Game-searcher.com Redirects - How to remove

Game-searcher.com is a malicious website that spreads with the GameSearcher browser extension. It causes search redirects, sending your search queries to Searchlee or another unwanted site. It also logs your browsing data for use in advertising.

Game-searcher.com’s infection symptoms include unfamiliar websites opening on their own, search results looking unusual, and unknown extensions being installed on your browser. It’s recommended to remove GameSearcher and other unwanted extensions as quickly as possible.

About Game-searcher.com in short:

Threat type	Browser hijacker, adware.
How to remove Game-searcher.com	Uninstall GameSearcher and other malicious extensions, remove malware with antivirus programs (Spyhunter for PC, Combo Cleaner for Mac, others)
How GameSearcher infects browsers	It’s advertised online, it’s embedded in the installers of other programs.
How Game-searcher.com changes the browser	It sets Game-searcher.com as the default search engine, this causes Yahoo, Searchlee, Mybrowser-search, or another site to deliver the search results, it logs user data.

How to stop Game-searcher.com redirects

To stop Game-searcher.com from hijacking your search queries, it’s needed to remove the GameSearcher extension from your browsers.

You can follow the instructions at the bottom of this post. They describe how to remove an add-on from your browser and, for Mac users, how to check your device for more serious malware.

It can also be helpful to scan your computer with an anti-malware program, such as Spyhunter for Windows, Combo Cleaner for macOS, and others. These programs detect malicious apps, as well as potentially unwanted items that aren’t necessarily dangerous. It’s up to you if you want to remove them, but if something is flagged, then there’s usually a reason for it.

Check the search settings of your browser now that Game-searcher.com is gone. Set your preferred search engine as your default search site.

Game-searcher.com should not be confused with the Games Search for Chrome™ extension.

How Game-searcher.com hijacks browsers

GameSearcher is advertised on the internet. It’s promoted by fake download links, deliberately misleading installation offers and other deceptive ads. Such ads are created to trick people into unknowingly installing malicious extensions.

However, Game-searcher.com might also come included in the installers of other programs.

Game-searcher.com is far from a unique case. It’s one of dozens (if not hundreds) of extensions/website pairs that use deceptive pop-ups to hijack web browsers. These extensions include GamingSearch, PDFSearchly, CoolStreamSearch, and many others. They are sometimes uploaded on the Chrome Web Store and seem to be left for months – until they begin to be distributed.

Even while being advertised, these extensions can’t be discovered unless you have the link to their promo pages or the extension page. I think this shows that they simply aren’t meant to be installed voluntarily. The creators of Game-searcher.com and the related extensions want to control their distribution.

How GameSearcher affects infected browsers

Once GameSearcher has been installed, it changes the browser’s search settings to Game-searcher.com. This can cause your new tab page to look a bit different (for instance, the Chrome new tab might lose its search bar and just look like a blank page). But, more importantly, this allows Game-searcher.com to control your web search.

It redirects search queries to Searchlee.com or another unexpected website.

Right now, Searchlee.com is one of the most infamous Mac hijackers. When a Mac user begins to see Searchlee.com opening on its own, they often don’t know what’s causing this. They aren’t sure why their browsers are opening this random website. Well, GameSearcher is one of many possible causes.

As for the data collection, Game-searcher.com can read a lot of personal info:

• What you searched for
• What websites you visited
• Which search results and ads you clicked on
• Technical data on your device.

As Game-searcher.com does not deliver any useful features, this data logging makes it look like a spyware infection.

Some browser extensions that log user data share it with big data companies or with advertising firms (My browser, the spy: How extensions slurped up browsing histories from 4M users).

Automatic Malware removal tools

Remove unwanted browser extensions

TopRemoving Game-searcher.com Redirects 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 Game-searcher.com Redirects. Click on the trash bin icon next to Game-searcher.com Redirects 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 Game-searcher.com Redirects, 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 Game-searcher.com Redirects 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 Game-searcher.com Redirects. Click on the "Remove" icon next to Game-searcher.com Redirects 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 Game-searcher.com Redirects 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 Game-searcher.com 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.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings If you are still experiencing any issues related to Game-searcher.com 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.
  
• 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.

TopRemoving Game-searcher.com Redirects from Safari (Mac OS X)

• Click on the Safari menu.
• Choose Preferences.
  
• Click on the Extensions Tab.
• Click on the Uninstall button near the Game-searcher.com Redirects. Remove all other unknown or suspicious entries too. If you are not sure whether you need the extension or not, you can simply uncheck the Enable check-box to disable the extension temporarily.
  
• Restart Safari.

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings

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

• Click on the 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.

How to remove Game-searcher.com Redirects from macOS

Delete Game-searcher.com Redirects from your applications.

1. Open Finder.
2. In the menu bar, click Go.
3. Select Applications from the dropdown.
4. Find the Game-searcher.com Redirects app.
5. Select it and right-click it (or hold the Ctrl and click the left mouse button).
6. In the dropdown, click Move to Bin/Trash. You might be asked to provide your login password.

(Optional) Delete related settings

Some malicious apps make themselves difficult to delete by changing various settings and leaving behind malicious files. Remove settings related to Game-searcher.com Redirects.

• Click the Apple logo in the menu bar. Open System Preferences.
• Some malicious applications set profiles to enforce unwanted settings. Remove unwanted configuration profiles.

1. 1. In System Preferences, click the Profiles icon. This icon is only visible if there are profiles on your Mac.
   2. Select unwanted profiles and remove them by pressing the minus '-'  button at the bottom.

• Some adware applications set SOCKS proxy to manipulate your internet traffic. Remove unwanted proxies:

1. 1. In System Preferences, click Network, Advanced, Proxies.
   2. If a proxy is set without your permission, uncheck it and click OK.

(Optional) Delete malicious files

Some malicious apps leave behind dangerous files in your Library folders. Delete files related to Game-searcher.com Redirects.

1. Open Finder.
2. In the menu bar, click Go -> Computer.
3. In the search box, type in Game-searcher.com Redirects and variations of it.
4. Delete the files that are found and that seem to be related to Game-searcher.com Redirects.