Searchgoose.com Hijacker - How to remove

Searchgoose.com is a site that redirects internet search to Ask.com and other sites. It has no valuable features, all it does is forward to other iffy sites. It may also log people’s browsing data, which is not good for privacy.

If you notice Searchgoose.com, Search-fine.com, and other unwanted sites appear in your browser, then there might be adware installed on your computer or your browser. It’s recommended to find and remove this adware.

About Searchgoose.com:

Type of threat	Adware, browser hijacker.
How Searchgoose.com spreads	Searchgoose.com takes over web browsers without permission, it may be installed by adware bundles.
How it hijacks browsers	Searchgoose.com replaces the home page or the default search engine in web browsers, it tracks user data and opens other sites.
How to remove Searchgoose.com from your browser	Find and remove unwanted browser add-ons and programs that could be causing your browser to open Searchgoose.com, search for them manually and with antivirus tools (Spyhunter for Windows, Spyhunter for Mac, Combo Cleaner for macOS, etc.), review browser settings for the default search engine.

What is Searchgoose.com?

Searchgoose.com gets installed without the permission of the users

Searchgoose.com is a website that allows searching the internet. It’s not a search engine – it doesn’t display search results on its own. Instead, it forwards to Search-fine.com and to Ask.com, or to other sites.

There’s no benefit to this. From what I can see, Searchgoose.com has no unique features that would make it worth using.

The thing is, people don’t use Searchgoose.com because they want to. This Reddit post and this post on Microsoft community forums show that people who see Searchgoose.com show up on their PCs don’t know what this site is or how it got on their computers.

Searchgoose.com might spread with adware bundlers. These are installers that look like they’re for one program, but that install a few unwanted apps, such as browser hijackers.

You can download bundlers from various freeware download sites. They tend to wrap the programs that they offer in optional offers. These offers are usually agreed to by default. If you want to avoid them, you are required to opt out of each of the offers. Understandably, this often results in unintentional installations of bundled apps.

It interferes with internet search

When Searchgoose.com appears in the browser, it might take over the home page or it might replace the default search engine. You might notice it and other site addresses appear in your browser’s address bar when you try to search the internet.

Why does Searchgoose.com do this? For money.

Whoever is operating this site probably makes money from affiliate links and by driving traffic to certain websites.

In addition, as Searchgoose.com hijacks internet searches, it gets to read people’s search histories. This is very valuable data. It is normally only shared between users and their favorite search engines (such as me and Google.com), but Searchgoose.com gets to tap into it.

Browser extensions and search engines get access to a lot of user data, potentially even personal data. So, using unfamiliar extensions and search sites like Searchgoose.com poses a risk to your privacy. It’s recommended to delete this hijacker.

How to get rid of Searchgoose.com

The Searchgoose.com redirects are most likely caused by a browser add-on.

Check your browser extensions and remove those that look suspicious.

Also, check what programs and apps you installed on your computer at the time that Searchgoose.com showed up. You can rank programs and files by their installation date.

You might find it easier to check for adware by scanning your computer with an antivirus program: Spyhunter for Windows, Spyhunter for Mac, Combo Cleaner for macOS, and others. These programs can catch adware infections that you might overlook.

Antivirus scanners are very helpful in removing malware as well as avoiding infections. But they won’t check your search engine settings – I recommend doing that yourself as described below.

Automatic Malware removal tools

Manual removal instructions

How to remove Searchgoose.com Hijacker using Windows Control Panel

Many hijackers and adware like Searchgoose.com Hijacker install some of their components as regular Windows programs as well as additional software. This part of malware can be uninstalled from the Control Panel. To access it, do the following.

