Search.powersearch.online is a malware which is an identical copy of other eAnswers company browser hijacking viruses, like Search.searchtheweb.today, search.myappzcenter.com and search.playzonenow.com. Not only does it have the exact same looks but the functionality doesn’t surprise with any new features either. ‘Power Search’ simply takes over your browser and then modifies the search results so it would benefit the crooks.
Often Search.powersearch.online is mistaken for an adware, because apart from hijacking your browser it displays a lot of ads during the browsing sessions, however, advertising viruses can actually be less harmful than the type of malware ‘Power Search’ is, which installs without permission, changes your browser settings and tracks your activity. You can read more about the differences between adware and spyware in this webopedia.com.
Powersearch quicklinks
- Automatic Malware removal tools
- Ways to manually remove 'Power Search' yourself
- How to remove Power Search, PowerSearch using Windows Control Panel
- How to remove Power Search, PowerSearch from macOS
(Win)
Note: Spyhunter trial provides detection of parasites and assists in their removal for free. limited trial available, Terms of use, Privacy Policy, Uninstall Instructions,
(Mac)
Note: Combo Cleaner trial provides detection of parasites and assists in their removal for free. limited trial available, Terms of use, Privacy Policy, Uninstall Instructions, Refund Policy ,
What do you need to know about the search.powersearch.online virus
Search.powersearch.online or simply ‘Power Search’ is a browser hijacker type of malware. It installs as a browser extension/add-on and after downloading a final script from the crooks’ servers gains the control of your Mozilla, Edge, Chrome. Then it sets search.powersearch.online as your main search engine, homepage and tracks the browsing activities, shows the results that sponsors pay for.
Just like several other browser hijacker producing companies Airfind or Polarity, eAnswers mainly earns revenue from the sponsoring search engines – this case Yahoo Search, as well as various other services/products/apps and also selling your private data for third parties, usually for online SEO, but is not limited only to it. Third party reasons don’t matter for eAnswers, as long as they get paid.
When the search.powersearch.online virus succeeds in its setup, the next time you open your browser the usual search engine and homepage will be made into search.powersearch.online and the search results will be generated from search.yahoo.com together with some annoying ads, which will really reflect on your browsing activity. Then if you continue using the new browser hijacker, you can be sure that not only the search results will be pretty poor quality, but your personal data (passwords, credit card info, credentials), computer safety will be in danger too.
How does the ‘Power Search’ spread
The distribution of browser hijackers happen via bundling, torrents or sometimes even voluntarily. You can accidentally get the search.powersearch.online browser hijacker and not know about it until you will see all the final infection signs like different homepage and etc. Most likely this will happen if you will download some free programs in a bundle or some files from an untrusted website and virus will be included.
The eAnswers company chose this way to pass around the search.powersearch.online virus, because users are usually aware of possible malicious effects and suspiciously look at the new search engines, especially after being used to the popular Google, Bing and etc. Even though some victims can fall for the nice design or idea of getting the best search results, ‘Power search’ still has to sneak into the system unnoticed.
In a nutshell the main browser hijacker’s route of infection is a careless internet surfer’s behavior, which can be fixed by learning safe browsing tips. Since there isn’t much else to say about Search.powersearch.online virus, let’s get to the point on how to eliminate it once and for all.
What to do if the search.powersearch.online virus infected your PC
There is no doubt that search.powersearch.online is a malicious unnecessary threat which needs to be eliminated from your computer as soon as possible. There are several methods which can help to get rid of this browser hijacker, but the most effective way is to delete it automatically using anti-malware tools. 2-viruses.com team prefer Malwarebytes and Spyhunter.
Anti-malware tools are not the same as antivirus. They are specifically targeted on discovering and removing various types of viruses that are already in the PC, while antivirus is more a generic protection preventing the infections from happening. But they are both equally important. You can learn more about it in differencebetween.info.
Even though malware removal programs are very useful in situations like this, sometimes the virus can be blocking the download or installation processes of such tools, you will have to use the manual removal to get back the control of your browser from the ‘Power Search’ parasite. Below we include the steps not only how to get rid of it from your Mozilla, Chrome, Edge or Safari, but also Control Panel if infection progressed further.
Automatic Malware removal tools
(Win)
Note: Spyhunter trial provides detection of parasites and assists in their removal for free. limited trial available, Terms of use, Privacy Policy, Uninstall Instructions,
(Mac)
Note: Combo Cleaner trial provides detection of parasites and assists in their removal for free. limited trial available, Terms of use, Privacy Policy, Uninstall Instructions, Refund Policy ,
Ways to manually remove 'Power Search' yourself
How to remove Power Search, PowerSearch using Windows Control Panel
Many hijackers and adware like Search.powersearch.online 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 Power Search, PowerSearch . You can click on "Name" or "Installed On" to reorder your programs and make Search.powersearch.online 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 Power Search, PowerSearch from macOS
Delete Search.powersearch.online from your applications.- Open Finder.
- In the menu bar, click Go.
- Select Applications from the dropdown.
- Find the Power Search, PowerSearch app.
- Select it and right-click it (or hold the Ctrl and click the left mouse button).
- In the dropdown, click Move to Bin/Trash. You might be asked to provide your login password.
TopHow To remove Search.powersearch.online 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.powersearch.online, 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.powersearch.online 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.powersearch.online 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.
- 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.
How to remove Search.powersearch.online 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.powersearch.online, 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.powersearch.online from Safari:Top
Remove malicious extensions- Click on Safari menu on the top left corner of the screen. Select Preferences.
- Select Extensions and uninstall Power Search, PowerSearch 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.
- 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.
Sometimes the spyware virus can be so persistent and intrusive that it can make changes in your HOSTS file. It is advisable to check them even when using an automatic removal tool. On how to do that, please read our article. HOSTS file allows the user to access websites faster by skipping DNS server, after catching the chosen website’s address into the file. ‘Power Search’ can put itself on a trusted website and appear no matter if you delete it from your PC.
After the complete search.powersearch.online virus removal from your computer, you are advised to reset your router settings. Here is a Lifewire’s guide on the Best.