Searchfox.me Hijacker - How to remove

Searchfox.me is a fake search engine. It might appear in your browser and cause unexpected websites to open without your permission. It also collects data on the browsing habits of its users/victims.

Searchfox.me can infect web browsers with the help of malicious software. Deleting it might be more complicated than just changing some browser settings and removing an extension. It’s recommended to check your computer for other potentially unwanted programs.

Searchfox.me in short:

Classification	Browser hijacker, adware.
How Searchfox.me affects web browsing	It makes Webcrawler.com return the search results, it spies on its users.
How adware infections spread	Included in the installers of other programs, falsely advertised online.
How to stop Searchfox.me redirects	Find and remove malicious browser extensions and apps with antivirus tools (Combo Cleaner for Mac, Spyhunter for PC, others).

What is Searchfox.me?

Searchfox.me hijacks search

You might have noticed the website Searchfox.me appearing on your screen. You might also see other strange and unfamiliar websites showing up, possibly even pop-up ads being displayed.

Searchfox.me is a browser hijacker. It appears uninvited and takes over the search settings of infected web browsers. It wants to control how people search the web so that it can drive traffic to affiliated websites (and help them make money). It also logs people’s web browsing activities.

Searchfox.me allows users to type in a search query and then has Webcrawler.com deliver the results.

It logs your queries

It also records some data about each of its users:

• Visited websites.
• Search queries and their time and date.
• Which ads were seen and clicked on.
• Location and language.

Searchfox.me appears to be related to Default-search.net, Firesear.ch, Chumsearch.com, and a few similar sites. So, even though Searchfox.me individually is not super popular, its family of adware infections is big enough.

How adware infects computers

You probably didn’t install Searchfox.me intentionally, so how did it get on your device?

One popular way for adware infections like Searchfox.me to spread is bundling. Various potentially unwanted programs, both legitimate and malicious, can be embedded in the installers of other apps. Some free apps make money by offering ads for optional downloads in their installers.

In some cases, malicious apps are falsely advertised. They’re disguised as known and trusted apps and then uploaded on the internet. Adobe Flash Player has always been a popular target. We recently wrote about a fake Telegram client being used to spread malware.

Malicious ads and poisoned web search results can also be used to trick people into downloading malware. We recently wrote about fake Yahoo answers sites, and there are lots of fake forum sites that spread through Google search results and offer malicious links.

Apps that act as bundlers usually get flagged by anti-malware programs. So, if you have an aggressive anti-malware tool installed, you will be warned about such installers.

How to get rid of Searchfox.me

Ordinarily, getting rid of browser hijackers is as simple as removing their browser extensions – instructions below.

But Searchfox.me might not be as simple. I know that some of its siblings have been associated with certain macOS adware that can be tricky to remove. So, I also added instructions to remove adware from your Mac.

Whether you’re a Mac user or a Windows user, it’s advisable to review your browser extensions and recently installed applications and remove all those that are suspicious (if you find an app that you don’t know, look up its name online to get an idea of what it is and whether you want it on your system).

In addition, it’s a good idea to scan your device with an antivirus tool, such as Combo Cleaner for macOS, Spyhunter for Windows, and others. If they detect malware, you can remove it.

Automatic Malware removal tools

Remove Searchfox.me from your browser

How to remove Searchfox.me Hijacker using Windows Control Panel

Many hijackers and adware like Searchfox.me 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 Searchfox.me Hijacker . You can click on "Name" or "Installed On" to reorder your programs and make Searchfox.me 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 Searchfox.me Hijacker from macOS

Delete Searchfox.me Hijacker from your applications.

1. Open Finder.
2. In the menu bar, click Go.
3. Select Applications from the dropdown.
4. Find the Searchfox.me 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.

TopRemove malicious extensions from Internet Explorer

• Press on the Gear icon→Manage Add-ons.
  
• Go through Toolbars and extensions. Remove everything related to Searchfox.me 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 Searchfox.me 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.

TopRemoving Searchfox.me 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 Searchfox.me Hijacker. Click on the trash bin icon next to Searchfox.me 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 Searchfox.me 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.

TopRemoving Searchfox.me 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 Searchfox.me 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 Searchfox.me 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.

How to remove Searchfox.me 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 Searchfox.me Hijacker. Click on the "Remove" icon next to Searchfox.me 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 Searchfox.me Hijacker from Safari (Mac OS X)

• Click on the Safari menu.
• Choose Preferences.
  
• Click on the Extensions Tab.
• Click on the Uninstall button near the Searchfox.me Hijacker. Remove all other unknown or suspicious entries too. If you are not sure whether you need the extension or not, you can simply uncheck the Enable check-box to disable the extension temporarily.
  
• Restart Safari.

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings

If you are still experiencing any issues related to Searchfox.me Hijacker, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on the 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.

How to remove Searchfox.me Hijacker from macOS

Delete Searchfox.me Hijacker from your applications.

1. Open Finder.
2. In the menu bar, click Go.
3. Select Applications from the dropdown.
4. Find the Searchfox.me 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.

(Optional) Delete related settings

Some malicious apps make themselves difficult to delete by changing various settings and leaving behind malicious files. Remove settings related to Searchfox.me Hijacker.

• Click the Apple logo in the menu bar. Open System Preferences.
• Some malicious applications set profiles to enforce unwanted settings. Remove unwanted configuration profiles.

1. 1. In System Preferences, click the Profiles icon. This icon is only visible if there are profiles on your Mac.
   2. Select unwanted profiles and remove them by pressing the minus '-'  button at the bottom.

• Some adware applications set SOCKS proxy to manipulate your internet traffic. Remove unwanted proxies:

1. 1. In System Preferences, click Network, Advanced, Proxies.
   2. If a proxy is set without your permission, uncheck it and click OK.

(Optional) Delete malicious files

Some malicious apps leave behind dangerous files in your Library folders. Delete files related to Searchfox.me Hijacker.

1. Open Finder.
2. In the menu bar, click Go -> Computer.
3. In the search box, type in Searchfox.me Hijacker and variations of it.
4. Delete the files that are found and that seem to be related to Searchfox.me Hijacker.