Remove Search.hidemysearch.com Redirect

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

Search.hidemysearch.com is a devious browser hijacker. On theory, it helps PC users “get the best out of their online experience”. On practice, though, this program brings nothing but trouble. Hijackers are quite a common sight online at the moment. As you could imagine, there’s a very simple explanation to that. These infections allow hackers to gain profit through the pay-per-click mechanism. And gaining effortless profit online is pretty much every hacker’s dream. Unfortunately, crooks don’t hesitate to lie to your face in order to make money. They present the virus as a perfectly safe search engine. Its official website also appears to be legitimate. If you do try to find something online, though, you get redirected to Yahoo. This is just the first of many malicious traits this pest has in store for you. Keep in mind that Search.hidemysearch.com is a creation of cyber criminals. Its last intention was to enhance your online experience, despite what you were promised. The hijacker isn’t going to provide you accurate search results. It will provide sponsored ones that may or may not be harmless. You could be more than positive some of the web links displayed by this nuisance are dangerous. The question is, are you really willing to risk installing more infections? Clicking a corrupted link automatically lets more parasites loose thus worsening your already bad situation. That is why we’d recommend that you avoid the hijacker’s dubious search results. Search.hidemysearch.com actually modifies your browsers. As soon as it gets installed, the virus adds a browser extension. It also replaces both your search engine and default homepage with its own domain. Note how unreliable this domain is, though. Anything generated by Search.hidemysearch.com could turn out to be immensely dangerous. Thanks to the hijacker, you are now one click away from malware on a daily basis. You might also be bombarded with pop-up ads. Being sponsored as well, these commercials must be avoided too. Hackers have no reason to help you save time/money while shopping online. What they have many reasons to do is cover your PC screen with sponsored web links. You’re left unable to browse the Internet as you’re coming across unwanted pop-ups all the time. You also get redirected to pages you haven’t even heard of. All these tricks allow crooks to gain profit through the pay-per-click mechanism. Do you want to participate in their malicious scheme? If not, tackle the hijacker ASAP.

How did I get infected with?

There is no download option on this program’s website. In other words, you didn’t voluntarily agree to install this pest. One much more plausible scenario is that Search.hidemysearch.com was bundled. Do you often install freeware or shareware bundles off of the Internet? Then you should pay attention to every single program you agree to install. There might be sneaky bonus infections added to the bundle. If you rush the installation process, you download the bonus too. It’s an extremely easy task to compromise your security. On the other hand, protecting your machine isn’t challenging either. You just have to watch out for potential threats in advance. Always opt for the custom option in the Setup Wizard. If you spot some program bonus you do not want installed, deselect it. You will save yourself quite some trouble that way. Also, check out the Terms and Conditions of the software you download. The same thing goes for the EULA (End User License Agreement). Make sure there’s no infection in the bundle because prevention is easier than removing malware. Last but not least, the hijacker might have been sent to your inbox as some fake email-attachment or message.

Why is this dangerous?

This infection is compatible with the most popular browsers out there. It works with Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer. By adding an extension to your favorite browsers, Search.hidemysearch.com injects them with pop-ups. As mentioned already, these are all sponsored, extremely questionable web links. They could be leading you directly to malicious websites filled with parasites. To prevent further damage, stay away from anything displayed by this pest. The hijacker causes your browsers to redirect you, to freeze and/or crash on occasions. It even spies on your browsing-related information such as browsing history and IP addresses. However, the virus could get to your personally identifiable data too. To delete this pest of a program manually, please follow our detailed removal guide down below.

How to Remove Search.hidemysearch.com virus

The Search.hidemysearch.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.hidemysearch.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.hidemysearch.com infection, you need to purchase its full version.

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

STEP 2: Locate Search.hidemysearch.com startup location

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

STEP 4: Undo the damage done by the virus

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

• Open Google Chrome

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