Cyber security experts have confirmed that the Smartsearch.pw is a browser hijacker. When downloaded and started onto a computer, this hijacker quickly changes the MS Edge, Chrome, Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox internet browser’s settings like search engine by default, newtab and start page to its own site without any permission. For this reason, every time you launch the affected web browser, it being redirected to the Smartsearch.pw web-page. Even though you have removed its address from your web-browser’s settings, after restart your web browser, the unwanted site still appears.
http://smartsearch.pw/
The Smartsearch.pw hijacker infection can also alter the default search provider that will virtually block the possibility of finding information on the Internet. The reason for this is that the Smartsearch.pw search results can show a large number of ads, links to unwanted and ad websites. Only the remaining part is the result of your search request, loaded from the major search providers like Google, Yahoo or Bing.
It is probably that you might be worried with the browser hijacker that cause Smartsearch.pw site to appear. You should not disregard this unwanted software. The browser hijacker might not only modify your homepage or search provider, but redirect your browser to malicious sites. What is more, the browser hijacker infection can analyze your surfing, and gain access to your privacy data and, later, can use it for marketing purposes. Thus, there are more than enough reasons to remove Smartsearch.pw from your internet browser.
Thus, the Smartsearch.pw does not really have beneficial features. So, we suggest you delete Smartsearch.pw from the Edge, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer and Chrome web-browsers as quickly as possible. This will also prevent the browser hijacker infection from tracking your online activities. A full Smartsearch.pw removal can be easily carried out using manual or automatic method listed below.
How to remove Smartsearch.pw
Fortunately, we have an effective method that will help you manually or/and automatically delete Smartsearch.pw from your system and bring your web-browser settings, including search provider by default, newtab and startpage, back to normal. Below you will find a removal guide with all the steps you may need to successfully get rid of this browser hijacker infection and its components. Certain of the steps below will require you to close this website. So, please read the steps carefully, after that bookmark or print it for later reference.
To remove Smartsearch.pw, complete the steps below:
- Remove Smartsearch.pw homepage without any tools
- How to automatically get rid of Smartsearch.pw hijacker infection
- Block Smartsearch.pw redirect and other annoying web sites
- How did you get infected with Smartsearch.pw browser hijacker
- To sum up
Remove Smartsearch.pw homepage without any tools
Steps to remove Smartsearch.pw browser hijacker without any applications are presented below. Be sure to carry out the step-by-step guide completely to fully delete unwanted Smartsearch.pw.
Delete Smartsearch.pw related apps through the Control Panel of your computer
Check out the MS Windows Control Panel (Programs and Features section) to see all installed software. We suggest to click on the “Date Installed” in order to sort the list of apps by the date you installed them. If you see any unknown and suspicious programs, they are the ones you need to remove.
Make sure you have closed all browsers and other applications. Press CTRL, ALT, DEL keys together to open the MS Windows Task Manager.
Click on the “Processes” tab, look for something questionable that is the hijacker that cause Smartsearch.pw website to appear then right-click it and select “End Task” or “End Process” option. In most cases, malware masks itself to avoid detection by imitating legitimate MS Windows processes. A process is particularly suspicious: it is taking up a lot of memory (despite the fact that you closed all of your programs), its name is not familiar to you (if you’re in doubt, you can always check the program by doing a search for its name in Google, Yahoo or Bing).
Next, uninstall any unrequested and suspicious applications from your Control panel.
Windows 10, 8.1, 8
Now, click the Windows button, type “Control panel” in search and press Enter. Choose “Programs and Features”, then “Uninstall a program”.
Look around the entire list of programs installed on your personal computer. Most likely, one of them is the browser hijacker infection which cause Smartsearch.pw site to appear. Select the suspicious application or the program that name is not familiar to you and remove it.
Windows Vista, 7
From the “Start” menu in Windows, choose “Control Panel”. Under the “Programs” icon, select “Uninstall a program”.
Select the suspicious or any unknown apps, then click “Uninstall/Change” button to uninstall this unwanted application from your computer.
Windows XP
Click the “Start” button, select “Control Panel” option. Click on “Add/Remove Programs”.
Choose an undesired program, then press “Change/Remove” button. Follow the prompts.
