How to remove Splintersearch.com [Chrome, Firefox, IE, Edge]

If you keep receiving the Splintersearch.com when you start the internet browser, it could mean your personal computer is infected by browser hijacker. Once installed, it’ll make a changes to the Google Chrome, IE, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge’s settings. So, every time, when you will open the web-browser, it will start to open Splintersearch.com unwanted startpage instead of your home page. Moreover, this malware may block an option to restore your start page.

Most often, the Splintersearch.com hijacker infection affects most common browsers such as Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firefox and MS Edge. But such hijackers as well may infect another browsers by changing its shortcuts (adding ‘http://site.address’ into Target field of internet browser’s shortcut). So every time you launch the web browser, it will show Splintersearch.com page. Even if you setup your home page again, it’s still the first thing you see when you open the web-browser will be the unwanted Splintersearch.com web page.

In addition, the Splintersearch.com browser hijacker infection can also modify the search engine selected in the internet browser. When you try to search on the infected web browser, you will be presented with a search results, consisting of advertisements and Google (or Yahoo, or Bing) search results for your query. Among these search results can occur links that lead to unwanted and misleading web pages.

The Splintersearch.com infection is not a virus, but the virus behaves similarly. As a rootkit hides in the system, modifies browser settings, and blocks them from changing. Also this hijacker infection can install additional web-browser addons, extensions and modules that will open advertisements and popups. And finally, the Splintersearch.com hijacker can collect a wide variety of personal information such as what web-pages you are opening, what you are looking for the Internet and so on. This information, in the future, may be transferred to third parties.

We recommend you to clean your machine as soon as possible. Use the step-by-step guide below that will allow to get rid of Splintersearch.com startpage and adware, that can be installed onto your computer along with it.

How can you protect your machine from Splintersearch.com hijacker infection

The Splintersearch.com infection usually spreads bundled with various free software. Most commonly, it may be bundled within the installation packages from Softonic, Cnet, Soft32, Brothersoft or other similar web-sites. So, you should run any files downloaded from the Internet with great caution, read the User agreement, Software license and Terms of use. In the process of installing a new program, you should choose a Manual, Advanced or Custom setup mode to control what components and additional applications to be installed, otherwise you run the risk of infecting your PC system with an browser hijacker like Splintersearch.com.

How to manually remove Splintersearch.com

The simple answer is right here on this page. We have put together simplicity and efficiency. It will allow you easily to clean your personal computer of browser hijacker. Moreover, you can choose manual or automatic removal method. If you are familiar with the computer then use manual removal, otherwise use the free anti-malware tool designed specifically to remove infection such as Splintersearch.com. Of course, you can combine both methods. Read this manual carefully, bookmark or print it, because you may need to close your web browser or reboot your personal computer.

1. Uninstall Splintersearch.com associated software by using Windows Control Panel
2. Get rid of Splintersearch.com redirect from Mozilla Firefox
3. Remove Splintersearch.com from Chrome
4. Get rid of Splintersearch.com from IE
5. Disinfect the browser’s shortcuts to remove Splintersearch.com

Uninstall Splintersearch.com associated software by using Windows Control Panel

Press Windows button , then click Search . Type “Control panel”and press Enter. If you using Windows XP or Windows 7, then click “Start” and select “Control Panel”. It will display the Windows Control Panel like below.

Further, click “Uninstall a program” It will open a list of all applications installed on your personal computer. Scroll through the all list, and uninstall any suspicious and unknown programs.

Get rid of Splintersearch.com redirect from Mozilla Firefox

First, start the Mozilla Firefox. Next, click the button in the form of three horizontal stripes (). It will open the drop-down menu. Next, press the Help button ().

In the Help menu click the “Troubleshooting Information”. In the upper-right corner of the “Troubleshooting Information” page click on “Refresh Firefox” button like below.

Confirm your action, press the “Refresh Firefox”.

Remove Splintersearch.com from Chrome

Like other modern web browsers, the Chrome has the ability to reset the settings to their default values and thereby restore the homepage and search engine by default that have been modified by the Splintersearch.com hijacker infection.

First open the Chrome. Next, click the button in the form of three horizontal stripes (). It will display the main menu. Further, click the option named “Settings”. Another way to open the Chrome’s settings – type chrome://settings in the web-browser adress bar and press Enter.

The internet browser will open the settings screen. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the “Show advanced settings” link. Now scroll down until the “Reset settings” section is visible, as shown on the screen below and press the “Reset settings” button.

The Chrome will open the confirmation dialog box. You need to confirm your action, click the “Reset” button. The web-browser will start the task of cleaning. When it is done, the browser’s settings including homepage and search engine by default back to the values that have been when the Google Chrome was first installed on your computer.

Get rid of Splintersearch.com from IE

First, open the Internet Explorer, press ) button. Next, click “Internet Options” as shown in the figure below.

In the “Internet Options” screen select the Advanced tab. Next, click Reset button. The Internet Explorer will display the Reset Internet Explorer settings dialog box. Select the “Delete personal settings” check box and press Reset button.

