How to remove Movies Searcher

Browser hijacked by Movies Searcher virus: Is there any solution?

In this article, we are discussing about Movies Searcher redirect virus in details and providing some recommended methods/procedures to remove this type of infection from machine. Let’s starts the discussion.

What is Movies Searcher browser hijacker?

Movies Searcher application is categorized as browser hijacker virus that is designed to promote third parties’ software, websites and other products & services on its platform to generate some income from them. Like other browser hijacker, this nasty malware not only affects your online experience but also infects your PCs deeply. It injects malicious codes in your browser’s settings as well as in your System’s settings that causes serious troubles. In simple word, we can say that you can’t work on your computer comfortably as usual like before due to its dubious behaviors. If your System has detected this malware, then you should try to remove Movies Searcher from machine immediately.

Movies Searcher modifies your browser shortcuts on the desktop with malicious extension and pin it taskbar as well. When you try to open such infected shortcuts, then you will notice unwanted website domain as default search engine of your browser. It claims that it is safe & fast search engine as compare to some popular search engine like Google, Yahoo and Bing. But it is not true. This fake search engine always shows bogus results, misleading contents and lots of unwanted ads or popup on your browser constantly that degrades the overall performance of your internet browsing activities.

Threat Analysis

Name: Movies Searcher

Type: Adware, PUP, PUA, browser hijacker, redirect virus

Browser infected: IE, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Edge, etc

System infected: Windows OS based machine

Description: This cunning malware is capable of hijacking your main browser by adding malicious extensions or add-ons to your browser. Attackers behind this development attempt to engage you on scam/porn/shady/third parties’ websites and trick you into downloading/installing potentially unwanted applications in your machine.

Distribution methods: Fake Flash Player installers or other fake software updates, malicious ads or popup messages, free software packages (method of bundling), suspicious hyperlinks and many other tricks.

Motives of crooks: The main purpose of cybercriminals malware attack is to steal your crucial & confidential information and shares it to other hackers or third parties to generate some income. They also want to steal your money from your wallet or e-wallet.

Removal Solution: To remove Movies Searcher or similar infection, we recommended you to scan your computer with strong antivirus software.

What Movies Searcher adware does?

Cybercriminals behind Movies Searcher attack attempts to engage you on shady/questionable/hacked/third parties’ websites and tricks you into downloading/installing potentially unwanted applications (PUAs) in your computer. Its main motive is steal your some sensitive information such as IP address, URLs search, browser history, search queries, login ID & password of your various accounts, banking information and more details as well. They can share these collected to other hackers or third parties’ to generate some income from them. However, it can bombard your computer with harmful malware like Trojan, worm, ransomware or other malware that can make your System useless. So, it is important to remove Movies Searcher from machine as soon as possible.

How your System gets infected from Movies Searcher browser hijacker?

The adware program is generally get enters into your machine accidently from malicious ads or popup messages which are displayed on your browser by hacked websites. Malware programmers use the name & LOGO of some trustworthy companies in its malicious advertisements campaigns for making believe in your mind that ads are belongs to such trustworthy companies. In order to click on such misleading ads or visit infected websites, it installs malicious unwanted programs in your computer that can infect your machine deeply. So, you should be alert while surfing online and click on ads or popup after double reading.

Antimalware Details And User Guide

Click Here For Windows Click Here For Mac

Important Note: This malware asks you to enable the web browser notifications. So, before you go the manual removal process, execute these steps.

Google Chrome (PC)

• Go to right upper corner of the screen and click on three dots to open the Menu button
• Select “Settings”. Scroll the mouse downward to choose “Advanced” option
• Go to “Privacy and Security” section by scrolling downward and then select “Content settings” and then “Notification” option
• Find each suspicious URLs and click on three dots on the right side and choose “Block” or “Remove” option

Google Chrome (Android)

• Go to right upper corner of the screen and click on three dots to open the menu button and then click on “Settings”
• Scroll down further to click on “site settings” and then press on “notifications” option
• In the newly opened window, choose each suspicious URLs one by one
• In the permission section, select “notification” and “Off” the toggle button

Mozilla Firefox

• On the right corner of the screen, you will notice three dots which is the “Menu” button
• Select “Options” and choose “Privacy and Security” in the toolbar present in the left side of the screen
• Slowly scroll down and go to “Permission” section then choose “Settings” option next to “Notifications”
• In the newly opened window, select all the suspicious URLs. Click on the drop-down menu and select “Block”

Internet Explorer

• In the Internet Explorer window, select the Gear button present on the right corner
• Choose “Internet Options”
• Select “Privacy” tab and then “Settings” under the “Pop-up Blocker” section
• Select all the suspicious URLs one by one and click on the “Remove” option

