MovieSearchTool Hijacker - How to remove

MovieSearchTool is a malicious browser add-on. It causes pop-up ads and search redirects. It also collects data about its users, including their search history.

You might not remember installing MovieSearchTool. It uses deliberately misleading ads to spread, which leads to unintentional installations. If you notice this extension on your browser, it’s best to remove it as quickly as possible.

About MovieSearchTool:

Threat type	Adware, browser hijacker.
How MovieSearchTool changes browsers	It changes web search results, it collects data about its users’ browsing habits.
How hijackers get installed	Deceptively advertised online, bundled with other extensions and programs.
How to remove MovieSearchTool	Uninstall MovieSearchTool and other unwanted notifications, use antivirus programs (Spyhunter for PC, Combo Cleaner for Mac, others) to find and remove malware, block notifications from unwanted sites, such as Moviesearchtool.com.

How MovieSearchTool affects the browser

MovieSearchTool is an add-on for web browsers. In theory, these little programs are supposed to offer new features or enhance your browser in some way. But in reality, extensions can be great, but also useless and even dangerous.

MovieSearchTool is somewhere between those latter two. Despite its name, it has nothing to do with movies. It reads your browsing history and it changes your search settings to Feed.moviesearchtool.com. So, every time you type a query in your address bar, it’s sent to this MovieSearchTool site.

In my experience, Feed.moviesearchtool.com opened Searchlee.com, an infamous search engine site that’s been stealing people’s search traffic throughout February.

Why does it do that? For ads and user data, probably:

• Search engines can show ads next to the search results.
• They can collect very valuable data about each user (your search queries might include a lot of personal information).
• Search engines can promote specific websites in the results.

MovieSearchTool has no useful features to offer to its users. It just forces people to go on certain websites, shows them ads, and collects their browsing data.

Installation of browser hijackers

Since MovieSearchTool has no useful features, how does it get installed? According to the counter on its Chrome Web Store page, it has over a thousand users by now.

People don’t intentionally install MovieSearchTool, GameSearcher, PDFSearchly, or similar extensions. They’re usually surprised to find them in their browsers.

• One way that extensions infect browsers is with the help of deceptive ads. Pop-up ads online might say that you must install an extension to continue browsing the website, to download a file, etc.
• Another way is by being bundled with other programs and extensions. Unwanted programs might be included in infected installers of various free programs.

Either way, people who get MovieSearchTool on their browser might not even realize it. They notice the search redirects and the pop-up ads, but they might not realize what’s causing these effects.

How to remove MovieSearchTool

Remove malicious programs

Uninstall the MovieSearchTool extension from your browser. Look for other extensions that might need to be removed, too:

• add-ons that you don’t use,
• those that you don’t remember installing,
• those that ask for excessive permissions,
• whose privacy policies you’re not comfortable with.

Scan your device to check it for malware with antivirus tools: Spyhunter for Windows, Combo Cleaner for macOS, others. Antivirus tools can help you see if there are any other suspicious files or programs on your device besides MovieSearchTool.

In the section below are the instructions for removing extensions from your browser. There are also instructions for changing your search and new tab settings. With MovieSearchTool gone, you can set those settings to whatever sites you want.

Block unwanted notifications

It’s possible that, even with MovieSearchTool gone, you’re still seeing ads from the Moviesearchtool.com site. You can block these ads by going into your browser’s notification settings:

• Chrome – open Settings, scroll down to Site settings (under Privacy and security), click on Notifications.
• Edge (Chromium) – open Settings, click Site Permissions, Notifications.
• Firefox – open Settings, Privacy & Security, scroll down to Permissions, and click on Settings next to Notifications.

Once you have the notification settings page open, see if Moviesearchtool.com and other potentially unwanted sites are listed as being Allowed to send you messages. Switch their permission status to Blocked.

Automatic Malware removal tools

Manual removal instructions

TopHow To remove MovieSearchTool Hijacker 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 MovieSearchTool Hijacker, 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 MovieSearchTool Hijacker 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 MovieSearchTool, 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 MovieSearchTool Hijacker 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 MovieSearchTool Hijacker 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 MovieSearchTool Hijacker, 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.