Remove Smartsearch.pw from Firefox by resetting web browser settings
If the Firefox settings like new tab, homepage and search engine have been modified by the hijacker, then resetting it to the default state can help. It will keep your personal information like browsing history, bookmarks, passwords and web form auto-fill data.
Press the Menu button (looks like three horizontal lines), and click the blue Help icon located at the bottom of the drop down menu as shown in the following example.
A small menu will appear, click the “Troubleshooting Information”. On this page, press “Refresh Firefox” button as displayed in the figure below.
Follow the onscreen procedure to restore your Mozilla Firefox browser settings to their original state.
Remove Smartsearch.pw from IE
In order to restore all web-browser default search engine, home page and newtab you need to reset the Microsoft Internet Explorer to the state, that was when the Microsoft Windows was installed on your computer.
First, run the Microsoft Internet Explorer. Next, click the button in the form of gear (
). It will display the Tools drop-down menu, press the “Internet Options” as shown on the image below.
In the “Internet Options” window click on the Advanced tab, then press the Reset button. The Internet Explorer will show the “Reset Internet Explorer settings” window as shown in the figure below. Select the “Delete personal settings” check box, then click “Reset” button.
You will now need to reboot your machine for the changes to take effect.
Get rid of Smartsearch.pw from Chrome
If you are getting Smartsearch.pw instead of your homepage or search engine, then you can try to delete it by resetting Google Chrome to its default state. It will also clear cookies, content and site data, temporary and cached data. It will save your personal information such as saved passwords, bookmarks, auto-fill data and open tabs.
Open the Chrome menu by clicking on the button in the form of three horizontal dotes (
). It will show the drop-down menu. Select More Tools, then click Extensions.
Carefully browse through the list of installed addons. If the list has the extension labeled with “Installed by enterprise policy” or “Installed by your administrator”, then complete the following guide: Remove Google Chrome extensions installed by enterprise policy otherwise, just go to the step below.
Open the Google Chrome main menu again, press 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, like below and click the “Reset settings to their original defaults” button.
Confirm your action, click the “Reset” button.
How to automatically get rid of Smartsearch.pw hijacker infection
If your PC is still infected with the Smartsearch.pw browser hijacker, then the best way of detection and removal is to run an anti-malware scan on the PC. Download free malware removal tools below and start a full system scan. It will help you get rid of all components of the hijacker from hardisk and Windows registry.
Use Zemana Free to get rid of Smartsearch.pw
You can download and use the Zemana Free for free. This anti malware tool will scan all the MS Windows registry keys and files in your PC system along with the system settings and internet browser extensions. If it finds any malware, adware or harmful extension that is redirects your web-browser to undesired Smartsearch.pw page then the Zemana Free will remove them from your computer completely.
- Visit the following page to download the latest version of Zemana Anti-Malware for Microsoft Windows. Save it to your Desktop.
Zemana AntiMalware
164032 downloads
Author: Zemana Ltd
Category: Security tools
Update: July 16, 2019
- At the download page, click on the Download button. Your web browser will show the “Save as” prompt. Please save it onto your Windows desktop.
- After the downloading process is done, please close all software and open windows on your PC. Next, launch a file called Zemana.AntiMalware.Setup.
- This will launch the “Setup wizard” of Zemana onto your computer. Follow the prompts and do not make any changes to default settings.
- When the Setup wizard has finished installing, the Zemana AntiMalware will open and display the main window.
- Further, click the “Scan” button to perform a system scan for the browser hijacker responsible for redirecting your internet browser to Smartsearch.pw site. This process can take quite a while, so please be patient. While the Zemana AntiMalware utility is checking, you can see how many objects it has identified as being infected by malware.
- After the scan is finished, Zemana Anti Malware (ZAM) will open you the results.
- You may remove threats (move to Quarantine) by simply press the “Next” button. The utility will start to remove hijacker that causes web browsers to show annoying Smartsearch.pw web page. When disinfection is finished, you may be prompted to reboot the PC.
- Close the Zemana AntiMalware and continue with the next step.
Scan and clean your personal computer of hijacker with Hitman Pro
HitmanPro is a portable utility that detects and uninstalls undesired programs like browser hijackers, adware, toolbars, other web-browser extensions and other malicious software. It scans your machine for browser hijacker which changes web browser settings to replace your newtab page, search provider and startpage with Smartsearch.pw web page and produces a list of items marked for removal. Hitman Pro will only erase those unwanted apps that you wish to be removed.
