Screen Addict Search Redirect - How to remove

Screen Addict is an add-on for web browsers (Chrome and Firefox) that promises to bring you easily accessible film trailers, entertainment news, opening films, and film reviews. This extension might be useful, though it really is very basic, if not for the search hijacking and bundling. Screen Addict is no malware, but it does get access to your browsing data, and that merits some concern.

A lot of those who install Screen Addict, whether intentionally or not, end up a little frustrated because their search engine seems to have changed, their search queries are going to an unexpected change, and they don’t know why this would happen.

The problem with Screen Addict is that, even though this browser extension is relatively harmless, the ways that it’s distributed can indicate some additional problems with your computer’s security or your browsing habits. At the same time, Screen Addict could be a one-time issue, so don’t panic.

What is Screen Addict?

Screen Addict promises to bring you the newest movie trailers by furnishing your new tab page with new features, though the description does not explain the search redirecting. The new tab page that Screen Addict sets does have links to various websites that might be useful, like Rotten Tomatoes or The Hollywood Reporter. Though, in my opinion, bookmarks would serve even better because they are customizable.

Screen Addict also puts a search bar in the middle of the new tab page. This search bar links to the MySearch engine and there is no way to change that. MySearch is a functional search engine, though the amount of ads included in the result page is unusually high.

The extension is very similar to a lot of Mindspark’s and other browser hijackers, like Your Daily Trailer or DirectionsOnline. Their and Screen Addict’s point seems to be to make you use their search engine, whether it’s MyWay, MySearch, or some other one; the search engine shows ads that, of course, pay more the more people see them, which is why more users are needed. Not everyone knows how browser add-ons work, so some people might accidentally install a plugin and now know how to remove it, or a bundler might install Screen Addict or another add-on and the victim might not realize that the changes to their browser are reversible. Deception and exploitation, as well as adware-like behavior are enough for quite a lot of anti-malware tools to classify browser hijackers like Screen Addict as a threat while acknowledging that they’re not real malware.

How is Screen Addict distributed?

Screen Addict is almost never searched for deliberately, it’s not a famous extension. The biggest sources of traffic to the add-on’s installation page are ads and redirects, though the ads often behave like redirects and pop-ups.

Loteron.com and other notification spammers redirect to Screen Addict among other sites, and if some of these spammers have infected your browser, they are promoting some more harmful pages, too — scams and malware. Adware and malicious ads are responsible for spreading lots of dangerous links, so if you’re infected with adware, that’s a much bigger problem than a search redirecter.

The ad-networks that spread Screen Addict, like Propeller Ads Media, Adcash, and PopAds, already have a reputation for sometimes accidentally distributing serious malware (way more serious than this search hijacker), and often being involved in spreading the types of software like Screen Addict that is considered by some to be adware.

Finally, some free programs bundle Screen Addict with them and can install it without you even noticing. Moreover, Screen Addict itself bundles MySearch, which is a real search hijacker that parks in your search bar and directs all the search queries to MySearch (enhanced by Google, but with more ads and promoted content).

How to eliminate Screen Addict

The extension can be removed manually, but it needs to be done completely and carefully. After all, Screen Addict might not be the only unwanted add-on on your browser and removing it alone might not reset your search functionality to how it was before. That’s why, when uninstalling Screen Addict, check all of the extensions and consider if you need to keep them; remove all that you don’t trust. As for how to do that, the instructions are below this article. But it should be enough to right-click the icon of the Screen Addict extension and choose to remove it.

If you experience problems with repeat infections, redirects, excessive ads, or have programs and browser extensions being installed without your knowledge, the culprit is probably some unwanted program or a bundler that you downloaded from a freeware site. It’s worth performing a scan on your computer with an aggressive program that can detect PUPs (potentially unwanted programs), like Combo-Cleaner (Mac), or Spyhunter (PC). If any are there, it might be worth using another site to download your software from — one that doesn’t bundle their programs with useless add-ons.

Automatic Malware removal tools

TopRemoving Screen Addict Search Redirect 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 Screen Addict Search Redirect. Click on the trash bin icon next to Screen Addict Search Redirect 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 Screen Addict Search Redirect, 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.

TopRemoving Screen Addict Search Redirect 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 Screen Addict Search Redirect 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 Screen Addict Search Redirect, 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.