Remove Thesmartsearch.net

You best-loved homepage in the Google Chrome is suddenly changed a strange website called Thesmartsearch.net? Is it a legit search service provider? Why is the antivirus program unable to delete it? You cannot access some popular web sites, because it takes over the browser completely when you surf the Internet? Obviously, your computer is infected a browser hijacker!

More Details about Thesmartsearch.net:

Thesmartsearch.net seems to be a normal web site when you see it in the browser at first blush. However, it is actually a browser hijacker that you should not look down upon. Generally speaking, a browser hijacker normally pretends to be a common web page with a ordinary search bar. Because it is similar to some other famous search engines such as Google and MSN, it has deceived many computer users triumphantly. It is absolutely no fun to keep this browser hijacker on your computer. Hence, getting rid of it as soon as possible,should be the most urgent thing that you need to do.

Do you know what Thesmartsearch.net can do to your computer? How is it able to get into the computer while you know nothing? Firstly, if your computer is infected with it, you may have used the computer to access a hacker web site, viewed porn things, downloaded an unsafe “free” program or opened a junk email attachments. Once it completes the installation in your computer, you can immediately see it showing up as the default homepage when you open the browser. And your default search engine is also modified without asking for your permission. Whenever you want to surf the Internet, you are always redirected to some unwanted websites and have to receive a large number of pop-up ad windows. You should be careful! Some of the websites and pop-up windows may contain vicious viruses including malware, Trojans and ransomware. They have the ability to help cyber criminals connect to the fragile computer system secretly! Your important documents and valuable data may also be collected.

Primary Symptoms and Potential Risks:

1. Thesmartsearch.net is able to become the startup page of your web browser via modifying browser settings. No matter which browser you are using (Internet Explorer, Safari, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox or Opera), you can see the browser is occupied by it completely.
2. It may also install plug-ins, extensions and toolbars in the browser so as to record your search history as well as cookies.
3. You need to wait for a long time when visiting websites because the browser always gets stuck and is slow in reaction.
4. This annoying redirect may also result in unstable Internet connection and system freezes frequently.
5. You are forced to receive many advertisement windows when the computer is connected to the Internet.

Manual Removal Guide:

What is the most effective method to get rid of the Thesmartsearch.net? Manual removal is regarded as the best method, because most antivirus programs cannot help and you cannot uninstall it in the Control Panel. If you are afraid that you cannot correctly handle the removal process, you should consider backing up all your important data beforehand.

1. Clean Add-ons and Extensions

* Internet Explorer:

(1). Click Tools in the Menu bar and then click Internet Options

(3). Click Programs tab, click Manage add-ons and disable the suspicious add-ons

* Firefox:

(1). Click Tools in the Menu bar and then click Add-ons

(2). Click Extensions, select the related browser add-ons and click Disable

* Google Chrome:

(1). Click Customize and control Google Chrome button → Tools → Extensions

(2). Disable the extensions of Thesmartsearch.net

2. End Relevant Processes

(1). Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc together to pop up Windows Task Manager, click Processes tab

*For Win 8 Users:

Click More details when you see the Task Manager box

And then click Details tab

(2). Find out and end Thesmartsearch.net’s processes

3. Show Hidden Files

(1). Click on Start button and then on Control Panel

(2). Click on Appearance and Personalization

(3). Click on Folder Options

(4). Click on the View tab in the Folder Options window

(5). Choose Show hidden files, folders, and drives under the Hidden files and folders category

(6). Click OK at the bottom of the Folder Options window

*For Win 8 Users:

Press Win+E together to open Computer window, click View and then click Options

Click View tab in the Folder Options window, choose Show hidden files, folders, and drives under the Hidden files and folders category

4. Delete Relevant Registry Entries and Files

(1). Delete the registry entries related to Thesmartsearch.net through Registry Editor

Press Win+R to bring up the Run window, type “regedit” and click “OK”

While the Registry Editor is open, search and delete its registry entries

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\[RANDOM CHARACTERS].exe

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run ‘Random’

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Random

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings “CertificateRevocation” =Random

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\Explorer\run\Random.exe

(2). Find out and remove the associated files

%AllUsersProfile%\random.exe

%AppData%\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Templates\random.exe

%Temp%\random.exe

%AllUsersProfile%\Application Data\random

%AllUsersProfile%\Application Data\~random

%AllUsersProfile%\Application Data\.dll HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Random “.exe”

Video Shows You How to Safely Modify Windows Registry Editor:

Even if the computer has the protection from the antivirus program, Thesmartsearch.net can still enter the computer system and make you suffer from many problems. Why are most antivirus tools unable to handle this hijacker? Are they expired or not so good? In fact, antivirus programs are able to provide basic protection for your computer system, but they are not perfect and flexible. They also need some time to update the virus database so that newly released infections are included. You should consider another way to handle this annoying Thesmartsearch.net browser hijacker.

The above manual removal is quite dangerous and complicated, which needs sufficient professional skills. Therefore, only computer users with rich computer knowledge are recommended to implement the process because any errors including deleting important system files and registry entries will crash your computer system. If you have no idea of how to process the manual removal, please contact experts from YooCare Online Tech Support for further assistance.

Published by & last updated on January 10, 2015 6:08 pm