Search.searchutilities.co Hijacker - How to remove

Search.searchutilities.co is a browser hijacker that’s connected to the Search Utilities add-on. It replaces your new tab, which allows it to influence how you browse the web. It also logs your browsing data and may share it with advertisers. It’s not very dangerous, but it’s also extremely unhelpful. It’s advisable to remove Search.searchutilities.co by uninstalling Search Utilities and other potentially unwanted programs.

About Search.searchutilities.co:

Classification	Browser hijacker, adware.
How Search.searchutilities.co takes over browsers	It replaces the new tab page, it changes browser settings to force affiliated sites to open.
Problems and issues	It forces the user to visit potentially unwanted sites, it logs web browsing data and might share it with other companies.
How to stop Search.searchutilities.co redirects	Remove Search Utilities and other potentially unwanted browser add-ons, remove other malware manually or with an antivirus tool (Combo Cleaner for Mac, Spyhunter for PC, others).

What is Search.searchutilities.co?

New tab replacer

Search.searchutilities.co is a website that can replace your home page and new tab. It does this when you install the Search Utilities browser add-on.

The problem is, not everyone who installs this add-on does it knowingly or willingly.

In addition, Search.searchutilities.co doesn’t offer any useful features. All it does is redirect your internet search queries to Yahoo. In other words, Search Utilities is a Yahoo redirect virus.

This is not surprising. Search.searchutilities.co is made by Polarity Technologies Ltd, the same company that made Search Pro, Search Swapper, Search.hthenewssource.net, and many other browser hijackers. Usually, the features of these add-ons are very basic:

• a new tab replacer, a page that has links to some popular sites (Gmail, YouTube, Twitter, etc.) and a search box in the middle,
• the search box allows you to search the web, but it doesn’t allow you to select which search engine you’d like to use.

Compared to the vanilla new tab pages offered by web browsers such as Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari, Search.searchutilities.co actually lacks features because it doesn’t offer a way to pin your own links or to change your background picture (How to Customize a New Tab Page in Chrome).

Search hijacker

Search.searchutilities.co replaces your home page and wishes for you to use its links and its search bar to access the web. This gives it control over how you search the web. For me, Search.searchutilities.co always directed search queries to Yahoo through a partner link. But it could change this behavior at any time and start opening another site. It’s in control.

It also can read the search queries that you type into its search box. It logs various data, such as:

• technical data on your hardware and software,
• your location and language,
• your browsing history,
• your search history.

Bizarrely, Search.searchutilities.co’s privacy policy even specifies that your search queries might include personally identifiable information and that Polarity might share this data with third parties. It’s something to be aware of: while many other search engines, like Google and Bing, also collect a lot of data about you, you might find them more trustworthy than Polarity.

How to remove Search.searchutilities.co

Uninstall Search Utilities – remove it from your browser extensions. You can find the instructions below.

In my experience, new tab viruses like Search.searchutilities.co are often installed together with search hijackers. Whether they’re promoted by deceptive advertisements or installed by an adware bundler (Adware turns a tidy profit for those who sneak it into downloads), browser infections often spread in groups. So, when removing one, it’s important to check for others, too.

Besides Search Utilities, review your other extensions. And check your programs and apps. Scan your computer with an antivirus program, such as Combo Cleaner for macOS, Spyhunter for Windows, and others. Any reputable program that flags PUPs (potentially unwanted programs) in addition to malware.

Review your settings, especially those that were affected by Search Utilities:

• your default search engine,
• your home page,
• your new tab page.

After all, Search.searchutilities.co and other adware infections aren’t necessarily dangerous. They’re just annoying, inconvenient, and unwanted. As a result, they don’t always get detected by security scanners. This is why, if you want your antivirus scanner to protect you from such programs, it’s important to use an aggressive scanner and configure it to detect even the mildest threats.

Automatic Malware removal tools

Restore browser settings

How to remove searchutilities Hijacker using Windows Control Panel

Many hijackers and adware like Search.searchutilities.co Hijacker install some of their components as regular Windows programs as well as additional software. This part of malware can be uninstalled from the Control Panel. To access it, do the following.

• Start→Control Panel (older Windows) or press Windows Key→Search and enter Control Panel and then press Enter (Windows 8, Windows 10).
• Choose Uninstall Program (if you don't see it, click in the upper right next to "View by" and select Category).
• Go through the list of programs and select entries related to searchutilities Hijacker . You can click on "Name" or "Installed On" to reorder your programs and make Search.searchutilities.co Hijacker easier to find.
• Click the Uninstall button. If you're asked if you really want to remove the program, click Yes.
• In many cases anti-malware programs are better at detecting related parasites, thus I recommend installing Spyhunter to identify other programs that might be a part of this infection.

How to remove searchutilities Hijacker from macOS

Delete Search.searchutilities.co Hijacker from your applications.

1. Open Finder.
2. In the menu bar, click Go.
3. Select Applications from the dropdown.
4. Find the searchutilities Hijacker app.
5. Select it and right-click it (or hold the Ctrl and click the left mouse button).
6. In the dropdown, click Move to Bin/Trash. You might be asked to provide your login password.

TopHow To remove Search.searchutilities.co Hijacker 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.searchutilities.co Hijacker, 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.searchutilities.co Hijacker 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.searchutilities.co 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.
  
• 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 searchutilities 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.
  
• 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.

How to remove Search.searchutilities.co Hijacker 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.searchutilities.co Hijacker, 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.searchutilities.co Hijacker from Safari:Top

Remove malicious extensions

• Click on Safari menu on the top left corner of the screen. Select Preferences.
  
• Select Extensions and uninstall searchutilities Hijacker and other suspicious extensions.
  
• If your homepage was changed, click on Safari menu on the top left corner of the screen. Select Preferences and choose General tab. Enter preferable URL to the homepage field.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings(older versions) If you are still experiencing any issues related to Search.searchutilities.co Hijacker, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on Safari menu on the top left corner of the screen. Select Reset Safari…
  
• Select which options you want to reset (usually all of them come preselected) and click on the Reset button.
  

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