Fastsearchassist.com Hijacker - How to remove

Fastsearchassist.com is a search-hijacking website. It shows up with the installation of Fast Search Assist – a browser extension. All that Fastsearchassist.com does is take your internet search queries, log them, and then send them to Yahoo. This – after the Fastsearchassist.com hijacker possibly getting installed without your permission. To get back control over your web searches, you need to uninstall Fast Search Assist and other malware.

About Fastsearchassist.com:

Type of threat	Adware, browser hijacker.
How Fastsearchassist.com affects browsers	Searches are hijacked and redirected to Yahoo.
Adware installation tactics	Bundled with free programs and apps, bundled with other hijackers, advertised online.
How to remove Fastsearchassist.com	Uninstall suspicious browser extensions and programs, check your computer with an anti-malware program (Combo Cleaner for Mac, Spyhunter for PC, and others).

Problems with Fastsearchassist.com

Fastsearchassist.com is the website and Fast Search Assist is the browser extension. They are inseparably linked. You can visit Fastsearchassist.com whenever you want, but for it to appear consistently on your screen, Fast Search Assist needs to be installed so that it can change your web browser’s settings.

Fastsearchassist.com makes Yahoo deliver your internet search results. Instead of changing your browser settings to use Yahoo directly, it makes your searches pass through Search.fastsearchassist.com first. This means that your search queries are revealed to Fastsearchassist.com’s operators, among other sites. Other information – your browsing history – is also available to Fast Search Assist.

Browser extensions aren’t really supposed to be like that – they’re supposed to actually provide a useful function of some kind. Web browsers provide the interface to control your default search engine without any shady browser extensions or redirects. Besides, there already exists a browser extension that changes your search settings to Search.yahoo.com – an official Yahoo Search extension that has nothing to do with Fast Search Assist.

Fastsearchassist.com was made by Eightpoint Technologies, a company that owns dozens and dozens of Yahoo-redirecting browser extensions.

Fast Search Assist hijacks your searches by changing your default search engine settings. This is different from other browser hijackers that take over your new tab page, like Test Speed Here Tab. On its own, Fastsearchassist.com is kind of invisible, however, it likely gets installed together with new tab hijackers which are much more noticeable. When removing these hijackers, it’s best to remove all of them at once.

How hijackers get installed

Fast Search Assist doesn’t exactly ask for your permission to be installed. Rather, it uses deception and underhanded installation tactics:

• Bundling – Fast Search Assist may be included in the installers of various free programs. Legitimate and illegitimate installers might carry Fast Search Assist as an optional offer that gets installed along with the main program unless you manually refuse Fast Search Assist during the setup process.
• Online ads – Fastsearchassist.com has a page advertising the Fast Search Assist extension. This page is somewhat misleading and can trick some distracted users to install the extension unwittingly.
• Adware and other hijackers promote each other and Fastsearchassist.com. They show pop-up ads, open new tabs, deceptively redirect pages to get more people to download the Fast Search Assist extension.

Browser extensions are really easy to install, it’s only a couple of mouse clicks. It is not surprising that adware is using the medium of extensions to spread. The good news is that, unless the hijacker abuses the enterprise policy, it’s also very simple to remove.

How to remove Fastsearchassist.com

To get rid of search redirects and new tab replacers, uninstall all browser extensions and programs that are suspicious. For browser extensions, this means opening their details (in Settings -> Extensions) and checking their permissions. Some that are suspicious and often used by hijackers:

• Controlling your new tab page.
• Changing your search settings.
• Reading and changing your data on all the sites that you visit.

You can more efficiently check for malware by scanning your computer with an anti-malware application, such as Combo Cleaner for macOS, Spyhunter for Windows, and others. Fast Search Assist’s installer is detected by quite a few antivirus scanners (VirusTotal link).

Try to avoid websites and ads that tell you to download random programs. Scan the installers that you download with an antivirus tool before running them.

Automatic Malware removal tools

Remove browser extensions

TopRemoving Fastsearchassist.com Hijacker from Chrome

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Google Chrome window. Select “Settings”.
  
• Click “Extensions” on the left menu bar.
• Go through the extensions list and remove programs you do not need, especially similar to Fastsearchassist.com . Click on the trash bin icon next to Fastsearchassist.com Hijacker or other add-ons you want to remove.
  
• Press on the “Remove” button on the Confirmation window.
  
• If unsure, you can disable them temporarily.
  
• Restart Chrome.

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings

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

• Click on Chrome’s menu button (three horizontal lines) and select Settings.
  
• Scroll to the end of the page and click on the Reset 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 Fastsearchassist.com Hijacker from Microsoft Edge:Top

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

• Go through the extensions list and remove programs you do not need, especially similar to Fastsearchassist.com Hijacker. Click on the "Remove" icon next to Fastsearchassist.com or other add-ons you want to remove.

• Press on the “Remove” button on the Confirmation window.

• If unsure, you can disable them temporarily.

• Restart Microsoft Edge.

TopRemoving Fastsearchassist.com Hijacker from Firefox

• 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 Fastsearchassist.com 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.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings If you are still experiencing any issues related to Fastsearchassist.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 Reset Firefox button.
  
• Click on the Reset Firefox button on the confirmation box. Mozilla Firefox will close and change the settings to default.
  

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

TopRemove malicious extensions from Internet Explorer

• Press on the Gear icon→Manage Add-ons.
  
• Go through Toolbars and extensions. Remove everything related to Fastsearchassist.com and items you do not know that are made not by Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Oracle or Adobe.
  
• Close the Options.

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings

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

• Press on the Gear icon->Internet Options.
  
• Choose the Advanced tab and click on the Reset button.
  
• Select a “Delete personal settings” checkbox and click on the Reset button.
  
• Click on the Close button on the confirmation box, then close your browser.
  

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