Search.hwatchtvnow.co virus - How to remove

Search.hwatchtvnow.co is a threat to your cyber security and if you get redirected to this website every time you open your web browser, the computer you are using is infected and vulnerable. Of course, you could set-up this website on your Internet browsers yourself, but usually that’s not the case – it gets installed and make those changes automatically, without actually asking for permission. If you are experiencing this and it’s bothering you, please proceed reading the article and we will inform you how to make things right.

This virus is categorised as browser hijacker because it automatically makes some changes to the internet browsers and those changes can’t be edited until you get rid of the infection itself. To understand why those changes are made, you have to understand what is the goal of this infection. Obviously, they are trying to make money, but not in a very reasonable manner – profits mostly come from advertising other web-based tools, displaying advertisements, collecting and distributing personal data of users and redirecting web traffic to affiliated websites.

The website itself was designed the way that it would look like a regular search engine, just like all others – the one you could trust. And you can actually trust search results of Search.hwatchtvnow.co because they use Yahoo search engine to process all searches submitted to their website, so there is nothing to worry about. However, there are multiple other traits of this website that you can not trust.

We have already mentioned that this infection can collect your personal information and most shockingly, it is publicly declared on their privacy policy. Just take a look at this:

we may collect personally-identifiable information through the use of our Services upon your contacting us so that we may respond to your questions or comments, such as your name, email or mailing address, or other information you include when contacting us. In addition, as part of the functionality provided by our Service, we may collect and store URLS that you visit and your browser’s home page which could contain personally identifiable information. We may also collect, use and store information about your search activity when you use web search services (such as search queries) (“Search Data”). This information may be shared with third-party applications that use Search Data to function, or to offer you more customized information, advertising and services. Your Search Data is collected and stored and may include personally identifiable information, depending on your search query.

To sum this up, information about you will be collected and shared with unknown third parties – that is a real threat to your cyber security. We suggest to take a look at the toolbar on their homepage:

At a first glimpse it looks like a bunch of useful tools and links, but in reality it is just a smart try to promote affiliated products. For instance, Local Weather add-on, also known as Weatherly, is a well known browser add-on which is mostly promoted by browser hijackers like this. It looks like the company Polarity Technologies LTD has a contract with this tool and is delivering malware every week to build an audience and promote it.

How to get rid of Search.hwatchtvnow.co virus?

To remove this infection from your computer, you should get some help from anti-malware software, such as Spyhunter. Scan all files stored on your computer with it and the virus shall be gone for good. Unfortunately, anti-malware software can’t change settings of your web browser, so you will have to navigate to the settings section on your web browser and change both homepage and default search engine settings yourself. Remember, changing those setting will only be effective if you do it after the virus is already vanished from the computer.

Automatic Malware removal tools

Manual removal of Search.hwatchtvnow.co virus

How to remove hwatchtvnow virus using Windows Control Panel

Many hijackers and adware like Search.hwatchtvnow.co virus install some of their components as regular Windows programs as well as additional software. This part of malware can be uninstalled from the Control Panel. To access it, do the following.

• Start→Control Panel (older Windows) or press Windows Key→Search and enter Control Panel and then press Enter (Windows 8, Windows 10).
• Choose Uninstall Program (if you don't see it, click in the upper right next to "View by" and select Category).
• Go through the list of programs and select entries related to hwatchtvnow virus . You can click on "Name" or "Installed On" to reorder your programs and make Search.hwatchtvnow.co virus easier to find.
• Click the Uninstall button. If you're asked if you really want to remove the program, click Yes.
• In many cases anti-malware programs are better at detecting related parasites, thus I recommend installing Spyhunter to identify other programs that might be a part of this infection.

How to remove hwatchtvnow virus from macOS

Delete Search.hwatchtvnow.co virus from your applications.

1. Open Finder.
2. In the menu bar, click Go.
3. Select Applications from the dropdown.
4. Find the hwatchtvnow virus 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.

TopHow To remove Search.hwatchtvnow.co virus 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 Search.hwatchtvnow.co virus, 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 Search.hwatchtvnow.co virus 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 Search.hwatchtvnow.co virus 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 hwatchtvnow virus, 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.

How to remove Search.hwatchtvnow.co virus 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 Search.hwatchtvnow.co virus, 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 Search.hwatchtvnow.co virus from Safari:Top

Remove malicious extensions

• Click on Safari menu on the top left corner of the screen. Select Preferences.
  
• Select Extensions and uninstall hwatchtvnow virus and other suspicious extensions.
  
• If your homepage was changed, click on Safari menu on the top left corner of the screen. Select Preferences and choose General tab. Enter preferable URL to the homepage field.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings(older versions) If you are still experiencing any issues related to Search.hwatchtvnow.co virus, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on 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.

Manual removal