Skip to main content

How to remove ClipGrab app from Mac

Uninstalling ClipGrab software from Mac might be on one’s to-do list in case its infiltration was covert and it’s tampering with the user’s web browsing.

Downloading videos and audio content from streaming media networks seems to be an obsolete habit that doesn’t get along with today’s technological advances. No matter how obvious this may appear, there are still lots of people who are going this route or would like to. Whether it’s due to old school views or even for shady things like piracy, the relevance of services like ClipGrab continues to be high. Contrary to most solutions of this kind, said app is cross-platform and is marketed as one of the few compatible with macOS. This explains its large user audience and the ripples it has been creating in its niche for years. Furthermore, it’s free to use. ClipGrab claims to download and convert videos from YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, Dailymotion, and a plethora of other sites. It used to be that the main imperfection of this utility was the missing browser integration feature. However, more issues have started surfacing lately. What are they?

ClipGrab downloads and converts online videos but might engage in foul play on Mac

A major hallmark on the minus side of ClipGrab is its aggressive propagation that pulls the Mac user out of the equation. In other words, the app is often downloaded and installed without one’s awareness and consent. This is an outcome of a sketchy proliferation logic relying on bundles of multiple applications. A person may think they are about to install one great program but the truth is that there are extra apps tailgating into the Mac surreptitiously under the same umbrella. Although bundling isn’t an illegal software spreading method, it is often abused by malware and adware developers to peddle their junk. It’s also unnerving that such installers can automatically give the undisclosed entities the privileges that go beyond the norm, and therefore ClipGrab ends up in a position where it can manage arbitrary settings in the host system.

One more concern about ClipGrab is that the permissions it wrongfully obtains by means of the above hoax might be an instrument for malvertising and suchlike stratagems. For example, the app tends to modify the unsuspecting victim’s browsing defaults. The resulting changes include tweaks of such preferences as the homepage, default search provider, and new tab page. In the aftermath of this meddling, the Mac user is constantly redirected to websites they didn’t agree to visit. These can range from faux search engines to tech support scams and gambling sites. To top it off, ClipGrab may install a browser extension that displays unwanted ads on most web pages the user goes to.

The activity of this app can also be a source of privacy issues. In some cases, it tries to hunt down the victim’s personally identifiable data such as the browsing history, saved usernames and passwords, IP address, macOS version, and third-party software installed. This information gives its operators a lowdown on the user’s interests, lifestyle, and sensitive web surfing patterns that should be kept away from prying eyes. If a victim discovers the culprit on their Mac although they didn’t knowingly install it and realizes it should be purged, yet another dodgy characteristic comes to the fore. Both the ClipGrab application proper and the browser add-on it sometimes stealthily promotes might be hard to remove. It’s also not so easy to change the altered browsing settings back to their correct values. In order to cope with these tasks, use the following steps that will do the trick. Also, the tip of the day is to exert caution with freeware downloads to avoid potentially unwanted applications (PUAs) further on.

ClipGrab PUA manual removal for Mac

The steps listed below will walk you through the removal of this malicious 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 ClipGrab or other suspicious item, select it and click Quit Process
  4. A dialog should pop up, asking if you are sure you would like to quit the troublemaking process. Select the Force Quit option
  5. Click the Go button again, but this time select Applications on the list. Find the ClipGrab entry on the interface, right-click on it and select Move to Trash. If user password is required, go ahead and enter it

    Malicious app icon under Applications

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

    Pick the System Preferences

  7. Select Accounts and click the Login Items button. The system will come up with the list of the items that launch when the box is started up. Locate ClipGrab or other potentially unwanted object there and click on the “-“ button

Get rid of ClipGrab redirect activity and ads in web browser on Mac

To begin with, settings for the web browser that got hit by this virus 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

      Here’s how to 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

Get rid of ClipGrab using Combo Cleaner removal tool

The Mac maintenance and security app called Combo Cleaner is a one-stop tool to detect and remove ClipGrab 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 ClipGrab 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 ClipGrab 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.
3

Was this article helpful? Please, rate this.

There are no comments yet.
Authentication required

You must log in to post a comment.

Log in