How To Remove The Searchwebresults.com Redirection Virus – Search Web Results Hijacker
What is the Searchwebresults.com redirection virus?
Searchwebresults.com (Search Web Results) is an adware advertising platform utilized by cyber criminals in order to gain revenue through CPC and backdoor downloads via clicking sponsored or malicious links. A Searchwebresults.com infection is referred to as an internet browser hijacker because it affects browser settings, changing Home Pages and Provided Search Engine to Searchwebresults.com. The result of such altercation causes internet searches and URLs typed into the address bar to redirect to Searchwebresults.com and a variety of malicious or sponsored websites that are associated with the same advertising platform and culprit. A Searchwebresults.com redirection virus can lead victims to a variety of several websites, not so much Searchwebresults.com, as Searchwebresults.com is not particularly used “anymore” as a search engine.
Instead, Searchwebresults.com redirects victims to sponsored search sites such as ww1.accessinternet.name (pictured below). Sponsored search result links generating from the Searchwebresults.com URL have been reported to install files associated with adware and spyware.
If issues causing redirections to Searchwebresults.com are not resolved, your computer is at risk of being losing it’s capability to function. In results of a severe infection involving third parties, you may become a victim to cyber crime involving credit theft, identity theft, and other serious criminal activity.
The Searchwebresults.com hijacker or other third party infections may have been contracted from visiting a malicious site hosting malware, drive by download sites, third party infections, downloading freeware/shareware, video codecs, and other cyber criminal phishing techniques such as spam emails and/or malicious links from social media feeds.
1. Anti-Malware Software (Remove Malware)
Malwarebytes is the most recommended Antivirus – Anti-Malware software used to scan, detect, and remove malware including browser hijackers. View other Antivirus recommendations. If necessary, search for and remove third party malware that has infected your system. Once removed (again, if necessary), proceed to repair your Home Page and Provided Search Engines in order to stop unwanted redirections and “start ups” to Searchwebresults.com and other websites.
2. System Restore (Troubleshoot Malware)
If you suspect your system is infected by third party malware or a severe parasite causing your browser to redirect through the URL searchwebresults.com, perform a system restore to an automatic restore point created by Window’s each week and during system updates. Once complete, if necessary, proceed to repair your Home Page and Provided Search Engines in order to completely remove redirections.
3. Repair Home Page
Follow the instructions per each browser installed on your system to remove unwanted URLs from your home page.
Mozilla Firefox
1. Click Tools and select Options.
2. On the General tab, click Restore to Default or add you preferred URL.
Microsoft Internet Explorer
1. Click Tools and select Internet Options.
2. On the General tab click Restore to Default or add your preferred URL.
Google Chrome
1. Click on the Wrench or 3 bar icon next to the address bar and select Settings.
2. Under the On startup section click Set pages.
3. Click the X next to the unwanted URL to remove it and add your preferred home page URL.
4. Repair Provided Search Engines
To stop your browser from redirecting through searchwebresults.com to other websites and advertisements follow the instructions below to fix your browsers provided search engine. After your have changed your provided search engine, proceed to clear your browser’s cache and cookie files.
Mozilla Firefox
1. Click the small search arrow or magnify glass near the search bar at the top of the internet browser.
2. Select Manage search engines…
3. Highlight searchwebresults.com, ww1.accessinternet.name, and other unwanted websites and click remove. The unwanted search engine may be a default search engine or listed under “Other search engines”.
Microsoft Internet Explorer
1. Click Tools and select Manage add-ons.
2. Navigate to the Search Providers list.
3. Search for searchwebresults.com, ww1.accessinternet.name, and other unwanted websites and click the Remove button.
Google Chrome
1. Click the 3 bar or wrench settings icon and select Settings.
2. In the Search section select the Manage search engines… button.
3. Remove searchwebresults.com, ww1.accessinternet.name, and other unwanted websites by selecting the X next to the URL upon clicking on and highlighting the website(s). If the unwanted URLs have made themselves “Default”, chose another default engine in order to remove the unwanted search engine.
5. Clear Browser Data
Cache And Cookies
If your browser went through searchwebresults.com, ww1.accessinternet.name, and other websites without your consent, or you visited these websites during removal, it is recommended to clear your browser cache and cookie files. You can change your browser cache and cookie files by visiting your browser’s settings or preference options. Sometimes this alone will remove redirections.
Internet browser hijackers often infect systems alongside an add-on, extension, and/or Toolbar. To check if your internet browser is infected with an unwanted browser helper object (BHO), please refer to previous articles concerning similar browser hijackers that install alongside and bundled with BHOs.
6. Host File
In some scenarios your Host File has been corrupted and an infection has added entries to your Host File.
Detect Corrupted Host File
1. Navigate to the C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc folder and check if all file dates are the same. If your host file is a more recent date, and you, nor your system has made any changes to this file, it may have been affected by malware. If there is a backup hosts file, check if your hosts file represents your backup. If not, it may be corrupt.
2. Make changes to your hosts file if needed. When opening the hosts file, it’s best to start off using MS Notepad as an administrator in case changes need to be made to C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc\hosts.
7. Manual Removal (Troubleshoot)
Manual removal may be difficult as correct file names are difficult to track.
1. Reboot your infected computer and continually press the F8 key while the manufacturer’s start window appears, before the Windows start up screen shows. Use your keyboard to navigate to Safe Mode with Networking.
2. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del or Ctrl+Shift+Esc (*direct access) on your keyboard to open Window’s Task Manager and search for any suspicious process such as [Searchwebresults.com]. Double click the process, or right click the process to end it.
3. Find Folder Options on Window’s by typing it into the Start Menu search or navigating through the Control Panel. Click the View tab to click Show hidden files and folders.
4. If necessary, navigate to the Run window by pressing Windows+R keys, typing run into the Start Menu search, or from Start Menu folders.
5. Search for and delete all associated files.
%AppData%\Protector-[rnd].exe
%AllUsersProfile%\{random}\
%CommonStartMenu%\Programs\Searchwebresults.com.lnk
6. Remove registry entries by typing regedit into the Start Menu and navigating to the locations below.
HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run Regedit32
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System “DisableRegedit” = 0
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current\Winlogon\”Shell” = “{rnd}.exe”
7. Reboot the computer to normal mode when the above steps are complete.
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