Search-gl.com Hijacker - How to remove

Search-gl.com is a website that tries to copy the look of more reputable search engines. It’s used by various browser hijackers as an alternative search engine. Search-gl.com does deliver search results, but it also promotes some dubious websites and could result in more infections. If your browser is constantly opening Search-gl.com, you can stop it by finding and removing the responsible apps and extensions from your computer.

Details on Search-gl.com:

Classification	Adware.
Issues with Search-gl.com	Lack of functionality, ads for potentially dangerous sites.
How adware spreads	Installed as optional offers with free programs, advertised by adware, promoted by other low-quality search engines.
Removing Search-gl.com	Scan your device with an anti-malware tool (Combo Cleaner for macOS, Spyhunter for Windows, etc.), remove malicious items and uninstall suspicious browser extensions.

What is Search-gl.com

Search-gl.com is a pretty old search engine that, despite appearing to be abandoned, is still being actively visited. Likely, the people who see Search-gl.com on their screens are those whose computers or browsers are infected with hijackers.

Search-gl.com is a search engine – a site that takes in your search queries and spews out relevant results. Although Search-gl.com does indeed show relevant search results, it lacks all the tools that other search engines provide, such as filtering by date, language, or result type. If you try to click on Search-gl.com’s Images or Videos tabs, it opens webpages associated with Google.com.

Despite not being connected to Google, Search-gl.com’s search results closely resemble how the older versions of Google.com looked: blue result titles, green links underneath. Copying that exact look is often done by alternative search engines to gain your trust. Trust that Search-gl.com does not deserve.

As expected, Search-gl.com shows ads for browser hijackers (Dailyrecipeguide, Funpopulargames, etc.) and other low-quality search engines (Zapmeta, Izito, etc.). This means that people who encounter Search-gl.com are exposed to a lot of potentially dangerous ads and risk infecting their computer with more adware.

Overall, Search-gl.com does nothing but waste the time of its users. It is a bad search engine that promotes adware. Search-gl.com is also a little broken and appears to have been abandoned, despite still getting some traffic.

How Search-gl.com spreads

Search-gl.com receives traffic from multiple countries and it is used as a search engine by multiple browser hijackers. Certain browser gaming extensions used it, as did some other new tab replacers. Any browser extension that has permission to control your new tab page is suspicious.

Such deceptive browser extensions have a few ways of infecting computers:

• Bundling, where a newly downloaded program installs potentially unwanted browser extensions and other junkware. Bundling is a sort of aggressive marketing tactic. It could cause a hijacker to be installed on your browser without you noticing it. Old programs bundled with Search-gl.com could still be floating around the web.
• Deceptive ads. Some browser hijackers are promoted using ads that basically tell you that you must install the extension.
• Ads in other search engines. Just like some of Search-gl.com’s ads open Izito and other ad-filled search engines, so could Search-gl.com be promoted by other adware sites.

Anti-malware tools that can detect potentially unwanted programs should be able to see if there are any items on your computer that you need to be concerned about. If not, check your installed programs and especially the extensions installed on your web browsers.

How to stop Search-gl.com hijacks

The easiest way to find potentially unwanted programs, such as the hijackers that might be messing with your browser settings and causing Search-gl.com redirects, is to scan your device with an anti-malware tool. Such as Combo Cleaner for Macs, Spyhunter for PCs, and others. If the anti-malware detects some suspicious items, review them and consider removing them.

Or open your browser settings, the extensions page. There, check the details of each and every extension that is installed on your browser. Be suspicious of certain permissions:

• Permissions that mention Search-gl.com. Such as ones that can read and change your data on Search-gl.com.
• Permissions to change your search engine to Search-gl.com or another site.
• Extensions that control your new tab page.

Below, I posted the instructions for removing browser extensions, but it is usually as simple as pressing the “Remove” button.

Additionally, you might want to uninstall suspicious programs that are flagged by your anti-malware app.

Automatic Malware removal tools

Manually remove browser extensions

TopRemoving Search-gl.com 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 Search-gl.com Hijacker. Click on the trash bin icon next to Search-gl.com 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 Search-gl.com 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 Search-gl.com 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 Search-gl.com Hijacker. Click on the "Remove" icon next to Search-gl.com 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 Search-gl.com 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 Search-gl.com 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 Search-gl.com 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.

TopRemove malicious extensions from Internet Explorer

• Press on the Gear icon→Manage Add-ons.
  
• Go through Toolbars and extensions. Remove everything related to Search-gl.com Hijacker and items you do not know that are made not by Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Oracle or Adobe.
  
• Close the Options.

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings

If you are still experiencing any issues related to Search-gl.com Hijacker, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Press on the Gear icon->Internet Options.
  
• Choose the Advanced tab and click on the Reset button.
  
• Select a “Delete personal settings” checkbox and click on the Reset button.
  
• Click on the Close button on the confirmation box, then close your browser.
  

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.