System Spot Mac PUA
System Spot is the name of a potentially unwanted application (PUA) that runs under MacOS. Potentially unwanted applications are a category of malware that has a much lower threat level when compared to things like ransomware, viruses or even spyware. Even though they are not as dangerous to your system's health as the more serious classes of malware, potentially unwanted applications can still disrupt your user experience and affect the way you use your Mac negatively. Certain PUAs may also expose the user to further malware by causing browser redirects to malware-laden websites or inject unwanted advertising in web pages.
System Spot primarily affects browsers on your Mac, and it has the ability to affect all of them, whether you use Safari, Chrome or Firefox. System Spot will install a browser extension in your browser of choice. Once this happens, you will find that your browser's default search engine has been changed. Your usual home page will be changed as well. Opening new tabs will also not result in your usual new tab. System Spot modifies all of those essential browsing components and replaces them with its own search engine that is linked to an advertising provider.
This means that all your usual search engine results will appear slightly modified. Even if the results appear to be from a normal search engine like Google or Bing, System Spot will inject your results page with unsolicited results and links to pages provided by advertisers.
This essentially means your traffic and searches are modified without your consent and do not appear the way they should on a clean system. When users click on advertisements and links generated by System Spot in its search result pages, they are unwittingly generating revenue for System Spot.
System Spot also has the ability to inject advertising in normal sites that you visit while you browse. Those ad banners are certainly unsolicited and may potentially redirect the user to sites that may contain further malware.
Additionally, you may also see pop-up advertising and embedded text links that are marked as "Brought to you by System Spot". All of this hampers your normal browsing experience and may potentially lead to further malware infections. Of course, the newly embedded unsolicited ads will also slow down your browser and your connection and will generally impact your browsing experience in a negative way, even if you never click on any of them.
PUAs such as System Spot are usually distributed by software bundling. This is why it is important to never hurry through installer procedures for any software. Make sure you never choose the "express install" option, because that is how PUAs like System Spot usually get on your system. PUAs will often piggy-back in software bundle installers and quietly install without explicit user consent.
The easiest solution to get rid of a PUA similar to System Spot is to do a full reset of your browser.
