Pdfconverter-search.com Ads - How to remove

Pdfconverter-search.com is a simple site that doesn’t have much going on. It functions together with a browser extension called PDFConverterSearch. It reads what you search for online and then sends those queries to Yahoo.com. In short, Pdfconverter-search.com is adware. It wastes your time, disrespects your privacy, and the ads it shows might expose you to malicious websites. For all these reasons, Pdfconverter-search.com should be removed as quickly as possible.

About Pdfconverter-search.com:

Type of threat	Adware, browser hijacker.
How to stop Pdfconverter-search.com	Uninstall PDFConverterSearch, find and remove other malware manually or with Combo Cleaner for Mac, Spyhunter for PCC, and others, block pop-up ads in settings.
How Pdfconverter-search.com affects the browser	It redirects searches to Yahoo.com, it also logs data about you, it might show pop-up ads in the corner of your screen.
How PDFConverterSearch spreads	It’s advertised in a misleading way, causing people to install it because they think they have to, it may be bundled with free programs and get installed automatically.

How to stop Pdfconverter-search.com redirects

Remove PDFConverterSearch

Pdfconverter-search.com to Yahoo.com search redirects can be stopped by finding and removing a browser extension. It should be as simple as opening the extension pop-up in the upper right corner of your browser (the puzzle piece icon), clicking the three-dot menu next to PDFConverterSearch, and choosing the Remove option. Unless PDFConverterSearch abused enterprise policy, which makes things a little more complicated.

Look for other malware

Because Pdfconverter-search.com doesn’t just redirect to Yahoo but can also show pop-up ads, it may have exposed you to various malicious websites. That could have resulted in malware infections. So, I advise you to look for other malware on your computer. You can use an anti-malware program like Spyhunter for Windows, Combo Cleaner for macOS, and others. Or you can review your recently installed programs, downloaded files, and added browser extensions manually.

Block pop-ups from Pdfconverter-search.com

To stop Pdfconverter-search.com’s pop-ups, you can look at our post on blocking browser notifications.

In short:

• Open notification settings:
  • Chrome – type “chrome://settings/content/notifications” in the address box.
  • Safari – in the Safari menu, choose Preferences, Websites, Notifications.
  • Edge (Chromium) – type “edge://settings/content/notifications” in the address box.
  • Firefox – open Settings, Preferences, Privacy & Security, scroll down to Permissions, and click on Settings next to Notifications.
• Find Pdfconverter-search.com in the Allow list.
• Open the menu by pressing the button to Pdfconverter-search.com’s right.
• Choose Block.

How Pdfconverter-search.com puts you in danger

Dangerous ads and disrespect for privacy

Pdfconverter-search.com exists purely for advertising purposes. It has no useful features. It does not enhance search in any way. Pdfconverter-search.com restricts your choices of search engines to only Yahoo. It raises the number of ads in search results. And it logs your data, including search queries.

Like all adware, Pdfconverter-search.com is not itself dangerous to your wallet or your private information. But it is potentially harmful:

• The ads it exposes you to could be scams. Adware infections tend to have a higher proportion of bad ads than normal websites.
• More actors having access to your information, like your search logs, only makes it easier for more people to access them. Most people want your search logs to be able to target ads to your interests, others might have shadier reasons.
• As Pdfconverter-search.com is in control over your searches, its functionality could be updated at any time. It could be hijacked or infected to redirect you to an exploit kit or a phishing site. Or Pdfconverter-search.com’s operators could decide to be more aggressive.

Bad reputation

All this comes down to Pdfconverter-search.com being unknown and unreliable. It doesn’t even advertise its developer company anywhere. Who should be held responsible for Pdfconverter-search.com’s behavior? If there is no one, then Pdfconverter-search.com can do whatever needs to be done to make as much money as possible, with no concern about ethics or responsibility.

By the way, if you look up the address at the bottom of Pdfconverter-search.com’s privacy policy and terms of service, you find that the same address is used by Safefinder, Tapufind, various Linkury pages. These are known search-hijacking sites, some of which are distributed by adware trojans.

And if Pdfconverter-search.com gets caught or banned, no worries – its developers don’t keep their eggs in one basket. Search-gamez.com, Vid-search.com, Topstreamssearch.com, and dozens of other hijackers of this family are out there and many of them get millions of hits monthly, infecting tens of thousands of web browsers each.

How PDFConverterSearch infects browsers

There are advertising templates meant specifically to confuse and manipulate people. For example, there’s the Download Ready template:

There’s also the Recommended Extension template:

These types of ads show up on movie streaming sites, mostly. They don’t look like ads, though. More like serious warnings. The clean gray color of the background, the fine print, it all looks so serious.

In reality, these pages are ads for browser hijackers like PDFConverterSearch.

Alternatively, free apps could have hijackers like PDFConverterSearch and others embedded in them and install them without even warning you.

I can’t imagine anyone installing PDFConverterSearch because they think it looks helpful. It’s just Yahoo.com with more ads, after all.

Automatic Malware removal tools

Manually remove browser extensions

TopRemoving Pdfconverter-search.com Ads from Chrome

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Google Chrome window. Select “Settings”.
  
• Click “Extensions” on the left menu bar.
• Go through the extensions list and remove programs you do not need, especially similar to Pdfconverter-search.com Ads. Click on the trash bin icon next to Pdfconverter-search.com Ads or other add-ons you want to remove.
  
• Press on the “Remove” button on the Confirmation window.
  
• If unsure, you can disable them temporarily.
  
• Restart Chrome.

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings

If you are still experiencing any issues related to Pdfconverter-search.com Ads, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on Chrome’s menu button (three horizontal lines) and select Settings.
  
• Scroll to the end of the page and click on the Reset 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 Pdfconverter-search.com Ads from Microsoft Edge:Top

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Microsoft Edge window. Select “Extensions”.

• Go through the extensions list and remove programs you do not need, especially similar to Pdfconverter-search.com Ads. Click on the "Remove" icon next to Pdfconverter-search.com Ads or other add-ons you want to remove.

• Press on the “Remove” button on the Confirmation window.

• If unsure, you can disable them temporarily.

• Restart Microsoft Edge.

TopRemoving Pdfconverter-search.com Ads from Firefox

• 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 Pdfconverter-search.com Ads 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.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings If you are still experiencing any issues related to Pdfconverter-search.com Ads, 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.
  
• Choose Troubleshooting Information on the Help menu.
  
• Click on the Reset Firefox button.
  
• Click on the Reset Firefox button on the confirmation box. Mozilla Firefox will close and change the settings to default.
  

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.