Searchqu is browser hijacker that soon will make you regret for letting it inside your computer. You can get it by one of the simplest ways – together with freeware or shareware applications. It is designed to start doing what it wants immediately after successful installation, so if you have Searchqu on your computer, you should have noticed its toolbar installed without any yours permission. In addition, user is surprised by the new search engine which is called Web Search and homepage searchqu.com which is set instead of usual homepage. According to some of its victims, Searchqu may also initiate continuous redirections to the same searchqu.com. If you have been suffering from redirections, read this guide: How to fix Google Redirect Virus (browser hijacker) problem.
About SearchQu
As of now (2014), SearchQu toolbar installs one of several search engines to display results. This depends on how much search engines pay for bringing new users and how aggressive marketers are accepted. This search engine is not giving up for a surprising amount of time and, first detected in 2011, remains to be a quite successfully distributed browser hijacker in 2016. We are basing this statement on the fact that our article was read by a lot of people which were probably going on a quest to find a proper solution to this issue. If your device somehow started to act odd and function quite slowly, then it is possible that it has been hijacked.
As you can see, Searchqu becomes especially aggressive software when in manages to convince you that you need to install it on your PC. However, you shouldn’t be scared that it will install additional malware – according to our experts it is not related to it. However, users find difficulties when they try to uninstall it because it can’t be seen on the programs’ list. If you also can’t restore web browser’s default settings, like search engine and home page, and you are not able to remove Searchqu from your PC, try following the steps found below.
Koyote-Lab Inc. are the founders of SearchQu. The page itself looks normal, following the basic rules for a searching facility. It naturally has a search box which delivers results from Search.ask.com. However, we clearly noticed that the delivered results are sponsored and not safe. For instance, we spotted Alibaba.com once again being displayed as the top choice for shopping.
Distribution Methods of SearchQu
SearchQu might have been one of the programs that were offered to be installed as “optional software” during installation process of another program. People can outwit the crooks by selecting advanced/custom modes for installers and refusing all of the prepositions for additional software. This one of the easiest methods to distribute software of low-quality that should not actually be put to usage. Various system optimizers that are completely no-good and simply take up space, PDF convertors that act as ad-based applications or browser hijackers that alter browsers’ settings without receiving an appropriate validation. Odd online advertising is found guilty of often being malware-laden. If you have happen to come into contact with doubtfully looking promotional content, please be cautious and do not respond to its probably alluring message.
How to remove Searchqu from Internet Explorer (older versions):
- Click on the arrow on the right of the search box;
- Do the following: on IE8-9 choose Manage Search providers, on IE7 click on Change search defaults;
- Remove Searchqu toolbar, UrlHelper Class, and related from the list.
How to remove Searchqu from IE 11:
- Click on the Settings icon (top right)->Manage Addons;
- Select Search Providers;
- Change the default search engine to Bing or Google;
- If any of these search providers is not available, follow “Find more search providers” in the bottom of the screen and install Google.
How to remove Searchqu from Firefox:
- Enter “about:config” in url bar. This will open settings page;
- Type “Keyword.url” in the search box. Right click and reset it;
- Type “browser.search.defaultengine” in the search box. Right click it and reset it;
- Type “browser.search.selectedengine” in the search box. Right click it and reset it;
- Type “browser.startup.homepage” in the search box. Right click it and reset;
- Search for “browser.newtab.url”. Right-click and reset. This will make sure that the search page won’t launch on every new tab;
- If the settings revert and scan with anti-malware programs are clean: close Firefox, open file explorer and enter %AppData% in the address bar. Enter user.js in the search box. If this file exists, rename it and start Firefox again. You will have to repeat the steps above.
How to remove Searchqu from Google Chrome:
- Click on the 3 horizontal lines icon on the browser toolbar;
- Select Settings;
- Select Basics ->Manage Search engines;
- Remove unnecessary search engines from the list;
- Go back to Settings. On Startup choose ‘Open blank page’ (you can remove undesired pages from the set pages link too);
- If your New Tab page is hijacked, you will have to scan with anti-malware program or use New Tab Redirect extension from Chrome Store.
Automatic Malware removal tools
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(Mac)
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Uninstall everything from Bandoo under Windows control pannel-Programs-uninstall a program. Any addon from Bandoo will have the virus.
