How to Remove Weknow.ac Browser Hijacker from Mac

George Herman
George Herman
IT Security Expert

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What is Weknow.ac

Weknow.ac is a malicious website. If you start to see it everywhere on your browser, be it in ads, banners, pop-ups or random redirects, it means serious trouble. The appearance of this website means one thing – your browser has been hijacked. Weknow.ac belongs to the browser hijacker family and you should not underestimate it. Once it infects your web browser, it will be able to do whatever modifications it sees fit, without asking for your permission. As a result, your browsing experience will change for the worse. As long as the hijacker remains unattended, you won’t be able to do any kind of work online normally. You’ll even be lucky if you manage to load a single page without it freezing or getting covered with shady advertisements.

How it is distributed

The good news is, that browser hijackers cannot invade without your permission. Which means that somehow, you let it sneak on your computer. But how? Well, the most common ways for browser hijacker distribution are by email attachments, torrent files, infected ads and links, fake updates and bundled software. If you receive emails from unknown senders, don’t let your curiosity to get the best of you. We highly recommend you to delete straight away any spam emails from unfamiliar people, especially if they contain executable files as attachments. It is very common for misleading emails to claim to be sent from official companies like Amazon, eBay, etc. What you must do in such cases, is to compare the sender’s address with the one that is given in the company’s official website. As far as bundled software goes, be careful not to install any additional software by mistake. Read between the lines during the Installation process and don’t install any applications that are unfamiliar or you simply don’t need.

How it operates

Browser hijackers like Weknow.ac are capable of installing toolbars and extensions and other browser apps without your knowledge. Your homepage will get replaced by the Weknow.ac page, and you may even see new tabs open on browser startup that lead to either the same page or other dangerous sites you probably never heard of. As soon as you open your browser, your screen will get flooded with annoying ads and pop-ups that will try to trick you into clicking on them. Because the parasite can access your browsing history, it will make sure to display ads you’ll be most attracted to. For each click you make, the hijacker will generate profit for its creators. But that’s not all. Having a browser hijacker infection on your Mac puts data like passwords, IP addresses, Login credentials, bank accounts and other, in jeopardy. Your personal information can easily fall into the wrong hands if you ignore the Weknow.ac parasite.

Staying safe from Weknow.ac

Here are some things you can do in order to keep your computer virus-free:

  • Pay close attention when you install third-party software, especially torrent files, so you don’t install shady additional applications that you don’t want. In most cases, that’s how malicious parasites are able to infect your computer;

  • Read any Terms and Conditions you see, so you know exactly what you agree to. The last thing you want is to unknowingly give permission to a nasty virus to infiltrate your Mac;

  • Follow links that lead to trustworthy sites only;

  • It is best to visit only reliable and official websites. You never know what dangers might lurk behind an unfamiliar site;

  • No matter how attractive an ad is, if you are not familiar with the website it redirects to, it might be best to steer clear of it and not click;

  • Don’t open email attachments from unknown senders. More often than not, such files carry infections that can seriously damage your computer.

How to remove Weknow.ac Browser Hijacker from Mac

If you’ve had the misfortune of getting your Mac infected with the Weknow.ac Browser Hijacker, the instructions below can help you to remove it manually. Here’s what you need to do:

1. Go to Utilities. You can do that by using the +⌘+U key combination, or going to Finder and choosing Utilities from the Go main menu at the top.

2. Find Activity Monitor and double-click it.

3. A list will be displayed. Find any processes that seem suspicious to you and use the ‘Force Quit‘ option to quit them completely.

4. Open Finder. Click on the Go button from the main menu at the top, and choose Applications. An alternative way is to use the +⌘+A key combination.

5. Look for any suspicious applications, especially ones with a name similar to Weknow.ac. If any are found, right-click on them and select the ‘Move to Trash‘ option.

6. Remove any related left-over files by going to Finder‘s search bar and typing the name of the app you want to remove. Make sure to modify the two drop down menus above to ‘System Files‘ and ‘Are Included‘, so that any hidden files are visible for you to remove. Once you find the files you want to remove, simply drag them to Trash.

7. All that’s left for you to do is remove any related extensions to Weknow.ac from your Mac browsers.

  • For Mozilla Firefox extensions:

    – Open the Firefox browser and from the ‘burger’ menu in the top right corner of the window select ‘Add-ons‘.

    – Select any suspicious extensions that may be related to the virus and click ‘Remove‘.

  • For Google Chrome extensions:

    – Open the Chrome browser and select Tools > Extensions from the menu (the three dots in the top right corner of the browser window).

    – Locate any suspicious extensions that may be related to the virus and remove them.

  • For Safari extensions:

    – Open the Safari browser. From the Safari menu choose Preferences. Select Extensions from the options at the top.

    – Find any extensions you think are related to the virus, select them and click ‘Uninstall‘. A new window will show up asking for confirmation. Click Uninstall again, for the extension to get deleted permanently from your browser.

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