We love using Safari and Google, so when Safari suddenly redirects us to Bing as its browser, it’s trouble with a capital T!
Unfortunately, if Bing is hijacking Safari it’s often a sign of something more serious–like malware. So let’s learn how to regain control and eliminate that Bing redirect for good.
Recently, we have seen numerous reports of readers complaining that whey they use Safari on their MacBook and perform a search; the search operation gets redirected to Bing instead of Google Search.
If you are experiencing this, chances are that you may have picked up some browser-based malware during your browsing.
Here are a few steps that will help you deal with this issue on your MacBook.
The first thing to do is to clear your Safari browser history and other website data.
In order to do so,
Click on Safari > Clear History… and then choose ‘All Data’.
Next, Click on Safari Preferences > Advanced and choose ‘Show Develop Menu’.
Once you choose this option, find the Develop menu on the Safari top menu.
Now click on the top Safari menu
Choose Develop and then choose ‘Empty Caches’.
#2 Reset Safari options to get rid of Bing redirects
Now that we have cleared the Safari History and emptied the cache, follow the steps below to get rid of any browser malware that may have associated itself as an extension and is causing the Bing redirect.
Click on Safari > Preferences.
Click on the Extensions tab at the top.
Any malware that has gotten associated may show up as a browser extension here.
Uninstall any recent browser extensions by clicking on the Uninstall button next to the extension.
Now click on the General tab at the top. Here you will need to change the default Homepage if you see an unfamiliar URL. Suggest you choose Apple or other trusted site.
Next, go to the Search tab and change your default search engine to Google.
Restart your MacBook, open Safari and check if the Browser redirect issue has been resolved.
I still can’t remove the Bing redirect!
If those steps didn’t remove your Safari’s Bing Redirect, try using a reputable antivirus or anti-malware program like MalwareBytes and run a full system scan.
Stop Safari Pop-up or redirects by cleaning Mac Folders
If you are unsure about using any third party software, you can clean up some of the key areas in your Mac yourself. When a browser hijack program infects your Mac, there are only a handful of places where it gets attached and therefore can be easily removed.
Sometimes these programs will mess with your launch programs on your Mac and will automatically override Safari sessions. Once you have cleared the Safari Cache and Safari history following instructions in the prior sections, you can look a little deeper and clean any of these programs.
Use Finder app. Click on Go > Go To and check the following folders and directories for any suspicious programs that you dont recognize.
Use Finder app to check the folders
/Library/LaunchAgents
/Library/LaunchDaemons
/Library/PrivilegedHelperTools
/System/Library/LaunchAgents
/System/Library/LaunchDaemons
It’s also a good idea to check your System hosts file for any unknown entries. Open your Terminal app on your MacBook and type in sudo nano /private/etc/hosts
You can delete any suspicious looking items from the above locations and then restart your MacBook.
You can also find additional information from this Apple’s support guide on this issue.
How do I stop Safari from redirecting on my Mac?
Open Safari
Select Preferences
Choose Privacy
Under Website Tracking, tick the boxes for Prevent cross-site tracking and Ask websites not to track me
prevent website tracking in Safari for macOS
Next, go to Apple Menu > System Preferences > Privacy and Security
Open the General tab
Look for the section Allow apps downloaded from and select App Store as the default
Protect your Mac from malware
It is important to remember to not visit suspicious third-party sites that often offer free software downloads.
When it comes to protecting your MacBook from malicious software, your best bet is to use the Apple App Store to obtain your software.
A popular third-party app that can help with Safari malware related issues is MalwareBytes. Feel free to check them out.
Stay away from messages about updating Flash!
The other thing to keep in mind is to stay away from the Flash software on your MacBook–especially any pop-ups asking you to update your Mac’s Flash!
If you want to update flash, do it via Adobe’s website or via your System Preferences.
update adobe flash using system preferences on your Mac
Use Adobe Flash As Needed
If you open a web page and need Flash to play or control the content, then use the Flash player plug-in.
Enable the flash plugin via Safari Preferences.
Go to Safari > Preferences
Choose Websites
Locate the Plug-inssection
Tap Adobe Flash Player
Tick the checkbox to enable Flash Player
Select which site(s) you want to allow flash by choosing On or Ask from the drop-down menu
adobe flash plugin preference settings in Safari for macOS
Close Preferences once you set-up your flash plug-in settings
We hope that you found this short article helpful.
Please let us know in the comments below if you have any questions.