Download Hitman Pro on your computer from the link below.
Download and use HitmanPro on your computer. Once started, press “Next” button to start scanning your PC system for the browser hijacker responsible for redirections to Smartsearch.pw. A scan can take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the count of files on your PC and the speed of your system. While the utility is scanning, you can see number of objects and files has already scanned..
After Hitman Pro has completed scanning your PC, you can check all threats detected on your system.
Review the report and then press Next button.
It will display a dialog box, click the “Activate free license” button to start the free 30 days trial to get rid of all malware found.
Scan and clean your computer of browser hijacker with Malwarebytes
We advise using the Malwarebytes Free that are completely clean your machine of the browser hijacker infection. The free utility is an advanced malware removal application designed by (c) Malwarebytes lab. This application uses the world’s most popular anti malware technology. It’s able to help you remove hijackers, potentially unwanted software, malicious software, ‘ad supported’ software, toolbars, ransomware and other security threats from your computer for free.
Visit the page linked below to download MalwareBytes Anti Malware (MBAM). Save it on your MS Windows desktop.
326384 downloads
Author: Malwarebytes
Category: Security tools
Update: April 15, 2020
After downloading is finished, close all applications and windows on your PC. Open a directory in which you saved it. Double-click on the icon that’s named mb3-setup as displayed in the figure below.
When the install starts, you’ll see the “Setup wizard” that will help you set up Malwarebytes on your computer.
Once setup is complete, you will see window as shown below.
Now click the “Scan Now” button for scanning your computer for the browser hijacker which alters browser settings to replace your search engine, newtab and startpage with Smartsearch.pw webpage. A scan can take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the number of files on your PC and the speed of your machine. During the scan MalwareBytes Anti Malware will search for threats exist on your computer.
As the scanning ends, MalwareBytes will open a screen which contains a list of malicious software that has been found. Review the scan results and then press “Quarantine Selected” button.
The Malwarebytes will now get rid of browser hijacker responsible for redirects to Smartsearch.pw and move items to the program’s quarantine. When finished, you may be prompted to reboot your machine.
The following video explains steps on how to delete hijacker infection, ad-supported software and other malicious software with MalwareBytes Anti Malware (MBAM).
Block Smartsearch.pw redirect and other annoying web sites
Running an ad blocking application such as AdGuard is an effective way to alleviate the risks. Additionally, ad blocking programs will also protect you from harmful ads and sites, and, of course, stop redirection chain to Smartsearch.pw and similar pages.
Visit the page linked below to download AdGuard. Save it on your Windows desktop or in any other place.
26627 downloads
Version: 6.4
Author: © Adguard
Category: Security tools
Update: November 15, 2018
After downloading it, start the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” screen as shown in the following example.
Follow the prompts. When the installation is complete, you will see a window as displayed in the figure below.
You can click “Skip” to close the installation application and use the default settings, or click “Get Started” button to see an quick tutorial that will assist 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 system, AdGuard will launch automatically and block popup advertisements, Smartsearch.pw redirect, as well as other malicious or misleading websites. 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.
How did you get infected with Smartsearch.pw browser hijacker
The hijacker infection spreads along with many freeware and commercial apps. This PUP can be installed in background without user consent, but usually it’s introduced to a user when a downloaded program are installed. So, read term of use and user agreement very carefully before installing any software or otherwise you can end up with another hijacker on your computer, such as this hijacker infection responsible for redirecting user searches to Smartsearch.pw.
To sum up
Now your system should be clean of the browser hijacker related to Smartsearch.pw. We suggest that you keep AdGuard (to help you stop unwanted popup ads and undesired malicious web-sites) and Zemana AntiMalware (ZAM) (to periodically scan your computer for new malicious software, hijackers and adware). Make sure that you have all the Critical Updates recommended for Microsoft Windows operating system. Without regular updates you WILL NOT be protected when new browser hijacker infections, malicious apps and ‘ad supported’ software are released.
If you are still having problems while trying to delete Smartsearch.pw from your internet browser, then ask for help here.