• Start→Control Panel (older Windows) or press Windows Key→Search and enter Control Panel and then press Enter (Windows 8, Windows 10).
• Choose Uninstall Program (if you don't see it, click in the upper right next to "View by" and select Category).
• Go through the list of programs and select entries related to Searchgoose.com Hijacker . You can click on "Name" or "Installed On" to reorder your programs and make Searchgoose.com Hijacker easier to find.
• Click the Uninstall button. If you're asked if you really want to remove the program, click Yes.
• In many cases anti-malware programs are better at detecting related parasites, thus I recommend installing Spyhunter to identify other programs that might be a part of this infection.

How to remove Searchgoose.com Hijacker from macOS

Delete Searchgoose.com Hijacker from your applications.

1. Open Finder.
2. In the menu bar, click Go.
3. Select Applications from the dropdown.
4. Find the Searchgoose.com Hijacker app.
5. Select it and right-click it (or hold the Ctrl and click the left mouse button).
6. In the dropdown, click Move to Bin/Trash. You might be asked to provide your login password.

TopHow To remove Searchgoose.com Hijacker from Google Chrome:

• Click on the 3 horizontal lines icon on a browser toolbar and Select More Tools→Extensions
  
• Select all malicious extensions and delete them.
  
• Click on the 3 horizontal lines icon on a browser toolbar and Select Settings
  
• Select 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 homepage was changed, click on Chrome menu on the top right corner, select Settings. Select Open a specific page or set of pages and click on Set pages.
  
• Delete malicious search websites at a new Startup pages window by clicking “X” next to them.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings

If you are still experiencing any issues related to Searchgoose.com Hijacker, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on a Chrome’s menu button (three horizontal lines) and select Settings.
• Scroll to the end of the page and click on theReset browser settings button.
  
• Click on the Reset button on the confirmation box.
  

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.

How To remove Searchgoose.com Hijacker from Firefox:Top

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Mozilla window and select the “Add-ons” icon (Or press Ctrl+Shift+A on your keyboard).
  
• Go through Extensions and Addons list, remove everything Searchgoose.com Hijacker related and items you do not recognise. If you do not know the extension and it is not made by Mozilla, Google, Microsoft, Oracle or Adobe then you probably do not need it.
  
• If your homepage was changed, click on the Firefox menu in the top right corner, select Options → General. Enter a preferable URL to the homepage field and click Restore to Default.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings If you are still experiencing any issues related to Searchgoose.com Hijacker, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Mozilla Firefox window. Click on the Help button.
  
• ChooseTroubleshooting Information on the Help menu.
  
• Click on theReset Firefox button.
  
• Click on the Reset Firefox button on the confirmation box. Mozilla Firefox will close and change the settings to default.
  

If the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program to identify malicious entries.

How to remove Searchgoose.com Hijacker from Microsoft Edge:Top

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Microsoft Edge window. Select “Extensions”.

• Select all malicious extensions and delete them.

• Click on the three-dot menu on the browser toolbar and Select Settings

• Select Privacy and Services and scroll down. Press on Address bar.

• Choose Manage search engines.

• Remove unnecessary search engines from the list: open the three-dot menu and choose Remove.

• Go back to Settings. Open On start-up.
• Delete malicious search websites at Open specific page or pages by opening the three-dot menu and clicking Delete.

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings If you are still experiencing any issues related to Searchgoose.com Hijacker, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings

• Click on Edge's menu button and select Settings. Click on the Reset Settings button on the left.
• Press the Restore settings to their default values option.

• Click on the Reset button on the confirmation box.

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.

How to remove Searchgoose.com Hijacker from Safari:Top

Remove malicious extensions

• Click on Safari menu on the top left corner of the screen. Select Preferences.
  
• Select Extensions and uninstall Searchgoose.com Hijacker and other suspicious extensions.
  
• If your homepage was changed, click on Safari menu on the top left corner of the screen. Select Preferences and choose General tab. Enter preferable URL to the homepage field.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings(older versions) If you are still experiencing any issues related to Searchgoose.com Hijacker, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on Safari menu on the top left corner of the screen. Select Reset Safari…
  
• Select which options you want to reset (usually all of them come preselected) and click on the Reset button.
  

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.