Search.cocoshamen.com hijacker - How to remove

Search.cocoshamen.com or simply Cocochamen is a search engine modifying virus that will appear as a new default homepage or search engine without user’s consent. Search.cocoshamen.com infects primarily Mac users. While taking over the browser does not seem like a very scary act, yet the purpose behind it is pretty vicious. Search.cocoshamen.com mainly infects browsers so it could track victims’ browser activity, gather personal information, visited websites, entered data and share it with third parties for money.

These days we use browsers to perform many tasks that contain a lot of sensitive data e.g. ordering something online with a credit card, paying bills online, checking bank account, opening emails, chatting with friends and etc. And if there is a Cocochamen virus in your browser you can be sure that it is watching your every step online, reporting back to the crooks. There is a big probability that if you keep this Search.cocoshamen.com hijacker any longer as your search engine you may experience hacked social media and other accounts, breached data, targeted ads, an increased amount of scams, Identity theft, and probably more malware installations. Therefore without further ado let the 2-viruses.com team teach a thing or two about the Search.cocoshamen.com virus and help you get rid of it once and for all.

What does Cocoshamen virus do

Search.cocoshamen.com is a type of virus that targets internet browsers without doing much damage to the operating system. As mentioned above this browser hijacker affects Mac computers but may have different variants that install in other operating systems as well. There are other browser hijackers that are exactly the same as Cocoshamen virus, e.g. Search.pardessov.com, search.kuklorest.com, Search.shrinkmoron.com. These all ‘browser enhancers’ are developed by Genieo Innovations, Ltd.

Search.cocoshamen.com is often called a virus, although compared to some ransomware it seems harmless. That is because it demonstrates many suspicious activities which result in serious consequences if Cocoshamen is not removed in time. Actually, in order to avoid any legal proceedings, Search.cocoshamen.com explains most of the controversial behavior in its Privacy Policy, to which you automatically agree if you are using this engine. Take a look at the excerpt of it from their own page:

We may collect none personal identifiable information on an aggregated basis, such as country/region, installed applications etc. in order to improve Cocoshamen operation and services and to present You with Offers which are better suited for You. This information is encrypted and stored on our servers. In addition, we may gather information regarding the installation process, including with regard to the Offers presented to You via Cocoshamen, The Approved Offers installed on your computer and Technical Information regarding the installation process, such as, without limitation, success/failure, duration, malfunctions, errors, etc. (the “Installation Information”).
The Installation Information is used to provide, maintain and improve Cocoshamen’s operation and services.

We may share non-personally identifiable information with third parties when this is required in order to provide, maintain or improve the Cocoshamen operation and services. We may NOT share personally identifiable information with any third party, except in an aggregated and/or statistical form. Upon authorizing the installation process, Cocoshamen retrieves technical information from your computer such as (without limitation) the type and version of your computer’s operating system, IE browser version and installed hardware, Java resource availability .NET resources availability and your C-Class IP address (the “Technical Information”).

As you can see Search.cocoshamen.com hijacker is not hiding the fact that it closely works with third parties that are sponsoring the developers to advertise their products (More on third-party advertising) and modify search engine results, redirect victims to offers/services pages, show pop-ups of promotions and etc. Furthermore, Cocoshamen virus collects personal and public information about you and everything you put into your browser to later sell it for the Marketing companies.

What is more, Search.cocoshamen.com appears to be not a real search engine but more like a redirect to Yahoo Search which generates the search results to the user. This is also done to increase the traffic to the Yahoo’s page. All in all, Cocoshamen virus does not demonstrate any good and convenient features which you cannot have with the proper and trustworthy tools. So to save your online privacy and safety it is best to get rid of Search.cocoshamen.com browser hijacker once and for all.

How does the Search.cocoshamen.com virus spread

Browser hijackers like Search.cocoshamen.com are one of these sneaky viruses that you can only notice once they are already in your computer and have the browsers under control. Before that moment Cocoshamen virus is trying to be invisible so nothing would disrupt its installation. In order to attract less attention, Search.cocoshamen.com is bundled with some other programs that you may download from Freeware distributing websites. Such sites and overall Program bundles are known to be dangerous and there are plenty of examples when legitimate programs got in trouble after pairing their products with viruses, e.g. Avast distributing malware with CCleaner unknowingly.

Cocoshamen virus hides as an additional browser extension in the popular program’s SetupWizard and installs together with it if the user doesn’t deselect it in Custom Installation page. Since most of us skip the installation as fast as we can, malicious addon without any additional permission settles in your browser, connects to Search.cocoshamen.com and downloads final scripts to take over the default search engine and settings so the next time you open your Mozilla or Chrome you only see Search.cocoshamen.com. Additionally, you can fall into hijackers advertising charms and install it voluntarily thinking that it is an internet surfing enhancer and only later find out about the malevolent features.

How to remove Search.cocoshamen.com hijacker fast

If you no longer want to be bothered by Search.cocoshamen.com browser virus there is a quick and effective way to delete the irritating hijacker. That is an automatic malware removal program Spyhunter This anti-spyware software can discover all the places Cocoshamen has installed malicious files and remove them together with other viruses just in the matter of couple minutes. and the best part is that you will only have to press a few buttons so the program will work for you.

Automatic Malware removal tools

How to uninstall Cocoshamen browser hijacker manually

There is a manual removal technique of Cocoshamen virus as well. In order to protect your privacy, you have to completely get rid of it from all possible spots where it is residing. Most likely it is mainly your browser and Search.cocoshamen.com is added as an extension for your Safari, Mozilla or Chrome. To check which addon is malicious, just disable it one by one and restore the browser to see if you can change the homepage back to your normal one or not. If you can, then it means that the disabled extension is malicious and needs to be deleted permanently. We have prepared guidelines below on how to do that for each browser separately.

Furthermore, if you are still having troubles after the removal and can’t restore the default settings back, check this Google redirect virus removal instructions that have more explanations on where to look for virus and how to fix the consequences of Search.cocoshamen.com browser hijacker.

How to remove Search.cocoshamen.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 Search.cocoshamen.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 cocoshamen 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. Top

How To remove Search.cocoshamen.com hijacker from Firefox on Mac OS:

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Mozilla window and select the “Add-ons” icon (Or press cmd+Shift+A on your keyboard).
• Go through Extensions list, remove everything Search.cocoshamen.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.
• Enter “about:preferences” in URL bar and hit enter.
• Open Search settings tab.
• If your search engine is changed, click 'Default Search Engines' and set your preferred search engine.
• If your homepage was changed, click on the Firefox menu in the top right corner, select Preferences-> General. Enter a preferable URL to the home page field.

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings If you are still experiencing any issues related to Search.cocoshamen.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.
• Choose Troubleshooting Information on the Help menu.
• Click on the Refresh Firefox button.
• Click on the Refresh 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.

TopHow to remove Search.cocoshamen.com hijacker from Google Chrome on Mac:

• Open Chrome browser.
• Enter in the url field “chrome://extensions” address and hit Enter.
• Find cocoshamen hijacker on the extensions list and click on the recycle bin icon next to it.
• Click on 'Chrome' button at the top left corner. Select 'Preferences' on a drop-down menu box.
• Find 'Search' options on Settings tab. If your search engine is changed, click 'Manage Search Engines' and set your preferred search engine.
• On the same page find 'Show home button' checkbox and change your homepage.

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

• On the 'Preferences' menu window, scroll down to the bottom and find 'Reset settings' button. Click it.
• Confirm your selection and click 'Reset' on the following window.

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