Topsocialtabsearch.com Virus - How to remove

Topsocialtabsearch.com is a newly detected rogue application. It has already been dubbed a browser hijacker by cyber security researchers. And this is not without a reason. Top Social Tab Search program disguises its true functionality by pretending the legitimate and useful search engine, its actual functionality being PPC (pay-per-click) business.

About Topsocialtabsearch.com Browser Hijacker

TopSocialTabSearch was designed by Imali Media, a company specializing in the production of hijackware. This company has already released the following browser hijackers: Happygamesearch.com, Search.funkytvtab.com, Search.funsecuritytabsearch.com just to name a few among the most recent ones. Topsocialtabsearch.com perfectly works on Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Safari and other most widely used web browsers. Once, the program is on your computer’s system (be it Windows or Mac), it wipes your default homepage, search engine and a new tab page off and hammers Topsocialtabsearch.com instead. The latter search engine is a fake one and it renders the search results of Yahoo in a new tab page.

So how does browser hijacking and malvertising (=illegitimate advertising) business are interrelated? When Topsocialtabsearch.com becomes your default search provider, it can control what websites you are displayed. This rogue engine deforms the search results rendered by yahoo.com like a crooked mirror distorts your image. Having Topsocialtabsearch.com browser extension on one’s browser equals to visiting the kingdom of crooked mirrors. The scam sites you are being constantly presented with contain fraudulent advertisements. The legitimate web pages you stumble upon have the same 3rd party ads on them. This is the reason for the hijacking implemented by Top Social Tab Search extension and this is the reason you must remove it from your computer permanently. It is not the fake advertising content itself or the slowdown of the system that is the most menacing things, but the fact that the most perilous viruses can easily get onto your PC.

How does Topsocialtabsearch.com Browser Hijacker Get onto Your Computer?

There is a silent method of software infiltration generally known as ‘‘bundling’’. It is as old as the hills but, at the same time, as efficient as Swiss watches. Some PUP (potentially unwanted program) is embedded in the target app (the one which is going to be chosen for downloading). Thus, when a user downloads and installs the target app, a PUP lands on his/her computer along with it. This is how TopSocialTabSearch PUP is distributed. Luckily, PUPs can be excluded from downloads. For the latter purpose a user must enter Advanced/Custom settings and make this exclusion manually.

Spyhunter or Hitman professional tools are to be applied when the computer is infected with such malware as Top Social Tab Search app. In fact, the previously mentioned security utilities are recommended to be used for real-time protection either. Automatic removal without a doubt has more advantages than the manual one. Automatic tools instantly detect malware programs, junk files and registry entries and easily delete them. But there is also an option for manual removal. Manual removal instructions for Topsocialtabsearch.com browser hijacker are located just beneath the article.

Automatic Malware removal tools

Manual removal of Topsocialtabsearch.com virus

How to remove Topsocialtabsearch.com Virus using Windows Control Panel

Many hijackers and adware like Topsocialtabsearch.com Virus 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 Topsocialtabsearch.com Virus . You can click on "Name" or "Installed On" to reorder your programs and make Topsocialtabsearch.com Virus 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 Topsocialtabsearch.com Virus from macOS

Delete Topsocialtabsearch.com Virus from your applications.

1. Open Finder.
2. In the menu bar, click Go.
3. Select Applications from the dropdown.
4. Find the Topsocialtabsearch.com Virus 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.

TopHow To remove Topsocialtabsearch.com Virus 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 Topsocialtabsearch.com Virus, 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 Topsocialtabsearch.com Virus 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 Topsocialtabsearch.com Virus 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 Topsocialtabsearch.com Virus, 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.

How to remove Topsocialtabsearch.com Virus 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 Topsocialtabsearch.com Virus, 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 Topsocialtabsearch.com Virus from Safari:Top

Remove malicious extensions

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