For around a day earlier in June 2019, Openload.co was unavailable without explanation. It wasn’t the first time, either. It was also taken offline for the same reason in 2016 under the DMCA law. Mac users who have used this site often get too many Openload.co pop-ups: In this article, we look at how to remove them. 

What is Openload?

Openload is a cloud-based storage, streaming, and upload provider. Except this company isn’t trying to be Box or YouTube, or a hybrid of the two. 

Openload is popular with people who unusually want to bypass intellectual property laws. In a way, even with YouTube, Netflix, and Spotify, this is a modern LimeWire — a file-sharing and streaming website that operates on the fringes. In this article, we look at why this is a problem for Mac users and what can be done to fix unwanted pop-ups and browser hijackings. 

Why Openload causes problems for Mac users? 

It is a popular website, with around 330 million visitors per month. According to Canadian broadband management company Sandvine, Openload is responsible for 0.8% of all video traffic on the Internet. It is particularly popular in Asia-Pacific, Europe, Middle East, and Africa. 

However, it does cause problems for anyone who’s encountered or used that website. It is a legitimate website and company, but those with hostile and harmful intentions have misused it for their own aims. 

Openload can be problematic for several reasons: 

  • Cyber security experts have found that malicious third parties and hackers have used the Openload website to deploy crypto mining software, thereby using the CPU or GPU of an infected Mac to mine cryptocurrency without the consent of the user. 
  • Openload pop-ups are known to contain Potentially Unwanted Programs (PUPs), hijacking browsers or being used to hijack browsers with malicious injections of JavaScript. 
  • Openload pop-ups could be used to steal data in the wrong hands, not to mention them being an intrusion and annoying. 

Assuming you don’t want a Mac infected with unwanted pop-ups or software that uses your processing power to mine cryptocurrency, let’s look at how you remove Openload pop-ups. 


How to remove Openload pop-ups from a Mac? 

Because of DMCA complaints, the Openload website was taken down for around 24 hours earlier in June 2019. Due to the number of complaints they have received, it is now difficult to find through search engines. 

However, for those who’ve been infected with pop-ups or other unwanted software from that site recently, you need to remove these pop-ups from web browsers. There are two ways to remove what you don’t want from Openload. 

Option 1: Quickly and easily 

  1. Download CleanMyMac X (do this here for free).
  2. Click on the Malware Removal tab. 
  3. Let CleanMyMac X scan for plug-ins and browser extensions (anything from Openload will show up).
  4. Now, click Remove and let it safely delete these. 

Option 2: Manually 

Any extensions, pop-ups, and plug-ins from Openload will appear in the browser extension part of your browser settings. Follow these steps to remove them: 

#1: Uninstall from Safari 

  1. Go to Safari > Settings. 
  2. Click on Extensions.
  3. Pick the extension that you don’t recognize (and anything from Openload, of course).
  4. Click Uninstall. 
  5. Confirm that you want to uninstall the extension.

#2: Remove from Chrome

  1. Open Chrome. 
  2. Go to the Menu in your browser.
  3. Click on Settings > Extensions. 
  4. Pick the extension that you don’t recognize (e.g., from Openload).
  5. Click Remove.
  6. Confirm that you want to remove it. 

#3: Remove from Firefox

  1. Open Firefox. 
  2. Go to the Menu in your browser. 
  3. Click Add-ons and themes.
  4. Select the extension you want to remove (e.g., from Openload).
  5. Click ellipsis > Remove. 

Browsers aren’t the only place these extensions hide. Now you need to go through a whole load of folders to clear this annoyance out of your macOS system: 

  • /Applications
  • /Library/Application Support/SIMBL/Plugins
  • /Library/Internet Plug-Ins
  • /Library/LaunchAgents/
  • /Library/ScriptingAdditions/

Always be careful when deleting anything you aren’t sure of. There is always a risk you might delete something you actually need. 

After deleting any unwanted extensions, it’s always worth resetting your browser or even restarting your Mac to clear anything lingering in cookies and cache settings. 

As mentioned earlier, CleanMyMac X might be a useful app for detecting memory-consuming background apps and unwanted browser plug-ins and pop-ups. You can check how it works in your case with a free version. As a precaution, you should keep a watch on your Launch Agents directory — it’s one of those gateways that viruses use to infiltrate your Mac.