Safari homepage grayed out on Mac

If there is no option for you to change the homepage on your Safari, most likely your browser might have been hijacked.

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Remove Suspicious Profile Configurations

1. Open System Preferences.
2. Click Profiles.

   

3. Click the - (minus) sign to remove suspicious profiles.

   

4. Restart your Mac.

If issue still persists, proceed to the next step.

Remove Suspicious Login Items

If your browser settings get modified every time you restart your browser, the browser hijacker may not only be in your browser, but somewhere deeper in your Mac. Check what programs are automatically opened at System Login to verify if the Browser Hijacker dwells in your Mac.

1. Open System Preferences.
2. Click Users & Groups.

   

3. Click Login Items to view the list of programs that automatically open when you log in.
4. Click the -sign to remove any items you do not want to start at login.

   

If your browser setting changes were not saved after restarting your Mac, there is a good chance that a malware was installed to be opened at login, to modify your settings every time your Mac restarts.

The Password section allows you to change user login password and manage user list.

Remove Unknown and Suspicious Extensions from your browser

The first time you realize there is a Browser Hijacker on your Mac is when the homepage or search engine of your web browser is suddenly modified without your permission.

Change the homepage/search engine of your browser back to those that you used to use in browser Preferences. Doublecheck for any suspicious Extensions.

Check Safari Extensions

1. Open Safari.
   In the toolbar at the top of your desktop, click Safari.
2. Click Preferences to open the browser settings window.

   

3. Click General.
4. At the Homepage section, if the address looks unfamiliar or suspicious, change it back to a trusted address.
   The default homepage for Safari is www.apple.com/startpage/.

   

5. Check if your search engine has been modified.
   Click on the Search tab on the toolbar.
6. Click on Search Engine, you will see a list of search engines that you can change to.

   

7. Check Safari Extensions.
   Click the Extensions tab on the toolbar.
   You will see a list of names in the box on the left.
8. Click on the extension name to view details, permissions, or uninstall it in the large view box. Extensions by unauthorized developers may include adware or spyware, which injects unwanted advertisement or steals information from your saved card details.

   

Check Google Chrome Extensions

1. Open Chrome.
   In the toolbar at the top of your desktop, click Chrome.
2. Click Preferences to open the Chrome settings window.

   

3. Scroll down the settings page to find the Search engine section.

   

4. Click Manage search engines.
   You will see a list of current search engines on your Google Chrome.

   

5. At the very right of the list, click the ⋮ icon delete any search engines you do not wish to have.

   

6. Go back to the main settings page.
7. If you need to change the startup homepage address, scroll to the bottom and find section On startup.
8. Under the third option named Open a specific page or set of pages, Enter the homepage address as you prefer.

   

9. Check and manage current Chrome extensions.
   Click the ⋮ icon the right of the address/search box.
10. In the drop-down list, click More Tools.

    

11. In the next list expanded, find Extensions in the second section.
    This opens up a window that shows all your current extensions. You can view details such as developer, version, size, access permissions of an extension, or remove it from Chrome browser.

    

    The switch button at the bottom right of each extension name card indicates if the extension is currently turned on for use.

    

12. For suspicious extensions, it is worth checking their sources and the developer profiles.
    Click View in Chrome Web Store, which is at the bottom in the Details page of every extension to verify.

    

If changes are not saved after restarting your browser, consider doing the next steps.

Check if Safari Preferences File has been changed

Go to the specific folder address to remove the malware.

To check recently modified applications:

1. Open the Finder.
2. Click Go, then click Go to Folder.

   

3. In the open field, type ~/Library/Preferences.
4. Look for malicious plist files with Safari name like
   com.apple.Safari.HomePage.plist
   or
   com.apple.Safari.SafeBrowsing
   .
5. You may check if these files contain the malicious URL link by doing the following:
   1. Launch the Terminal app from Applications, then click Utilities or search for it via Spotlight.
   2. In the Terminal window, enter defaults read ~/Library/Preferences com.apple.Safari.HomePage and then press RETURN.
   3. Check if the plist contains this link below:

      http://www.homesweeklies.com/homepage/8080/1391/00549/195/United States/US/07670277/2B7B8995-02E3-5AAC-B4F1-68DA6ACCFD6A

   4. Once confirmed, you may now delete
      com.apple.Safari.HomePage.plist
      ,
      com.apple.Safari.SafeBrowsing
      and other plist with the name
      Safari
      .
   5. Empty trash and restart Mac.