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Ask HN: Does anybody know what 'searchbenny' is?

6 points by neilpeel ↗ HN
I installed Skype on a new mac and then bing hijacked my Chrome and Safari and now I can't get rid of it...And also when I search for something it goes to search.searchbenny.com, is this a virus? Anyone know how to remove?

17 comments

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scorpwarp23
Where did you download the Skype installer from?

It is malware quite likely and can be undone. If you could share the link of where you downloaded the Skype dmg I can try and give you a fix.

neilpeel
It appears I stupidly downloaded it from here:

http://skype.download-for-mac.com/

I wasn't really paying attention at the time.

Would be great if you could help, thanks!

brudgers
What search engine led you to that site?
smeyer
I just googled "download skype for mac" without the quotes and an ad for the mentioned site was the first result. Another non-skype site's ad was second, and the first real result was the expected download page on skype's website. I could see a lot of people falling for that.
brudgers
If true, Google collected revenue from the advertiser on "Mac" and "Skype" from a company obviously preying on people's level of sophistication. In 2000, claiming naivety would at least be plausible. Today it ain't.
wildthing84
So here goes:

1. Open Finder.

2. Go to Applications

3. You'll see an app called "Reset Search" Alternatively there may be a folder called "InstallMac". Drag it to Trash and empty Trash

4. Open Chrome. Go to Settings

5. Click the button called "manage search engines" and make Google the default. Then click the cross to remove "search the web"

6. In Chrome Settings under "Appearance" click "Change" and then set "Use the new tab page." Also in the "On Startup" section ensure you delete the searchbenny page. and then set to "open a new tab".

7. In Safari open Preferences and head to "General Settings". Change your default engine (IMHO bing is better than Google). In newer Safari versions you can do this in the "Search" tab. Also remove all garbage from the "Manage Websites" section.

8. Set the homepage to "http://www.apple.com/startpage/" Alternatively open "Top Sites" in a new tab and use that by selecting "Use Current page"

9. Open "Activity Monitor" - Quit the "InstallerT" process.

10. You're set. Just some malware. No permanent damage. All it did was change your search defaults.

Had to post using a different account cause HN says I was submitting too fast.

neilpeel
WOW! It worked, thank you so much, pleased it wasn't anything too harmful. Thanks a lot for spending the time to help on this.
bella22
Thanks a lot, I followed all the steps but there is no "InstallerT" process in my activity monitor... is there an other name for it?
fustify
Hello, I downloaded the same malware on accident when trying to download utorrent. I have followed the steps below sucessfully, but I noticed that the installerT process keeps coming back after I reboot my computer. Also advice on how to remove it completely? Thanks, this thread has been extremely helpful.
ihaveaquestair
I have also the same problem. If I search in Google, and click on a search result. I don't go to the URL of the search result, but to Bing, in the URL it says 'search.searchbenny.com' How do you remove this? I have a Mac and use Safari
applakias
I had the same problem and just fixed it.

it was an extension named "fast search" in the Safari > Preferences > Extensions section. I unistalled it and the problem was solved!

Before that though i moved to trash all the suspicious files from the Finder > Applications section as they were described from the wildthing84 below.

hope i helped

Kadavu22
I use fox fire and have not been able to get rid of searchbenny. I deleted file called installmac and when I go to google chrome it looks like all settings have been corrected I even restarted computer many time but search benny keeps opening as my search engine.
Kadavu22
I have not been able to uninstall searchbenny. I have a mac and I'm using foxfire. I deleted install mac, emptied trash and reset google chrome settings. And restared computer. Search benny.com still comes up as search engine. I'm very frustrated. Can anyone help.
Kadavu22
I solved my problem, searchbenny actually provides a link that tells you how to uninstall in variety of situations - safari, foxfire etc