How to Remove the MPlayerX Virus?
Did you download MPlayerX recently to boost your music media playing experience on your Mac? If you recently downloaded the program, and you’re now experiencing loads of ads or your internet searches get redirected to unknown sites, you might have downloaded and installed a virus in your system.
You need to take action immediately to remove the virus and optimize your system.
What is MPlayerX Virus?
Advertised as a quality media player, the MPlayerX virus tricks unknowing users into downloading and installing it on their system. It is, in reality, malware.
MPlayerX is a Mac-specific malware that is heavily ad-supported. It targets browsing applications such as:
- Chrome
- Safari
- Edge
- Firefox
What Can MPlayerX Virus Do?
Once installed on your Mac, the MPlayerX virus modifies the main browsers’ settings and hijacks the search engine to redirect your searches to numerous ad sites. The virus does the following as well:
- Bombard you with pop-ups, banners, and other ads on web pages.
- Recommends fake system updates, including on Safari.
- It hyperlinks random text on web pages.
- It alters the default DNS setting of all your browsers.
- It can also secretly install other malicious and potentially unwanted applications.
- Gather personal information such as IP address, geo-location, web searches, and pages visited, as well as user sensitive data such as email address and financial information.
How Did MPlayerX Virus Get into My Computer?
The MPlayerX virus is distributed as a bundled product with MPlayerX, a free media player. This means it can be downloaded from its official MPlayerX site or bundled with other freeware.
MPlayerX Virus Removal Instructions
If you value fast, uninterrupted, and smooth browsing, you wouldn’t want to be dealing with a MPlayerX virus infiltration. You should remove MPlayerX without any delay. This will also help you avoid other additional PUP downloads on your Mac.
Here are the MPlayerX virus removal instructions:
There are two ways to remove the MPlayerX virus: automatically or manually. In the manual method, you need to remove the virus manually from your Windows, Mac, and browser. As for the automatic method, you will have to use a quality and professional anti-malware utility, such as Malwarebytes, SpyHunter 5, Combo Clean for Mac, and etc.
Between the two methods, we recommend that you opt for the automatic option that uses an anti-malware. Most anti-malware programs will locate and remove MPlayerX virus easily.
Important Note!
Some rogue setups that promote the MPlayerX virus are designed to create a new device profile. Locate and delete this profile (if any) before you undertake further removal steps:
- On your Mac, click “System Preferences.”
- Select “Profiles.”
- Select “MPlayerX” profile > and delete it.
- Use a professional anti-malware program to conduct a full system scan to remove any adware traces.
After deleting the profile, you can then proceed to the MPlayerX removal guidelines.
To remove MPlayerX virus manually, carry out the following steps:
- Remove MPlayerX virus from your “Applications” folder
- Click the Mac’s Finder icon.
- Select “Applications.”
- Locate “MPlayerX,” “NicePlayer,” or other suspicious applications.
- Drag them to the Trash, or right-click on every such enter and select move to Trash.
- Scan your Mac for any remaining unwanted, malicious MPlayerX virus components.
- Remove ads, files and folders on your Mac that are related to the MPlayerX virus
- Click the Finder icon > Go > Go to Folder.
- Check for adware/Trojan-generated files in the ~/Library/LaunchAgents folder (any recently-added suspicious files) and move them to the Trash.
- Check for adware/Trojan-generated files in the ~/Library/Application Support folder, any recently-added suspicious files, such as “MplayerX” or “NicePlayer,” and move them to the Trash.
- Check for adware/Trojan-generated files in the /Library/LaunchDaemons folder, any recently added suspicions files, and move them to trash.
- Remove MPlayerX virus from browsers
How to Remove MPlayerX Virus from Google Chrome
To completely remove MPlayerX Virus from your computer, you need to reverse all of the changes on Google Chrome, uninstall suspicious extensions, plug-ins, and add-ons that were added without your permission.
Follow the instructions below to remove MPlayerX Virus from Google Chrome:
1. Delete malicious plugins.
Launch the Google Chrome app, then click on the menu icon at the upper-right corner. Choose More Tools > Extensions. Look for MPlayerX Virus and other malicious extensions. Highlight these extensions you want to uninstall, then click Remove to delete them.
2. Revert changes to your homepage and default search engine.
Click on Chrome's menu icon and select Settings. Click On Startup, then tick off Open a specific page or set of pages. You can either set up a new page or use existing pages as your homepage.
Go back to Google Chrome's menu icon and choose Settings > Search engine, then click Manage search engines. You'll see a list of default search engines that are available for Chrome. Delete any search engine that you think is suspicious. Click the three-dot menu beside the search engine and click Remove from list.
3. Reset Google Chrome.
Click on the menu icon located at the top right of your browser, and choose Settings. Scroll down to the bottom of the page, then click on Restore settings to their original defaults under Reset and clean up. Click on the Reset Settings button to confirm the action.
This step will reset your startup page, new tab, search engines, pinned tabs, and extensions. However, your bookmarks, browser history, and saved passwords will be saved.
How to Delete MPlayerX Virus from Mozilla Firefox
Just like other browsers, malware tries to change the settings of Mozilla Firefox. You need to undo these changes to remove all traces of MPlayerX Virus. Follow the steps below to completely delete MPlayerX Virus from Firefox:
1. Uninstall dangerous or unfamiliar extensions.
Check Firefox for any unfamiliar extensions that you don't remember installing. There is a huge chance that these extensions were installed by the malware. To do this, launch Mozilla Firefox, click on the menu icon at the top-right corner, then select Add-ons > Extensions.
