What is UltraWebFormat?

UltraWebFormat is a browser hijacker that targets macOS computers. Once it enters the system, it sets https://search.yahoo.com/ as a default search provider and a startup page of the infected browser. While it’s a legitimate search engine you might face irrelevant search results filled with bogus links, a huge amount of pop-up ads as well as constant redirections to questionable domains like adult, casino, phishing, illegal software, or even malware-laden websites. In addition, hijacker makes changes to the system configuration, installs additional software, creates new profiles to ensure it is not that easy to get rid of. You may follow this guide to uninstall browser hijacker and completely remove UltraWebFormat from your browsers.

Brief overview:

Name	UltraWebFormat
Type of threat	Browser hijacker
URL address	https://search.yahoo.com/
Symptoms	Browser hijacker changes homepage and search engine of browser so that users are forced to use them. It fills the targeted browser with commercial content in form of pop-ups, banners, in-text links, audio/video ads, etc. Also, hijacker can occasionally cause redirects to third-party websites
Infiltration	Freeware programs, illegal software, software cracks, torrents, fake updates
Manual Removal	To eliminate threat manually, you should remove all files and applications related to the browser hijacker
Removal Tool	To completely get rid of hijacker, We recommend using SpyHunter. This is the only way you can be 100% sure that all components of the threat are removed from the system.

Recommended Anti-malware tools:

The easiest and most modern way of removing hijackers, pop-ups, Trojans, ransomware, or other viruses is to use automatic removal tools. See our Anti-malware tools below for further instructions.

Also, you can try to remove UltraWebFormat manually.

Alternative solution. Step 1: Remove UltraWebFormat from Mac

UltraWebFormat may not have the app associated with it in Applications. However, we recommend you to inspect the list of installed applications and remove unknown or suspicious ones. Look for UltraWebFormat or UltraWebFormat.app.

Mac OSX:

1. Open Finder
2. In the Finder sidebar, click Applications
3. If you see Uninstall UltraWebFormat or UltraWebFormat Uninstaller, double-click it and follow instructions
4. Drag unwanted application UltraWebFormat from the Applications folder to the Trash (located on the right side of the Dock)

Learn more about uninstallation of programs in Mac OSX

Step 2: Remove malicious entries from Profiles (Mac)

1. Open System Preferences.
2. Click on Profiles.
3. Click on unsigned and suspicious profiles on the left panel.
4. Click the minus button below to delete rogue settings.

Step 3: Get rid of UltraWebFormat using Terminal (only for Google Chrome)

1. Open Terminal
2. Copy and paste the following entries one by one each time by pressing “ENTER”:

   defaults write com.google.Chrome HomepageIsNewTabPage -bool false
   defaults write com.google.Chrome NewTabPageLocation -string “https://www.google.com/”
   defaults write com.google.Chrome HomepageLocation -string “https://www.google.com/”
   defaults delete com.google.Chrome DefaultSearchProviderSearchURL
   defaults delete com.google.Chrome DefaultSearchProviderNewTabURL
   defaults delete com.google.Chrome DefaultSearchProviderName

3. Relaunch Chrome

Step 4: Delete UltraWebFormat from browsers

Safari:

1. Open Safari
2. Click Safari menu.
3. Choose Extensions.
4. Find UltraWebFormat or other suspicious extensions.
5. Click Uninstall button to remove it.

Learn more about removing extensions from Safari.

Remove UltraWebFormat from Google Chrome:

1. Open Google Chrome
2. Click the Chrome menu (3-dots icon) in the top right corner.
3. Click Tools.
4. Choose Extensions.
5. Find UltraWebFormat or other suspicious extensions.
6. Click the trash can icon to remove it.

Learn more about removing extensions from Chrome.

Remove UltraWebFormat from Mozilla Firefox:

1. Open Firefox.
2. Push Shift + Ctrl + A.
3. Choose UltraWebFormat or other suspicious extensions.
4. Click Disable or Remove button.

Learn more about removing extensions from Firefox.

Step 5: Resetting your browser search and homepage settings

Reset browser setting in Safari:

1. Open Safari.
2. Click on the Safari menu.
3. Choose Reset Safari….
4. Click Reset button.

Learn more about resetting browser settings in Safari.

Reset browser setting in Google Chrome:

1. Click the Chrome menu (3 bar button) in the top right corner.
2. Choose Settings.
3. Click Show advanced settings.
4. Go to Reset browser settings section.
5. Click Reset browser settings.
6. In the dialog that appears, click Reset.

Learn more about resetting browser settings in Google Chrome.

Reset browser setting in Mozilla Firefox:

1. Open Mozilla Firefox.
2. Go to Help.
3. Go to Troubleshooting information.
4. Click Reset Firefox… button.

Learn more about resetting browser settings in Mozilla Firefox.