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

If you’ve realized that the Search.smartmediatabsearch.com site is set as your homepage or search engine and you can’t remember making those changes, then you need to know that your PC is affected by a PUP (potentially unwanted program) from the browser hijacker family and you should fix it immediately. In this blog post we’ll inform you about the effective ways of removing Search.smartmediatabsearch.com from the IE, MS Edge, Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome for good.

Except that the Search.smartmediatabsearch.com may introduce certain unwanted changes to web browser’s home page and newtab, it also replaces your search engine, which leads to the fact that use of the browser’s search becomes uncomfortable. The reason for this is that the search results will consist of a large number of ads, links to unwanted and ad web-pages and only the remaining part is search results for your query from well-known search providers such as Google or Bing.

The Search.smartmediatabsearch.com hijacker is not a virus, but the virus behaves similarly. As a rootkit hides in the system, can impose changes to settings of installed browsers, and blocks them from changing. Also this hijacker can install additional internet browser extensions and modules that will open ads and pop-ups. And finally, the Search.smartmediatabsearch.com hijacker has the ability to collect lots of user info such as what web pages you’re opening, what you’re looking for the Internet and so on. This information, in the future, can be transferred to third parties.

We recommend you to free your computer of hijacker as quickly as possible. Use the guide below which will help to remove Search.smartmediatabsearch.com search and unwanted software, which can be installed onto your computer along with it.

Remove Search.smartmediatabsearch.com startpage

In the few simple steps below, we’ll try to cover the Mozilla Firefox, MS Edge, Chrome and Microsoft Internet Explorer and provide general help to delete Search.smartmediatabsearch.com . You may find some minor differences in your Windows install. No matter, you should be okay if you follow the steps outlined below: uninstall all suspicious and unknown apps, reset web browsers settings, fix internet browsers shortcuts, run free malware removal tools. Read this manual carefully, bookmark or print it, because you may need to exit your web browser or restart your computer.

To remove Search.smartmediatabsearch.com, use the steps below:

1. How to remove Search.smartmediatabsearch.com without any software
   • Remove potentially unwanted applications through the MS Windows Control Panel
   • Remove Search.smartmediatabsearch.com from Mozilla Firefox by resetting internet browser settings
   • Delete Search.smartmediatabsearch.com search from Chrome
   • Delete Search.smartmediatabsearch.com search from Internet Explorer
2. How to automatically get rid of Search.smartmediatabsearch.com browser hijacker infection
   • How to get rid of Search.smartmediatabsearch.com with Zemana Anti-Malware (ZAM)
   • Scan and clean your system of browser hijacker with Hitman Pro
   • How to get rid of Search.smartmediatabsearch.com with Malwarebytes
3. How to block Search.smartmediatabsearch.com
4. Don’t know how your web-browser has been hijacked by Search.smartmediatabsearch.com browser hijacker infection?
5. Finish words

How to remove Search.smartmediatabsearch.com without any software

To remove Search.smartmediatabsearch.com browser hijacker, ad-supported software and other unwanted applications you can try to do so manually. Unfortunately some of the browser hijackers won’t show up in your program list, but some browser hijackers may. In this case, you may be able to get rid of it via the uninstall function of your Microsoft Windows computer. You can do this by following the steps below.

Remove potentially unwanted applications through the MS Windows Control Panel

The best way to start the personal computer cleanup is to uninstall unknown and dubious software. Using the Windows Control Panel you can do this quickly and easily. This step, in spite of its simplicity, should not be ignored, because the removing of unneeded apps can clean up the Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Internet Explorer and Firefox from pop-up ads hijackers and so on.

It will show the Windows Control Panel as on the image below.

Next, click “Uninstall a program”
It will open a list of all apps installed on your system. Scroll through the all list, and uninstall any suspicious and unknown apps. To quickly find the latest installed programs, we recommend sort apps by date in the Control panel.

Remove Search.smartmediatabsearch.com from Mozilla Firefox by resetting internet browser settings

If the Mozilla Firefox settings such as start page, search engine by default and newtab have been replaced by the browser hijacker infection, then resetting it to the default state can help. It’ll save your personal information such as saved passwords, bookmarks, auto-fill data and open tabs.

First, start the Mozilla Firefox and click button. It will display the drop-down menu on the right-part of the browser. Further, click the Help button () as shown in the following example.

