Search.awesomesearch.online virus - How to remove

Search.awesomesearch.online is another browser hijacker developed by eAnswers. This type of malware targets the victim’s browser instead of the operating system and alters the settings to make itself as the preferred search engine, new tab, and homepage. While this is mostly viewed as the annoying qualities of the Search.awesomesearch.online hijacker, in reality these changes allow developers to do much more malicious things than you can imagine.

Identity theft, privacy breach, stolen credit card information, hacked accounts and much more are the consequences you may be dealing with after continuing using Search.awesomesearch.online as your main search engine. If you do want to protect your private data and avoid all of the above, the only solution is to delete Search.awesomesearch.online virus once and for all and upgrade your computer security to prevent another infection. In this article, 2-viruses.com team will show you the best methods on how to stop the annoying Search.awesomesearch.online browser hijacker from bothering you and why is it important to do so, therefore, please, keep reading.

Is Awesome Search a virus

Search.awesomesearch.online hijacker may not seem like the scariest cyber threat that can infect your computer, and the removal is fairly easy compared to some other malware, yet in the long term it can do a pretty nasty damage not only to your system but your privacy as well. That is why, despite it not demonstrating the typical fearsome features of computer viruses as we are used to, it does have the rogue side which classifies it as a type of malware. Search.awesomesearch.online is also identical to its other variants created by eAnswers company, such as Search.searchtheweb.today, Search.myappzcenter, Search.theappzworld.com, Search.playzonenow.com, which not only operate the same but look like exact copies too.

So what is so malicious about the Search.awesomesearch.online virus? It would be fair to start with the way this browser hijacker is being distributed, which is sneaking into computers without giving a notice or asking a permission from the user by simply hiding in other popular program’s setup wizard. That is the first red flag about the program because it indicates that it does hide something or is not useful at all since it cannot get real voluntary downloads from users and has to spread itself instead. Furthermore, Search.awesomesearch.online infection is not the unique search engine itself, but a redirect to Yahoo Search, which obviously, is done to bring more traffic to the company.

Secondly, another really shady behavior is changing the browsers settings and default preferences to Search.awesomesearch.online without any consent from the user. This is done to fully control the content the victim sees on the internet, to inject excessive ads (as well as generating pop-ups and redirects) into websites to earn revenues from Online marketing, to give full access to third-parties to deliver promotions (Which can contain malware) and to track everything that is put out and entered to the browser by the victim, including search queries, visited websites, location, age, gender, credit card numbers and etc. Once the Search.awesomesearch.online virus takes over your Mozilla or Chrome there is nothing private anymore and you become the target for other viruses because eAnswers do not regulate what third parties post.

However, in order to avoid the lawsuit eAnswers discloses everything it does in Search.awesomesearch.online Privacy Policy:

eAnswers.com may automatically receive and record certain non-personally identifiable information on its server logs from your browser, including your IP address, browser type, internet service provider (ISP), cookie information, and the webpage that a user visits. eAnswers.com collects non-personally identifiable information for general purposes, including but not limited to analyzing trends, administering the site, tracking user movements, conducting research, and providing anonymous reporting to internal and external clients. eAnswers.com will not link any Personal Information, including e-mail addresses, with aggregate data of its users.

Although eAnswers.com cannot guarantee that Personal Information will not be subject to unauthorized access, eAnswers.com has physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to protect the Personal Information. Personal Information is protected by secured networks and access is limited to a few authorized employees and personnel. However, no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure, however.

The Site may contain links to third parties’ websites. The links are included for users/members convenience only. The site does not monitor such websites and/or assumes no liability whatsoever for the content or opinions expressed on those websites. Users/members access and use any linked website at their own risk.

As you can see the company itself claims that there is not full security using their product and that they do collaborate with third parties and track information about users, which agree to these terms automatically if they continue using the product. For more insight about the Eula, take a look at this article on What to look for when reading terms and conditions.

How does Search.awesomesearch.online virus infect computers

As it was mentioned previously, the Search.awesomesearch.online browser hijacker spreads with the help of other programs and their installation assistants, by bundling. This is the commonly used technique of freeware websites to earn more money from the developers by compiling ‘bloatware’ and ‘malware’ with legitimate software so that the page could keep offering free programs. Unfortunately, this gives a bad name not only to the distributor but makes negative associations the main program containing viruses, which is not true.

This can be avoided by downloading software from official websites instead of third parties and keeping an eye during the setup of any new program. Usually viruses like Search.awesomesearch.online hide in the Custom installation or Additional Programs section, which we tend to skip and go with the Recommended/Express Install. You simply have to uncheck boxes for any extra programs that are marked by the default to be installed together with the main software. And ultimately you can learn more about Safe internet browsing skills.

How to get rid of Search.awesomesearch.online virus

The removal of Search.awesomesearch.online virus should be fairly simple, especially with our precise instructions below. However, you can come across some issues if the virus became more persistent because you kept it for a longer period of time on your computer, and the manual removal will not work for you. In that case, we suggest getting real anti-malware tools like Spyhunter/Malwarebytes which will fix the issue instantly. These anti-spyware programs are helpful with all kinds of threats, so if you suspect that you have more than Search.awesomesearch.online virus in your computer then they will definitely be able to hunt all malware that sneaked into as well. (See the tips on How to know if your computer is infected).

Automatic Malware removal tools

How to delete Search.awesomesearch.online hijacker manually

How to remove Awesome Search using Windows Control Panel

Many hijackers and adware like Search.awesomesearch.online virus 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 Awesome Search . You can click on "Name" or "Installed On" to reorder your programs and make Search.awesomesearch.online virus 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 Awesome Search from macOS

Delete Search.awesomesearch.online virus from your applications.

1. Open Finder.
2. In the menu bar, click Go.
3. Select Applications from the dropdown.
4. Find the Awesome Search 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 Search.awesomesearch.online virus 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 Search.awesomesearch.online virus, 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 Search.awesomesearch.online virus 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 Search.awesomesearch.online virus 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 Awesome Search, 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 Search.awesomesearch.online virus 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 Search.awesomesearch.online virus, 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 Search.awesomesearch.online virus from Safari:Top

Remove malicious extensions

• Click on Safari menu on the top left corner of the screen. Select Preferences.
  
• Select Extensions and uninstall Awesome Search 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 Search.awesomesearch.online virus, 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.