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Again, today, I found out that my default search engine has been changed to "Yahoo", which is weird as I didn't do that.

This is the second time it happens, and I found out there is an extension named "search me" is installed both in safari and chrome. Where is this stupid plugin comes from? I don't remember I install it.

Some other guys also have this issue: Apple Support Communities thread

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6 Answers 6

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The current versions of uTorrent and bitTorrent, as of July 2013, bundle the SearchMe extension in their package installers.

Shady.

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  • Are you sure? I think it's the BitTorrent that comes with the extension
    – fengd
    Commented Aug 28, 2013 at 12:44
  • 1
    uTorrent does this too.
    – Lux
    Commented Oct 24, 2015 at 0:32
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I just encountered the same problem after downloading a piece of software from CNET.

I just tried downloading a tool from CNET (the app was Time Out: link on CNET), and the CNET downloader's 2nd page (which looks idential to a EULA and even says "I accept the terms and conditions) actually contains a shady acceptance of installing all SearchME extensions in all browsers, as well as making Yahoo! the default search engine in all browsers.

Screenshot of CNET's Shady "Safe Downloader"

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  • Unbelievable, that is seriously shady. This just happened to me and I don't think I've ever been tricked by one of these before. I thought CNET was a legitimate company? Just got to uninstall four unwanted plugins and fix my search engine and home page settings in four different browsers. Thanks, CNET.
    – Nathan Beach
    Commented Mar 7, 2014 at 17:33
  • Don't use CNet's installer; usually in the myriad 'Download' buttons, there's one that just downloads the actual software. It is, of course, the least obvious one.
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Nov 11, 2014 at 12:18
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I downloaded BitTorrent and Spigot/SeachMe/Yahoo was bundled with it. I don't remember there being an option to not install but I usually never would.

I am running OS X 10.8.5 and I used the alt key to open Library through Go in Finder.

These are the files I found and their locations.

  • ~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/External Extensions/hjalolmjgklbjgaomjjofphdjnajmnim.json

    This contains the following:

    {
    "external_version": "1.1", 
    "external_crx": "/Users/name/Library/Application Support/Spigot/Searchme.chromeextension.crx"
}

  • ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari/Extensions/searchme.safariextension

  • ~/Library/Safari/Extensions/me.safariextz

I can't find the extensions for Chrome but Safari isn't opening the the toolbar anymore. This happened to me once before and I ended up uninstalling Chrome and just reinstalling and it seemed to work ok.

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Wow! I had exactly this problem after I installed a torrent client on one of my Macs. It then infected all of my browsers on all of my macs!

I'm sorry I don't remember which one it was but probably bit torrent. Also, I installed and uninstalled this client within the past week. I only noticed the infection today though.

As someone said, shady.

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I was able to remove Spigot from existing user profiles in Chrome on Mac OS Yosemite, but whenever I created a new profile, the Spigot extensions would reappear. I thought I had tried everything, but finally examined this folder:

~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/External Extensions

There was a file called external_extensions.json that contained the Spigot adware. I examined the contents in TextEdit and found that this file was pointing to mybrowserbar.com and referenced the Spigot extensions.

I deleted external_extensions.json and now Spigot seems to be gone for good.

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Open Safari Preferences, under the Safari menu, and go to the Extensions panel. If you see anything there you didn't install or don't want, there is an Uninstall button.

That doesn't explain how it got there, but ...

You can further check on this by going to ~/Library/Safari/Extensions and examining that folder's contents.

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