Io-search.com Search Redirect - How to remove

Io-search.com is a custom search engine that might be set as your default search engine in the settings. It’s spread by adware and can be a sign of other suspicious programs lurking on your computer. Io-search.com isn’t dangerous on its own (though it can be frustrating), but it shouldn’t be used except if you specifically want to.

Io-search.com is a search engine based on Google, but with the results modified. Seems like a lot of the enhancements that Google offers, like maps, image results, reviews don’t appear in io-search.com’s results, instead, io-search.com focuses on delivering ads.

Io-search.com might be set as the home page of your browser. Or, it might only appear when you search the Web. Either way, it’s a search hijacker to those who did not intentionally invite this website to their browser.

Unwanted installation is a common issue, as is having your search queries redirected to unfamiliar search sites. You should have control over how you search, but some programs refuse to give that — like io-search.com, which delivers ads in its search results and makes money from that.

Io-search.com features and removal:

Symptoms	Search queries go to io-search.com
Problems	Private data used for advertising Lack of useful functions More ads than normal
Threat type	Adware Browser hijacker
Removal	Manually uninstall Io-search and other suspicious extensions Scan your computer for malware (Combo Cleaner for MacOS, SpyHunter for Windows)

Privacy and io-search.com

Having io-search.com as the default search engine wouldn’t be so bad if it could be changed in browser settings, but most search hijackers prevent the user from doing that. Usually, a search engine is replaced by a browser add-on and won’t be changed back until the add-on is gone. More than that, browser add-ons can track user activity on the browser, as well as inject content into webpages.

In its privacy policy, io-search.com says that some private and other information about each user is collected, and that third parties who advertise to you using io-search.com also collect some information about you. Io-search.com says it might share that information on you with its business partners in promotions. This is why search hijackers are often classified as adware — their motive is almost always to show you more ads.

Demographic information and data of your browsing habits are valuable for advertisers who want to know if you’re likely to buy something from them so that they know what ads to show you. And when io-search.com provides the search results space for ads, that’s very attractive, too, because ads can be targeted to each search and well hidden among genuine results.

That said, io-search hasn’t been updated in a while and it’s possible that it’s been abandoned, that the deals with various advertisers haven’t been made, and that now it’s just a stripped-down version of Google search. Maybe it’s being kept in your browser by an outdated extension or an old adware virus. Unused or untrusted browser add-ons should be removed, otherwise they’re just a privacy leak.

How search hijackers spread

To avoid sites like io-search.com, yousearch.io, ibrowser.io, searchgeniusapp.com, and others (there’re a lot of alternative search engines that offer fewer functions and more ads than the mainstream engines), it’s good to be aware of how these hijackers are distributed — and then avoid them.

One of the main issues with malicious and unwanted software is when they get installed without getting consent from the user. When a program just randomly appears on your computer, that’s already a lot of points against it.

Alternative search engines like io-search.com often spread as part of malicious browser extensions and adware. Bad browser extensions get installed without real consent all the time:

• Under false pretenses,
• Using manipulation,
• With the help of misleading ads,
• Thanks to freeware bundling.

The creators of hijackers like Io-search sometimes say that if anyone installed their programs by accident or against their own will, then those people are just too computer-illiterate. The truth, though, is that they use manipulation and social engineering so much that even very computer-savvy people can get caught in their traps and accidentally download adware.

We should all be patient and careful online and read the text presented to us before we click buttons. If io-search.com was offered to you in a bundle, it likely was just a line of text next to a ticked checkbox; reading every screen in the setup wizard would enable people to catch these things. The types of ads that install browser hijackers use very vague language — it’s usually better to close such pages when they’re opened.

There’s the possibility that io-search.com was installed by an adware virus, some program that downloaded and installed it without even pretending to ask your permission.

How to remove io-search.com

You can go to your browser settings and change them so that the default browser is the one you want, instead of io-search.com. That won’t work if you have the Io-search browser extension — it needs to be removed first.

Sometimes, people find adware extensions coming back a few days after being removed. In that case, they need to scan their computer with a competent anti-malware program (such as SpyHunter for PC or Combo Cleaner for MacOS) and remove any malware that’s found. That should fix things and allow the Io-search add-on to be removed permanently.

Not just Io-search, though — if there are other browser add-ons that you’re not familiar with or that you don’t use,

Automatic Malware removal tools

Remove io-search.com from your browser

How to remove Io-search.com Search Redirect using Windows Control Panel

Many hijackers and adware like Io-search.com Search Redirect 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 Io-search.com Search Redirect . You can click on "Name" or "Installed On" to reorder your programs and make Io-search.com Search Redirect 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 Io-search.com Search Redirect from macOS

Delete Io-search.com Search Redirect from your applications.

1. Open Finder.
2. In the menu bar, click Go.
3. Select Applications from the dropdown.
4. Find the Io-search.com Search Redirect 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 Io-search.com Search Redirect 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 Io-search.com Search Redirect, 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 Io-search.com Search Redirect 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 Io-search.com Search Redirect 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 Io-search.com Search Redirect, 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 Io-search.com Search Redirect 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 Io-search.com Search Redirect, 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 Io-search.com Search Redirect from Safari:Top

Remove malicious extensions

• Click on Safari menu on the top left corner of the screen. Select Preferences.
  
• Select Extensions and uninstall Io-search.com Search Redirect 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 Io-search.com Search Redirect, 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.