Goonsearch Virus - How to remove

Goonsearch virus is a browser hijacker that changes home page and search engine to goonsearch.com. As its developers American company GoOnSearch states, it is a web search engine that was made to help a computer user find world’s best websites, images, videos and news. It works for any browser, such as Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Internet Explorer. If one opened the webpage goonsearch.com, she would see a search site very similar to any other. But this is only a first impression. Companies that created and distribute so called browser hijackers, earn their revenue from the traffic generated to the site and promotions. As a rule of thumb, they do not take any responsibility for the content or the consequences of the sites promoted:

THE SITE DOES NOT MAKE ANY EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND AND, TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMISSIBLE BY ENG AND LAW, IN THE JURISDICTION OF THE UNITED STATES COURTS, AND DISCLAIMS ANY LIABILITY WHATSOEVER (I) FOR THE ACCURACY, MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT, OF ANY CONTENT PUBLISHED ON OR MADE AVAILABLE THROUGH THE SITE, AND (II) FOR ANY VIRUSES OR HARMFUL COMPONENTS OR SOFTWARE CODE THAT MAY CAUSE DAMAGE TO YOUR HARDWARE, SOFTWARE OR DATA AS A CONSEQUENCE OF YOUR USE – IN ANY WAY OR MANNER – OF THE SITE OR THE CONTENT. ALL INFORMATION ON THE SITE IS PROVIDED WITH ALL FAULTS AND THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND ACCURACY OF THE INFORMATION IS UPON THE USERS/MEMBERS OF THE SITE.

It means that once you click on the link shown at Goonsearch website, you never know if you are not taken to a corrupted or malicious web page and this way infect your computer with viruses. Talking about search results itself, advertised links usually are mixed up with the actual results therefore when you click on the link you might open the one promoted and not the one you actually looked for.

Another unfair issue related to Goonsearch virus is the method used for its distribution. As many other browser hijackers it is installed to the system bundling it with other software, usually freeware or shareware, e.g. video file converter. Once you choose an automatic installation option, and do not read the instructions displayed, you add additional programs like Goonsearch. The latter had been marked to be installed by default. Once the add-on is activated, your home page and search engine will be changed to goonsearch.com automatically. You will not be able to reset them via browser settings. If you type in any other search engine, you will get redirected to Goonsearch web page.

Although this browser hijacker is not a virus itself, it increases a risk of getting your computer infected. You should remove it as soon as possible. Please note, that a manual removal of applications classified as browser hijackers is often a complicated and time consuming issue. You may try to remove it from Control Panel Add and Remove programs and search for any files related and delete them manually. It might be that the toolbar will be named under a different title in order to avoid removal. The easiest and the safest way of getting rid of Goonsearch virus is by using special antimalware tools, like Spyhunter. The latter will not only find and remove all the files related to this browser hijacker automatically but will also scan your computer for any other adware, unwanted applications and viruses. Some other tools might also be used but before choosing one check if it is known to be effective in the particular application’s removal. If you choose to get rid of Goonsearch manually, it is strongly recommended to scan your computer for viruses afterwards.

Automatic Malware removal tools

Manual removal