Flashsearch.club Hijacker - How to remove

Flashsearch.club is a search-hijacking website. It causes web search results to be returned by Bing.com or another site. It also logs user data to use in targeted advertising.

Flashsearch.club redirects are caused by the FlashSearch browser add-on. FlashSearch likely gets installed without permission and it very likely gets installed with other unwanted add-ons, like Lessnotifications.com and Flashit.xyz.

Flashsearch.club in short:

Classification	Adware, browser hijacker.
How Flashsearch.club works	It redirects your web searches, it logs your browsing data, it displays ads and promotes other browser extensions.
How FlashSearch gets installed	It’s advertised online by misleading ads, it’s promoted by other browser hijackers.
How to remove Flashsearch.club	Remove malware and junkware with anti-malware programs (Combo Cleaner for Mac, Spyhunter for PC, Malwarebytes, others), uninstall Flash Search and other shady browser add-ons, check your browser settings.

How Flashsearch.club works

It’s installed as a browser add-on

Flashsearch.club is a website, but it doesn’t work alone – it’s tied with the FlashSearch extension. This browser add-on, when installed, intercepts internet search and redirects it to Flashsearch.club (which then forwards it to a real search engine, like Bing).

As a browser add-on, FlashSearch has no useful features whatsoever. It takes away customization, it harms your privacy, and it gets the ability to read your data on all the sites that you visit, which is far too intrusive for a search hijacker like Flashsearch.club – honestly, being able to read your browsing history is enough for some search hijackers. (Why Do Chrome Extensions Need All Your Data on the Websites You Visit?)

It’s hard to say who the company behind Flashsearch.club is. It could be RocketMedia, based on the fact that FlashSearch looks very similar to Flashit.xyz, Smedia.xyz, and Lessnotifications.com – other search hijackers, some of which I’ve identified as being related to RocketMedia.

According to web analytics sites, it seems like Lessnotifications.com is promoting Flashsearch.club. Also, FlashSearch and Flashit.xyz use the same logo.

FlashSearch gets advertised online with fake Download pop-ups, made to look like it’s a required extension. As if you have to install it in order to access some content. Such ads are very deceptive and manipulative. They trick people into installing unwanted extensions.

After FlashSearch is installed, it may show a pop-up with a recommendation for another browser add-on.

Flashsearch.club tracks user data

Flashsearch.club is a fake search engine that uses Bing and possibly other sites to deliver search results. It’s an advertising site. I mean, FlashSearch’s description on the Chrome Web Store is as clear as can be:

We offer you a better way to see relevant ads for you while casually surfing the web, trying to get the information you are looking for.

In order to show you “relevant ads”, Flashsearch.club needs to control how you search the web, which is why it doesn’t let you choose a preferred search engine. It also needs to collect information about you.

Like most fake search engines, FlashSearch collects data on your search and browsing activity:

• your browsing history,
• what sites you visited before landing on Flashsearch.club,
• your device identifier,
• your IP and other technical data about your device.

Flashsearch.club says in its privacy policy that it uses this data for advertising. It shows ads personalized based on your browsing history. And it can share this data with third parties to help with analytics.

Be careful with extensions that share your data with third parties: your data, even that which includes personal info, might end up quite public (DataSpii: The catastrophic data leak via browser extensions).

How to get rid of Flashsearch.club

To stop Flashsearch.club’s redirects to Bing, the FlashSearch extension needs to be uninstalled and browser settings (default search engine, home page) need to be checked for unwanted changes.

Other extensions that might have been installed with FlashSearch, like SMedia, also need to be deleted.

You can remove hijackers by following the manual removal instructions below. It’s also a good idea to check your computer with an antivirus program, like Combo Cleaner for macOS, Spyhunter for Windows, Malwarebytes, and others. If the anti-malware scan detects some adware, bundlers, or potentially unwanted programs, it’s best to remove them. Even though they’re not very dangerous, they’re still problematic.

Automatic Malware removal tools

Restore browser settings

TopHow To remove Flashsearch.club 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 Flashsearch.club 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 Flashsearch.club 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 Flashsearch.club, 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 Flashsearch.club 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 Flashsearch.club 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 Flashsearch.club 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.