How to remove Receiver Helper (Mac)

What is Receiver Helper

Receiver Helper is one of those rogue applications that modify browser preferences on Mac. Such programs are often categorized as adware or browser hijackers because they incessantly display unwanted advertisements and intrusive pop-ups whilst browsing. To illustrate, Receiver Helper shows an annoying message saying that “helper” will damage your computer and needs to be moved to the Trash. Weirdly, clicking on a shortcut leads to nothing, sometimes such messages may redirect users to dangerous websites that run executable scripts for infecting the PC. It is also necessary to mention that Receiver Helper is covering multiple websites like Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Safari as well. After infiltration, it customizes the default homepage and search engine. By doing so, developers add ostensibly useful features that improve users’ experience. However, the entered queries are not uniquely-generated, instead, they are taken from legitimate Bing or Yahoo. By altering settings, extortionists are able to spy on your personal data (e.g. passwords, messages, history, IP-addresses, geolocations, etc.) and share it with third-parties. This way, Receiver Helper brings no genuine value by exposing your identity to cybercriminals. Thus, we recommend deleting Receiver Helper from your system to prevent further damage.

How Receiver Helper infected your computer

Often times, Potentially Unwanted Applications (PUAs) tend to impact inexperienced users. Developers bundle questionable software into freeware repacks that are hosted on various websites. After downloading, users skip additional options like “Advanced” or “Custom” that contains a range of software which is pre-set already. Therefore, people inadvertently install adware or browser hijackers that disturb browsing and pressure the system significantly. Another possible way that could force the installation of Receiver Helper is clicking on malicious ads. Some of them are camouflaged under appealing banners that, once clicked, drop users onto pages that force you to download fake software updaters, system optimization tools, or stealthily install a virus by running executable scripts. To remove Receiver Helper from your Mac, you should follow the tutorial mentioned below.

Remove Receiver Helper manually for free

Note: Receiver Helper sets up to start on Mac OS startup. Therefore, before starting the removal, perform these steps:

1. Open System Preferences, choose Users & Groups.
2. Choose your account (set up as Current User).
3. Click Login Items tab.
4. Find “Receiver Helper” entry. Select it, and click the “-“ (minus) button to remove it.

Note 2: Receiver Helper won’t quit just by closing it, therefor use Force Quit to end the process.

1. Press 3 buttons at the same time: Option, Command, and Esc (Escape). This is similar to Control-Alt-Delete on a Windows PC.
2. Choose Receiver Helper in the list.
3. Click Force Quit button.

Here is a manual step-by-step tutorial for full Receiver Helper removal from your computer. This works 99% and was checked with the latest versions of the Receiver Helper installer on operating systems with the latest updates and browser versions.

Remove Receiver Helper from Applications

Remove Receiver Helper from Mac:

1. In the Finder sidebar, click Applications.
2. Receiver Helper might have an Uninstaller. If you see Uninstall Receiver Helper or Receiver Helper Uninstaller, double-click it and follow the onscreen instructions.
3. Otherwise, drag Receiver Helper.app from the Applications folder to the Trash (located at the end of the Dock).
4. Then choose Finder > Empty Trash.

Cannot uninstall Receiver Helper

If you can’t uninstall Receiver Helper using instructions above, or it keeps coming back, you can use free AppCleaner for Mac to remove all residual data and libraries of Receiver Helper. Follow instructions below:

1. Download free AppCleaner.
2. Drag Receiver Helper.app from Applications folder to AppCleaner window.
3. Choose files and folders you want to remove along with Receiver Helper.
4. Click Delete button.

Remove Receiver Helper add-on from your browsers

Removing Receiver Helper.app from Applications often does not bring the desired effect. It is a browser extension and it may still be active in Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. Here are instructions on how to remove the Receiver Helper extension from your browsers manually.

Safari:

1. Start Safari on your Mac, click Safari to open drop-down menu and choose Preferences
2. Click Extensions tab.
3. Find Receiver Helper extension.
4. Click Uninstall button to remove it.

Google Chrome:

1. Start Google Chrome browser
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) chrome://extensions.
3. Find Receiver Helper extension.
4. Click the trash can icon to remove it.

Mozilla Firefox:

1. Start Mozilla Firefox browser.
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) about:addons.
3. Choose Receiver Helper extension.
4. Click Disable or Remove button.

Reset browser settings

To finish Receiver Helper removal reset your browser settings to make sure, there are no leftover items in browser folders.

Reset Safari:

1. Start Safari on your Mac, click Safari to open drop-down menu and choose Preferences
2. Go to the Privacy section of Safari’s preferences.
3. Click Remove All Website Data button.
4. In opened window click Remove Now button to remove data stored by websites in Safari.
5. Go to the Advanced section of Safari’s preferences.
6. Click the Show Develop menu in menu bar option.
7. In the menu click Develop and select Empty Caches from this menu.
8. Again, go to Safari menu and choose Clear History….
9. Choose to clear all history and click Clear History button.

Reset Google Chrome:

1. Start Google Chrome browser
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) chrome://settings.
3. Scroll down and find Show advanced settings link.
4. Click on it and scroll down to the bottom again.
5. Click Reset settings button and click Reset to confirm.

Reset Mozilla Firefox:

1. Start Mozilla Firefox browser.
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) about:support.
3. Click Refresh Firefox… button.
4. Click Refresh Firefox to confirm.

Remove following files and folders of Receiver Helper


~/Library/Application Support/Receiver Helper
~/Library/Receiver Helper
~/Library/Logs/Receiver Helper.log
~/Library/Receiver Helper
~/Applications/Receiver Helper.app

Download AdGuard for Mac to block malicious pop-ups, that promote Receiver Helper

AdGuard is the best ad-blocker, internet filtering and internet security application for MacOS. It can cut out unwanted banners from site pages, block pop-ups, stop redirects and prevent users from visiting potentially dangerous resources. Use it to stop ads promoting Receiver Helper in browsers.

Download AdGuard for Mac

How to protect Mac OSX from adware, like Receiver Helper

Mac OSX is known to be one of the safest operating systems, and for a long time there was no need in antivirus products for Mac. But with the growing popularity of Mac computers and notebooks and evolving technology, viruses, trojans, adware, toolbars, hijackers and other malware paved the way for Mac users. We recommend you to use one of the best anti-malware for Mac available – Malwarebytes for Mac.

Download Malwarebytes for Mac