How to remove Search.searchfw.com (Chrome, Firefox, IE, Edge)

What is Search.searchfw.com

Have you opened the browser and found a previously unseen site called Search.searchfw.com? If you answered ‘Yes’ then your need to know that your computer is infected with a browser hijacker. The web-browser hijacker is a type of malicious software that changes your system’s web-browser settings so that you are rerouted to an annoying web-site. You need to perform the instructions below as soon as possible to remove Search.searchfw.com and block the ability to penetrate the personal computer more dangerous viruses and trojans.

A malicious software that modifies the settings of browsers on Search.searchfw.com new tab usually affects only Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer and Edge. However, possible situations, when any other internet browsers will be affected too. The Search.searchfw.com hijacker infection may change the Target property of a internet browser’s shortcut, so every time you start the web-browser, instead of your homepage, you will see a completely different web-page.

In addition, the Search.searchfw.com infection can also change the search engine selected in the internet browser. When you try to search on the infected web-browser, you will be presented with a fake search results, consisting of ads and Google (or Yahoo, or Bing) search results for your query. Among these search results can occur very dangerous links that lead to malicious and misleading sites.

Often, the computer, that has been infected with Search.searchfw.com browser hijacker, will be also infected with an adware, which will open a huge number of various advertising links. This may be pop-ups, text links in the web pages, banners where they never had. What is more, the adware may replace the legitimate advertising with malicious ads that will offer to download and install malware and unwanted programs or visit the various dangerous and misleading web sites.

How to Search.searchfw.com hijacker infection get installed onto system

Most commonly, the Search.searchfw.com browser hijacker infection is bundled within the installation packages from a free hosting and file sharing web sites. So, install a free programs is a a good chance that you will find some bundled internet browser hijacker. If you don’t know how to avoid it, then use a simple trick. During installation, choose the Custom or Advanced installation option. Next, click ‘Decline’ button and clear all checkboxes on offers that ask you to install an unknown software. Moreover, please carefully read Term of use and User agreement before installing any software or otherwise you can end up with another unwanted software on your PC system such as this hijacker infection.

How to manually remove Search.searchfw.com

The following instructions is a step-by-step guide, which will help you manually remove Search.searchfw.com startpage from the Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox and Microsoft Edge.

1. Remove Search.searchfw.com associated software by using Windows Control Panel
2. Disinfect the browser’s shortcuts to remove Search.searchfw.com
3. Remove Search.searchfw.com homepage from Google Chrome
4. Delete Search.searchfw.com from Mozilla Firefox
5. Remove Search.searchfw.com from Internet Explorer

Remove Search.searchfw.com associated software by using Windows Control Panel

We recommend that you start the system cleaning process by checking the list of installed programs and remove all unknown or suspicious applications. This is a very important step, as mentioned above, very often the malicious software such as adware and browser hijackers may be bundled with free applications. Uninstall the unwanted software may remove the unwanted advertising banners or browser redirect to unknown or annoying web-sites.

It will open the Windows Control Panel as shown below.

Click “Uninstall a program” It will display a list of all programs. Scroll through the all list, and remove any suspicious and unknown programs. To quickly find the latest installed software, we recommend sort applications by date in the Control panel.

Disinfect the browser’s shortcuts to remove Search.searchfw.com new tab

Now you need to clean up the internet browser shortcuts. Check that the shortcut referring to the right exe-file of the browser, and not on any unknown file. Right click to a desktop shortcut for your web-browser. Choose the “Properties” option.

It will open the Properties window. Select the “Shortcut” tab here, after that, look at the “Target” field. The browser hijacker infection can replace it. If you are seeing something like “…exe http://search.searchfw.com/” then you need to remove “http…” and leave only, depending on the internet browser you are using:

• Google Chrome: chrome.exe
• Opera: opera.exe
• Firefox: firefox.exe

Internet Explorer: iexplore.exe

Look at the example on the screen below. Once is done, press the “OK” button to save the changes. Please repeat this step for browser shortcuts which redirects to an annoying web sites. When you have completed, go to next step.

Remove Search.searchfw.com homepage from Google Chrome

Like other modern browsers, the Chrome has the ability to reset the settings to their default values and thus restore the homepage, new tab page and search engine by default that have been modified by the Search.searchfw.com infection.

Start the Chrome. Click on the button in the form of three horizontal stripes (). It will appear the main menu. Click on the option named “Settings”. Another way to open the Google Chrome’s settings – type chrome://settings in the browser adress bar and press Enter. The internet browser will display the settings screen. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the “Show advanced settings” link. Now scroll down until the “Reset settings” section is visible, as shown below and click on the “Reset settings” button. The Chrome will open the confirmation dialog box. You need to confirm your action. Press on the “Reset” button. The program will start the process of cleaning and when it is finished, the browser settings including start page, search provider by default back to the values that have been when the Chrome was first installed on your PC system.

