NetGameSearch Hijacker - How to remove

NetGameSearch is a browser extension that makes a few unwanted changes to people’s browsers. It causes pop-up ads, search redirects to unwanted websites, and other problems. Being so malicious, NetGameSearch doesn’t ask for permission to get installed, but tricks people into installing it.

To get rid of the changes that NetGameSearch makes, it’s needed to remove the extension and to review your browser’s settings.

NetGameSearch in short:

Classification	Browser hijacker, adware.
Effects of NetGameSearch	Search results are displayed in an unexpected webpage, your browsing data is collected by the extension.
How to avoid hijackers	Block malicious ads – or all ads on sites that show excessive pop-ups, check files for malware and don’t open them if they’re infected, do not install browser add-ons that you aren’t familiar with.
How to remove NetGameSearch	Uninstall NetGameSearch, other problematic browser extensions, and malicious programs manually and with antivirus programs, like Spyhunter for PC, Combo Cleaner for Mac, etc.

How NetGameSearch hijacks browsers

It changes search settings

NetGameSearch is a browser add-on that works together with a website called Netgamesearch.com.  The extension forces your browser to open the website.

Most noticeably, NetGameSearch causes Yahoo search to open when you type a search query into your address bar. If you had a different search engine set as your default, this change is very jarring.

Besides taking over searches, NetGameSearch also displays pop-up ads. It can show notifications, which appear as pop-ups in the corner of your screen, and it might open new browser tabs or replace your pages with its own. It does this to advertise, which its operators make money from. On the Chrome Web Store, NetGameSearch is shown as having over 50 thousand users – this adds up, it’s a respectable audience for ads.

It collects data

Less noticeably, NetGameSearch logs user data:

• search logs,
• browsing history,
• ads that were clicked,
• location and language,
• technical data of the device.

NetGameSearch gets access to data that random websites could not get. It’s right here, on your device, and it can see your browsing history, which is full of private information that can be extracted. This is not unusual for browser extensions to do. Chome’s developers started limiting how extension developers can use the data that they collect (Chromium.org) – let’s hope this improves the situation.

How to remove NetGameSearch

Uninstall the NetGameSearch browser extension to stop it from redirecting your searches, displaying ads, and logging your data. Uninstall other extensions and apps that might have been installed at the same time as NetGameSearch. You can use an antivirus application to find and remove suspicious items. Scanners programs like Spyhunter for Windows, Combo Cleaner for macOS, etc. can help you remove NetGameSearch, as well as avoid such infections in the first place.

Removing the NetGameSearch apps and extensions is not all – it’s also important to check your settings, especially your default search engine, and make sure that it’s set to what you’d like it to be – after NetGameSearch is removed, this setting is under your control.

Review your notification settings, too. NetGameSearch does ask visitors to allow these messages and they won’t go away after you remove the extension.

How to avoid browser hijackers

One of the reviewers says they wanted to download a game from SteamUnlocked when they were tricked into installing NetGameSearch. That seems about right – pirating websites do tend to show ads for browser hijackers (as well as other dangerous ads).

Pirating is always dangerous, so, if you want to keep your computer from getting infected, it’s good to avoid such sites and stick to legal websites. If that’s not an option, there are still a lot of things to do:

• block ads and malicious websites in your browser (you can use ad blockers and anti-malware apps),
• scan every file that you download before you run it,
• do not install browser extensions just because a website is telling you to (not even if the extension is on the official Chrome store).

The deceptive ads that promote NetGameSearch, as well as its siblings GlobalPDFConverterSearch, SmartStreamSearch, and others, are meant to trick you into believing that the extension is needed for whatever you were doing online (downloading free games, watching free movies, etc.) to work. In reality, they are just ads that can be skipped.

Automatic Malware removal tools

Restore browser settings

TopHow To remove NetGameSearch 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 NetGameSearch 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 NetGameSearch 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 NetGameSearch Hijacker, 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 NetGameSearch 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 NetGameSearch 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 NetGameSearch 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.