How to Remove Searchcontrol.co Hijacker

Can’t Remove Searchcontrol.co hijacker virus? This page includes detailed Searchcontrol.co Removal instructions!

The appearance of the Searchcontrol.co website is a bad sign. It’s a warning that your computer harbors a parasite. Somewhere, in the corner of your OS, the nasty Searchcontrol.co hijacker lurks. This parasite slips in unnoticed and wreaks utter havoc. Luckily, there is good news. This intruder is not a virus. It cannot corrupt your entire system. The bad news is that it is more than capable of causing harm. The hijacker opens your browsers to malicious online influence. It is a type of an unsafe adverting application. The hijacker injects various ads on every website you load. When you click, it gets paid. Thus, it floods you with countless advertisements. The Searchcontrol.co hijacker is a pain in the neck that is hard to be tolerated. It interferes with your every online step. It doesn’t matter whether you type a search inquire or watch an online video, it’s always there to annoy you. Thanks to the parasite, websites that used to be ad-free are now heavy on coupons and discounts. “Great deals” pop up every time you as much as touch your browser. What’s worse, it seems that your conditions worsen with each passing day. The Searchcontrol.co hijacker gets more aggressive with the time. The parasite tends to get out of control. Do not wait for this scenario to unfold. You won’t like the consequences. Get back in control of your browser. Remove the nasty intruder for good!

How did I get infected with?

The Searchcontrol.co hijacker cannot hack your computer. The parasite is not that advanced. No, it uses trickery to lure you into installing it. The parasite hides in software bundles, torrents, and fake updates. It also uses spam emails and corrupted links. The key to its successful distribution is not the used method, but your naivety. No hijacker can infect your computer if you are vigilant. Your caution can keep your computer virus-free. Always keep your guard up. Especially when you are about to install a new program. Many software developers attach additional apps to the payload files of their programs. The extras, more often than not, are parasites like the Searchcontrol.co hijacker. To prevent the extras from installing, use the advanced/custom setup wizard. Under it, you would be able to deselect all unwanted programs. Deselect the extras. You don’t need them. If you truly wanted such apps, you would’ve downloaded them by yourself. This is your computer, you decide what to be installed on it. Don’t let others make this decision for you. Install only the programs you want! Also, before you hit that “Accept” button, read the terms and conditions. If you cannot spare enough time to read the whole document, use an online EULA analyzer to scan it. Abort the installation if you detect anything out of the ordinary.

Why is this dangerous?

The Searchcontrol.co hijacker has no place on your computer. It drowns you in a sea of unreliable advertisements. The parasite has no verifying mechanism. It doesn’t distinguish between fake and legitimate ads. Thus, numerous crooks use the pest to promote. They spread misleading contents and redirect traffic to scam websites. Do not underestimate the situation. The ads are unreliable. They are all potential threats. An unverified advert may arise unwarranted expectations at best. At worst, it will redirect you to scam and potentially infected pages. Unfortunately, that’s not the end of the stream of bad news. Something dark is happening behind your back. The hijacker spies on you. It uses the collected data to turn you into an easy target. The hijacker monitors your every online move. Even the Incognito mode of your browser cannot hide you. Every website you visit, every link you follow, every video you watch, everything is recorded and analyzed. The collected data may not strike you as too sensitive, but a capable advertiser needs very little to successfully target you. What if this capable advertiser has bad intentions? Do not play with your luck. Do not put up with the Searchcontrol.co hijacker. Get rid of the parasite ASAP. The sooner you remove this intruder, the better!

How to Remove Searchcontrol.co virus

The Searchcontrol.co 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 Searchcontrol.co 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 Searchcontrol.co related processes in the computer memory

STEP 2: Locate Searchcontrol.co startup location

STEP 3: Delete Searchcontrol.co traces from Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer

STEP 4: Undo the damage done by the virus

STEP 1: Track down Searchcontrol.co 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 Searchcontrol.co 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 Searchcontrol.co 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 Searchcontrol.co traces from Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer

• Open Google Chrome

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

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 Searchcontrol.co, 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 Searchcontrol.co 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 Searchcontrol.co 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.