Search-engin-ext.com Redirects - How to remove

Does Search-engin-ext.com briefly appear in your address bar as you search the web? This website comes with a browser extension called “Search with Engine of your choice”. Although the extension is not very dangerous, it does use malicious ads to spread. It also behaves like a search hijacker, taking over searches and sending data to Search-engin-ext.com. To stop Search-engin-ext.com from taking over your searches, the extension needs to be removed.

About Search-engin-ext.com redirects:

Threat type	Browser hijacker, trojan.
How Search-engin-ext.com spreads	Installed with adware bundlers, promoted by fake ads.
Problems and issues	It redirects some web searches, it tracks browsing history.
How to stop Search-engin-ext.com redirects	Remove Search with Engine of your choice and all other suspicious browser extensions, remove hijackers manually or with the help of antivirus apps (Combo Cleaner for Mac, Spyhunter for PC, others), check your browser settings.

Why Search-engin-ext.com cannot be trusted

Search-engin-ext.com’s shady browser add-on

Search-engin-ext.com and Search with Engine of your choice make up a pair of a website and a browser extension. They work together to add a feature to your browser – to let you search highlighted text on a number of search engines from your context (right-click) menu.

Search-engin-ext.com is related to sites like Search-engine-ext.com, Search-engin-ext.com, Search-engine-picker.net, and Search-engin.best. Extensions like Search The Text. There are dozens of websites that use this format.

The point is, Search-engin-ext.com is not a passion project by a sincere developer – it’s a small part of a big campaign. Search-engin-ext.com is definitely a commercial site. Someone created dozens of websites to promote browser extensions and to redirect search queries. Someone has enough money to use malicious ads to promote the site.

Although the extension Search with Engine of your choice does have actual, possibly useful features to web browsers, that doesn’t make up for all the problems that it has:

• It uses fake advertising to trick people to install it.
• It unnecessarily redirects search queries through its own website.
• It logs your search queries and browsing history.
• The identity of the company behind Search-engin-ext.com is not clear.

Malicious ads promote the extension

Malicious ads, such as fake Flash Player updates, are used to push people to install the Search-engin-ext.com extension.

In addition, Search-engin-ext.com might be included in adware bundles, where free programs offer a bunch of additional software in their installers.

Both ways can easily cause people to unintentionally add browser extensions and other apps. This is not a legitimate way to spread your software.

Such deceptive ads show up online on controversial websites, including audio and video converter/download sites (YTMp3, 2conv.com), torrenting websites, “free” movie streaming sites, file download sites, etc.

Privacy problems

The Search-engin-ext.com extension allows you to select text and then search it on Bing, Yahoo, or DuckDuckGo. But instead of sending the query straight to those sites, it sends them to Search-engin-ext.com first. This seems very unnecessary, especially when Search-engin-ext.com’s privacy policy hints that it logs your queries.

Search-engin-ext.com mentions in its privacy policy that it logs IPs, the sites that the user visited, and technical data (such as their browser and operating system). It also collects the queries that were sent through Search-engin-ext.com. If you’re protective of your online privacy, Search-engin-ext.com is not a good site to use, especially as it’s difficult to trust this site or hold it accountable (Browser extensions collect and sell data with almost no oversight).

The problem is, there’s no info anywhere about who the developer of the extension is. This information could be really helpful in figuring out whether Search-engin-ext.com (and the myriad related websites) is trustworthy or not.

How to remove Search-engin-ext.com

If Search-engin-ext.com is messing with your searches, it might be best to remove the extension Search with Engine of your choice.

The instructions for removing extensions can be found below. Removing the extension should get rid of the Search-engin-ext.com redirects and its context menu entry for good.

I would also encourage you to scan your computer with an antivirus app, such as Combo Cleaner for macOS, Spyhunter for Windows, and others. Fake Flash Player ads and similar malicious ads distribute malware much worse than the Search-engin-ext.com search hijacker. And often, adware bundlers install multiple items at once. It’s good to be careful and to check your recently installed items.

Automatic Malware removal tools

Restore browser settings

TopHow To remove Search-engin-ext.com Redirects 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-engin-ext.com Redirects, 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-engin-ext.com Redirects 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-engin-ext.com Redirects, 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-engin-ext.com Redirects 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-engin-ext.com Redirects 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 Search-engin-ext.com Redirects, 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.