You will now need to restart your personal computer for the changes to take effect. It will remove Splintersearch.com hijacker, disable malicious and ad-supported internet browser’s extensions and restore the Microsoft Internet Explorer’s settings like startpage, new tab page and default search engine to default state.

Disinfect the browser’s shortcuts to remove Splintersearch.com

Click the right mouse button to a desktop shortcut that you use to open your web browser. Next, select the “Properties” option. Important: necessary to click on the desktop shortcut for the web browser which is redirected to the Splintersearch.com or other annoying page.

Further, necessary to look at the text which is written in the “Target” field. The hijacker infection can change the contents of this field, which describes the file to be run when you open your web-browser. Depending on the internet browser you are using, there should be:

• Google Chrome: chrome.exe
• Opera: opera.exe
• Firefox: firefox.exe
• Internet Explorer: iexplore.exe

If you are seeing an unknown text similar “http://{URL}” which has been added here, then you should remove it, as shown on the image below.

Next, click the “OK” button to save the changes. Now, when you run the browser from this desktop shortcut, it does not occur automatically redirect on the Splintersearch.com web page or any other annoying web-pages. Once the step is complete, we recommend to go to the next step.

How to get rid of Splintersearch.com with Malwarebytes

Manual removal Splintersearch.com homepage requires some computer skills. Some files and registry entries that created by the infection may be not completely removed. We suggest that use the Malwarebytes Free that are completely clean your PC. Moreover, the free application will help you to get rid of malware, adware (sometimes called ‘ad-supported’ software) and toolbars that your personal computer may be infected too.

1. Please download Malwarebytes to your desktop by clicking on the following link.
   

   Malwarebytes Anti-malware
   326383 downloads
   Author: Malwarebytes
   Category: Security tools
   Update: April 15, 2020
   
2. At the download page, click on the Download button. Your internet browser will show the “Save as” dialog box. Please save it onto your Windows desktop.
3. Once the download process is finished, please close all programs and open windows on your PC system. Double-click on the icon that’s named mb3-setup.
4. This will start the “Setup wizard” of Malwarebytes onto your machine. Follow the prompts and do not make any changes to default settings.
5. When the Setup wizard has finished installing, the Malwarebytes will start and show the main window.
6. Further, click the “Scan Now” button for the browser hijacker removal scan. It will begin checking your PC system for the browser hijacker infection that redirects your web-browser to the Splintersearch.com unwanted web-page. This task can take quite a while, so please be patient.
7. When the Malwarebytes has finished checking, it will open a screen that contains a list of malicious software that has been found.
8. When you are ready, click the “Quarantine Selected” button to begin cleaning your PC system. Once the task is done, you may be prompted to restart the computer.
9. Close the Anti-Malware and continue with the next step.

Video instruction, which reveals in detail the steps above.

Stop Splintersearch.com homepage and other unwanted web-sites

To increase your security and protect your computer against new unwanted advertisements and dangerous pages, you need to use an application that stops access to harmful ads and web pages. Moreover, the program can block the display of intrusive advertising, which also leads to faster loading of web-sites and reduce the consumption of web traffic.

Download AdGuard program by clicking on the following link.

When the download is finished, run the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” screen as shown in the figure below.

Follow the prompts. When the installation is done, you will see a window as shown on the image below.

You can click “Skip” to close the setup program and use the default settings, or click “Get Started” button to see an quick tutorial which will help you get to know AdGuard better.

In most cases, the default settings are enough and you don’t need to change anything. Each time, when you start your system, AdGuard will run automatically and block pop-up ads, web-sites such Splintersearch.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 AdGuard icon, that is located on your desktop.

Scan your machine and remove Splintersearch.com with AdwCleaner.

This removal program is free and easy to use. It can scan and remove browser hijacker such as Splintersearch.com, malware and adware in Chrome, Firefox, MS Edge and Internet Explorer web-browsers and thereby restore back their default settings (home page, newtab page and search provider by default). AdwCleaner is powerful enough to find and get rid of malicious registry entries and files that are hidden on the machine.

Download AdwCleaner tool by clicking on the link below. Save it to your Desktop so that you can access the file easily.

After the download is done, open the directory in which you saved it and double-click the AdwCleaner icon. It will start the AdwCleaner tool and you will see a screen as shown in the figure below. If the User Account Control dialog box will ask you want to show the program, click Yes button to continue.

Next, press “Scan” . This will start scanning the whole system to find out Splintersearch.com infection and other malware and ad supported software.

Once the scanning is complete is finished, it will open a list of all items detected by this tool as shown on the image below.

You need to click “Clean” button. It will show a dialog box. Click “OK” to begin the cleaning procedure. When the clean up is finished, the AdwCleaner may ask you to reboot your computer. After restart, the AdwCleaner will show the log file.

All the above steps are shown in detail in the following video instructions.

Finish words

After completing the instructions above, your machine should be free from browser hijacker, adware and malware. The Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge and Microsoft Internet Explorer will no longer open Splintersearch.com unwanted homepage on startup. Unfortunately, if the few simple steps does not help you, then you have caught a new browser hijacker, and then the best way – ask for help in our Spyware/Malware removal forum.