In the Extensions window, choose MPlayerX Virus and other suspicious plugins. Click the three-dot menu beside the extension, then choose Remove to delete these extensions.
2. Change your homepage back to default if it was affected by malware.
Click on the Firefox menu at the upper-right corner of the browser, then choose Options > General. Delete the malicious homepage and type in your preferred URL. Or you can click Restore to change to the default homepage. Click OK to save the new settings.
3. Reset Mozilla Firefox.
Go to the Firefox menu, then click on the question mark (Help). Choose Troubleshooting Information. Hit the Refresh Firefox button to give your browser a fresh start.
Once you’ve completed the steps above, MPlayerX Virus will be completely gone from your Mozilla Firefox browser.
How to Get Rid of MPlayerX Virus from Internet Explorer
To ensure that the malware that hacked your browser is completely gone and that all unauthorized changes are reversed on Internet Explorer, follow the steps provided below:
1. Get rid of dangerous add-ons.
When malware hijacks your browser, one of the obvious signs is when you see add-ons or toolbars that suddenly appear on Internet Explorer without your knowledge. To uninstall these add-ons, launch Internet Explorer, click on the gear icon at the top-right corner of the browser to open the menu, then choose Manage Add-ons.
When you see the Manage Add-ons window, look for (name of malware) and other suspicious plugins/add-ons. You can disable these plugins/add-ons by clicking Disable.
2. Reverse any changes to your homepage caused by the malware.
If you suddenly have a different start page or your default search engine has been changed, you can change it back through the Internet Explorer's settings. To do this, click on the gear icon at the upper-right corner of the browser, then choose Internet Options.
Under the General tab, delete the homepage URL and enter your preferred homepage. Click Apply to save the new settings.
3. Reset Internet Explorer.
From the Internet Explorer menu (gear icon at the top), choose Internet Options. Click on the Advanced tab, then select Reset.
In the Reset window, tick off Delete personal settings and click the Reset button once again to confirm the action.
How to Uninstall MPlayerX Virus on Microsoft Edge
If you suspect your computer to have been infected by malware and you think that your Microsoft Edge browser has been affected, the best thing to do is to reset your browser.
There are two ways to reset your Microsoft Edge settings to completely remove all the traces of malware on your computer. Refer to the instructions below for more information.
Method 1: Resetting via Edge Settings
- Open the Microsoft Edge app and click More or the three-dot menu located at the upper-right corner of the screen.
- Click Settings to reveal more options.
- In the Settings window, click Restore settings to their default values under Reset settings. Click the Reset button to confirm. This action will reset your browser’s startup page, the new tab page, default search engine, and pinned tabs. Your extensions will also be disabled and all temporary data like cookies will be deleted.
- Afterwards, right-click on the Start menu or the Windows logo, then select Task Manager.
- Click on the Processes tab and search for Microsoft Edge.
- Right-click on the Microsoft Edge process and select Go to details. If you don't see the Go to details option, click More details instead.
- Under the Details tab, look for all the entries with Microsoft Edge in their name. Right-click on each of these entries and choose End Task to quit those processes.
- Once you have quit all those processes, open Microsoft Edge once again and you'll notice that all the previous settings have been reset.
Method 2: Resetting via Command
Another way to reset Microsoft Edge is by using commands. This is an advanced method that is extremely useful if your Microsoft Edge app keeps crashing or won't open at all. Make sure to back up your important data before using this method.
Here are the steps to do this:
- Navigate to this folder on your computer: C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe.
- Select everything inside the folder, right-click on the highlighted files, then click Delete from the options.
- Search for Windows PowerShell using the search box beside the Start menu.
- Right-click on the Windows PowerShell entry, then choose Run as administrator.
- In the Windows PowerShell window, type in this command:
Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers -Name Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register $($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml -Verbose}
- Press Enter to execute the command.
- Once the reset process has been completed, MPlayerX Virus should be completely deleted from your Microsoft Edge browser.
How to Get Rid of MPlayerX Virus from Safari
The computer’s browser is one of the major targets of malware — changing settings, adding new extensions, and changing the default search engine. So if you suspect your Safari to be infected with MPlayerX Virus, these are the steps you can take:
1. Delete suspicious extensions
Launch the Safari web browser and click on Safari from the top menu. Click Preferences from the drop-down menu.
Click on the Extensions tab at the top, then view the list of currently installed extensions on the left menu. Look for MPlayerX Virus or other extensions you don’t remember installing. Click the Uninstall button to remove the extension. Do this for all your suspected malicious extensions.
2. Revert changes to your homepage
Open Safari, then click Safari > Preferences. Click on General. Check out the Homepage field and see if this has been edited. If your homepage was changed by MPlayerX Virus, delete the URL and type in the homepage you want to use. Make sure to include the http:// before the address of the webpage.
3. Reset Safari
Open the Safari app and click on Safari from the menu at the upper-left of the screen. Click on Reset Safari. A dialog window will open where you can choose which elements you want to reset. Next, click the Reset button to complete the action.
Remove MPlayerX virus on other browsers that you may have by following the providers’ instructions. Once done, conduct a full scan on your Mac system using an anti-malware tool to remove any remaining traces.
Final Thoughts
If it gathers and leaks personal and sensitive information, MPlayerX may expose you to privacy violations and potential harm, especially if the data get into the hands of criminals. Avoid freeware at all costs and always be keen while surfing the internet to avoid installing such PUAs on your system.