Search.fr-recherche.com virus - How to remove

Search.fr-recherche.com virus is a browser hijacker that can affect Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome. The program usually modifies the settings of these browsers when users are installing some free applications from the Internet. It comes bundled to free players, download managers, PDF creators and so on. Once inside, the tool changes your homepage and default search engine to Search.fr-recherche.com.

Although the website looks like a regular search engine, in fact, it tries to make users visit specific pages. It changes you search results by adding numerous sponsored links which might be harmful to visit. Additionally, the program displays tons of ads every time you make a search using Search.fr-recherche.com. The main goals of Search.fr-recherche.com virus are to bring traffic to various sponsored websites and increase their page ranking in search results. Additionally, it can monitor your activity online and try to get some sensitive information. Therefore, it is not recommended to ignore this browser hijacker and get rid of it as soon as you notice its activity.

You can also try to avoid Search.fr-recherche.com virus and similar browser hijackers. Most of these programs come bundled to freeware and shareware that you can get from the Internet. Make sure you are very careful with your downloads from the Internet. Don’t ignore Terms and Agreements and read them carefully before you install anything. Also go for Custom installation and follow the steps to make sure you don’t allow making any modifications, like changing your homepage to unknown websites, adding unfamiliar toolbars and so on.

To remove Search.fr-recherche.com virus, go to Control Panel, Add/Remove programs list and uninstall it from there. Some versions of this hijacker install software that blocks browser settings from changing. To identify them, scanning with Spyhunter or other reputable antispyware tool might be useful. Then you can uninstall the extensions and reset settings in your browsers.

How to remove Search.fr-recherche.com virus from Internet Explorer (older versions):

1. Click on the arrow on the right of the search box;
2. Do the following: on IE8-9 choose Manage Search providers, on IE7 click on Change search defaults;
3. Remove Search.fr-recherche.com from the list.

How to remove Search.fr-recherche.com virus from IE 11:

1. Click on the Settings icon (top right)->Manage Addons;
2. Select Search Providers;
3. Change the default search engine to Bing or Google;
4. If any of these search providers is not available, follow “Find more search providers” in the bottom of the screen and install Google.

How to remove Search.fr-recherche.com virus from Firefox:

1. Enter “about:config” in url bar. This will open settings page;
2. Type “Keyword.url” in the search box. Right click and reset it;
3. Type “browser.search.defaultengine” in the search box. Right click it and reset it;
4. Type “browser.search.selectedengine” in the search box. Right click it and reset it;
5. Type “browser.startup.homepage” in the search box. Right click it and reset;
6. Search for “browser.newtab.url”. Right-click and reset. This will make sure that the search page won’t launch on every new tab;
7. If the settings revert and scan with anti-malware programs are clean: close Firefox, open file explorer and enter %AppData% in the address bar. Enter user.js in the search box. If this file exists, rename it and start Firefox again. You will have to repeat the steps above.

How to remove Search.fr-recherche.com virus from Google Chrome:

1. Click on the 3 horizontal lines icon on the browser toolbar;
2. Select Settings;
3. Select Basics ->Manage Search engines;
4. Remove unnecessary search engines from the list;
5. Go back to Settings. On Startup choose ‘Open blank page’ (you can remove undesired pages from the set pages link too);
6. If your New Tab page is hijacked, you will have to scan with anti-malware program or use New Tab Redirect extension from Chrome Store.

Remove shortcut hijack (all browsers) (optional):

If your browser opens Search.fr-recherche.com page on startup only, try this:

1. Right click on your browser icon. Choose Properties;
2. Open Short cut tab;

Delete Search.fr-recherche.com part from target field.

Automatic Malware removal tools