Reader Tips
If you run Windows on your Mac using Boot Camp or Parallels, the problem might be with internet explorer or Microsoft edge. Make sure these have Google as a search engine option and make it your default. You can also delete Bing as a search engine option if you want. Once you set Google as the default, restart and check Safari
Obsessed with tech since the early arrival of A/UX on Apple, Sudz (SK) is responsible for the original editorial direction of AppleToolBox. He is based out of Los Angeles, CA.
Sudz specializes in covering all things macOS, having reviewed dozens of OS X and macOS developments over the years.
In a former life, Sudz worked helping Fortune 100 companies with their technology and business transformation aspirations.
I really worked. I followed other sites recommendation to remove the extensions but still didn’t work. When I got to your page, I then continue with the steps to cleaning Mac Folders. Then it worked after restarting my Mac. Appreciated for the post.
Thank you for the step by step. very helpful! One follow up question I have is, when looking into my launch folders, how do I know what to consider suspicious or unwanted? Thanks!
Thank you so much! my Mac has been redirecting to Bing and Yahoo for a while now and it made everything so slow and was very annoying. This article was EXTREMELY helpful and made the virus go away immediately! Again, thanks so much! It was just the perfect cure!!!!
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Google had been redirecting to bing and yahoo and was driving me crazy. Thanks so much for this article. I had to go into my launch folders and I found/ deleted the culprits
THANK YOU! This article was the most concise, step by step explanation of what was wrong with my Mac! It was simple and direct, and it completely “cured” the issues my sweet laptop was having, haha. I really appreciate stumbling upon the article, and now will be consulting THIS website when I come across additional questions. Well done.
Thank you very much! I’ve been trying to find a way to fix this frustrating occurrence without having to take it in somewhere. It finally lets me search with Google again. I really appreciate your help!
I tried these steps and still have t he issue. before I try the Malwarebytes , I want to try to clean any weird app. is Mac-Auto-Fixer from mac or a virus?
Malwarebytes may be your best option Zoey. Usually, you do not need an anti-virus program for a Mac. Most of these issues are fixed by flushing out Safari cache, but sometimes there are sneaky programs that can get logged into your startup routine (log in items). Malwarebytes should help you clean them out if you do not know how to go about checking the start up items et al in System preferences.
I was able to locate and remove the bing redirect on my Mac but it had nothing to do with browser extensions and default home pages. Here is how:
1. I investigated the launch agent and launch daemon folders on my Mac to see what goes up on startup w/o me seeing it.
/Library/LaunchAgens
~/Library/LaunchAgents
/Library/LaunchDaemons
~/Library/LaunchDaemons
I found a suspicious launch agent named “com.xyz.abc.ScreenSaver.plist” at ~/Library/LaunchAgents
2. Opening the “plist” file in a text editor revealed an application:
~/Library/Application Support/.screensaver/ScreenSaver.app
Notice the dot in the path. It denotes a hidden folder so you can not see it in your “Finder” unless specifically change the settings to show hidden or system files.
3. I unloaded the daemon (launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.xyz.abc.ScreenSaver.plist)
4. I deleted both the “.screensaver” folder and the “plist” file, emptied the trash and restarted the machine
The redirect was gone.
That was a bit difficult to catch because there is a legitimate Apple daemon called ScreenSaver.
The telltale was the strange domain “com.xyz.abc”. I, however, suspect that the virus may create a random app and launch agent names upon installation. So, do not look for the exact names but follow the process.
Also, it’s a waste of time to search for strange app names as some other articles suggest. Focus on identifying the launch agents, the app location is always inside the “plist” file.
Sorry, you aren’t able to get rid of the Bing redirect in Safari.
We suggest you try MalwareBytes and see if your system was infected with a virus that’s causing that redirect–this happens when malware gets installed in the background when we install free software or click on certain pop-ups.
Often there’s a program called Mac Cleaner that got on your Mac and automatically created this redirect to Bing. If you remove Mac Cleaner and its components, you should be able to get Safari back to using Google as its search engine.
I really worked. I followed other sites recommendation to remove the extensions but still didn’t work. When I got to your page, I then continue with the steps to cleaning Mac Folders. Then it worked after restarting my Mac. Appreciated for the post.
This was so helpful, thank you!
Thank you for the step by step. very helpful! One follow up question I have is, when looking into my launch folders, how do I know what to consider suspicious or unwanted? Thanks!
Thank you!!!!!!!!!
