Vista Search - How to remove

Vista Search (or Vista-search.com) is a web browser add-on for changing search settings. It makes your browser go to Yahoo to search the web and if you click on its extension icon, Vista-search.com is opened. Most users installed Vista Search by accident. There’s no benefit to using this extension, as it only exists to spy on your search habits and show you a few ads. Vista Search was developed by Webcoapps, which is responsible for a few other browser hijackers, like SearchYA and TinyChill.

Vista Search features and problems:

Classification	Browser hijacker, adware.
Problems with Vista Search	Gets installed deceptively, changes your search engine, has no useful functions or utilities.
How it spreads	Promoted by misleading ads, installed with the help of deceptive sites.
Removing Vista Search	Uninstall unwanted browser extensions, block notification pop-ups, check your device for malware (Combo Cleaner for Mac, Spyhunter for PC, etc.).

Do you have Vista Search

Vista Search works as a web browser add-on and changes your browser: sets Feed.vista-search.com as your new default search engine and starts reading your browsing history. Yahoo now returns your web search results any time you type a search query into your address box.

If you check your browser settings, you can see that Vista Search controls what your default search engine (the site that your browser sends internet search queries to) is. Though it set Feed.vista-search.com as the default site, it always redirects to Yahoo. But if Vista Search’s makers changed their minds and decided to force any other site on all of its users, like Becovi.com, Ibrowsersearch.com, or Kensaq.com, they could.

When you originally visited Vista-search.com, it must have offered you to allow notifications. Any site can offer notifications to visitors. If you accept them through your browser by clicking the “Allow” button, then the site can send pop-ups to your browser at any time. An email site may send you updates on new emails, a blog site may announce new posts, while Vista-search.com can abuse this chance to advertise weird browser hijackers, scam sites, get-rich-quick schemes, etc.

All installed browser add-ons should display their icons in your browser’s user interface. Check to the right of the address bar. If there’s nothing there, put your mouse cursor on the right edge of the address bar until the cursor looks like a double arrow, then drag to the left. Click on Vista Search’s icon (a blue-and-yellow ‘V’), and it’ll open Vista-search.com. This page has a few utilities, like a calculator that only works with the mouse and a website favoriting function that outright doesn’t work.

How it gets installed

Like I said earlier, it’s likely that most Vista Search’s users did not want to install this app. they were tricked into installing it by misleading ads.

If we check web analytics on Vista-search.com, we see that most of its visitors are redirected from sites well known for showing dubious and aggressive ads:

• URL shorteners that are monetized, like Uiz.io and Uii.io.
• Illegal online streaming sites, various “free” movie and TV websites, Putlockers.
• Free adult video sites.

Sites like these don’t have good advertising standards and they often show malicious ads that trick users into installing random programs. For example, Vista Search uses a fake download button that doesn’t make it clear what it even is. You may think you’re downloading whatever file you wanted to download on a previous site, but you’re actually installing Vista Search. This way, the extension gets lots of unwitting users – people who don’t even know that they installed Vista Search; these users are left wondering, “why is Yahoo now showing my search results”?

It’s possible that an adware virus is at fault for you ending up with Vista Search. It’s also very possible that another browser extension promoted Vista Search to you. You may want to check your computer to see if there’s any more malware.

How to remove Vista Search

First, to stop any ads from Vista-search.com, disable notifications from this site to your browser. To do this, open your browser and go to the relevant settings:

• Chrome – type “chrome://settings/content/notifications” in the address box.
• Safari – in the Safari menu, choose Preferences, Websites, Notifications.
• New Edge – 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.

There, find Vista-search.com or a similarly named site, check the options next to it, and choose “Block” or a similar option. More detailed instructions with screenshots are in this article.

Remove Vista Search with an antivirus program (Combo Cleaner for macOS, Spyhunter for Windows, etc.) or manually (instructions are below).

Consider using an anti-malware program to block malicious sites. Real-time web protection features in anti-malware programs check the sites that you visit and block the suspicious ones. It’s not 100% effective or accurate, but it’s better than nothing.

Automatic Malware removal tools

Manually remove the Vista Search extension

TopHow To remove Vista Search 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 Vista Search, 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 Vista Search 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 Vista Search, 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 Vista Search 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 Vista Search 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 Vista Search, 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.