I installed Skype on a new mac and then bing hijacked my Chrome and Safari and now I can't get rid of it...And also when I search for something it goes to search.searchbenny.com, is this a virus? Anyone know how to remove?
Ask HN: Does anybody know what 'searchbenny' is?
1–10 of 18 posts
Re: Ask HN: Does anybody know what 'searchbenny' is?
#2Where did you download the Skype installer from?
It is malware quite likely and can be undone. If you could share the link of where you downloaded the Skype dmg I can try and give you a fix.
Re: Ask HN: Does anybody know what 'searchbenny' is?
#3Where did you download the Skype installer from? It is malware quite likely and can be undone. If you could share the link of where you downloaded the Skype dmg I can try and give you a fix.
It appears I stupidly downloaded it from here:
http://skype.download-for-mac.com/
I wasn't really paying attention at the time.
Would be great if you could help, thanks!
Re: Ask HN: Does anybody know what 'searchbenny' is?
#4Where did you download the Skype installer from? It is malware quite likely and can be undone. If you could share the link of where you downloaded the Skype dmg I can try and give you a fix.
It appears I stupidly downloaded it from here: http://skype.download-for-mac.com/ I wasn't really paying attention at the time. Would be great if you could help, thanks!
What search engine led you to that site?
Re: Ask HN: Does anybody know what 'searchbenny' is?
#5Re: Ask HN: Does anybody know what 'searchbenny' is?
#6Where did you download the Skype installer from? It is malware quite likely and can be undone. If you could share the link of where you downloaded the Skype dmg I can try and give you a fix.
It appears I stupidly downloaded it from here: http://skype.download-for-mac.com/ I wasn't really paying attention at the time. Would be great if you could help, thanks!
So here goes:
1. Open Finder.
2. Go to Applications
3. You'll see an app called "Reset Search" Alternatively there may be a folder called "InstallMac". Drag it to Trash and empty Trash
4. Open Chrome. Go to Settings
5. Click the button called "manage search engines" and make Google the default. Then click the cross to remove "search the web"
6. In Chrome Settings under "Appearance" click "Change" and then set "Use the new tab page." Also in the "On Startup" section ensure you delete the searchbenny page. and then set to "open a new tab".
7. In Safari open Preferences and head to "General Settings". Change your default engine (IMHO bing is better than Google). In newer Safari versions you can do this in the "Search" tab. Also remove all garbage from the "Manage Websites" section.
8. Set the homepage to "http://www.apple.com/startpage/" Alternatively open "Top Sites" in a new tab and use that by selecting "Use Current page"
9. Open "Activity Monitor" - Quit the "InstallerT" process.
10. You're set. Just some malware. No permanent damage. All it did was change your search defaults.
Had to post using a different account cause HN says I was submitting too fast.
Re: Ask HN: Does anybody know what 'searchbenny' is?
#7Earlier quoted context omitted.
It appears I stupidly downloaded it from here: http://skype.download-for-mac.com/ I wasn't really paying attention at the time. Would be great if you could help, thanks!
So here goes: 1. Open Finder. 2. Go to Applications 3. You'll see an app called "Reset Search" Alternatively there may be a folder called "InstallMac". Drag it to Trash and empty Trash 4. Open Chrome. Go to Settings 5. Click the button called "manage search engines" and make Google the default. Then click the cross to remove "search the web" 6. In Chrome Settings under "Appearance" click "Change" and then set "Use th…
WOW! It worked, thank you so much, pleased it wasn't anything too harmful. Thanks a lot for spending the time to help on this.
Re: Ask HN: Does anybody know what 'searchbenny' is?
#8Where did you download the Skype installer from? It is malware quite likely and can be undone. If you could share the link of where you downloaded the Skype dmg I can try and give you a fix.
It appears I stupidly downloaded it from here: http://skype.download-for-mac.com/ I wasn't really paying attention at the time. Would be great if you could help, thanks!
There's an honest-enough looking uninstall procedure on the site itself:
http://download-for-mac.com/uninstall.php?name=Skype#how_to_...
Re: Ask HN: Does anybody know what 'searchbenny' is?
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
It appears I stupidly downloaded it from here: http://skype.download-for-mac.com/ I wasn't really paying attention at the time. Would be great if you could help, thanks!
What search engine led you to that site?
I just googled "download skype for mac" without the quotes and an ad for the mentioned site was the first result. Another non-skype site's ad was second, and the first real result was the expected download page on skype's website. I could see a lot of people falling for that.
Re: Ask HN: Does anybody know what 'searchbenny' is?
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
What search engine led you to that site?
I just googled "download skype for mac" without the quotes and an ad for the mentioned site was the first result. Another non-skype site's ad was second, and the first real result was the expected download page on skype's website. I could see a lot of people falling for that.
If true, Google collected revenue from the advertiser on "Mac" and "Skype" from a company obviously preying on people's level of sophistication. In 2000, claiming naivety would at least be plausible. Today it ain't.