StreamsSearch Hijacker - How to remove

StreamsSearch, or Streams-search.com, is a browser hijacker that causes your search results to be opened in Yahoo.com. When StreamsSearch is installed, you might not even notice it. But you probably notice when your browser starts opening Yahoo to deliver your search results or when Streams-search.com starts showing pop-up ads on your screen.

About Streams-search.com redirects:

Classification	Adware, browser hijacker.
Problems and issues	StreamsSearch redirects searches to Yahoo, shows additional ads in the results, it uses notifications to show pop-up ads.
How StreamsSearch gets installed	Advertised online (dishonestly), bundled with free programs.
How to stop Streams-search.com redirects	Find and remove bad browser extensions manually or with anti-malware tools, like Combo Cleaner for Mac, Spyhunter for PC, and others), block notification pop-ups.

Streams-search.com – search hijacker

Unwanted installation

Some browser hijackers get bundled with various freeware and installed in the background. Mostly, optional offers like StreamsSearch can be bundled with free programs on download sites, but some individual developers do it, too.

Also, StreamsSearch gets advertised online as Recommended Extension or with Download Ready ads. Lots of malicious browser extensions use these formats to mislead people and trick them. Imagine clicking on what you think is a link to a video or a download button and seeing a page like this:

If you don’t read the small text and just click the Download button, you would unwittingly agree to install StreamsSearch.

Over thirty thousand people have installed this extension despite it being a search hijacker

Once StreamsSearch is installed, it changes the default search engine. If you were using the Google Chrome browser with the default new tab, then you would see the big Google search bar disappear from your new tab, but that’s it.

Search redirects

Thanks to StreamsSearch, every time you type something in the address bar to search for, Yahoo loads te results. You can still visit other sites and use them normally, but the default search setting is under StreamsSearch’s control.

It’s not that Yahoo is bad. It’s just that each user should be able to choose their preferred search engine.

And besides, the Yahoo search results seen through StreamsSearch consistently had more ads than plain Yahoo results. The same queries produced different results: the StreamsSearch had a couple more ads and the ads were displayed at the top of the page, while vanilla Yahoo placed the ads at the bottom. This wasn’t always the case, but it happened enough that I believe that using Yahoo through StreamsSearch could be very frustrating.

StreamsSearch is only one of many Yahoo redirects. But in this case, StreamsSearch seems to be related to hijackers that were associated with Webcoapps, such as SearchWizard, SearchZone, SearchAholic, etc.

How to remove Streams-search.com

Uninstall StreamsSearch and other browser extensions that interfere with your searches. You can find your extensions by opening your browser, opening its main menu, going into Settings, and clicking on Extensions. That opens a page with all the extensions listed. You can choose to remove or disable them (in case your browser is “managed”). You can also check their details to find out what these extensions do and which browser settings they have access to.

For example, StreamsSearch has the ability to change your default search engine. It changes search settings to Feed.streams-search.com. This is visible in StreamsSearch’s details section. This is what causes the Yahoo redirects.

You can find and remove unwanted browser extensions manually as described below or with an anti-malware tool, like Combo Cleaner for macOS, Spyhunter for Windows, and others.

Because Streams-Search.com might ask you to allow its notifications, you might want to block them. This can also be done in browser settings.

• Chrome – type “chrome://settings/content/notifications” in the address box.
• Safari – in the Safari menu, choose Preferences, Websites, Notifications.
• Edge (Chromium) – type “edge://settings/content/notifications” in the address box.
• Firefox – open Settings, Preferences, Privacy & Security, scroll down to Permissions, and click on Settings next to Notifications.

Scroll until you see a list of sites that are allowed to send notifications. This list might include Streams-Search.com. Next to each unwanted address, press the button that opens a menu and click “Block”.

Finally, check your browser’s settings for your default new tab and start/home page. Check your default search engine and choose one that you trust. The instructions are posted below.

Automatic Malware removal tools

Restore browser settings

TopHow To remove StreamsSearch 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 StreamsSearch 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 StreamsSearch 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 StreamsSearch Redirects, 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 StreamsSearch 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 StreamsSearch 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 StreamsSearch 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.