Just removed this sneaky little rootkit from my friends laptop. In her case, it was located in “C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Savevid Toolbar” folder. There was a little .exe file that ran all the time (started every time she booted into Windows and would run in the background while she was completely unaware) and would reset her homepage on Firefox to searchqu everytime she or I tried to change it. I wish I remebered the name of the .exe; I’d love to post what it is but I forgot so I can’t. My guess is she skipped through the install of the toolbar and didn’t read the part about the Searchqu thing and ended up installing it without knowing. Anyway, I uninstalled the toolbar however, that still didn’t cut it. The “Windows Savevid Toolbar” folder still remained, along with some untouched-by-the-uninstallation files, which undoubtedly belonged to the evil searchqu. I then proceeded to manually delete the folder but was stopped in my tracks by a message saying the file was in use. I then proceeded to look at the names of the .exes in there and found one that stood out, so I opened the task manager and sure enough, I found it running. I promptly ended it and was successful in deleting the folder. I then opened Firefox and set her homepage to Google and it worked! π
The lesson here: DON’T install toolbars and read through the installation of whatever you are installing. You don’t have to read the entire EULA, but you should be aware of what you are clicking “next” or “yes” to.
Hello, I appreciated all the hints for removal of searchqu from the various search engines, iexplorer, firefox, google chrome. For all except Firefox, they were successful. For Firefox I tried uninstalling searchqu through Control Panel/Uninstall, physically removing it from the Mozilla/Firefox/searchplugin folder, removing extensions for Ilivid, searchqu from the Firefox red drop down menu, adjusting the about:config file for Keyword.URL and Browser.Startup.Homepage. This was successful in removing it from the Mozilla Firefox homepage, but not from adding a new link at the top. Each time I clicked on the ‘+’ button, I was taken to ‘searchqu’. Finally I had to backup my bookmarks, uninstall Firefox, Download it, then restore my bookmarks. Now it is back working as before.
For anyone still having trouble getting rid of Searchqu from Firefox you may need to perform an additional step. After following the advice above I still got taken to the Searchqu search page whenever I opened a new tab. Here’s what to do:
Navigate the Firefox menus to Extensions. Look for DataMngr 1.0 which carries the innocuous subtext Data manager for Firefox. Select this extension and to confirm the culprit, click the ‘more’ link. This will reveal that DataMngr 1.0 has a home page of [linkremoved]
Click the disable button or the remove button if you have one.
Close and restart Firefox.
On my system the darn thing sits there Disabled waiting to be re-enabled. If I find out how to expunge it entirely I’ll get back to you. Or if you find out, I’d be glad to hear from you.
Al
OK – I also got the darn thing out of my Extensions list. The clue was on the Mozillazine website at http://kb.mozillazine.org/Uninstalling_extensions
I went to Windows control panel and selected uninstall software. This builds a list of software for you to choose from. I clicked the ‘Installed on’ header to sort the programs into installation date order, then looked for anything that was installed on the same date as Searchqu arrived. In my case the culprit was a thing called iLivid but in your case it may be something else. I uninstalled iLivid and bingo the Searchqu DataMngr 1.0 add in was gone from my list of extensions in Firefox.
Hope all the above helps if you got snared with this stuff.
Al
By the way BillyBob – good advice about not installing toolbars. But in my case I didn’t – it just quietly installed itself along with something else which in turn came with something else again – a (very poor) windows implementation of Frozen Bubble.
And you need to be very vigilant with other apparently innocuous objects such as installation of Sun Java updates which (until recently anyway) were very keen to install the equally unwelcome Yahoo toolbar.
No wonder so many punters get fed up with their computers when they become a warzone of competing applications, search engines, and anything else someone can install in their pursuit of personal riches.
I got my copy of SearchQU from installing a copy of jZIP. I usually pay close attention to the install, and I didn’t notice anything unusual when this installed. I have spent the last hour removing registry entries and files for both SearchQU and DataMngr. What a pain!
I got rid of this by uninstalling Windows ilivid which I inadvertantly downloaded while trying to download another application. Searchqu is a particularly annoying and insidious creep!
@Alastair Ross
Anoother option after you have disabled or deleted searchqu. com from add ons manager is to go to C:/Program files/Windows Searchqu Toolbar.If you right click on the last entry and try to delete it, you’ll be unsuccessful. Rather click it open. there, you will the Uninstall icon which will allow you to uninstall searchqu. com and other files associated with it. Good luck.