In the Help menu, select the “Troubleshooting Information” option. Another way to open the “Troubleshooting Information” screen – type “about:support” in the browser adress bar and press Enter. It will display the “Troubleshooting Information” page as on the image below. In the upper-right corner of this screen, press the “Refresh Firefox” button.

It will open the confirmation prompt. Further, click the “Refresh Firefox” button. The Firefox will start a process to fix your problems that caused by the browser hijacker which cause a redirect to Search.smartmediatabsearch.com web-page. Once, it’s done, click the “Finish” button.

Delete Search.smartmediatabsearch.com search from Chrome

In order to be sure that there is nothing left behind, we suggest you to reset Google Chrome web-browser. It will return Chrome settings including default search provider, newtab page and start page to defaults.

Open the Chrome menu by clicking on the button in the form of three horizontal dotes (). It will display the drop-down menu. Select More Tools, then click Extensions.

Carefully browse through the list of installed extensions. If the list has the extension labeled with “Installed by enterprise policy” or “Installed by your administrator”, then complete the following guidance: Remove Google Chrome extensions installed by enterprise policy otherwise, just go to the step below.

Open the Google Chrome main menu again, click to “Settings” option.

Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the “Advanced” link. Now scroll down until the Reset settings section is visible, as shown in the figure below and press the “Reset settings to their original defaults” button.

Confirm your action, press the “Reset” button.

Delete Search.smartmediatabsearch.com search from Internet Explorer

In order to restore all internet browser search engine, start page and newtab page you need to reset the Microsoft Internet Explorer to the state, that was when the MS Windows was installed on your PC system.

First, run the Internet Explorer, click ) button. Next, click “Internet Options” as shown on the image below.

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

You will now need to reboot your machine for the changes to take effect. It will delete browser hijacker that alters browser settings to replace your search engine, newtab page and homepage with Search.smartmediatabsearch.com web site, disable malicious and ad-supported web browser’s extensions and restore the Internet Explorer’s settings such as search provider, homepage and newtab to default state.

How to automatically get rid of Search.smartmediatabsearch.com browser hijacker infection

Run malicious software removal utilities to get rid of Search.smartmediatabsearch.com automatically. The free software tools specially designed for browser hijacker, adware and other potentially unwanted applications removal. These tools can get rid of most of hijacker from Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Microsoft Internet Explorer and Edge. Moreover, it may remove all components of Search.smartmediatabsearch.com from Windows registry and system drives.

How to get rid of Search.smartmediatabsearch.com with Zemana Anti-Malware (ZAM)

Zemana highly recommended, because it can look for security threats such ad-supported software and hijackers which most ‘classic’ antivirus software fail to pick up on. Moreover, if you have any Search.smartmediatabsearch.com hijacker infection removal problems which cannot be fixed by this tool automatically, then Zemana Anti-Malware provides 24X7 online assistance from the highly experienced support staff.

Visit the following page to download the latest version of Zemana for Microsoft Windows. Save it on your Microsoft Windows desktop.

Once the download is finished, close all software and windows on your personal computer. Double-click the set up file called Zemana.AntiMalware.Setup. If the “User Account Control” prompt pops up as displayed in the figure below, click the “Yes” button.

It will open the “Setup wizard” which will help you install Zemana AntiMalware (ZAM) on your PC. Follow the prompts and don’t make any changes to default settings.

Once installation is done successfully, Zemana will automatically start and you can see its main screen like below.

Now click the “Scan” button to start scanning your system for the hijacker infection responsible for Search.smartmediatabsearch.com startpage. Depending on your computer, the scan can take anywhere from a few minutes to close to an hour. While the Zemana AntiMalware tool is checking, you can see count of objects it has identified as being affected by malicious software.

When the checking is complete, the results are displayed in the scan report. Review the results once the utility has done the system scan. If you think an entry should not be quarantined, then uncheck it. Otherwise, simply click “Next” button. The Zemana Anti Malware will remove hijacker infection which alters web browser settings to replace your homepage, default search provider and newtab with Search.smartmediatabsearch.com web site and add threats to the Quarantine. After disinfection is complete, you may be prompted to restart the computer.

