Searchaize.com Hijacker - How to remove

If Searchaize.com has unexpectedly appeared on your screen and if your search engine has suddenly changed to Yahoo, then Searchaize may have hijacked your browser. Underhanded tactics trick people into installing it, and because Searchaize is so sneaky, you may not even notice that it’s there. If you do, though, it’s simple enough to remove it and have your browser be free again.

Details on Searchaize.com:

Classification	Browser hijacker.
How Searchaize.com gets installed	Bundled with free programs, promoted with dishonest ads.
How the browser is affected	Feed.searchaize.com is set as the new search engine, Yahoo returns search results, pop-up ads appear in the bottom right corner of your screen.
How to remove Searchaize.com	Delete the Searchaize browser extension, check if there’s adware on your computer (with Combo Cleaner for Mac, Spyhunter for PC, and other programs), block unwanted web push notifications.

How Searchaize.com works

Installation

Searchaize can be found on Install.searchaize.com. Here, a page vaguely encourages you to Download Searchaize. This page gets advertised online, on various filesharing sites and monetized URL shorteners. Because it has a big, bright Download button, people often get mixed up and click on it, expecting to download whatever file they were trying to download.

Another way that Searchaize might spread is through adware bundles. Some free programs that you can download from the internet are actually full of adware and potentially unwanted software. Installing them results in junkware infiltrating your computer. Browser hijackers like Searchaize are a common type of adware that comes in these bundlers.

Changes to the browser

Once Searchaize is installed, it gets access to your browsing history, your search queries that get sent to Searchaize.com, and, most importantly, to your search engine settings. Searchaize changes your default search engine to Feed.searchaize.com, which opens Yahoo.com.

Searchaize.com is a search hijacker. It only exists to take over your searches and force ads on people. It does this by hijacking your (and a few thousand other people’s) web browser. A web browser is a program that accesses the internet and displays websites. It’s the program we use to shop online, do banking, and talk to our friends. Hijackers get access to our web browsers to manipulate how we search the internet – and make money off of that by showing us more ads.

How to remove Searchaize.com

Searchaize.com is very similar to Search-hd.com, Search-converter.com, Search-zone.com, and other Webcoapps creations. So, while you’re removing Searchaize, keep an eye out for other hijackers and remove them, too.

You can find malware with an anti-malware app, like Combo Cleaner for macOS, Spyhunter for Windows, and others. Or you can look for them manually, by examining the permissions of each of your browser extensions (anything that changes your search engine, reads your data on all websites, or controls your new tab page is suspicious).

Either way, you can remove malicious browser extensions on your own, it’s very simple – just follow the instructions below. If something doesn’t work, you may need to check this article on removing extensions that were “installed by enterprise policy”. Also, you may want to check your notification settings and block unwanted web push notifications as described in this post.

How to avoid infections

Searchaize.com and its sibling sites are numerous – not to mention all the other adware, like Myway, Shlayer, and Searchdimension. The point is, malicious actors are always preying on careless and distracted people. Here are a few ideas on how to protect yourself:

• Set your programs to automatically install software updates. If you use Windows, set your active hours. Software updates are very important in keeping malware out.
• On the other hand, avoid sites that tell you to download and install fake software updates. Trust me, no program tells you about an update via a pop-up in your browser. It’s just malware in disguise.
• Avoid websites that show a lot of obnoxious ads. Remember that some low-quality ads try to trick you by pretending to be Start, Download, Install buttons. That’s what Searchaize did, too.
• Use a good anti-malware program that can block malicious websites.
• Scan the files that you download with an anti-malware app before you run/open them.

Automatic Malware removal tools

How to remove browser extensions

TopHow To remove Searchaize.com 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 Searchaize.com 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 Searchaize.com 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 Searchaize.com 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 Searchaize.com 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 Searchaize.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.
  
• 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 Searchaize.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.
  
• 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.