1stserp.com browser hijacker - How to remove

1stserp.com is a browser virus, that finds its way to the victim‘s computer and installs as a browser add-on feature, which allows it to make changes in settings without any permission, causing the modified homepage, search engine and content the user sees when surfing the net. 1stserp.com virus is most prevalent among Russian speaking users but has been seen infecting systems from all over the world. While 1stserp.com browser hijacker is not the worst malware you can come across, yet it takes some knowledge in order to remove it. You may have even seen other viruses that are very similar, such as Startface.net, Wallpapers.myway.com, Searchmulty.com and etc.

1stserp.com is not a real browsing provider, but rather a tool for hackers to earn revenue by using the victim’s data. If you’ll decide to keep 1stserp.com search engine then you can be sure that you will have to deal with aggressive online advertising, redirects, pop-up scams, installation of programs without your consent and even your personal data breach. This and many other malicious features will result in lots of worse issues if you keep using the 1stserp.com virus infected browser. If you’d like to learn how to uninstall 1stserp.com hijacker and protect your online safety, please keep on reading this article.

What is the 1stserp.com browser hijacker

1stserp.com is a website that you see if you end up with a trouble-causing malware called browser hijacker. The kind of virus like 1stserp.com, will not be visible until it completely settles in user’s computer, therefore you will get a bit surprised to see one day that your Chrome or Mozilla is not the same anymore and there is a strange looking page as your main homepage. Moreover, if you start browsing through 1stserp.com hijacker’s page, you will get instantly redirected to another foreign page called go.mail.ru where everything will be in Russian. But why is that?

1stserp.com browser hijacker is developed by ARTEX MANAGEMENT S.A company, which aims to benefit from online marketing. This includes advertising sponsored items/services, altering search results and putting affiliate products first, redirecting to different sites like go.mail.ru which pay hackers for the increased traffic or stealing non-personal and some personal information about the user and browsing habits and selling it for third parties. While the last part is mostly used to improve targeted advertising (to make victim buy more) and to provide supposedly better search results, you never know where can your personal information like name, credit card data, social security number and others can end up. (More on homepage hijacking)

What is even worse, because of the close relations with third parties 1stserp.com hijacker displays ads directly from these shady companies or basically anyone who pays crooks to do so. This can easily lead to Malvertising and additional virus installations, which will be not so simple to solve. In its EULA, 1stserp.com claims that you agree with everything this program does by continuing to use it, and they have a permission to automatically update the app without your consent or warning, which can also bring other viruses. In there 1stserp.com is also called Smart Start program. As you can see it is only going to harm your PC instead of making browsing easier.

How did you get infected with 1stserp.com virus

The infection could have happened in many ways. The typical invasion of 1stserp.com browser hijacker is either through bundling or infected ads/hyperlinks. Of course, if you do have other malware, like PUPs or adware secretly installed in your PC, they might try escalating the invasion and install 1stserp.com virus into your browser to control it as well. No matter what is the intrusion method 1stserp.com browser hijacker works the same.

You may have recently downloaded a bunch of software from a Program distributing website or ran Fake updates and did not look much into what you are installing and afterwards ended up with the 1stserp.com as your main homepage. 1stserp.com hijacker could have been hiding as a preselected-to-install application in that normal looking SetupWizard. For that, you must always read what you are installing and better go with the Custom installation rather than Express. In order to prevent this from happening to make sure to take a look at the Safe internet browsing skills.

How can you delete 1stserp.com browser hijacker

There are a couple of ways you can remove 1stserp.com virus from your Mozilla or Chrome. One is automatic removal and another one is manual uninstall. Both of them can do the job and get rid of the annoying browser hijacker, yet one is faster and easier, and another one requires more computer knowledge and proper guidance. It is up to you which technique you will end up using, but we suggest automatic malware removal tools, because using them cause fewer complications and frustration when handling 1stserp.com browser hijacker.

SpyHunter/Malwarebytes are anti-spyware programs that can recognize and hunt down malware using many various characteristics like name, working processes, behavior, source and etc, while the simple user usually only depends on virus’ name, which sometimes virtual parasites can change after installation. Furthermore, if 1stserp.com hijacker allowed more silent viruses into your PC, anti-malware security tools will be able to delete them as well.

Automatic Malware removal tools

How to uninstall 1stserp.com hijacker yourself

How to remove Smart Start program using Windows Control Panel

Many hijackers and adware like 1stserp.com browser 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 Smart Start program . You can click on "Name" or "Installed On" to reorder your programs and make 1stserp.com browser 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 Smart Start program from macOS

Delete 1stserp.com browser hijacker from your applications.

1. Open Finder.
2. In the menu bar, click Go.
3. Select Applications from the dropdown.
4. Find the Smart Start program 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 1stserp.com browser 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 1stserp.com browser 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 1stserp.com browser 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 1stserp.com browser 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 Smart Start program, 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 1stserp.com browser 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 1stserp.com browser 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 1stserp.com browser 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 Smart Start program 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 1stserp.com browser 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.

On the other hand, if you have some extra time and feel confident in your technical knowledge or can follow instructions thoroughly, then, please, take a look at our 1stserp.com browser hijacker removal instructions for all kinds of browsers below. Sometimes viruses like 1stserp.com hijacker can change their names after they settle in, therefore you should look for any shady application or extension that was recently installed or updated to find the one that causes 1stserp.com infection.