TheVideoSearch Adware - How to remove

TheVideoSearch is a malicious extension that causes Yahoo to take over your searches, to open unwanted pages, and to display ads on your screen. Besides advertising, TheVideoSearch also collects data on its users, such as your browsing history.

If you noticed that you have TheVideoSearch installed – by seeing it in your address bar or noticing it on your Extensions page – it’s recommended to remove it.

About TheVideoSearch:

Threat type	Adware, browser hijacker.
Problems with TheVideoSearch	It makes unhelpful and unwanted changes to your browser, it forces unexpected websites to open without your permission.
How browser hijackers get installed	Advertised online, embedded in the installers of other programs.
How to remove TheVideoSearch	Remove all browser extensions that made unwanted changes to your browser settings, if needed, remove malicious and potentially wanted programs that you can find with antivirus programs (Combo Cleaner for Mac, Spyhunter for PC).

What is TheVideoSearch?

Browser hijacker

TheVideoSearch is a browser hijacker. It gets installed like a normal browser add-on, in fact, its Chrome Web Store page shows that it has over ten thousand users.

Browser extensions should have some useful features – why else would anyone install them? Not TheVideoSearch, though. It’s described with this phrase:

This extension changes your Chrome’s Default Search. Optimized serp powered by Yahoo.”

So, it changes your browser’s settings so that Yahoo is the default search engine, which actually takes away features from your browser by restricting your choices.

It also threatens your privacy. While TheVideoSearch is installed, it reads your browsing data:

• your browsing history, including which ads you click on,
• your search terms,
• your location and language.

All the while, it fails to do anything helpful at all.

When TheVideoSearch is installed, you might not even notice. It doesn’t change much, at first glance. However, its effects are undeniable and it’s recommended to remove this extension. It’s not immensely dangerous, but it does nothing useful and makes money from advertising to you – no reason to let it stay on your browser.

Installed without permission

So, how is it that an extension like TheVideoSearch that lacks any useful features and yet is installed on thousands of browsers?

Browser hijackers sometimes get embedded into the installers of other programs – various free programs and adware bundlers (Google: Unwanted bundled software is way more aggressive than malware). They spread malicious and unwanted programs by bundling them with wanted programs. The bundlers get paid for installing the malware, while the malware makes money from ads and data.

Ads online, especially those on file download sites and free video streaming sites, sometimes lead to the advertisements of TheVideoSearch, GetSearchConverter, FreeStreamSearch, and other bad browser add-ons. These ads often simply list the instructions for installing the browser extension without any explanation for why you should do that.

These ads appear as pop-ups when you’re trying to download a file or watch a movie. It’s very easy to imagine someone seeing them and thinking “Oh, this extension must be required in order for me to download the file/watch the movie”. And though it’s the victims themselves installing TheVideoSearch, it’s not their fault – they got tricked into doing it.

How to remove TheVideoSearch

TheVideoSearch redirects are caused by the TheVideoSearch browser extension. Remove it, undo the changes that it made to your settings, and your browser will go back to normal.

But that might not be all. It’s likely, although not necessary, that other malware was installed on your device with TheVideoSearch. You can review your programs and apps manually and with antivirus programs, and if you catch something suspicious, like PUPs (potentially unwanted programs) and Adware, consider deleting those items.

You can uninstall browser add-ons by opening their context menu right in your browser’s UI or in the settings, the Extensions page. It’s all described in detail below, at the bottom of this page.

It’s also described at the bottom how to change the settings that TheVideoSearch had hijacked. Your default search engine, your new tab page, and home page. These are the settings that control what site delivers your search results and what page is opened in your browser by default.

There’s one other setting that you need to look at: your web push notification permissions. These can be hijacked by websites for use in ad spamming. Ads from Thevideosearch.com might show up even if you didn’t have TheVideoSearch in your browser extensions to begin with. They also don’t go away when you remove the extension. So, you need to stop them manually:

• Chrome – open Settings, scroll down to Site settings (under Privacy and security), click on Notifications.
• Edge (Chromium) – open Settings, click Site Permissions, Notifications.
• Safari – in the Safari menu, choose Preferences, Websites, Notifications.
• Firefox – open Settings, Privacy & Security, scroll down to Permissions, and click on Settings next to Notifications.

If Thevideosearch.com and other websites are able to send notifications to your browser, they’ll be marked as “Allowed”.

You can also disable notification prompts completely. This will stop other notification hijackers from getting access your browser, or at least make it harder for them.

Automatic Malware removal tools

Restore browser settings

TopHow To remove TheVideoSearch Adware 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 TheVideoSearch Adware, 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 TheVideoSearch Adware 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 TheVideoSearch, 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 TheVideoSearch Adware 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 TheVideoSearch Adware 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 TheVideoSearch Adware, 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.