Hot To Delete Software On Mac

How to Delete Software on Mac: Find the Program in the Applications Folder On the Mac systems, everything is different. When Apple acquired NeXT OS and launched Mac OS X in 2001, it also supported UNIX way of dividing system files from the user’s workplace. You can remove apps that you downloaded and installed from the internet or from a disc. On your Mac, click the Finder icon in the Dock, then click Applications in the Finder sidebar. Do one of the following: If an app is in a folder, open the app’s folder to check for an Uninstaller. Mac App Removal is Permanant - To uninstall programs on a Mac, in most cases, it's permanent deletion. So make sure you have a backup copy of the program that you want to get rid of. Take a look on program remnant junk - By uninstalling programs on a Mac, you have good chance that a large amount of caches and leftover junk may remain and occupy your hard drive storage. First, click on Go, and then select Utilitiesto open the folder. Now, look for the Activity Monitorand open it. Next, search for suspicious processes like WebSearchStride, then click on the cross button in the upper-left side corner to end them. When asked to confirm your action through a dialog box, click Force Quit. The simplest way to delete downloads on your Mac is through the Downloads folder in your Finder. Downloads can fill your Mac 's memory, and it's easy to forget about the documents and media that.

There are a lot of great things Google has brought to the table over the years, including Search, Maps, and the Google Pixel smartphone (its cameras, anyway). Unfortunately, it's also an apex predator often accused of mining and collecting personal data in questionable ways.

A case in point is the GoogleSoftwareUpdate.app file that gets installed on Macs in the presence of Google apps such as Chrome and Google Earth.

First discovered by Wireda decade ago, the pesky file runs in the background and supports software patching and updating. Unfortunately, it also grabs your computer's hardware information, usage frequency, the number of active profiles on your computer, and more.

Recently, it's been rearing its ugly head again with the update to macOS Catalina. With the new Catalina security settings in place, updaters you may not have even known were there are being spotlighted, asking if you're OK with what they're doing. The first time you open Chrome on your Mac, you may see a notification asking if you want to run GoogleSoftwareUpdater.app, noting that Google installed it at a previous time. If you click 'OK,' you're back to what you've always been doing. If you click 'Cancel,' you have a new set of annoyances to deal with.

The folks over at E-Thinkers say what Google claims the file does is 'harmless.' However, because of how it's been designed, it 'behaves like a malware.'

What will you think if I'm telling you that there is a piece of software that:

• it installs in your computer without explicit asking for your permission, nor giving the options to decline it;
• it frequently sending data back to Google without your knowledge;
• it can't be configured via a settings menu;
• there is no uninstallation tool for you;
• and it will re-install by itself if you delete it.'

I would agree, which is why removing GoogleSoftwareUpdate.app permanently might be the best course of action for most Mac users. However, because the tool's main objective is to automatically update Google software in the background, a better solution might be to change how often Google can check for those updates.

Warning: This guide is for expert-level users. If you don't have a comfortable understanding of Terminal, low-level systems, and security, stay away. Otherwise, as a responsible adult: proceed at your own risk.

Confirming GoogleSoftwareUpdate.app

Before attempting to delete or adjust the Google file, you should confirm its existence on your computer. Hint: If you have a Google product installed, it's almost certainly there somewhere!

E-Tinkers first published each of the following steps in January 2018. Apparent changes made by Google required an update released in July 2019.

To confirm GoogleSoftwareUpdate.app is installed, you'll need to bring up Terminal.

1. Selection Go on the Mac toolbar.
2. Choose Utilities.

3. Click Terminal.

4. Type of the following command syntax: defaults read com.google.Keystone.Agent.plist .

5. Hit Return. You should see a screen like the following; if you don't, the file isn't installed:

   Source: E-Tinkers

Adjusting how often GoogleSoftwareUpdate.app runs

In the screenshot above, note the checkInternal setting. This shows how often Google checks your computer for software updates in seconds. In the example above, Google checks every five hours (3,600 x 5 = 18,000 seconds) by default. You can adjust this time by changing it using Terminal. By changing how often the updater check for software updates, you can continue to use your Google apps, but only run it once in a while.

1. Selection Go on the Mac toolbar.
2. Choose Utilities.

3. Click Terminal.

4. Type of the following command syntax:

   defaults write com.google.Keystone.Agent checkInterval 604800 where the check now happens every 24 hours.

If you change the checkInternal to 0, Google's no longer sending data, which E-Tinkers rightly notes is sufficient for most users.

