Hi there. My homepage has always been Google but suddenly it has changed to Searchengage.com. I just bought this laptop and didn’t install any security software. It is running with Windows 10. My internet browsing has been interrupted quite frequently by numerous types of pop up ads. I tried to change the browser settings and reset my homepage but it didn’t help. The computer is super slow. What should I do? How to stop being redirected to this web page again and again?
Searchengage.com looks like a good and helpful page that provides you search results and helps you get any answers you want, but in fact it is just a low-quality search engine which links to browser hijacker, adware or potentially unwanted program. Developers of this application know perfectly how to impersonate genuine search sites and how to convince people that it’s reliable. They distribute this unwanted program through spam emails or hacked websites and then trick users into downloading it. Technically speaking, browser hijacker is not a virus but it is annoying and aggressive. It can change your home page and default search engine provider, redirect your web browser to suspicious web pages, corrupt the local DNS (or Domain Name System), slow down Internet speed, alter your search results when you perform a web search from Google/Yahoo/Bing search, and even add unwanted toolbars or Favorites to your browser without your approval.
Searchengage.com hijacker is known to take over Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, and Mozilla Firefox browsers. Once it hijacks a system, tremendous ads may pop up your computer screen and your default homepage and search engine are changed immediately. Those ads are in all kinds of forms, such as pop-up, pop-under, in-text, banner or contextual advertisements. And new tab or new window with ads on it can be opened at any time whenever you are online. This application cuts off your access to sites you want to go as well. So we do not recommend you to use such bogus search engine daily. It will not show you any reliable search results. The hijacker is able to collect and track information about your web browsing habits, such as what websites do you visit, what search queries do you type, how long do you stay on certain websites and then send to cyber criminals for illegal use. So you may experience money loss or even identify theft issues. Don’t hesitate to remove Searchengage.com redirect from the PC once upon detection.
Browser hijacker infection like Searchengage.com may enter your system as an add-on for your browser or bundled-up with some free software. Most of time, it can be downloaded from a website you visited, something you clicked on, or a pop-up that you did not request to view. You may not even know when and how you download this browser hijacker which compromises your internet security until you find your computer is fully messed up. A hijack virus is a type of computer virus known for its ability to disrupt your Internet browsing. It can redirect your Internet searches to random sites, disallow you from visiting certain Web sites, and change your Internet home page. In addition, it is able to slow your computer, decrease your available memory, and flood your computer with popup advertisements. When you detect the presence of such malicious hijacker, a complete removal is needed without any hesitation.
Searchengage.com hijacks your browser to redirect your web search results and changes the homepage and browser settings. To completely uninstall it from an infected system, manual removal is the first choice because sometimes antivirus software cannot pick up the exact computer threat timely or remove it permanently. Now most browser hijackers are quite similar to spyware and adware threats and therefore cannot be removed with the help of popular antivirus products. Users can follow the manual guide here to get rid of this browser hijacker completely.
1. Clear all the cookies of your affected browsers.
Since this tricky hijacker virus has the ability to use cookies for tracing and tracking the internet activity of users, it is suggested users delete all the cookies before a complete removal.
Google Chrome:
Click on the “Tools” menu and click the “Clear browsing data” button.
Select “Delete cookies and other site data” to delete all cookies from the list.
Internet Explorer:
Open Internet explorer window
Click the “Tools” button
Point to “safety” and then click “delete browsing history”
Tick the “cookies” box, then click “delete”
Mozilla Firefox:
Click on Tools, then Options, select Privacy
Click “Remove individual cookies”
In the Cookies panel, click on “Show Cookies”
To remove a single cookie click on the entry in the list and click on the “Remove Cookie”
To remove all cookies click on the “Remove All Cookies” button
2. End the malicious process from Task Manager.
Once Searchengage.com hijacker is installed, computer user may notice that CPU usage randomly jumps to 100 percent. At any time Windows always has many running processes. A process is an individual task that the computer runs. In general, the more processes, the more work the computer has to do and the slower it will run. If your system’s CPU spike is constant and remain at a constant 90-95%, users should check from Task Manager and see if there is a suspicious process occupying the system resources and then end it immediately.
(The name of the virus process can be random.)
Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to quickly bring up Task Manager Window：
3. Show hidden files and folders.
Open Folder Options by clicking the Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking Appearance and Personalization, and then clicking Folder Options.
Click the View tab.
Under Advanced settings, click Show hidden files and folders, uncheck Hide protected operating system files (Recommended) and then click OK.
4. Remove all the malicious files related to Searchengage.com hijacker manually.
%AppData%Local[random].exe
C:\Documents and Settings\LocalService\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\*.exe
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main StartPage
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
Searchengage.com is a fraudulent website that usually appears itself on the most popular web browsers like IE, Firefox and Chrome without any knowledge. It alters your default homepage, new tab and other settings in order to hijack your web browser and redirect you to predetermined third-party sites, selling you unwanted programs or services. Once your browser is hijacked, you will not be able to see your default homepage anymore because it keeps redirecting you to Searchengage.com. Also it displays constant pop-up ads on your browser that cover your screen and prevent you from doing anything. Sometimes those ads are in such large amounts and not able to close. They are annoying and cause you much more problems on your PC. So we recommend you to take all the necessary measures and remove Searchengage.com hijacker immediately. Also Windows users should pay close attention to all downloads. Do not skip any steps (don’t just click “next” and “agree” buttons all the time without reading the whole information first) and opt out for a custom or advanced install mode in order to avoid any kind of hijacker threat.
Note: If you are not a computer expert and have no idea how to perform the removal, please contact experts from YooCare Online Tech Support for further help.
Published by on April 6, 2016 4:38 am, last updated on April 6, 2016 4:38 am
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