Thank you sooooo much – this nuisance is finally removed!!!!!
@Allistar Ross – Good point about Java and the evil Yahoo!. I also find it annoying that when I install Java, Adobe Flash Player or even certain reputable programs, you have to uncheck the autochecked-during-the-installation “Install the Yahoo (or Google or similar) Toolbar”. It’s so invasive and when I install a program, I just want to install that program, nothing more. If I wanted to install it, I would download. It’s like trying to buy a computer at Best Buy… you buy the computer and if you’re not tight lipped and careful, you’ll end up wasting your money on extended warranties and “setups”!
use “Revo” to uninstall the hell things. it’s really smart
I spent hours, and tried absolutely EVERYTHING to remove this thing. Finally, success.
It took over both IE and Firefox. For IE, it was easy to remove – just removed the add-on. For Firefox, it was a battle.
– It wasn’t under my firefox add-ons or extensions. – no success
– I uninstalled the Bandoo program using Windows. – no success
– I downloaded Revo and it didn’t see the program. – no success
– I followed the about:config & keyword.url instructions – no success
– I followed a couple of registry edit instructions sets – still, no success.
So I searched the registry, for anything named “datamngr”, completely deleted the first folder that it found containing it (a random set of numbers seemingly). – no success
I searched AGAIN – and found it sitting in a SearchCore folder. I deleted the entire SearchCore folder, reset firefox homepage, closed, opened, and finally…SUCCESS. Now I can get on with my life.
Thanks for all the help everyone.
I forgot to mention – in the middle of that process I uninstalled and re-installed Firefox which also led to, you guessed it – no success.
When I restarted – the problem was back again. I continued to find another couple of datamngr files using regedit search and deleting them. But the key was deleting “Search Core for Browsers”, sitting in Program Files. It has a file that is running, preventing you from uninstalling or deleting it. Start up in Safe Mode (F8 during startup) to be able to delete it. Opened Firefox again and no Searchqu! Let’s hope this is final…
Thank you for the clear instructions on how to remove searchqu – what an annoying piece of software. Your help is much appreciated.
We found it was best to reboot to safe mode in order to effectively remove all files. Otherwise, it would say I didn’t have permission to access them.
Got mine thru iLivid. Tried all the fixes suggested but after uninstalling and deleting everything related to iLivid and searchqu eventually had to uninstall and reinstall Firefox wnich did the trick for me…
Thankyouu soo much for the advice and especially everyone who’s added extra tips in their comments. @Alastair Ross, I used your advice about uninstalling everything that was added on that date and finally managed to get rid of this from my mum’s laptop – I had already disabled all of the searchqu add-ons etc but like others have mentioned, the culprit was something called iLivid. Once I uninstalled this, I went back to Internet Explorer and the searchqu toolbar was still there so I thought it hadn’t worked but I closed Internet Explorer and opened it up again and the toolbar and any trace of it had vanished – finally!!
I’m by no means a computer expert so the advice on this website really helped, thank you everyone!
Thanks for the advice just saved me a whole lot of trouble
i cant remove searchqu from my firefox. i change about:config , removed from my add-ons but still i didnt stop searchqu. Pls advise
Thanks for great article and comments. I too got the searchqu virus from iLivid after trying to download a theme for YouTube. One question still left… I’ve uninstalled searchqu from control panel but still have it in my program files. When I go to delete from there it says I need permission to do so. Who’s permission? I’m using a personal laptop.
Thanks for the instructions and the comment, it helped me alot. I didn’t know Searchqu was a hijaker. I thought it was a browser that needed more people to use. XD
Hello i am twinky I had this problem and I think i got rid of it I searched SEARCHQU in my computer and found it (no caps tho) then open the windows searchqu toolbar file and ctrl-alt-delete then in procceces find anything related to your searchqu there was also a proccses i ended that was bad idea or something mean like that π next go to the searchqu file again delete datamnger and it should workthen just uninstall hope i helped……. p.s. IM ONLY 12
I got rid of it by following all the steps as mentioned. Pain, I got it by downloading a free winzip alternative called jZip by Bandoo Media Inc. It came with complimentary smiley app (deleted) and searchqu (deleted and uninstalled).
