How to Remove SearchAwesome Adware

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SearchAwesome is anything but awesome. In fact, this program has been classified as an adware-type infection. That means it was developed to serve hackers’ malicious purposes and to cause you trouble. Needless to say, you should never tolerate a cyber parasite. Even the most harmless-looking virus could eventually get out of control. Hence, make sure the SearchAwesome parasite is immediately uninstalled. The more time it spends on board, the more problems it brings to you. SearchAwesome injects your favorite browsers with sponsored web links. That means you get constantly bombarded with random pop-ups, pop-unders and other commercials. And this is only the beginning. In order to cause the advertisements,  SearchAwesome installs a certain browser plugin. Of course, the modifications happen behind your back. Neither your authorization nor consent is relevant now that your PC is infected. The parasite adds its plugin and could install some additional toolbars too. As a result of these changes, you will notice your browsers are no longer reliable. They now generate a never-ending pile of sponsored ads. Voila. Consider your entire online experience demolished because the ads are everywhere. They cover every single website you attempt to visit. Furthermore, the pop-ups come in all shapes imaginable. That includes coupons and discounts and price comparisons and best prices and product offers and deals. You name it, adware displays it. Such programs boost web traffic to some specific websites which explains the ads. By flooding your PC screen with commercials, hackers gain profit. Do you see how easy it is for crooks to make illegitimate money online? They compromise your safety and bring sponsored ads to you. Thus, you’re stuck with advertisements and clicking them allows crooks to gain profit. Thanks to the pay-per-click mechanism, cyber criminals become rich at your expense. SearchAwesome lets them take advantage of your computer and puts you in danger when surfing the Internet. Note that the sponsored ads generated by this pest are highly questionable. Even though some of them could be harmless, others may turn out to be corrupted. As you could imagine, there’s no telling which is which until you click. Clicking is just too much of a risk, though. If you’re unlucky, you’ll open a bogus commercial which might compromise your security further.

How did I get infected with?

There is one commonly used virus infiltration method. Do you tend to download freeware or shareware bundles off of the Internet? Then keep in mind this is the most popular technique viruses apply to get spread online. To protect your device from intruders, be careful. Instead of skipping installation steps, pay attention. That means you should opt for the Custom or Advanced option in the Setup Wizard. Stay away from the Basic one as it provides you no information about what you’re installing. It would only take one single moment of haste to give green light to infections. Having to uninstall them afterwards, though, is indeed a hassle. Save yourself the trouble and take your time during the installation process. Check out the Terms and Conditions as well as the EULA (End User License Agreement). Being cautious will definitely pay off in the long run so don’t overlook any threat. Avoid installing software you don’t trust and always make a thorough check of the bundle itself. If you do spot a ”bonus” in there, deselect it. Another rather popular tactic involves spam emails or fake messages. Delete anything you receive in your inbox that you find suspicious. Chances are, such emails and messages are harmful.

Why is this dangerous?

SearchAwesome is annoying and dangerous. Quite the combination, don’t you think? Not only does this nuisance harass you but it also exposes you to threats. As mentioned, the parasite’s browser extension causes a pile of sponsored pop-ups. These stubborn advertisements could lead you to all sorts of malicious websites and help you download malware. You also get redirected and the PC speed is significantly slowed down. As if that wasn’t enough, your overwhelmed browsers freeze and crash out of the blue. You won’t be able to surf the Web or use your computer system in general. SearchAwesome also monitors your browsing-related data so hackers could sell it to third parties. The problem is that your private details could end up in the wrong hands. To delete the adware manually, please follow our detailed removal guide. You will find it down below.

How to Remove SearchAwesome virus

The SearchAwesome 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 SearchAwesome 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.

STEP 1: Track down SearchAwesome in the computer memory

STEP 2: Locate SearchAwesome startup location

STEP 3: Delete SearchAwesome traces from Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer

STEP 4: Undo the damage done by the virus

STEP 1: Track down SearchAwesome 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 SearchAwesome 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 SearchAwesome 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 SearchAwesome traces from Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer

• Open Google Chrome

• In the Main Menu, select Tools then Extensions
• Remove the SearchAwesome 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 SearchAwesome

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 SearchAwesome, 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 SearchAwesome 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 SearchAwesome Virus (automatic) Removal Guide

Please, have in mind that once you are infected with a single virus, it compromises your system 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.