Fxsmash.xyz Redirects - How to remove

Fxsmash.xyz is a webpage that hijacks internet searches in web browsers and redirects them to potentially unwanted sites. A bad browser extension is most likely responsible for the hijacking.

Luckily, extensions are simple enough to remove in your browser. You’ll have your browser back to how you want it in no time.

About Fxsmash.xyz in short:

Threat type	Browser hijacker.
How Fxsmash.xyz affects the browser	It changes the default search engine, it collects information about the user.
How hijackers spread	Bundled with free programs, promoted with deceptive ads.
How to remove Fxsmash.xyz hijacker	Uninstall bad browser extensions, find and remove malware with antivirus programs (Spyhunter for PC, Combo Cleaner for Mac, others).

What is Fxsmash.xyz?

A search hijacker

Fxsmash.xyz is a webpage that participates in browser hijackings. It causes your browser to redirect search queries to sites like Websearches.club (S3arch).

Fxsmash.xyz is a search hijacker, a very mild sort of malicious software. It is part of a scheme to get as many people as possible to visit sites that are associated with the people behind Fxsmash.xyz. Those sites show ads, and the more people visit them, the more money the ads will generate. That’s why some malicious programs force you to visit sites that you may have never heard of before.

In the case of Fxsmash.xyz, it seems to promote S3arch, a really bad search engine:

• S3arch has no features to speak of – no filtering based on language, location, time, etc.
• It shows way too many irrelevant ads.
• Some of the ads that S3arch shows lead to other browser hijackers and to other advertising sites.

There’s no reason to use the engines that Fxsmash.xyz promotes. That’s why it has to force people.

Adware

The kinds of ads that Fxsmash.xyz might expose you to are potentially a little harmful.

Some of them lead to the installation pages for browser hijackers, such as the Onlineworksuite.com ad that you can see in the image above. It leads to the installation of a newtab virus, a hijacker that promotes Myway. It’s concerning that the text of the ad is really misleading:

Download Now (Free) – Latest Version (2020)

Yeah, this is talking about OnlineWorkSuite, not the piece of software that I was using Fxsmash.xyz to search for. This is really confusing, but Fxsmash.xyz is not concerned with providing a good user experience, only with delivering advertisements.

Although, Fxsmash.xyz may be concerned with tracking user information, too. After all, if everything you search for goes through Fxsmash.xyz or another shady search engine, then your search history is known to the people operating these sites. In addition, the hijacker can read your browsing history, which means that it can see what other sites you visit.

How to remove Fxsmash.xyz

How Fxsmash.xyz got installed

Fxsmash.xyz spreads with malicious browser extensions. There are a few ways that one can end up inside your web browser:

• An extension that you’ve been using for a while got updated to include malicious features. Maybe it was sold to advertisers, or maybe its owner decided to cash out.
• A Fxsmash.xyz hijacker was included in the installer of another program. Installers for free programs often include optional items that get installed automatically unless you refuse them during the setup process.
• A deceptive advertisement tricked you into installing the Fxsmash.xyz hijacker. Fake download links and buttons and deceptively designed notification ads could have done this.

Once the Fxsmash.xyz add-on is installed, your browser doesn’t look any different. Most hijackers are very quiet and easy to miss. The only symptom of the infection is changed web search results.

How to remove hijackers

Use an antivirus program, such as Spyhunter for Windows, Combo Cleaner for macOS, and others to find and remove malware from your computer. Even potentially unwanted items that aren’t strictly malicious should be removed in most cases.

As for search hijacking browser extensions, you can find and remove them manually. Open the extension settings in your web browser and find and remove those items that are suspicious:

• extensions that were installed at the same time as Fxsmash.xyz started appearing in your address bar,
• extensions that you did not install yourself,
• unfamiliar add-ons.

Also, remember that even a trusted extension that you’ve used for a long time can become adware. If you aren’t sure which of your extensions is causing the Fxsmash.xyz redirects, then disable all of them one-by-one until the redirects stop happening.

If you can’t remove an extension because your browser is “managed by an organization”, then check our post on how to remove those extensions.

If little pop-up ads appear on your screen even after you’ve removed the Fxsmash.xyz hijacker, then check your web push notification settings – you might need to block a few sites there.

Automatic Malware removal tools

Remove unwanted extensions

TopHow To remove Fxsmash.xyz Redirects 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 Fxsmash.xyz Redirects, 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 Fxsmash.xyz Redirects 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 Fxsmash.xyz, 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 Fxsmash.xyz Redirects 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 Fxsmash.xyz Redirects 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 Fxsmash.xyz Redirects, 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.