For those who don't like how Google uses the GoogleSoftwareUpdate.app on Mac, uninstalling might be the best option.

To uninstall GoogleSoftwareUpdate.app

You can disable GoogleSoftwareUpdate.app by using the command syntax: sudo rm -R ~/Library/Google/GoogleSoftwareUpdate/. Unfortunately, with this solution, it will quickly return if you once again run a Google app on your Mac.

Because of this, you need to take different steps to uninstall the app. These steps will prevent Google apps from reinstalling the update again by creating a dummy file with the same name:

1. Selection Go on the Mac toolbar.
2. Choose Utilities.

3. Click Terminal.

4. Type of the following command syntax:

   sudo touch ~/Library/Google/GoogleSoftwareUpdate

   sudo chmod 444 ~/Library/Google/GoogleSoftwareUpdate

One final step

In July, E-Tinkers determined Google had changed a setting so GoogleSoftwareUpdate.app would install on the global level on a Mac if a user deleted it at the user level. Therefore, you should also run this command in Terminal:

sudo touch /Library/Google/GoogleSoftwareUpdate

sudo chmod 444 /Library/Google/GoogleSoftwareUpdate

Is GoogleSoftwareUpdate.app really gone?

To confirm the Google app is now removed from your computer:

1. Launch Google Chome.

2. Type chrome://help in the URL. You should see the following:

It's light's out for GoogleSoftwareUpdate.app on your computer!

What about updates?

If you want to update a Google app on your Mac after following the steps above, you'll need to delete it, then install it again from the Google website. You'll once again need to delete GoogleSoftwareUpdate.app after doing so, however.

Any questions?

Let us know if you have any questions about the steps offered in this post below.

Nudget nudges you in the right direction when it comes to budgeting

Struggling with keeping a budget? Yeah, it's hard. Nudget is an app that makes it a little easier.

According to security reseachers, FunctionRecord is a potentially unwanted program (PUP) that belongs to the family of Adware. Is Adware dangerous? Adware serves unwanted ads on your browser. Some of these ads are scams or fake advertisements developed to trick you. Even the harmless advertisements can become really irritating. Adware software can be installed accidentally and without you knowing about it, when you open email attachments, install free programs.

Even worse, adware software can gather your Net browsing activity by saving URLs visited, IP addresses, web-browser version and type, cookie information, Internet Service Provider (ISP) and web-sites visited. Such kind of behavior can lead to serious security problems or confidential information theft. This is another reason why the FunctionRecord adware software should be deleted as quickly as possible.

How does FunctionRecord get on your computer

Many of the freeware out there install unwanted web browser toolbars, browser hijackers, adware and PUPs along with them without your knowledge. One has to be attentive while installing free software in order to avoid accidentally installing bundled applications. It is important that you pay attention to the EULA (End User License Agreements) and select the Custom, Manual or Advanced installation option as it will typically disclose what third-party apps will also be installed.

Threat Summary

How to remove FunctionRecord adware

The answer is right here on this web-page. We have put together simplicity and efficiency. It will help you easily to free your PC of FunctionRecord adware software. Moreover, you may select manual or automatic removal solution. If you’re familiar with the MAC then use manual removal, otherwise use the free anti malware utility developed specifically to remove adware software. Of course, you can combine both methods. Some of the steps below will require you to shut down this webpage. So, please read the steps carefully, after that bookmark it or open it on your smartphone for later reference.

To remove FunctionRecord, perform the following steps:

1. How to get rid of FunctionRecord without any software
2. Automatic Removal of FunctionRecord

How to get rid of FunctionRecord without any software

The step-by-step instructions developed by our team will help you manually delete FunctionRecord adware from the MAC OS. If you are not good at computers, we suggest that you use the free tools listed below.

Uninstall potentially unwanted applications through the Finder

The best way to start the MAC OS cleanup is to delete unknown and questionable programs. Using the Finder you can do this quickly and easily. This step, in spite of its simplicity, should not be ignored, because the removing of unneeded software can clean up the Safari, Chrome and Firefox from ads, hijackers and so on.

Open Finder and click “Applications”.

Very carefully look around the entire list of programs installed on your MAC system. Most likely, one of them is the FunctionRecord adware. If you have many apps installed, you can help simplify the search of malicious programs by sort the list by date of installation.

Once you’ve found a dubious, unwanted or unused application, right click to it and choose “Move to Trash”. Another solution is drag the program from the Applications folder to the Trash.

Don’t forget, select Finder -> “Empty Trash”.