Scan and clean your system of browser hijacker with Hitman Pro

HitmanPro is a free removal utility which can scan your PC system for a wide range of security threats like ad supported software, malicious software, potentially unwanted apps as well as browser hijacker infection responsible for changing your web browser settings to Search.smartmediatabsearch.com. It will perform a deep scan of your PC system including hard drives and Windows registry. After a malware is found, it will help you to remove all detected threats from your computer with a simple click.

Please go to the link below to download the latest version of Hitman Pro for MS Windows. Save it on your Microsoft Windows desktop.

Download and run Hitman Pro on your system. Once started, press “Next” button . Hitman Pro tool will start scanning the whole computer to find out browser hijacker which cause a redirect to Search.smartmediatabsearch.com web site. A scan may take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the count of files on your computer and the speed of your machine. While the HitmanPro utility is scanning, you can see number of objects it has identified as being infected by malicious software..

After HitmanPro has completed scanning, the results are displayed in the scan report.

Review the scan results and then click Next button.

It will display a prompt, click the “Activate free license” button to start the free 30 days trial to get rid of all malicious software found.

How to get rid of Search.smartmediatabsearch.com with Malwarebytes

Remove Search.smartmediatabsearch.com hijacker manually is difficult and often the browser hijacker is not completely removed. Therefore, we suggest you to use the Malwarebytes Free which are completely clean your system. Moreover, the free program will help you to remove malicious software, potentially unwanted software, toolbars and ‘ad supported’ software that your computer can be infected too.

Please go to the link below to download MalwareBytes Free. Save it on your Desktop.

Once the downloading process is finished, run it and follow the prompts. Once installed, the MalwareBytes Anti-Malware will try to update itself and when this process is finished, click the “Scan Now” button to perform a system scan with this tool for the hijacker that cause Search.smartmediatabsearch.com site to appear. This procedure can take quite a while, so please be patient. While the MalwareBytes Free is scanning, you may see number of objects it has identified either as being malicious software. You may remove threats (move to Quarantine) by simply click “Quarantine Selected” button.

The MalwareBytes Anti-Malware is a free application that you can use to remove all detected folders, files, services, registry entries and so on. To learn more about this malware removal tool, we recommend you to read and follow the steps or the video guide below.

How to block Search.smartmediatabsearch.com

By installing an ad blocker program like AdGuard, you’re able to stop Search.smartmediatabsearch.com, autoplaying video ads and remove a lot of distracting and undesired ads on web-pages.

Installing the AdGuard is simple. First you’ll need to download AdGuard on your MS Windows Desktop by clicking on the link below.

After downloading it, launch the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” screen as shown on the image below.

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

You can press “Skip” to close the setup application and use the default settings, or press “Get Started” button to see an quick tutorial that will allow 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 computer, AdGuard will start automatically and stop popup advertisements, Search.smartmediatabsearch.com redirect, as well as other harmful or misleading web pages. For an overview of all the features of the application, or to change its settings you can simply double-click on the AdGuard icon, which is located on your desktop.

Don’t know how your web-browser has been hijacked by Search.smartmediatabsearch.com browser hijacker infection?

In most cases Search.smartmediatabsearch.com browser hijacker come in the composition, together with various free applications, as a bonus. Therefore it’s very important at the stage of installing applications downloaded from the Net carefully review the Terms of use and the License agreement, as well as to always choose the Advanced, Custom or Manual setup method. In this method, you may turn off all unwanted add-ons, including the Search.smartmediatabsearch.com browser hijacker, which will be installed along with the desired application. Of course, if you uninstall the free programs from your PC system, your favorite web-browser’s settings will not be restored. So, to revert back the Edge, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Microsoft Internet Explorer’s default search provider, newtab page and homepage you need to follow the step-by-step guide above.

Finish words

Now your computer should be clean of the hijacker responsible for redirecting your internet browser to Search.smartmediatabsearch.com web-site. We suggest that you keep AdGuard (to help you stop unwanted popups and annoying harmful sites) and Zemana Free (to periodically scan your PC system for new malware, browser hijackers and adware). Make sure that you have all the Critical Updates recommended for Windows operating system. Without regular updates you WILL NOT be protected when new hijackers, malicious programs and ad-supported software are released.

If you are still having problems while trying to remove Search.smartmediatabsearch.com home page from your web-browser, then ask for help in our Spyware/Malware removal forum.