Remove LetsSearch.com Hijacker from Chrome/Firefox/IE

Suddenly LetsSearch.com took over your homepage and you cannot remove it.

What sounds like a cheerful and friendly invitation is actually the name of a nasty browser hijacker with many tricks up its sleeve. Have you somehow ended up infected with this pest? Do you not know how it works? Are you not certain how to deal with it? Then you have come to the right article. We’re aware that hijackers are considered to be more annoying than dangerous but trust us on this one – if LetsSearch.com spends enough time on your PC, you will bitterly regret leaving it there. Such types of infections rely on their harmless facade to trick you into believing they would never cause a pile of issues on your computer. Well guess what, they would. And, if you’re careless enough to allow it, they will. The way hijackers work is, they attack your browsers and modify them according to the hackers’ preferences. What about your preferences, you may ask? Unfortunately, once this parasite sneaked into the PC system, your own opinion on your own browser settings becomes irrelevant. Do you think that’s fair? Wait till you hear the rest of it. Due to the hijacker’s presence, your PC screen will be constantly filled with highly unreliable search results, potentially corrupted ads, bogus program updates, etc. As a result, the overall speed of the machine itself cannot remain unaffected and your browsers will start freezing and/or crashing. You can see that the presence of only one malicious program on the PC (like LetsSearch.com) is quite enough to effectively demolish your entire Internet experience. Therefore, the only way to regain control over your computer is to get rid of the virus that is harassing you.

How did I get infected with?

There are many possible answers to the question how LetsSearch.com landed on your PC. Having in mind how incredibly creative hackers could be when it comes to malware, you cannot afford even a single moment of distraction and negligence while browsing the Web. Not unless you’re willing to see your machine infested with parasites. Bundled freeware, for example, is a convenient  infiltration method that cyber criminals use very often. If you have the habit of downloading free programs from some illegitimate and questionable websites, you might want to reconsider that habit of yours. Almost every freeware bundle comes with a pesky infection as a bonus and if you make the mistake of letting it in, you will soon realize that you’re in trouble. Make sure you avoid unverified websites and when you do install free software, don’t select the Basic option in the Setup Wizard. Opt for the Advanced one instead. This will allow you to keep an eye on the programs you’re installing so you could spot a potential intruder and deny it access to the PC. It’s also recommended that you take a moment to go through the Terms and Conditions of the software you’re about to download. Remember, the more cautious you are, the better, because cyber parasites don’t miss a single opportunity to land on your once virus-free computer and create an absolute mess on it.

Why is this dangerous?

No PC virus is safe and certainly no browser hijacker is harmless. If you check LetsSearch.com’s official website and try to use the search engine provided, you will face the first of many tricks this parasite has in store – the redirection. LetsSearch.com generates many appropriate search results as well as many useless irrelevant ones. It’s up to you which one you will click open but be careful not to find a corrupted web link as this will means malware could directly land on your computer. That is not what you want, is it? After its successful installation, the LetsSearch.com hijacker starts messing with your browsers. The virus easily takes down all the most commonly used browsers out there, so expect to see some random changes in the settings of Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Internet Explorer. None of them requires your permission and none of them was meant to make your online experience any better. LetsSearch.com then replaces your default search engine as well as your browser homepage with its own malicious domain. This way, every time you browse the Web, you stumble across the hijacker’s endless pile of shenanigans. Being an extremely resourceful parasite, this thing will display you sponsored web results till the very moment you delete it. Of course, it goes without saying that a sponsored link is never trustworthy so you have to be very careful when you try to use your machine, otherwise you might accidentally install more parasites. LetsSearch.com is NOT a trusty search engine and no matter how hard it tries to convince you in the opposite, don’t let crooks fool you. You might also find it interesting to learn that even though according to its Privacy Policy, LetsSearch.com “only collects data to enhance and personally tailor” the program, in reality it monitors your whole browsing-related activities. That means your IP addresses, email-addresses, passwords, usernames, search queries and even your browsing history might end up in the wrong hands. Hackers don’t really hesitate when it comes to profit so your private data could be sold to unreliable third parties which, as you can imagine, might have catastrophic consequences for you. So why should you keep on board a malicious program that hijacks your browsers, slows down your machine and jeopardizes your privacy? You shouldn’t. In order to get rid of the LetsSearch.com parasite manually, please follow the detailed removal guide down below.

How to Remove LetsSearch.com virus

If you perform exactly the steps below you should be able to remove the LetsSearch.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.

The LetsSearch.com adware is specifically designed to make money. It generates web traffic, collects sales leads for other dubious sites, and will display advertisements and sponsored links within your web browser.

STEP 1: Uninstall LetsSearch.com from Add\Remove Programs

STEP 2: Clean LetsSearch.com from Chrome Firefox or Internet Explorer

STEP 3: Permanently Remove LetsSearch.com leftovers from the System

STEP 1 : Uninstall LetsSearch.com from your computer

Simultaneously press the Windows Logo Button and then “R” to open the Run Command Window

 

Type “regedit”

 

navigate to HKCU\software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main

Modify the string with a value data and set it to google.com for example.

STEP 2 : Remove LetsSearch.com homepage from Chrome, Firefox and IE

• Open Google Chrome

• In the Main Menu, select Tools then Extensions
• Remove the LetsSearch.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

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

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.