Go.loadingnow.me Virus Mac

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The Go.loadingnow.me Virus

The Go.loadingnow.me virus is an unwanted attachment for macOS browsers aimed at promoting different ad-heavy sites making them automatically appear inside the browser. The Go.loadingnow.me virus belongs to a software category known as browser hijackers and it’s possible that its presence on your Mac may lead to security issues.

go.loadingnow.me

The Go.loadingnow.me virus on Mac will display pop up ads and windows

If this app has recently managed to get itself attached to your Mac’s main browser, you may be wondering how you could have it removed. After all, only the full uninstallation of this unpleasant app will put an end to its attempts to promote certain sites by forcing your Safari, Chrome, Firefox, or another browser to redirect you to them. Furthermore, to make its site-promoting actions even more effective, this app may have taken over the homepage of the affected browser and it may have also changed the default Omnibox search engine that the browser uses by default while, at the same time, blocking all other search engine services that you may prefer to use.

Go.loadingnow.me on Mac

Go.loadingnow.me on Mac is a very unpleasant ad-generating software app for Mac PCs that focuses on advertising certain sites by causing automatic page redirects to them. The Go.loadingnow.me app is also known for gaining access to the history of the browser and keeping tabs on it.

This is all part of the advertising campaign of this browser hijacker and even if its actions seem sketchy, for the most part, they won’t harm your Mac (at least not directly). The main problem, however, is that, through its constant attempts to advertise a big number of sites, it is possible that this aggressive and uncontrollable marketing tool may end up leading you to web locations that may potentially endanger your Mac. Such could be sites like Search Marquis, QSearch with phishing elements in them or ones that have downloadable content that may be infected with viruses. Before you know it, you may be faced with a much more dangerous computer threat such as a Trojan horse infection or a Ransomware cryptovirus if you allow Go.loadingnow.me to stay on your Mac for long.

The Go.loadingnow.me Virus on Safari 

The Go.loadingnow.me virus is browser-hijacking software that is focused on aggressively advertising sites that need a boost in their traffic on Safari. Unfortunately, the Go.loadingnow.me virus may oftentimes be tasked with popularizing unsafe and unreliable websites, which may indirectly compromise the safety of the computers it is installed on.

Fortunately, even though uninstalling this app may seem a bit tricky at first, if you follow our guidelines provided down below, you should have no trouble removing the hijacker and thus preventing it from further spamming you with unwanted and obstructive site-promoting popups, banners and redirects.

The Go.loadingnow.me pop up

The Go.loadingnow.me pop up is unwanted software of the browser hijacker variety that will flood your browser with redirects to promoted sites and products. The Go.loadingnow.me pop up is not to be allowed to reside on your Mac for long or else safety issues may follow.

As we mentioned, the presence of a hijacker like this one on your computer may, in the most severe of cases, even lead to attacks by Ransomware or Trojan horse threats. Therefore it is essential that you remove this unwanted app even if it isn’t damaging or harmful to your computer in and of itself. 

SUMMARY:

Name Go.loadingnow.me
Type Browser Hijacker
Detection Tool [Table_Test3]

Remove the Go.loadingnow.me Virus on Mac

Mac browser hijackers such as Go.loadingnow.me may add unwanted browser extensions to Safari that are hijacking your browsing results. That’s why if you want to remove Go.loadingnow.me completely, you should find those extensions and uninstall them from the browser’s extensions list. Here are the short instructions for that:

  1. Start  Safari and click on the Safari menu at the top of the browser’s window.
  2. Next, select Preferences and click on the Extensions tab. This tab will let you view all the browser’s extensions in a list.
    extensions in safari
  3. Carefully explore the extensions in the list and if anything seems to have a relation to the browser hijacker, remove it by clicking on the remove button next to it.
  4. Keep in mind that there might be other questionable extensions in the list, so if you believe that something is causing you browsing disturbance, remove it without hesitation. No browser extension is critical for the smooth operation of your OS or your browser.  

After you have removed all questionable extensions from Safari, restart your Mac and open the hijacked browser again to check if the problem has been resolved. If Go.loadingnow.me still shows visible signs of its presence, finish all of the steps in the guide below to fully remove it.

Step1

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Safari should be closed during the next few steps. That’s why make sure that you quit it and in case that Go.loadingnow.me isn’t letting the browser quit normally, click on the Apple menu at the top and select the Force Quit option.  

Step2

WARNING! READ CAREFULLY BEFORE PROCEEDING!

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Now, with Safari closed, you should head to the Activity Monitor and search for any processes linked to the hijacker that need to be stopped.

