CapitaSearch Hijacker - How to remove

CapitaSearch is a browser hijacker. It redirects users’ searches to whatever site it wants while also reading everyone’s search histories and tracking which ads people click on. Then, it may share the collected data with advertisers.

Worst of all, CapitaSearch can’t be easily removed. Many of the people who noticed it infecting their web browsers cannot get rid of it. That’s because CapitaSearch abuses the “managed by an organization” state. This is fixable, but CapitaSearch should not be abusing the enterprise policy in the first place.

About CapitaSearch:

Classification	Adware, browser hijacker.
Removing CapitaSearch	Remove the changes made by CapitaSearch to your settings, remove malware, including CapitaSearch, with antivirus tools like Spyhunter for PC, Combo Cleaner for Mac, or manually.
Effects of CapitaSearch	It restricts the search engine setting, it collects data about its users and shares it with advertising companies.
How it gets installed	Bundled with free programs, included in deceptively advertised adware bundles.

How to remove CapitaSearch

Rooted in the system

You may have tried to remove the CapitaSearch hijacker from your browser. You may have found that it’s not so easy to do. Even the instructions that CapitaSearch offers do not always work.

That’s because CapitaSearch infects browsers with a special installer that it uses to change the settings not just in your web browser, but in your computer itself. If you installed CapitaSearch as a normal extension, you could remove it as one. But some malicious changes have been made to your web browser. We need to undo them.

Remove unwanted settings

The uninstaller that CapitaSearch offers on its removal instructions webpage (you can find it by selection Option in CapitaSearch’s extension menu) is detected as possibly malicious by a few scanners, so I wouldn’t blame you for being hesitant to use it. As a rule, uninstallers provided by malware authors aren’t to be trusted.

You need to find out how to remove managed extensions. This process usually involves finding the extension’s ID (such as “fhmghdmcgkkdadabbnkmnejhoncccjio” for CapitaSearch), finding associated settings in your Registry if you’re on Windows or the associated profile entries if you’re on macOS, and removing them. You can find more detailed instructions in a relevant post on our site.

Just remember to make a backup of your registry before making any changes.

Remove all malware

Finally, remove the CapitaSearch extension, other unwanted extensions, malicious programs, and suspicious files in your Downloads folder.

You should also use an antivirus program, such as Spyhunter for Windows, Combo Cleaner for macOS, or others, to scan your computer and check it for malware, adware, and other harmful software.

CapitaSearch didn’t just appear on its own – it was downloaded, likely with a couple of other adware viruses that also need to be removed.

What is CapitaSearch?

Search hijacker

CapitaSearch is a browser extension – a browser add-on that’s meant to improve browser functionality. Instead of doing something useful, CapitaSearch just changes the browser’s settings so that Search.capita.space is the new default search engine.

In other words, CapitaSearch is a search hijacker. It takes control over the searches done through the address bar. It decides which site should return the results. Sometimes that site is Yahoo.com, but it can be different depending on the circumstances.

Spyware

In addition, CapitaSearch gets access to the victim’s search queries. It can collect the search history of each of its users. This is like getting rid of the encryption lock on your search engine. It’s a big privacy breach.

CapitaSearch doesn’t make its privacy policy available, or I wasn’t able to find it. So, I looked at the privacy policy of Comet Search, a very similar and likely related hijacker. Here’s what it says:

• It collects information including your IP, location, demographic data, search queries, which results you click on, which pages you viewed, what software you have installed – all with a unique user identifier.
• The company behind Comet Search (and likely CapitaSearch) can share data about its users with advertisers and advertising networks.
• It and those other companies use user data to decide which ads should be shown to which users. The ads can be shown not just pretty much anywhere online.

So, that’s probably what CapitaSearch does with the data that it collects after hijacking user searches.

How hijackers get installed

Based on CapitaSearch’s reviews on the Chrome Web Store, people did not install it on purpose. It seems to have just appeared out of nowhere, taken over their browsers, and then refused to be removed.

One way this happens is through infected installers. Do you install free programs downloaded from the internet?

Sometimes, the developers of free programs allow promotions for other programs to be embedded into the installer of their app. They get paid for the successful installation of the promoted offers. In theory, you should be presented with an offer to install the promoted program and the option to refuse. But you might miss it, the offer might be hidden in advanced options, or it might be deliberately hard to notice.

Another way that CapitaSearch or other unwanted programs can sneak in is with the help of malicious ads. Some malicious ads are made to look like warnings to patch your system, install an important program, something like that. In reality, they’re just adware bundles. Needless to say, these installers are deceptive.

Either way, CapitaSearch can appear on your computer without you having allowed it in.

Automatic Malware removal tools

Remove the CapitaSearch extension

TopHow To remove CapitaSearch 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 CapitaSearch 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 CapitaSearch 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 CapitaSearch 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 CapitaSearch 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 CapitaSearch 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 CapitaSearch 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.