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Remove TaskFresh virus from Mac

What is TaskFresh?

The Mac malware climate is being impacted by a “global warming” effect nowadays. There’s a growing number of adware apps and fake system utilities heating it up considerably. The latest concern being reported by users has to do with an entity called TaskFresh. Also referred to as Task Fresh or Task-Fresh, this is one of the lesser-known infections so far that’s gearing up for a rise. The most common scenario of the predicament comes down to popups that appear on a Mac computer out of the blue and, at first sight, don’t seem to have been preceded by any inconsiderate action of the user’s end. However, there is hardly any fishy code out there that trespasses on a system without a would-be victim having done something wrong. In this case, the most likely entry path is a booby-trapped Adobe Flash Player update that hides the culprit in its default setup.

TaskFresh virus manifesting itself through popups and fake scans on Mac

In other words, the TaskFresh malware is typically installed as part of a bundle related to a trojanized version of Flash Player. A conspicuous giveaway is that the sketchy update recommendation comes in the form of an ad seen on some questionably reputable website – contrary to a legit reminder dialog generated by the software suite in question. When an unsuspecting user clicks on the contagious prompt, they unwittingly authorize the contamination, only to bump into irritating activity the next time they perform a log onto their Mac. The TaskFresh virus usually adds a new extension to Safari, Chrome or Firefox without the admin’s approval, which may tweak the custom browser settings and redirect the traffic to dodgy web pages or a pseudo search engine filled with sponsored content.

The main nuisance, though, is that Task Fresh will be running Mac scans that pretend to check the system for different kinds of problems, including performance issues, junk files, as well as security and privacy concerns. Although these checkups are nothing but an imitation of normal system inspection, they tend to be resource-heavy and make the machine freeze for quite some time. The bogus scans will report numerous “troublemaking” items that aren’t actually there in order to frighten the user into thinking that it’s high time these unwanted objects got removed. These are the nuts and bolts of the TaskFresh campaign: its operators seek easy gain by trying to fool the victims into applying a fix for all the numerous problems allegedly found on their Macs. The repair is, obviously, a matter of purchasing the license to unlock the full features set of the worthless program.

To recap, when the malicious app under scrutiny is on board a Mac it deteriorates the system’s performance, displays counterfeit scans along with popup alerts, and may redirect web browsers to fake warning pages and phony search providers inundated with advertisements. All of this is definitely a drag, therefore TaskFresh virus removal is going to end up on the infected user’s to-do list for sure. Here’s how to do it right.

TaskFresh virus manual removal

The steps listed below will walk you through the removal of this potentially unwanted application. Be sure to follow the instructions in the order specified.

  1. Open up the Utilities folder as shown below

    Open up the Utilities

  2. Locate the Activity Monitor icon on the screen and double-click on it

    Locate the Activity Monitor

  3. Under Activity Monitor, find the entry for TaskFresh, Task Fresh or Task-Fresh, select it and click Quit Process

    Quit MacDefender process

  4. - A dialog should pop up, asking if you are sure you would like to quit the TaskFresh executable. Select the Force Quit option
  5. Expand the Go menu in Apple Finder and select Go to Folder
  6. Type or paste the following string in the folder search dialog: /Library/LaunchAgents

    Go to the LaunchAgents folder

  7. Once the LaunchAgentsdirectory opens up, find the following entries in it and move them to Trash:
    • com.TaskFresh.agent.plist
    • com.TaskFresh.tfhlpr
  8. Use the Go to Folder lookup feature again to navigate to the folder named ~/Library/LaunchAgents. When this path opens, look for the same entries (see above) and send them to Trash
  9. Similarly, go to the ~Library/Application Support folder. Locate and move the following entries to Trash:
    • TaskFresh
    • hlprtaskfresh
  10. Click the Go button again, but this time select Applications on the list. Find the entry for TaskFresh, Task Fresh or Task-Fresh on the interface, right-click on it and select Move to Trash. If user password is required, go ahead and enter it