Remove FunctionRecord adware from Chrome

Reset Chrome will help you to remove FunctionRecord ads from your internet browser as well as to restore web browser settings affected by adware. All unwanted, harmful and ‘ad-supported’ extensions will also be removed from the internet browser. However, your themes, bookmarks, history, passwords, and web form auto-fill information will not be deleted.

Open the Google Chrome menu by clicking on the button in the form of three horizontal dotes (). It will open the drop-down menu. Select More Tools, then press Extensions.

Carefully browse through the list of installed extensions. If the list has the extension labeled with “Installed by enterprise policy” or “Installed by your administrator”, then complete the following guidance: Remove Google Chrome extensions installed by enterprise policy otherwise, just go to the step below.

Open the Google Chrome main menu again, click to “Settings” option.

Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the “Advanced” link. Now scroll down until the Reset settings section is visible, as shown below and click the “Reset settings to their original defaults” button.

Confirm your action, press the “Reset” button.

Remove FunctionRecord adware from Safari

By resetting Safari internet browser you restore your web-browser settings to its default state. This is first when troubleshooting problems that might have been caused by FunctionRecord .

Click Safari menu and select “Preferences”.

It will open the Safari Preferences window. Next, click the “Extensions” tab. Look for unknown and suspicious extensions on left panel, choose it, then click the “Uninstall” button. Most important to get rid of all unknown extensions from Safari.

Once complete, click “General” tab. Change the “Default Search Engine” to Google.

Find the “Homepage” and type into textfield “https://www.google.com”.

Delete FunctionRecord from Firefox by resetting browser settings

Resetting your Mozilla Firefox is basic troubleshooting step for any issues with your web browser, including the FunctionRecord ads. However, your themes, bookmarks, history, passwords, and web form auto-fill information will not be deleted.

Launch the Firefox and click the menu button (it looks like three stacked lines) at the top right of the web-browser screen. Next, click the question-mark icon at the bottom of the drop-down menu. It will display the slide-out menu.

Select the “Troubleshooting information”. If you are unable to access the Help menu, then type “about:support” in your address bar and press Enter. It bring up the “Troubleshooting Information” page as shown below.

Click the “Refresh Firefox” button at the top right of the Troubleshooting Information page. Select “Refresh Firefox” in the confirmation prompt. The Firefox will begin a procedure to fix your problems that caused by the FunctionRecord adware. When, it’s done, click the “Finish” button.

Automatic Removal of FunctionRecord

Use malicious software removal utilities to remove FunctionRecord adware automatically. The free applications utilities specially created for browser hijackers, adware and other potentially unwanted applications removal. These utilities can remove most of adware software from Safari, Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome. Moreover, it may remove all components of adware from Windows registry and system drives.

Automatically remove FunctionRecord with MalwareBytes

Remove FunctionRecord adware manually is difficult and often the adware is not fully removed. Therefore, we suggest you to use the MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (MBAM) which are completely clean your MAC system. Moreover, this free application will help you to remove malware, PUPs, toolbars and hijacker infection that your MAC system can be infected too.

Click the following link to download the latest version of MalwareBytes for Apple Mac.

How To Completely Remove A Program

Once downloading is done, close all windows on your MAC system. Further, launch the saved file. Follow the prompts.

The MalwareBytes will automatically launch and you may see its main window as shown in the following example.

Next, click the “Scan Now” button for scanning your MAC for the FunctionRecord adware. A scan may take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the number of files on your MAC OS and the speed of your machine.

Once the scanning is complete, MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (MBAM) will show a list of all threats detected by the scan. When you are ready, press “Remove Selected Items” button.

The MalwareBytes Free will begin to delete FunctionRecord adware software.

How to stay safe online

It’s important to run ad blocker apps such as AdGuard to protect your computer from harmful web-sites. Most security experts says that it’s okay to stop ads. You should do so just to stay safe! And, of course, the AdGuard can to block misleading and other unwanted web-sites.

Please go to the link below to download AdGuard.

When the downloading process is finished, run the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” screen. Follow the prompts.

How To Delete Software On Mac That Won't Delete

Each time, when you run your Apple Mac, AdGuard will run automatically and stop unwanted advertisements, block harmful and misleading web-sites.

Finish words

How To Delete Software On Macbook Pro

Once you’ve finished the tutorial outlined above, your Apple Mac should be clean from the FunctionRecord adware and other malicious software. The Safari, Firefox and Google Chrome will no longer display the FunctionRecord ads. Unfortunately, if the few simple steps does not help you, then you have caught a new adware software, and then the best way – ask for help here.

How To Delete Software On Mac