Search.stosgame.com - How to remove

Search.stosgame.com virus is an intrusive malware (or ‘application downloader’ as it advertises itself) that installs into victim’s browser as a plug-in and sets itself as a default search engine which creates more problems than benefits the user. While Stosgame browser hijacker is not considered a dangerous threat, yet it’s very annoying and can cause relatively serious issues in a long run. Mainly this program says to be targeted towards Mac users, however, it can affect any operating system/browser.

Stosgame tricks users with the help of deceitful lies and website claiming how useful it can be for downloading and managing applications to the MacBook as if it already is not a simple task.  In reality just like other browser hijackers it makes inconvenient changes in your browser, tracks search queries and harvests personal information which later is shared with third parties. And these are a very few reasons why you shouldn’t be dealing with Stosgame browser hijacker any longer.

What do we know about the Stosgame virus

First of all, the search.stosgame.com threat of Macs that easily falls into the browser hijacker category because of the following reasons: distribution methods, secret installation without user’s permit, full control of user’s browser and modified results, advertising, data harvesting, browsing activity/personal data sharing with third parties and etc.

Stosgame is identical to search.kuklorest.com, search.pitchofcase.com, Search.shrinkmoron.com virus and search.otwexplain.com. It is unfortunately not clear which part of the world Stosgame originates, however, the ‘News’ section is set to display articles from Israel region. Additionally, the language and IP address give an impression that this browser hijacker is mostly targeted towards American users. In one of the virustotal.com user shares that another twin browser hijacker ‘Kuklorest’ belongs to Israeli company called Genieo At the moment, though, we can’t assure that the same company is responsible for Stosgame too.

The search.stosgame.com malware maliciousness doesn’t show up on the virustotal.com, on the second thought, after checking the other browser hijackers which are an exact copy – ‘Kuklorest’ and ‘Papershorty’, are marked as malicious or at least suspicious. Additionally, Stostgame is using an insecure HTTP extension, which is not a good sign for any legitimate website.

You should know that search.stosgame.com is not a real search engine but just a redirect virus which takes you to Yahoo search once you try to browse something with it. That’s because Yahoo sponsors Stosgame for an increase in the visitors’ traffic, just like many other third-party companies sponsor this virus to display/redirect to their ads of services/tools, furthermore buy off search statistics and personal information to later use it for the marketing purposes.

Although it all sounds somewhat scary Stosgame states everything in their Terms of Use, which we tend to never read:

Upon authorizing the installation process, Stosgame retrieves technical information from your computer such as (without limitation) the type and version of your computer’s operating system, IE browser version and installed hardware, Java resource availability .NET resources availability and your C-Class IP address (the “Technical Information”)….

We may offer you to install additional software, developed and/or published by other ISVs. In addition, We may offer you to change your homepage or your default search provider. We may assign and transfer our rights according to these Terms of Use to any third party at our sole discretion without notice…..

We may share non-personally identifiable information with third parties when this is required in order to provide….

As you can see, all the malicious activities are stated on the website itself, therefore it’s an obvious sign that Stosgame virus doesn’t promise anything good and should be removed as soon as possible.

How does search.stosgame.com infect the systems

There are many ways how browser hijackers (more about browser hijackers on Wikipedia) spread, but the main one for Stosgame is via bundling, together with other programs. When you download some software, fake updates, files or torrents from unauthorized websites there is a great chance that they will come together with many other additional programs such as search.stosgame.com. Although Stosgame can be installed voluntarily because of the good advertisement campaign.

When the virus does get into your MacBook it will not ask the permission to make any changes. Instead, Stosgame will add itself as a plugin into your Safari or any other browser and then will connect to search.stosgame.com to download the final Javascript to finalize the invasion. After that you will start noticing first browser hijacker infection signs – your default homepage and the search engine will become search.stosgame.com and even when you’ll try to get your old Google/Yahoo/Bing back you won’t be able to.

How to solve Stosgame browser hijacker infection

What is interesting about the search.stosgame.com virus removal is that after digging deeper into the main website it appears that Stosgame has a Mozilla, Safari, and Chrome hijacker elimination guides and even a removal tool that you can download from them to get rid of this unwanted virus. However, you shouldn’t get excited too early.

In order to delete or allow You to review your personal information, we may require that You provide us ([email protected]) with identifying information or install additional software to allow such review.

It is perfectly fine to follow the guidelines that search.stosgame.com offers because they are the simple redirects to each browser’s help section (Mozilla, Chrome, Safari), on the other hand, the removal program seems too suspicious and unnecessary. For a threat which is so sneaky and persistent is kind of unusual to be so helpful and even make a tool that supposedly cleans your system. Feel free to try it, but instead, we recommend to download a trustworthy malware removal software which will get rid not only search.stosgame.com but other viruses as well.

2-viruses.com team has tested quite a few anti-spyware tools and the ones that stood out for us were Malwarebytes and Spyhunter. You should also look at the best antivirus to invest for the future on this Techradar.com article

Automatic Malware removal tools

What manual methods can you use for Stosgame removal

Sometimes, when the computer has more security vulnerabilities and inactive protection (can be a result from previous/existing unsolved infections, user’s neglect or lack of knowledge) Stosgame browser hijacker can become more persistent and block the downloading of any anti-malware/antivirus product. In such case, you have to remove it manually first and then get the spyware removal tool to make sure that all of the leftovers from the virus are completely gone because it might reinstall if you keep some files. To delete search.stosgame.com browser hijacker from your Safari follow the manual instructions below.

How to remove Search.stosgame.com from Safari:Top

Remove malicious extensions

• Click on Safari menu on the top left corner of the screen. Select Preferences.
  
• Select Extensions and uninstall Search.stosgame.com 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 stosgame, 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.

TopHow to remove Search.stosgame.com from Google Chrome on Mac:

• Open Chrome browser.
• Enter in the url field “chrome://extensions” address and hit Enter.
• Find Search.stosgame.com on the extensions list and click on the recycle bin icon next to it.
• Click on 'Chrome' button at the top left corner. Select 'Preferences' on a drop-down menu box.
• Find 'Search' options on Settings tab. If your search engine is changed, click 'Manage Search Engines' and set your preferred search engine.
• On the same page find 'Show home button' checkbox and change your homepage.

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings If you are still experiencing any issues related to stosgame, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• On the 'Preferences' menu window, scroll down to the bottom and find 'Reset settings' button. Click it.
• Confirm your selection and click 'Reset' on the following window.

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

Top

How To remove Search.stosgame.com from Firefox on Mac OS:

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Mozilla window and select the “Add-ons” icon (Or press cmd+Shift+A on your keyboard).
• Go through Extensions list, remove everything Search.stosgame.com 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.
• Enter “about:preferences” in URL bar and hit enter.
• Open Search settings tab.
• If your search engine is changed, click 'Default Search Engines' and set your preferred search engine.
• If your homepage was changed, click on the Firefox menu in the top right corner, select Preferences-> General. Enter a preferable URL to the home page field.

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings If you are still experiencing any issues related to Search.stosgame.com, 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 Refresh Firefox button.
• Click on the Refresh 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.

Lastly, before fully using your computer or after deleting the virus you are still experiencing strange inconveniences please read this Guide, to see if you need to make additional changes in your Hosts file, DNS or proxy settings.