To see the currently running processes, select Finder and go to Applications >>> Utilities >>> Activity Monitor. Open the app and search for Go.loadingnow.me-related processes in the list. It is not necessary that they have the browser hijacker’s name thus, you should look for processes that consume lots of CPU and/or RAM, have odd names, or cannot be linked to any program or a system process that you know.

If you spot a process that you think could be related to Go.loadingnow.me but you are not quite sure, search its name online to see what info comes up. 

Another way to check suspicious processes is to highlight it in the Activity Monitor, click on the “i” (information) icon, and select the Sample button at the bottom.

chromeinfo

A sample file will be generated that should look like this:

chromesample

Save that file on your Mac and scan it for malware. If you don’t have a professional scanner at hand, you can use the following free online malware scanner:

Each file will be scanned with up to 64 antivirus programs to ensure maximum accuracy
This scanner is free and will always remain free for our website's users.
This file is not matched with any known malware in the database. You can either do a full real-time scan of the file or skip it to upload a new file. Doing a full scan with 64 antivirus programs can take up to 3-4 minutes per file.
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Each file will be scanned with up to 64 antivirus programs to ensure maximum accuracy
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    If the sample file gets flagged as dangerous, delete that file and go to the Activity Monitor to quit the process the sample file is related to. Quitting a process happens by selecting it and clicking on the big button at the top-left of the Activity Monitor window.

    Step3

    Another very important thing that you need to do is to delete any potentially unwanted and poor-quality applications that you keep on your Mac. For that, go to Finder >>> Applications and check the items in the Applications folder. If you detect apps that could potentially be linked to Go.loadingnow.me or are unwanted, drag them to the Trash to delete them.

    Step4

    When you are done with the steps above, press and hold the Shift key of your keyboard and launch Safari. This will stop any previously loaded sites/pages from being opened when the browser launches. If unwanted pages still get opened when Safari starts, Force Quit the browser, disconnect your Mac from the internet, and try launching it once again by pressing and holding the Shift key.

    • Users with Ethernet cables should unplug the cable from their Mac to stop their Internet connection.
    • Users using Wi-Fi can disconnect from the internet by going to the Wi-Fi menu from the Mac menu bar and selecting Wi-Fi Off.

    Step5

    Remove Go.loadingnow.me from Safari

    Once Safari launches safely, you should check the browser’s extensions list once again. Sometimes extensions that you have removed earlier may get back in the browser. That’s why you need to find and delete them again. For that, follow these steps:

    1. Click on the Safari menu, select Preferences, and then click on Privacy.  Privacy in Safari
    2. Select the Remove All Website Data option and confirm the action. This will delete cached data and cookies from the browser that may contain information about the hijacker and its sites.

    Next, go back to Preferences and click on the first tab called General. General Tab in Safari

    Check the browser’s homepage section. If the URL that is written there is not the one that is your usual homepage, remove the changes and set a homepage address that you want.

    Default Home Page

    One last thing that you need to do is to click on the History menu of Safari and select Clear History. This will delete all the information about visited sites, including those related to Go.loadingnow.me.

    Step6

    If you have another browser on your Mac (for example Firefox or Chrome) aside from Safari, you should check it for Go.loadingnow.me-related components and remove these components in case you detect any. Here is how this can be done:

    firefox-512 Removing ads from Firefox for Mac:

    Open Firefox and click on the menu icon at the top (three parallel lines icon). From the menu that drops down select Extensions. Similar to what you did in Safari, you need to search for Go.loadingnow.me and delete any extensions that could be potentially linked to it.

    pic 6

    After that don’t forget to refresh the settings of Firefox to make sure that nothing has been left from Go.loadingnow.me left in your Firefox browser.

    chrome-logo-transparent-backgroundRemoving ads from Chrome for Mac:

    Open Chrome, go to the top right, and click on the three-dots icon which will open the main menu. Select More Tools from the menu, and then click on Extensions on the left. Search for add-ons that might be related to Go.loadingnow.me and click on the trash bin icon to remove them. 

    pic 8

    Once the unwanted extensions have been removed go back to the three dots icon and select Settings from the menu.

    After that click on Search Engine >>> Manage Search Engines. If Go.loadingnow.me has added its own search engine to the list click on its respective three-dot button and select the Block option. This will prevent Chrome from using that search engine. Finally,  refresh the Chrome settings so that the hijacker app is completely removed.

    If the steps above aren’t enough to remove Go.loadingnow.me and fully delete its data from your Mac, it is best to scan the computer with a professional removal tool (like the one recommended on this page) to delete what might have been left behind from the hijacker. 


    About the author

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    Brandon Skies

    Brandon is a researcher and content creator in the fields of cyber-security and virtual privacy. Years of experience enable him to provide readers with important information and adequate solutions for the latest software and malware problems.

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