Delete Search.searchfw.com from Mozilla Firefox

Open the Firefox menu by clicking on the button in the form of three horizontal stripes (). It opens the drop-down menu. Click on the Help button (). In the Help menu click on the “Troubleshooting Information”. In the upper-right corner of the “Troubleshooting Information” page click on “Refresh Firefox” button. Confirm your action. Click on the “Refresh Firefox”.

Remove Search.searchfw.com from Internet Explorer

Open the Internet Explorer tools menu by clicking on the button in the form of gear (). It opens the drop-down menu. Click on the “Internet Options”. In the Internet Options window click on the Advanced tab, then click the Reset button. The IE will show the “Reset Internet Explorer settings” window. Select the “Delete personal settings” check box, then click on “Reset” button. You will now need to restart your personal computer for the changes to take effect.

Remove Search.searchfw.com with MalwareBytes Anti-malware.

Remove Search.searchfw.com hijacker infection manually is difficult and often infection is not completely removed. Therefore, we recommend you to use the MalwareBytes Anti-malware Free that are completely clean your system. Moreover, the free software will help you to remove adware and toolbars that your PC may be infected too.

Download MalwareBytes Anti-malware (MBAM) from the link below.

Once downloaded, close all programs and windows on your PC system. Open a directory in which you saved it. Double-click on the icon that named mbam-setup like below.

When the installation begins, you will see the “Setup wizard” that will help you install MalwareBytes Anti-malware on your PC.

Once installation is complete, you will see window similar to the one below.

Now click on the “Scan Now” button to start scanning your PC system for the hijacker that cause a redirect to Search.searchfw.com. This procedure can take some time, so please be patient.

When the scan is finished, make sure all entries have “checkmark” and click “Remove Selected” button. The MalwareBytes Anti-malware will start to remove Search.searchfw.com browser hijacker infection related files, folders, registry keys. Once disinfection is completed, you may be prompted to Restart.

Block Search.searchfw.com and other similar malicious sites

To increase your security and protect your PC against new unwanted advertising links and malicious web-pages, you need to use an application that blocks access to dangerous advertising banners and web pages. Moreover, the software can block the show of intrusive advertising, which also leads to faster loading of pages and reduce the consumption of web traffic.

Download AdGuard program using the following link.

After the download is complete, run the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” screen as shown below.

Follow the prompts. After installation is complete, you will see a window as shown in the figure below.

You can click “Skip” to close the installation program and use the default settings, or press “Get Started” button to see an quick tutorial that will help you get to know AdGuard better.
In most cases, the default settings are enough and you do not need to change anything. Each time, when you start your PC, AdGuard will run automatically and block pop-up ads, web sites such Search.searchfw.com, as well as other malicious or misleading web-pages. For an overview of all the features of the program, or to change its settings you can simply double-click on the icon AdGuard, which is located on your desktop.

Remove Search.searchfw.com hijacker and malicious extensions with AdwCleaner.

If MalwareBytes Anti-malware cannot remove this hijacker, then we suggests to use the AdwCleaner. AdwCleaner is a free removal tool for browser hijackers, adware, PUPs, toolbars. Also you can ask for help our Myantispyware team below.

Download AdwCleaner from the link below.

Once finished, open a directory in which you saved it. You will see a icon like below.

Double click the AdwCleaner desktop icon. Once this tool is started, you will see a screen like below.

Press “Start” button to perform a system scan for Search.searchfw.com adware and malicious extensions. Once AdwCleaner has finished, it will open a scan report as shown below.

Review the report and then click “Cleaning” button. It will display a prompt.

Click “OK”. When the cleaning process is finished, AdwCleaner may ask you to reboot your PC system.

When your computer is started, you will see an AdwCleaner log.

How to ask for help the Myantispyware team

If you are seeking a help for Search.searchfw.com removal then follow these steps.

1. Download HijackThis from the link below and save it to your Desktop.
   

   HijackThis download
   4690 downloads
   Version: 2.0.5
   Author: OpenSource
   Category: Security tools
   Update: November 7, 2015
   
2. Double-click on the HijackThis icon, and click the button labeled “Do a system scan only”.
3. Once the scan is complete, the scan button will read “Save log”, click it. Save this log to your desktop

Create a Myantispyware account here. Once you’ve registered, check your e-mail for a confirmation link, and confirm your account. After that, login.

4. Copy and paste the contents of the HijackThis log into your post. If you are posting for the first time, please start a new thread by using the “New Topic” button in the Spyware Removal forum. When posting your HJT log, try to give us some details about your problems, so we can try to help you more accurately.
5. Wait for one of our trained “Security Team” or Site Administrator to provide you with knowledgeable assistance tailored to your problem with Search.searchfw.com removal.