S3redirect.com Search Hijacker - How to remove

S3redirect.com is an address that shows up in the address bar before it opens another website. It may cause S3arch.page, Yahoo.com, and other redirects. It comes with browser add-ons that get advertised on pirating websites. To stop S3redirect.com redirects, you need to find and disable or remove those browser add-ons.

S3redirect.com details:

Classification	Adware, browser hijacker.
How S3redirect.com spreads	Through malicious browser add-ons, through ads on pirating sites and file download sites.
Effects on the browser	Search results are delivered in Yahoo.com, S3arch.page, or another site.
How to stop S3redirect.com redirects	Uninstall suspicious browser add-ons, check them with anti-malware apps (Spyhunter for PC, Combo Cleaner for Mac).

How S3redirect.com works

Ads and redirects on pirating sites

Looking at web traffic analytics, it looks like S3redirect.com hijackings are most associated with game piracy. Ads on pirating websites tend to be very aggressive and misleading, with a lot of pop-ups, redirects, and fake download buttons vying to trick users to click on them. These ads show download buttons or links that lead to malware.

Even if the pirated games aren’t infected with malware (sometimes they are, so be careful), navigating around malicious ads to get to the files and download them can be difficult, especially if you don’t have adware installed. Adware and anti-malware programs can help stop malicious redirects and pop-ups, though even they aren’t perfect.

Malicious browser extension

S3redirect.com is spread by browser extensions – little add-ons that change how a browser works. Sals AP, Niux APP, and similar browser add-ons get installed and change the default search engine to S3redirect.com. When one of these add-ons is installed, the browser doesn’t look any different. But when you try to search for something, it does interfere.

Those malicious add-ons take your URLs on most common search sites, including Google, Bing, Duckduckgo, Yahoo, Ecosia, Ask, and Mysearch, and strip out the query. Then, they send that query to S3redirect.com and load S3redirect.com.

Strangely, Chrome didn’t seem to display the warnings that it usually shows when a search-hijacking add-on is installed. This could make it more difficult to notice the problem.

They also show ads for Aliexpress, Booking, etc.

Search redirects

This post is about S3redirect.com as this page is getting popular, estimated to receive around one and a half million visits per month. But S3redirect.com leads to other malicious sites. And which site it opens is different on each computer.

The privacy policy of browser add-ons that redirect to S3redirect.com refer to SmashApps whose site also gets hundreds of thousands of visits per month.

• Sometimes, S3redirect.com goes to Searchmes.xyz which then opens S3arch.page.
• Other times, S3redirect.com goes to Smashapps.net and then to Yahoo.com.

Most likely, what’s happening is that S3redirect.com is being used to redirect traffic to affiliated search sites. Some search engines have partner deals where they share ad revenue. It’s a little bit of money per user, but with hundreds of thousands of visits, it must add up. Thus, S3redirect.com can be considered adware. Not very malicious but definitely annoying.

How to remove S3redirect.com

To get rid of S3redirect.com redirects, go into your browser settings and remove or disable those extensions that are at all suspicious:

• Those that you do not remember installing.
• Add-ons that change your search settings.
• Those that read your data on all sites or on sensitive sites (Google, Bing, Yahoo).
• Those that read your browsing history without a justification.
• Add-ons that don’t have any reviews or whose reviews don’t talk about specific features of the extension.

S3redirect.com will go away once you remove or disable all the add-ons that are redirecting your searches. You can use anti-malware apps, such as Spyhunter for Windows, Combo Cleaner for macOS, and others, too.

If the add-ons can’t be removed (the Remove button doesn’t work), check out this post or this article.

Be careful when on sites that show ads with fake download buttons and links. Have patience and examine all of your browser tabs and URLs.

Automatic Malware removal tools

Remove unwanted extensions

TopRemoving S3redirect.com Search Hijacker 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 S3redirect.com Search Hijacker. Click on the trash bin icon next to S3redirect.com Search Hijacker 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 S3redirect.com Search Hijacker, 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 S3redirect.com Search Hijacker 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 S3redirect.com Search Hijacker. Click on the "Remove" icon next to S3redirect.com Search Hijacker 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 S3redirect.com Search Hijacker 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 S3redirect.com Search 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.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings If you are still experiencing any issues related to S3redirect.com Search 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.
  
• 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.