    Malicious software icon under Applications

  11. Now go to Apple Menu and pick the System Preferences option

    Pick the System Preferences

  12. Select Accounts and click the Login Items button. Mac OS will come up with the list of the items that launch when the box is started up. Locate TaskFresh, Task Fresh, or Task-Fresh there and click on the "-" button

    Remove malicious software from Login Items

Get rid of TaskFresh extension in web browser on Mac

To begin with, settings for the web browser that got hit by TaskFresh should be restored to their default values. The overview of steps for this procedure is as follows:

  1. Reset Safari
    • Open the browser and go to Safari menu. Select Preferences in the drop-down list

      Go to Preferences in Safari

    • Once the Preferences screen appears, hit the Privacy tab at the top. Find the option that says Remove All Website Data and click on it

      Remove All Website Data option under Privacy

    • The system will display a confirmation dialog that also includes a brief description of what the reset does. Specifically, you may be logged out of some services and encounter other changes of website behavior after the procedure. If you’re okay with that, go ahead and click the Remove Now button

      Confirmation dialog

    • In order to selectively clear data generated by certain websites only, not all of them, hit the Details button under the Privacy section of Safari Preferences

      Clear data for specific websites in Safari

    • This feature will list all websites that have stored potentially sensitive data, including cache and cookies. Select the one, or ones, that might be causing trouble and click the appropriate button at the bottom (Remove or Remove All). Click the Done button to exit.
  2. Reset Google Chrome
    • Open Chrome, click the More (⁝) icon in the top right-hand part of the window, and select Settings in the drop-down
    • When on the Settings pane, select Advanced
    • Scroll down to the Reset settings section. Under the Restore settings to their original defaults option, click the Reset settings button

      Reset settings in Chrome on Mac

    • Confirm the Chrome reset on a dialog that will pop up. When the procedure is completed, relaunch the browser and check it for malware activity.
  3. Reset Mozilla Firefox
    • Open Firefox and select HelpTroubleshooting Information
    • On the page that opened, click the Reset Firefox button

      Reset Firefox

Use automatic tool to uninstall TaskFresh virus from your Mac

The Mac maintenance and security app called Combo Cleaner is a one-stop tool to detect and remove TaskFresh virus. This technique has substantial benefits over manual cleanup, because the utility gets hourly virus definition updates and can accurately spot even the newest Mac infections.

Furthermore, the automatic solution will find the core files of the malware deep down the system structure, which might otherwise be a challenge to locate. Here’s a walkthrough to sort out the TaskFresh issue using Combo Cleaner:

  1. Download Combo Cleaner installer. When done, double-click the combocleaner.dmg file and follow the prompts to install the tool onto your Mac.

    Download Combo Cleaner

    By downloading any applications recommended on this website you agree to our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy. The free scanner checks whether your Mac is infected. To get rid of malware, you need to purchase the Premium version of Combo Cleaner.

  2. Open the app from your Launchpad and let it run an update of the malware signature database to make sure it can identify the latest threats.
  3. Click the Start Combo Scan button to check your Mac for malicious activity as well as performance issues.

    Combo Cleaner Mac scan progress

  4. Examine the scan results. If the report says “No Threats”, then you are on the right track with the manual cleaning and can safely proceed to tidy up the web browser that may continue to act up due to the after-effects of the malware attack (see instructions above).

    Combo Cleaner scan report – no threats found

  5. In case Combo Cleaner has detected malicious code, click the Remove Selected Items button and have the utility remove TaskFresh threat along with any other viruses, PUPs (potentially unwanted programs), or junk files that don’t belong on your Mac.

    Combo Cleaner – threats found

  6. Once you have made doubly sure that the malicious app is uninstalled, the browser-level troubleshooting might still be on your to-do list. If your preferred browser is affected, resort to the previous section of this tutorial to revert to hassle-free web surfing.
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