support: Search for recently generated suspicious folders. Specifically, look for names that seem unrelated to Apple apps and products you don’t remember installing. Some commonly known malicious folder names include IdeaShared, ProgressSite, and UtilityParze.
~/Library/LaunchAgents: This will display LaunchAgents in your current user’s home directory. Search for items related to the virus and drag them to the Trash.
/Library/LaunchDaemons: This path can help you find the files the malware is using for persistence. Some examples include com.ExpertModuleSearchDaemon.plist, com.applauncher.plist, and com.startup.plist.

Below are some other known malicious files:

com.Search Marquis
com.Search Marquis.plist
com.adobe.fpsaud.plist
com.AdditionalChannelSearchDaemon
installmac.AppRemoval.plist
myppes.download.plist
com.myppes.net-preferences.plist
mykotlerino.ltvbit.plist

How to remove Search Marquis from Google Chrome or Safari

After clearing your Mac from any remaining traces of Search Marquis, check your browser for malicious extensions and any altered browser settings.

Search Marquis removal on Mac’s Safari

To check if there are any malicious extensions on your Safari:

Open Safari → click Preferences on the menu bar.
Select the General tab.
If the Homepage field contains a different webpage, change it to the webpage you want to use.
Go to the Extensions tab and find Search Marquis.
Click Uninstall to remove the browser extension.

In some cases, there may be a bug that greys out the homepage field in Safari’s Preferences page, preventing any changes from sticking. Here’s a workaround:

Open Safari → Preferences → General.
Enter your desired homepage in the Homepage field, but don’t press the Return key. Instead, click any other tabs like Autofill or Tabs. Doing so will cause a prompt to show, asking to confirm the change.
Go to the General tab to see if you could modify the homepage successfully.

Besides, some malicious programs may install managed preferences to change Safari’s homepage and search engine settings. If doing all the above didn’t help, try this:

Quit Safari.
Open Finder → Go → Go to Folder.
Enter this in the Go Folder search field: ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari.plist
If there’s a hit, delete the file and reopen Safari.

Search Marquis removal on Mac’s Chrome

The process is slightly similar on Chrome:

Open Chrome → click Extensions.
Alternatively, click the three-dot icon → More Tools → Extensions.
Look through suspicious extensions or those that you aren’t comfortable with.
Note: Most Adobe Flash extensions are frequently hacked.
Click the three-dot icon → Settings → Search Engine.
Set Google or any other search engine browser you prefer.

Cleanup browser search and homepage data

Finally, it’s crucial to revert the browser to default settings and clear your history.

I. On Safari

To clear your history:

Open Safari → History. Go to the bottom and select Clear History.
On the drop-down menu, select All history → choose Clear History.

Next, clear your website data:

Go to Safari → Preferences.
Click the Privacy tab → click Manage Website Data.
Select Remove All → Remove Now to confirm.

To change your default search engine, open Safari → click Preferences → click the Search tab → select your preferred Search Engine.

Next, delete your caches: select the Advanced tab → tick Show Develop menu in menu bar → click Develop in the menu bar → Empty Caches.

II. On Chrome

To clear your history:

Open Chrome → select History on the menu bar.
Click Show Full History → select Clear browsing data.
Select the time range and tick Browsing history, Cookies and other site data and Cached images and files.
Click Clear data.

You should also change your default search engine that has been altered by Search Marquis. To do this:

Click the three-dot icon → Settings → On startup.
See if Bing.com or Search Marquis is selected.
- If yes, remove it by clicking the three-dot icon → Remove.

Use an anti-malware software

Another way to quickly scan for viruses and prevent future attacks and infections is to get anti-malware software. These antivirus programs regularly scan for viruses and offer protection and security for your Mac.

Here is our roundup on the best Mac antivirus software that you can check. You may also look at our review of CleanMyMac X, a software packed with security features to keep your Mac free of malware.

FAQs

Q. Why does my Mac keep opening Search Marquis?

Your browser keeps redirecting to Search Marquis because you have installed a browser hijacker called Search Marquis. It configures your browser settings and preferences, which changes your search engine and homepage to Search Marquis.

Q. Why does Safari open Marquis?

Your Mac’s Safari is redirecting to Search Marquis because it has been infected by a redirect virus that gets on your Mac through unsafe free software downloads. This browser hijacker takes over your Safari browser and changes your default search engine and homepage to its fake search engine and homepage.

Q. How do I remove search Baron from Chrome?

The easiest and fastest way to remove viruses and malware is by downloading malware removal tools like CleanMyMac X. You can also remove the virus manually by removing unknown profiles, apps, and leftover files on your Mac. You also need to remove unknown extensions, history, and caches, and change your browser’s default homepage

Wrapping up…

While it’s uncommon for Macs to be affected by viruses, it can still happen. Browser hijackers like Search Marquis make your browsing experience frustrating. It slows down your device’s performance and inundates you with ads and countless redirections.

You typically get Search Marquis bundled with free programs you download from the internet. Aside from the mentioned things, you can download malware protection and cleaning tools for your Mac to protect against future attacks.

Are you using antivirus software for your Mac? If so, what is it? Share in the comments below!

Read more:

Safari Clear History and Website Data grayed out on iPhone? 4 fixes
How to prepare your Mac for macOS Ventura
How to manage Safari downloads on iPhone and iPad
Disappearing Safari tabs on iPhone and iPad? 10 Working fixes

Why does my computer automatically go to search Marquis?

It manifests itself by forcing users to visit unwanted web pages, as well as by collecting personal information. Search Marquis is a new type of malware that can invade your computer and act as a browser hijacker. It is also a kind of fake search engine.

Is search Marquis harmful?

Search Marquis is a Mac-specific browser hijacker — it can redirect your browser, insert suggested results into your search bar, steal your browsing information, and force your browser to automatically open Bing.com as its homepage.