Browser hijackers come in a variety of forms. But they all have one trick or tactic in common — they hijack your Safari, Chrome, or Firefox settings and set your homepage to redirect you to the place they want you to go. When it comes to Trovi — or TroviSearch — it would be the website www.trovi.com. Then, it starts to intercept your web searches to collect data and display adverts.

Everything you need to know about the Trovi virus

Firstly, Trovi is not a virus, as it doesn’t self-replicate and copy itself from computer to computer. Instead, it comes bundled with other applications or tools you download from the web. Here’s how it works.

Once downloaded, Trovi installs itself and then sets your browser homepage to trovi.com. Next, you land on that site and see a search engine. However, instead of displaying the results for your search queries, it intercepts them, collects data on you and your Mac, and displays adverts. If you click on an advert, the cybercriminals behind Trovi get paid. You also land on a website that might be infected and get malware.

How to remove Trovi from your Mac

There are several steps to removing Trovi, including quitting running processes, removing the app, and changing the settings in all the browsers you use.

Step 1: Quit the process

  1. Open Activity Monitor from the Finder > Applications > Utilities.
  2. Locate the process containing Trovi or TroviSearch in its name in the list of functions on the left side and click on it. 
  3. Press the Quit Process (looks like an ‘x’) button in the toolbar.

    Step 2: Get rid of the app

    1. Go to your Applications folder and look for any suspicious applications you haven’t chosen to download.
    2. Drag them to the Trash and empty it.

      Step 3: Change settings in Safari

      1. Open Safari and click on the Safari menu, then choose Settings.

      2. Select the General tab and, next to Homepage, type the URL of the site you want to use as your homepage.

      3. Choose the Search tab and if it doesn’t display your preferred search engine, change it to the one you want.

      Step 4: Remove Trovi from Chrome

      1. Open Chrome.
      2. Press the More button at the right of the toolbar (it looks like three dots stacked on top of each other), and scroll down to Settings. Alternatively, type or paste the following into the address bar: chrome://settings and press Return. 
      3. Scroll down to “On startup” and check the box next to “Open a specific page or set of pages.” Then type or paste the URL of the page you want to use as your homepage.
      4. Look at the section just above that is called “Default browser,” and make sure it’s set to your preferred search engine.

        Step 5: Remove Trovi from Firefox

        1. Click on the three horizontal lines on the right in the toolbar.
        2. Choose Settings. Then, in the window that opens, click Home.
        3. Set “Homepage and new windows” to your preferred homepage.
        4. Then choose Search in the sidebar and change “Default Search Engine” to the one you like.
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          How to remove Trovi virus with CleanMyMac X

          If all that sounds like a lot of work, don’t worry. There is a more effortless way: CleanMyMac X. This app has a Malware Removal module that detects Trovi and lots of other malware and removes it with a couple of clicks. CleanMyMac’s malware database is updated regularly to spot thousands of threats, including adware, spyware, viruses, worms, and more, on your Mac.

          Here’s how to use it:

          1. Download CleanMyMac X, then open it from your Applications folder.
          2. Choose Malware Removal in the left sidebar.
          3. Click Scan.
          4. When it’s finished, it will either give you a clean bill of health or tell you that there is malware on your Mac. Press Remove to get rid of the malware.

          To avoid being attacked by Trovi, make sure that you only download applications you know are safe. Apple’s Gatekeeper tool only allows you to download apps from developers Apple has approved. If it throws up a warning forcing you to visit System Settings to enable an app to be downloaded manually, you should think very carefully. Proceed only if you’re sure the app is safe.

          Fortunately, Trovi isn’t too difficult to remove. However, this can be a lengthy process that takes a while to complete. Thankfully, you have tools like CleanMyMac X that recognize and remove Trovi from your Mac with no extra effort.