How to remove Sociologist.app (Mac)

What is Sociologist.app

Sociologist.app is an adware application targeting macOS users, known to display intrusive advertisements and redirect users to potentially harmful websites. It is part of the Pirrit adware family, which utilizes deceptive tactics to generate revenue through affiliate marketing. Once installed, Sociologist.app can significantly degrade system performance by consuming system resources and presenting various pop-ups, banners, and coupons. Users often encounter misleading ads that promise fake discounts, investment opportunities, or system alerts, which can lead to phishing attempts or malware infections. The application typically infiltrates systems through bundled software installations or deceptive online ads. Removing Sociologist.app is crucial to maintaining device security and ensuring a smooth user experience. Regular scans with reliable antivirus tools, such as Combo Cleaner, are recommended to detect and eliminate such adware threats.

How Sociologist.app infects Mac computers

Sociologist.app typically infects Mac systems through deceptive software bundling, where it is packaged with legitimate applications that users download from unofficial websites or peer-to-peer networks. When users hastily install these programs by clicking through standard installation steps without carefully reading the options, they may inadvertently agree to install Sociologist.app along with the desired software. Additionally, the adware can be introduced via misleading pop-up ads and notifications from untrustworthy sites, further luring users into clicking on malicious links. Once installed, Sociologist.app begins displaying intrusive advertisements and may gather personal data, leading to potential privacy breaches. The adware’s presence can significantly degrade system performance, redirect users to dubious websites, and expose them to various security risks. To avoid such infections, users are advised to download software only from reputable sources and to thoroughly inspect installation options for any bundled offers.

1. Download Sociologist.app Removal Tool
2. Remove Sociologist.app from Login Items
3. Remove/Uninstall Sociologist.app from Applications
4. Remove Sociologist.app from browsers
5. Reset browser settings
6. Remove Sociologist.app files and folders
7. Block Sociologist.app ads and pop-ups
8. How to protect from threats, like Sociologist.app

Remove Sociologist.app manually for free

Note: Sociologist.app sets up to start on macOS 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 “Sociologist.app” entry. Select it, and click the “-“ (minus) button to remove it.

Note 2: Sociologist.app 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 Sociologist.app in the list.
3. Click Force Quit button.

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

Remove Sociologist.app from Applications

Remove Sociologist.app from Mac:

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

Cannot uninstall Sociologist.app

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

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

Remove Sociologist.app add-on from your browsers

Removing Sociologist.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 Sociologist.app 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 Sociologist.app 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 Sociologist.app 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 Sociologist.app extension.
4. Click Disable or Remove button.

Reset browser settings

To finish Sociologist.app 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 the 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 Sociologist.app


~/Library/Application Support/.[random_string]/Services/com.Sociologist.app.service.app
~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.Sociologist.app.service.plist
/Library/Application Support/.[random_string]/System/com.Sociologist.app.system
/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.Sociologist.app.system.plist


Download AdGuard for Mac to block malicious pop-ups, that promote Sociologist.app

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 Sociologist.app in browsers.

Download AdGuard for Mac

How to protect Mac OSX from adware, like Sociologist.app

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.

Download Malwarebytes for Mac