Got rid of the pesky thing within five minutes using two wonderful, free and nerve saving programs I’ve used for years.
1. Revo Uninstaller
2. WinPatrol
(Then pay a modest fee to upgrade to WinPatrol PLUS and join the good guys who make WinPatrol possible.)
With “Scotty on patrol” (don’t worry – you’ll understand when you start off!) run Revo and select the Searchqu icon to uninstall.
Every so often “Scotty” will woof and warn about a start up program – just say no to all the queries and this will stop the program re-loading next boot. Follow the full deep registry clean to get rid of the vast amount of crud left behind and good bye to scumware!
Hope this helps. It’s well worth installing both programs anyway ………..
@Alastair Ross Exactly how it got into my machine – via Java
I got it from JZip too. Damn them. And I agree the installation process seemed fine – I never click through and always watch out for drive-by installs.
This is what I did and it worked. Go to your folders via the control panel, and search for a file that says or is similar to or the same as, “Windows Searchqu Toolbar” and expand it. Important part all the folders open and delete them separately, meaning look into the folders right click on the little files and hit delete. Now there will be two or more files that it won’t allow you to delete because it says it is protected, so you want to rename those files ,delete them, right click on the “Windows Searchqu Toolbar” folder, hit uninstall, and finally it should be gone. It may pop up on your toolbar if you have it still as an add on, which you just need to reset your browser to default and delete the add-on. With internet explorer I didn’t have to do that though it was gone first time I checked. Good luck!
tanks
Thank you very much
I’d be crazy from this software
Thank you for great help
All the above did not work when I tried it. However there is actually a much simpler way.If you look below the Search qu search box to the right the word “remove” in barely noticeable script is there. when I activated this and then closed mozilla and re-opened it again. Search qu had disappeared.
someone please help i have this virus on my laptop it wont let me access the internet at all not reALLY GOOD WITH COMPUTERS need help!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This article is brilliant, it really got rid of all traces of the SearchQUtoolbar for me finally. Many of the other articles I’ve read did NOT help at all (like the Microsoft article that says to “go to add/remove programs and uninstall it” (gee, if it were only that simple). Thanks so much for this article.
@SKA
I clicked on “Uninstall”, but it did just didn’t work. The Searchqu Toolbar is still in my Program Files, and if I want to delete it, it says I don’t have permission to do it. Please help me someone
Thanks billy bob, i tried everything, but searchnu still poped up when i click +. Your solution finnaly killed it. I go to c:/program files/savevid bla bla and inside it there was an uninstall file, just run it and voala it removes searchnu and its friends.
I can’t seem to delete this even reading everyone comments π
help?
I also found that I had to remove replace “searchqu” and replace it with another search engine name (e.g. “Google” w/o www. or .com) in “browser.search.defaultenginename”, “browser.search.order1” and “browser.search.selectedEngine”. in order to remove the “searchqu” from the right-hand block adjacent to the location block.
The earlier entry by me applies to Firefox, using the “about:config” command and “keyword.URL” filtering. Sorry.
thank you so much, i had this searchqu since 2 days was confused thought the internet wasnt working but then searched on my other laptop which it was a virus. Well now it is removed thx.
Jdownloader started bundling it. lot of the folders named searchqu are now named Jdownloader!!!
This article and especially the comments have been very, very helpful. I got rid of this junk today in my PC and the speed difference is great. Thank you all.
thankyou so much for that info!!..removing the search results from the control panel (which was key) by clicking uninstall and all the other programs u named and shamed on here…im adding this to favourites!
I have a business ‘The Computer Doctor’ and I have had a rash of Java ‘updates’ this week that use the ‘Auto Install’ to install Searchqu and a few ‘other’ similar programs; this is a BIG No NO; from Java/Oracle; how could you let this happen.
Please use the ‘Manual Install’ as often as you can to prevent this type of unwanted and harmful trojan download. Read and look at what has been check-marked.
SHAME ON YOU: Oracle Technology Network
Terry
Sadly many who offer free software (and sometimes, even free trials) add some sort of toolbars. But sometimes it is the distributing sites that bundle the software.
Thank you. The computer is a wonderful tool, but all of these unwanted toolbars and malwares are destroying a good thing. This morning I could not get to two of my favorite sites because of Searchqu which claims that they don’t exist. I’m trying to purchase a new lens for my camera for my 68th birthday.