What is Silver Sparrow
Silver Sparrow is a malicious piece designed and delivered to Mac-based systems. At the time of research, experts identified that Silver Sparrow acts as a backdoor program meant to distribute other types of malware. The virus takes over your PC giving full access to cybercriminals. Strangely enough, none of the investigation reports showed Silver Sparrow to be delivering the intended malware. Therefore, from this point time, it is quite hard to get what does the purpose of frauds stands by. Either way, it is a hundred percent virus, which exposes your data to third-party eyes. Also, it is noteworthy that Silver Sparrow exists in two versions: first targets solely Intel x86_64 system architectures, whilst the other spreads onto M1 ARM64 as well. In fact, there are other types of malware that follow the same goals – trojans are one of those using chain infections to spread malicious programs as well. All of the previously mentioned facts are just enough to make the removal of Silver Sparrow urgent. Follow our guide below to perform the deletion successfully.
How Silver Sparrow infected your computer
There is no officially-proven method by which Silver Sparrow is spread. However, there is a set of frequently-used channels to deliver this type of malware. Usually, it happens to be with unofficial file-hosting websites, Peer-to-Peer networks, fake software cracking tools, spam messages, and other sources that offer free usage of programs. Malicious content can be hidden inside pirated or cracked setups. Because most users are usually inattentive to that, they put themselves at risk of getting infected. This, therefore, becomes a problem for the entire safety forcing users to find online removals. In order to prevent this, we offer a list of prophylactic measures that will ensure full removal and further protection against such threats in the future.
Download Silver Sparrow Removal Tool for Mac
To remove Silver Sparrow completely, we recommend you to use SpyHunter for Mac. It can help you remove files, folders, and registry keys of Silver Sparrow and uninstall hijackers, toolbars, and unwanted add-ons from the Safari browser. The trial version of SpyHunter for Mac offers virus scan and 1-time removal for FREE.
Alternative Removal Tool
To remove Silver Sparrow completely, we recommend you to use CleanMyMac. It can help you remove files, folders, and registry keys of Silver Sparrow and uninstall hijackers, toolbars, and unwanted add-ons from the Safari browser.
Remove Silver Sparrow manually for free
Note: Silver Sparrow sets up to start on Mac OS startup. Therefore, before starting the removal, perform these steps:
- Open System Preferences, choose Users & Groups.
- Choose your account (set up as Current User).
- Click Login Items tab.
- Find “Silver Sparrow” entry. Select it, and click the “-“ (minus) button to remove it.
Note 2: Silver Sparrow won’t quit just by closing it, therefor use Force Quit to end the process.
- Press 3 buttons at the same time: Option, Command, and Esc (Escape). This is similar to Control-Alt-Delete on a Windows PC.
- Choose Silver Sparrow in the list.
- Click Force Quit button.
Here is a manual step-by-step tutorial for full Silver Sparrow removal from your computer. This works 99% and was checked with the latest versions of Silver Sparrow installer on operating systems with the latest updates and browser versions.
Remove Silver Sparrow from Applications
Remove Silver Sparrow from Mac:
- In the Finder sidebar, click Applications.
- Silver Sparrow might have an Uninstaller. If you see Uninstall Silver Sparrow or Silver Sparrow Uninstaller, double-click it and follow the onscreen instructions.
- Otherwise, drag Silver Sparrow from the Applications folder to the Trash (located at the end of the Dock).
- Then choose Finder > Empty Trash.
Cannot uninstall Silver Sparrow
If you can’t uninstall Silver Sparrow using instructions above, or it keeps coming back, you can use free AppCleaner for Mac to remove all residual data and libraries of Silver Sparrow. Follow instructions below:
- Download free AppCleaner.
- Drag Silver Sparrow from Applications folder to AppCleaner window.
- Choose files and folders you want to remove along with Silver Sparrow.
- Click Delete button.
Remove Silver Sparrow add-on from your browsers
Removing Silver Sparrow 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 Silver Sparrow extension from your browsers manually.
Safari:
- Start Safari on your Mac, click Safari to open drop-down menu and choose Preferences
- Click Extensions tab.
- Find Silver Sparrow extension.
- Click Uninstall button to remove it.
Google Chrome:
- Start Google Chrome browser
- In address box type (or copy-paste)
chrome://extensions
. - Find Silver Sparrow extension.
- Click the trash can icon to remove it.
Mozilla Firefox:
- Start Mozilla Firefox browser.
- In address box type (or copy-paste)
about:addons
. - Choose Silver Sparrow extension.
- Click Disable or Remove button.
Reset browser settings
To finish Silver Sparrow removal reset your browser settings to make sure, there are no leftover items in browser folders.
Reset Safari:
- Start Safari on your Mac, click Safari to open drop-down menu and choose Preferences
- Go to the Privacy section of Safari’s preferences.
- Click Remove All Website Data button.
- In opened window click Remove Now button to remove data stored by websites in Safari.
- Go to the Advanced section of Safari’s preferences.
- Click the Show Develop menu in menu bar option.
- In the menu click Develop and select Empty Caches from this menu.
- Again, go to Safari menu and choose Clear History….
- Choose to clear all history and click Clear History button.
Reset Google Chrome:
- Start Google Chrome browser
- In address box type (or copy-paste)
chrome://settings
. - Scroll down and find Show advanced settings link.
- Click on it and scroll down to the bottom again.
- Click Reset settings button and click Reset to confirm.
Reset Mozilla Firefox:
- Start Mozilla Firefox browser.
- In address box type (or copy-paste)
about:support
. - Click Refresh Firefox… button.
- Click Refresh Firefox to confirm.
Remove following files and folders of Silver Sparrow
~/Library/._insu
/tmp/agent.sh
/tmp/version.json
/tmp/version.plist
Download AdGuard for Mac to block malicious pop-ups, that promote Silver Sparrow
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 Silver Sparrow in browsers.
How to protect Mac OSX from adware, like Silver Sparrow
Mac OSX is known to be one of the safest operating systems, and for a long time there was no need for 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.