Microsoft Edge

• Open the Microsoft Edge and click on the three dots on the right corner of the screen to open the menu
• Scroll down and select “Settings”
• Scroll down further to choose “view advanced settings”
• In the “Website Permission” option, click on “Manage” option
• Click on switch under every suspicious URL

Safari (Mac):

• On the upper right side corner, click on “Safari” and then select “Preferences”
• Go to “website” tab and then choose “Notification” section on the left pane
• Search for the suspicious URLs and choose “Deny” option for each one of them

Manual Steps to Remove Movies Searcher:

Remove the related items of Movies Searcher using Control-Panel

Windows 7 Users

Click “Start” (the windows logo at the bottom left corner of the desktop screen), select “Control Panel”. Locate the “Programs” and then followed by clicking on “Uninstall Program”

Windows XP Users

Click “Start” and then choose “Settings” and then click “Control Panel”. Search and click on “Add or Remove Program’ option

Windows 10 and 8 Users:

Go to the lower left corner of the screen and right-click. In the “Quick Access” menu, choose “Control Panel”. In the newly opened window, choose “Program and Features”

Mac OSX Users

Click on “Finder” option. Choose “Application” in the newly opened screen. In the “Application” folder, drag the app to “Trash”. Right click on the Trash icon and then click on “Empty Trash”.

In the uninstall programs window, search for the PUAs. Choose all the unwanted and suspicious entries and click on “Uninstall” or “Remove”.

After you uninstall all the potentially unwanted program causing Movies Searcher issues, scan your computer with an anti-malware tool for any remaining PUPs and PUAs or possible malware infection. To scan the PC, use the recommended the anti-malware tool.

How to Remove Adware (Movies Searcher) from Internet Browsers

Delete malicious add-ons and extensions from IE

Click on the gear icon at the top right corner of Internet Explorer. Select “Manage Add-ons”. Search for any recently installed plug-ins or add-ons and click on “Remove”.

Additional Option

If you still face issues related to Movies Searcher removal, you can reset the Internet Explorer to its default setting.

Windows XP users: Press on “Start” and click “Run”. In the newly opened window, type “inetcpl.cpl” and click on the “Advanced” tab and then press on “Reset”.

Windows Vista and Windows 7 Users: Press the Windows logo, type inetcpl.cpl in the start search box and press enter.  In the newly opened window, click on the “Advanced Tab” followed by “Reset” button.

For Windows 8 Users: Open IE and click on the “gear” icon. Choose “Internet Options”

Select the “Advanced” tab in the newly opened window

Press on “Reset” option

You have to press on the “Reset” button again to confirm that you really want to reset the IE

Remove Doubtful and Harmful Extension from Google Chrome

Go to menu of Google Chrome by pressing on three vertical dots and select on “More tools” and then “Extensions”. You can search for all the recently installed add-ons and remove all of them.

Optional Method

If the problems related to Movies Searcher still persists or you face any issue in removing, then it is advised that your reset the Google Chrome browse settings. Go to three dotted points at the top right corner and choose “Settings”. Scroll down bottom and click on “Advanced”.

At the bottom, notice the “Reset” option and click on it.

In the next opened window, confirm that you want to reset the Google Chrome settings by click on the “Reset” button.

Remove Movies Searcher plugins (including all other doubtful plug-ins) from Firefox Mozilla

Open the Firefox menu and select “Add-ons”. Click “Extensions”.  Select all the recently installed browser plug-ins.

Optional Method

If you face problems in Movies Searcher removal then you have the option to rese the settings of Mozilla Firefox.

Open the browser (Mozilla Firefox) and click on the “menu” and then click on “Help”.

Choose “Troubleshooting Information”

In the newly opened pop-up window, click “Refresh Firefox” button

The next step is to confirm that really want to reset the Mozilla Firefox settings to its default by clicking on “Refresh Firefox” button.

Remove Malicious Extension from Safari

Open the Safari and go to its “Menu” and select “Preferences”.

Click on the “Extension” and select all the recently installed “Extensions” and then click on “Uninstall”.

Optional Method

Open the “Safari” and go menu. In the drop-down menu, choose “Clear History and Website Data”.

In the newly opened window, select “All History” and then press on “Clear History” option.

Delete Movies Searcher (malicious add-ons) from Microsoft Edge

Open Microsoft Edge and go to three horizontal dot icons at the top right corner of the browser. Select all the recently installed extensions and right click on the mouse to “uninstall”

Optional Method

Open the browser (Microsoft Edge) and select “Settings”

Next steps is to click on “Choose what to clear” button

Click on “show more” and then select everything and then press on “Clear” button.

Conclusion

In most cases, the PUPs and adware gets inside the marked PC through unsafe freeware downloads. It is advised that you should only choose developers website only while downloading any kind of free applications.  Choose custom or advanced installation process so that you can trace the additional PUPs listed for installation along with the main program.