Remove Search.searchcfs.com Hijacker Virus

Can’t Remove Search.searchcfs.com hijacker virus? This page includes detailed Search.searchcfs.com Removal instructions!

Search.searchcfs.com isn’t a harmless search engine. It is actually an irritating browser hijacker which messes with your browser settings. Created by Eightpoint Technology Ltd., this infection must be uninstalled ASAP. Keep in mind that it’s a PC virus. Despite the fact it may appear to be useful and safe, it is none of those. Hackers rarely tell the truth about the parasites they develop so you can’t expect honesty from them. What you can (and should) expect out of Search.searchcfs.com is to put you in danger. The hijacker makes numerous unauthorized changes in your default browser settings. As a result of its tricks, both your search engine and browser homepage get sneakily altered. They get replaced with the parasite’s domain. This is how you end up stuck with its domain on a daily basis. There is no more surfing the Web at peace now that you have a hijacker to deal with. Search.searchcfs.com will certainly not enhance your online experience. It will bombard you with sponsored, extremely unreliable web links instead. Restrain yourself from clicking these dubious search results as they might be leading you to malware. Hackers bring sponsored links to you in order to gain profit through the pay-per-click mechanism. The problem is, crooks don’t have a single reason to take your security into consideration. Search.searchcfs.com also adds a browser plugin thus making the hassle even greater. This pest might also start generating sponsored pop-up ads as well. Do you know what that means? It means you’ll be absolutely unable to browse the Internet. Consider your entire online activity hijacked and effectively ruined. The parasite could display quite an impressive variety of commercials. For instance, discounts, coupons, product deals and offers, price comparisons, best prices. Once again, your permission to have this browser extension added remains irrelevant. The advertisements are just as unsafe as the search results generated by the hijacker. Thus, stay away from all links Search.searchcfs.com brings to your PC screen. Clicking wouldn’t be a risk worth taking so don’t test out the limits of your luck. You could be more than positive some of the links displayed by the hijacker are corrupted. To prevent further damage, get rid of this pesky parasite on the spot.

How did I get infected with?

Did you agree to install this program? More often than not, PC users don’t voluntarily compromise their computers. That means Search.searchcfs.com managed to trick you into installing it in silence. One notoriously famous infiltration method is called freeware/shareware bundling. Why is this technique hackers’ favorite tactic to spread viruses? Because it works like a charm. All that crooks have to do is attach some malicious infection to a program bundle. You do the rest by installing illegitimate bundles without paying attention. It is strongly recommended that you download legitimate software only. During the process, be careful what you agree to download. Skipping installation steps leaves your device vulnerable and deleting malware is indeed more problematic than prevention is. Save yourself the headache then. Always opt for the Custom or Advanced option in the Setup Wizard. Take your time right now so you don’t have to remove some nasty cyber intruder later on. Also, check out the Terms and Conditions or EULA (End User License Agreement). This will allow you to spot the unwanted bonuses that might be relying on your haste. In addition, stay away from spam messages as well as spam email-attachments. Those are usually tricky too.

Why is this dangerous?

The hijacker doesn’t seek permission before it makes changes. Search.searchcfs.com was created to serve hackers’ malicious purposes. Your preferences have nothing to do with crooks’ plans so don’t trust any of the parasite’s web links. As we mentioned, this program generates some highly questionable, potentially corrupted search results. It might also cover your PC screen with sponsored pop-up ads. Clicking these devious commercials helps hackers make money online. Their revenue might cause you trouble, though, because you’re one click away from installing more parasites. In order not to worsen your situation, avoid this parasite’s web links. Search.searchcfs.com redirects you and leads to a poor PC performance. To top it all, the hijacker spies on your browsing-related data and sends it to crooks. Get rid of the virus as soon as possible. You will find our detailed manual removal guide down below.

How to Remove Search.searchcfs.com virus

The Search.searchcfs.com infection is specifically designed to make money to its creators one way or another. The specialists from various antivirus companies like Bitdefender, Kaspersky, Norton, Avast, ESET, etc. advise that there is no harmless virus.

If you perform exactly the steps below you should be able to remove the Search.searchcfs.com infection. Please, follow the procedures in the exact order. Please, consider to print this guide or have another computer at your disposal. You will NOT need any USB sticks or CDs.