I have a mac and I did everything and it still did not work.
Bing stopped redirecting.
Then after I looked something up again to be sure, bing redirected me.
Hi Devyn,
Are you visit the same site? If so, it’s possible that redirection is occurring on that site.
Otherwise, you might have some malware installed on your computer that’s causing this issue.
We suggest you run Malwarebytes to see if there is malware casuing this issue.
There is a free version which should detect problems on our system.
Thank you so much! my Mac has been redirecting to Bing and Yahoo for a while now and it made everything so slow and was very annoying. This article was EXTREMELY helpful and made the virus go away immediately! Again, thanks so much! It was just the perfect cure!!!!
Thank you
THANK YOU!!!
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Google had been redirecting to bing and yahoo and was driving me crazy. Thanks so much for this article. I had to go into my launch folders and I found/ deleted the culprits
THANK YOU! This article was the most concise, step by step explanation of what was wrong with my Mac! It was simple and direct, and it completely “cured” the issues my sweet laptop was having, haha. I really appreciate stumbling upon the article, and now will be consulting THIS website when I come across additional questions. Well done.
Thank you very much! I’ve been trying to find a way to fix this frustrating occurrence without having to take it in somewhere. It finally lets me search with Google again. I really appreciate your help!
Thank you for your help.
Thanks for your help! This worked for me. Your directions were simple to follow and it got rid of my bing problem!
I tried these steps and still have t he issue. before I try the Malwarebytes , I want to try to clean any weird app. is Mac-Auto-Fixer from mac or a virus?
Malwarebytes may be your best option Zoey. Usually, you do not need an anti-virus program for a Mac. Most of these issues are fixed by flushing out Safari cache, but sometimes there are sneaky programs that can get logged into your startup routine (log in items). Malwarebytes should help you clean them out if you do not know how to go about checking the start up items et al in System preferences.
I was able to locate and remove the bing redirect on my Mac but it had nothing to do with browser extensions and default home pages. Here is how:
1. I investigated the launch agent and launch daemon folders on my Mac to see what goes up on startup w/o me seeing it.
/Library/LaunchAgens
~/Library/LaunchAgents
/Library/LaunchDaemons
~/Library/LaunchDaemons
I found a suspicious launch agent named “com.xyz.abc.ScreenSaver.plist” at ~/Library/LaunchAgents
2. Opening the “plist” file in a text editor revealed an application:
~/Library/Application Support/.screensaver/ScreenSaver.app
Notice the dot in the path. It denotes a hidden folder so you can not see it in your “Finder” unless specifically change the settings to show hidden or system files.
3. I unloaded the daemon (launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.xyz.abc.ScreenSaver.plist)
4. I deleted both the “.screensaver” folder and the “plist” file, emptied the trash and restarted the machine
The redirect was gone.
That was a bit difficult to catch because there is a legitimate Apple daemon called ScreenSaver.
The telltale was the strange domain “com.xyz.abc”. I, however, suspect that the virus may create a random app and launch agent names upon installation. So, do not look for the exact names but follow the process.
Also, it’s a waste of time to search for strange app names as some other articles suggest. Focus on identifying the launch agents, the app location is always inside the “plist” file.
THIS WORKED! Thank you 🙂
Worked for me as well 🙂 Thank you very much!!
THANK you!!!!
Hi,
So for the past month, I have been having a problem with bing redirect on my.mac book air before I updated to mac os.
And it still happens now on chrome and safari.
I’ve been deleting weird looking apps but the malware is still there.
Please help me
HI Kailah,
Sorry that your MacBook still has issues with Bing redirects.
We suggest you run the program Malwarebytes and inspect your Mac for malware and other things hiding.
They offer a free 14-day trial that has the same features as the paid version.
I have tried the steps above and they haven’t worked for me.
Hi Timothy,
Sorry, you aren’t able to get rid of the Bing redirect in Safari.
We suggest you try MalwareBytes and see if your system was infected with a virus that’s causing that redirect–this happens when malware gets installed in the background when we install free software or click on certain pop-ups.
MalwareBytes offers a free 14-day trial.
Thank you!! This worked like a charm.
I have tried this and it didn’t work. I still don’t know what to do.
Hi Shane,
Have you tried Malwarebytes?
Often there’s a program called Mac Cleaner that got on your Mac and automatically created this redirect to Bing. If you remove Mac Cleaner and its components, you should be able to get Safari back to using Google as its search engine.