How to Remove Search.gg Hijacker

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

A browser hijacker lurks on your PC. Be wary! You’re in for quite the predicament. Search.gg is an untrustworthy and malicious site. Do not use it! Don’t fall for the marketing ploy, and believe its fake promises. It’s all a scheme to entice you into acting against your better judgment. The developers claim the page is a legitimate search engine. Supposedly, it’s reliable and rather helpful. It promises to improve your browsing, and offer better results. And, overall, to provide a better experience. All that seems fine and dandy, but it’s not true. Fact of the mater is, Search.gg is a hijacker-related website. It does not improve your experience, but worsens it. Your screen gets bombarded with third-party content. The hijacker throws you into a whirlwind of unpleasantness. You suffer constant grievances, and your situation worsens on a day-to-day basis. Headaches and issues grow in severity with time. The more you extend the hijacker’s stay, the stronger its grip over your PC gets. Hence, the more danger it puts your way. Do yourself a favor, and don’t put yourself in that situation. Don’t endure the infection’s influences. It’s hazardous and harmful, and has NO place on your PC. It brings only negatives your way. Expect no positives from its presence. So, do NOT delay its deletion! The sooner you locate where it lurks, the faster you can remove it. And, its prompt removal ensures both your safety. And, that of your system. Yes, alongside everything else, the tool threatens your security, as well. Don’t let it run rampant on your PC. Find and delete it ASAP.

How did I get infected with?

Search.gg pops up, because of you. You got careless at a most inopportune moment. And, a hijacker took advantage of it. Let’s elaborate. Hijackers need user’s permission to access a system. They have to inquire whether you agree to install them. Only if you do, can one proceed with admission. So, these tools turn to trickery. They have found ways to seek your consent, and make sure they get it. For example, they lurk behind freeware. And, most users aren’t as attentive as they should be, when installing freeware. They rush, and give into gullibility. Instead of reading terms and conditions, they leave their fate to luck. That’s what threats, like the hijacker, count on. They prey on your carelessness. They need it to ease their covert install. Spam email attachments, corrupted links or sites, and even fake updates. These are also methods, the infection can turn to, and sneak in undetected. It’s up to you NOT to allow that. Protect your system! Always take the time to be thorough. Do your due diligence, and know what you say YES to. Even a little extra vigilance goes a long way. Keep that in mind, when you allow anything off the web, into your PC. Choose caution over carelessness.

Why is this dangerous?

The Search.gg site is ever-present on your screen. The hijacker makes sure to force it on you, non-stop. It doesn’t miss an opportunity to redirect you. Open a new tab? It’s there. Type a search? It’s among the results. Do anything at all online, you WILL see it. The infection even replaces your default homepage and search engine with it. Did you ask for the switch? No. Had you prior knowledge of its implementation? No. That’s because, the hijacker can force a variety of changes on you. And, it can do so, without seeking your permission, or informing you. It can do as it wishes, and leave you to discover its touch, yourself. That’s dangerous, to say the least. If it decides to flood your PC with malware, it can! And, that will have severe repercussions. Don’t wait around to discover, and experience, them. Protect yourself from the hazardous cyber threat. Locate and remove it ASAP. That way, you won’t only protect your system from it, but also yourself. The tool has programming to spy on you from the moment it invades. And, it follows through on it. As soon as it sneaks in, its espionage begins. The application tracks your browsing, and records everything you do. When it deems it has gathered enough data, it proceeds to expose it. To whom? Well, to the strangers that published it. Let that sink in. The infection steals your private data, then exposes it to cyber criminals. That won’t end well. Don’t allow the scenario to unfold! Get rid of the dreadful hijacker the first chance you get. It’s for the best.

How to Remove Search.gg virus

The Search.gg 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.gg 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 Search.gg related processes in the computer memory

STEP 2: Locate Search.gg startup location

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

STEP 4: Undo the damage done by the virus

STEP 1: Track down Search.gg 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.gg 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.gg 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.gg traces from Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer

• Open Google Chrome

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

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.gg, 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.gg 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.gg 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.