WARNING! Stopping the wrong file or deleting the wrong registry key may damage your system irreversibly.
If you are feeling not technical enough just use Spyhunter Professional Malware Removal Tool to deal with the problem!
>>Download SpyHunter – a Professional Remover.

Please, keep in mind that SpyHunter’s scanner tool is free. To remove the Search.searchcfs.com infection, you need to purchase its full version.

STEP 1: Track down Search.searchcfs.com related processes in the computer memory

STEP 2: Locate Search.searchcfs.com startup location

STEP 3: Delete Search.searchcfs.com traces from Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer

STEP 4: Undo the damage done by the virus

STEP 1: Track down Search.searchcfs.com related processes in the computer memory

• Open your Task Manager by pressing CTRL+SHIFT+ESC keys simultaneously
• Carefully review all processes and stop the suspicious ones.

• Write down the file location for later reference.

Step 2: Locate Search.searchcfs.com startup location

Reveal Hidden Files

• Open any folder
• Click on “Organize” button
  
• Choose “Folder and Search Options”
• Select the “View” tab
• Select “Show hidden files and folders” option
• Uncheck “Hide protected operating system files”
• Click “Apply” and “OK” button

Clean Search.searchcfs.com virus from the windows registry

• Once the operating system loads press simultaneously the Windows Logo Button and the R key.

• A dialog box should open. Type “Regedit”

• WARNING! be very careful when editing the Microsoft Windows Registry as this may render the system broken.

Depending on your OS (x86 or x64) navigate to:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run] or
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run] or
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run]

• and delete the display Name: [RANDOM]

• Then open your explorer and navigate to: %appdata% folder and delete the malicious executable.

Clean your HOSTS file to avoid unwanted browser redirection

Navigate to %windir%/system32/Drivers/etc/host

If you are hacked, there will be foreign IPs addresses connected to you at the bottom. Take a look below:

STEP 3 : Clean Search.searchcfs.com traces from Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer

• Open Google Chrome

• In the Main Menu, select Tools then Extensions
• Remove the Search.searchcfs.com by clicking on the little recycle bin
• Reset Google Chrome by Deleting the current user to make sure nothing is left behind

• Open Mozilla Firefox

• Press simultaneously Ctrl+Shift+A
• Disable the unwanted Extension
• Go to Help
• Then Troubleshoot information
• Click on Reset Firefox

• Open Internet Explorer

• On the Upper Right Corner Click on the Gear Icon
• Click on Internet options
• go to Toolbars and Extensions and disable the unknown extensions
• Select the Advanced tab and click on Reset

• Restart Internet Explorer

Step 4: Undo the damage done by Search.searchcfs.com

This particular Virus may alter your DNS settings.

Attention! this can break your internet connection. Before you change your DNS settings to use Google Public DNS for Search.searchcfs.com, be sure to write down the current server addresses on a piece of paper.

To fix the damage done by the virus you need to do the following.

• Click the Windows Start button to open the Start Menu, type control panel in the search box and select Control Panel in the results displayed above.
• go to Network and Internet
• then Network and Sharing Center
• then Change Adapter Settings
• Right-click on your active internet connection and click properties. Under the Networking tab, find Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4). Left click on it and then click on properties. Both options should be automatic! By default it should be set to “Obtain an IP address automatically” and the second one to “Obtain DNS server address automatically!” If they are not just change them, however if you are part of a domain network you should contact your Domain Administrator to set these settings, otherwise the internet connection will break!!!

You must clean all your browser shortcuts as well. To do that you need to

• Right click on the shortcut of your favorite browser and then select properties.

• in the target field remove Search.searchcfs.com argument and then apply the changes.
• Repeat that with the shortcuts of your other browsers.
• Check your scheduled tasks to make sure the virus will not download itself again.

How to Permanently Remove Search.searchcfs.com Virus (automatic) Removal Guide

Please, have in mind that once you are infected with a single virus, it compromises your whole system or network and let all doors wide open for many other infections. To make sure manual removal is successful, we recommend to use a free scanner of any professional antimalware program to identify possible registry leftovers or temporary files.