SearchWizard Hijacker - How to remove

Have your internet search results been hijacked by Yahoo.com? When SearchWizard infects browsers, it changes their search settings and causes these Yahoo redirects. SearchWizard is a web browser extension, a small app that affects only the web browser. It’s easy to install by accident and it’s simple enough to remove. After removing SearchWizard and other adware, the search redirects will stop.

Details on SearchWizard:

Type of threat	Adware, browser hijacker.
Effects on the browser	Feed.search-wizard.com hijacks the searches, Yahoo delivers web search results.
Installation	Bundled with other programs, promoted with the help of misleading ads.
Removing SearchWizard	Use anti-malware tools (Combo Cleaner for Mac, Spyhunter for PC) to check for other infections, manually remove SearchWizard from your browser.

Search-wizard.com Yahoo redirects

SearchWizard is a browser extension. Browser extensions are apps that get installed on your web browser. They can be used to block ads, download videos, hide movie spoilers, add dark themes to websites, and a ton of other useful things. They can also do harm. Extensions get a lot of access to browser settings, after all.

The SearchWizard browser extension gets access to your browsing history and your internet search terms. It also changes your search settings to Feed.search-wizard.com. Feed.search-wizard.com leads to Yahoo.com, so, with SearchWizard installed, Yahoo is the one that hijacks your searches.

Most people use Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, Ecosia, etc. as their default search engine. But while SearchWizard is installed, it’s stuck opening Yahoo.com, and you can’t change your default search engine setting to fix it. The only solution is removing SearchWizard and any other malicious browser extension. You should be in control over your browser’s search settings, not SearchWizard the Yahoo redirect virus.

Besides hijacking your searches, SearchWizard doesn’t do anything useful. In fact, it’s sneaky – it’s easy to not even realize that it’s installed. So, a lot of people see their browser being broken but don’t know why or what the solution is.

SearchWizard is made by Webcoapps. Webcoapps has already made many other browser extensions that hijack searches and do nothing else: Protected Search, Booster Search, SearchZilla, and a dozen others. So, it’s not surprising that it’s the company behind SearchWizard, too. Its goal seems to be to hijack as many browsers as possible and then manipulate them to open certain sites. To show more ads to all the people whose browsers are hijacked. And to make money from showing those ads.

How SearchWizard gets installed

SearchWizard infiltrating people’s browsers is the fault of deceptive ads on shady websites. Sites for free movies and TV shows, filesharing sites, etc. If you don’t have an ad blocker and an anti-malware app, then you have nothing to block all the nasty adware links, redirects, pop-ups, and scam ads that show up.

A typical SearchWizard infiltration (and this applies to many other browser hijackers) goes like this:

1. You go on a site that happens to show a lot of shady ads. These are usually sites for free movie watching and file downloads.
2. You click to watch/download something. Instead, Install.search-wizard.com appears on your screen. Redirecting ads like this are common on certain websites.
3. Install.search-wizard.com encourages you to add or install SearchWizard. Verging on deceptive installation tactics, the goal here is to make you believe that you must install SearchWizard to proceed. That it’s required if you want to download your file or watch your movie (it is not).

There’s also the option that SearchWizard was bundled. Either with another browser extension or with a free program. Bundling is when a few optional (and often unwanted) programs are put inside the installer of another program which then gets uploaded online. You download and install it- only to get a few junk apps on your device, too. In theory, bundling helps promote software. In practice, it’s used to spread malware.

That’s why, when removing SearchWizard, it’s important to scan your computer for other infections. The way that SearchWizard spreads, it’s possible that additional malware made it onto your system, too.

How to remove SearchWizard

How you want to remove SearchWizard is up to you – both manual and automatic ways are viable.

If you get a lot of pop-ups and redirects in your browser, if your computer is a bit slow, then you might want to use an anti-malware app (like Combo Cleaner for macOS, Spyhunter for Windows, and other antivirus programs). Just to scan your device and check if any malware or PUPs (potentially unwanted programs) are found. You can ignore other scan results, like cookies, because those aren’t really important.

Otherwise, you can uninstall SearchWizard and leave it at that. I would still advise you to scan your computer just to be sure, though. To remove SearchWizard manually, you can right-click its extension icon in your browser and follow the “Remove” option. Or you can check out the instructions below – they’re for removing extensions in browser settings.

Automatic Malware removal tools

Remove SearchWizard browser extension

TopRemoving SearchWizard 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 SearchWizard Hijacker. Click on the trash bin icon next to SearchWizard 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 SearchWizard 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 SearchWizard 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 SearchWizard Hijacker. Click on the "Remove" icon next to SearchWizard 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 SearchWizard 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 SearchWizard 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 SearchWizard 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.