How To Remove Spark Search Hijacker

Complete Guideline To Delete Spark Search

Spark Search is a browser hijacker that has been specially designed by a team of potent cyber criminals for promotional and commercial purposes. Once this nasty PUP successfully infiltrates your computer, it makes changes to your browser’s settings to promote tailsearch.com- a fake search engine. It assigns this domain as the new search tool, home page and new tab page replacing the previous one and grabs full control over the entire browser. To prevent the settings from being restored, this nasty hijacker also inserts various suspicious toolbars, extensions, plugins etc. on the browser.

Know More About Spark Search:

Spark Search displays a number of attractive-looking deals, banners, offers, pop-ups etc. and tries to make users click on them in order to earn revenues via pay-per-click mechanism. However, the frequent appearance of intrusive ads significantly diminishes your overall web browsing experience. In addition, these ads might contain spiteful links and redirect you to potentially infectious sites that are fully occupied with malevolent objects. Visiting on such harmful web domains might result in more malware infection. And hence, avoid interacting with these advertisements no matter how eye-catching or useful they look.

Presence of Spark Search can be a big hazard for your privacy too as it is able to track your online actions, steal your personal and confidential data and expose them to cyber criminals for evil purposes. Crooks can misuse your sensitive information for deceptive transactions or purchases that might lead to huge financial loss. Moreover, the gathered data is very useful for generating and displaying eye-catching advertisements in order to get as many hits on them as possible and earn maximum profits. Spark Search downgrades the overall computer performance severely as it consumes enormous amount of memory resources and increases the usage of CPU.

While using tailsearch.com as the default search engine, you are redirected either to google.com or bing.com, depends on your geolocation. However, the search results are still not as per expected since they often include sponsored links right at the top. In order to get automatically activated with each PC startup and remain persistent, this nasty hijacker makes vicious entries in Windows registries and modifies its default settings. It messes with vital system files which assure efficient PC functioning and prevents many running apps as well as drivers from working normally. And hence, an instant Spark Search removal is what you need to perform as soon as you detect its presence.

Threat Summary

Name: Spark Search

Type: Browser hijacker, Potentially unwanted program

Short Description: Redirects users to affiliated sites, promotes sponsored products, services and programs and make online profits for the creators.

Symptoms: Home page, search engine, new tab settings, frequent appearance of annoying adverts, fake pop-up messages, identity theft. Users are enforced to search the Internet using fake search engines, slowness of infected system’s performance.

Distribution methods: Free software installers (bundling), malicious pop-ups ads, fake flash player installers.

Damage: Web browsing tracking (potential privacy issues), exhibition of unwanted ads, redirects to shady websites.

Removal: To get rid of this infection and other malware threats, our security researchers recommend scanning your device with an effective anti-malware tool.

Ways To Spread Spark Search:

This potentially unwanted program gets into the targeted computers without user’s approval, because it is being transferred by using a “bundling” technique. Developers of these adware or browser hijackers often do not show them and hide them in freeware or shareware packages. The majority of users rely on Quick/Recommended installation settings which do not reveal about added contents that are spreading together with the regular software.

How To Avoid Such Installations?

However, it is possible to such threats’ intrusions into the machine. For this, you have to select the Custom or Advanced settings for the freeware installation. If you see some suspicious tools that you don’t want to have in your PC, you should remove the ticks and only then click “Next” button to finish the installation. In case your system is already infected with this hijacker, you must remove Spark Search from the device without wasting any time.

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 Spark Search:

Remove the related items of Spark Search 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 Spark Search 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 (Spark Search) 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 Spark Search 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 Spark Search 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 Spark Search 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 Spark Search 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 Spark Search (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.