Search-smart.work virus - How to remove

Search-smart.work is listed as browser hijacker, yet it does not act as a typical hijacker – it won’t hijack your homepage or new tab page. However, this hijacker will take over your search settings and change them to www.search-smart.work.

If web browser is infected with this malicious add-on, you might not even notice any changes. Usually browser hijackers change homepage or new tab websites, so it is obvious for users that something was changed. In this case, only search settings will be changed so you won’t be actually seeing Search-smart.work website.

Besides that, you can clearly notice that all your searches now are executed through Yahoo search engine, so if you have used other search provider before, this should be a sign of some kind of problem.

Smart Search Extension

This extension called “Smart Search” is presented as a tool that will provide you with a “fresh, new search experience”. It will change the way you search the web indeed. The problem is that you are not going to like those changes.

First of all, using web search when you simply submit the search query into the URL bar is veryconvenient and time saving. Search-smart.work will modify this setting without even warning you about that and thus all your searches now will be processed through www.search-smart.work.

Since Search-smart.work doesn’t feature any unique search engine, it will simply redirect your searches to Yahoo search engine. That’s another dangerous factor – users might think that it’s ok to use Yahoo because it is well known and reliable search engine, but in reality Smart Search malware will be able to modify those search results, so you can end up not only wasting your time, but also exposed to dangerous websites.

It is not a secret that malware like this tend to be affiliated with other cyber criminals, so they might implement links to malicious websites into search results.

That’s not the only reason why Search-smart.work is not recommended to be used. In addition to customised results and hijacked search settings, it will also track your behaviour and even private data about you. This puts you in danger of losing your sensitive information, therefore it is extremely dangerous.

If that’s not enough, we would like to emphasise the fact that this extension for Google Chrome web browser is distributed using deceptive methods and gets installed behind the back. Even though it is available on Google Chrome web store, most of the installs occur when users download and install some free software and Search-smart.work comes as a bundle to it.

Bundling is very popular distribution method among browser hijackers – Search.searchlttrnpop.com and Wallpapers.myway.com also use this distribution method, so it is not a surprise. You should always be very careful about your downloads and keep computer secured with real-time anti-malware software to avoid installation of such viruses.

Effective way to get rid of Search-smart.work virus infection

Fist of all, you should click on the three dots icon on the left side of Google Chrome web browser, select “More Tools” and then “Extensions” option. On the extensions window find and select Search Smart extension, deactivate it and then remove it from the list.

Now, your search settings should be set back to normal. However, this does not guarantee that the virus won’t be recovered after some time. That’s why you need to remove it from your computer too.

Search-smart.work virus is not installed on your Control Panel as a program, but some certain files associated to this infection might be stored somewhere on your computer. It’s pretty difficult to identify and locate them manually, thus you should leave this process to the professional anti-malware tools – try either Spyhunter for this task. Scan your computer with either one of those tools and all malicious and corrupted files will be removed automatically.

Automatic Malware removal tools