Complainer:
"A couple of days ago a search engine called Search.genieo.com piggybacked on all my browsers. It sets itself as the Home search engine and no matter how many times you take it off it comes back after every restart. I have not installed anything out of the ordinary within the past few days so have no clue how this happened.
Any help would be very much appreciated!"
If you encounter the same problem as the computer user above, please read this post which provides you with detailed information about Search.genieo.com and step-by-step removal guides.
General Information About Search.genieo.com:
Search.genieo.com is a suspicious website which is classified as a potentially unwanted browser hijacker. Most commonly, this browser hijacker may be downloaded onto your PC unwittingly when you open spam email attachments, click on malicious links, visit risky or corrupted websites, or download freeware or shareware from unsafe sources online. So, if you do not want to suffer from such a potentially unwanted program, then you should pay close attention to your online activities. Otherwise, your computer might end up with Search.genieo.com which may not malicious on its own.
A screenshot of Search.genieo.com:
Although Search.genieo.com is not malicious itself, but it can cause lots of annoyances during your browsing once it manages to penetrate into your PC. Once installed, it can modify your browser settings, change the homepage, replace the default search engine, and finally take over the whole web browser. Then, it will cause endless annoying redirects. That is why you are often redirected to Search.genieo.com homepage or other unknown websites.
As a matter of fact, Search.genieo.com is sponsored by questionable third parties. In other words, it supposedly is an ad-supported platform which aims to help third-party websites increase page rank or sales. To achieve this result, it will redirect you to some affiliate websites or deliver lots of advertising banners, pop-up ads, in-text ads, promo codes to you. Some of them seem really useful, however, there is no guarantee that all of these third-party advertisements and websites are safe. Imagine what it would happen if you are redirected to some unsafe websites or click on some ads containing malicious codes. Needless to say, as time goes by, you will suffer from many other computer problems, such as poor network/ computer performance, possible additional computer infection, blue screen, even browser/ system crash.
In a word, to safeguard your PC from further damage, it is wise for you to remove Search.genieo.com from your PC as soon as possible once you find it.
Want a quick way to remove this browser hijacker? Click here to download Auto Fix Tool - SpyHunter to help you get rid of it easily and completely.
Search.genieo.com Removal Options
Option 1: A Browser Hijacker Removal Video Guide for Search.genieo.com
Option 2: Remove Search.genieo.com Step by Step - Effective Manual Removal Support
Step 1. Reboot your PC into Safe Mode with Networking
restart your computer > press F8 key on the keyboard constantly until the system boot up > select Safe Mode with Networking > press Enter on the keyboard
Step 2. Stop all of the running processes of Search.genieo.com
right click on taskbar > click on Start Task Manager to open Windows Task Manager > find out all the running processes related to this browser hijacker > right click on the selected process > click on End Process to stop all the related processes one by one
Step 3. Remove all the registry entries of Search.genieo.com or other suspicious programs recently installed
1. Press Win+R keys on the keyboard together to open the Run box, then type regedit into the search blank
2. Find out and remove all the registry entries related to this browser hijacker in the Registry Editor window
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\StartMenuInternet\Google Chrome\shell\open\command "(Default)" = "C:\Documents and Settings\test\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" http://www.<random>.com/?type=sc&ts=<timestamp>&from=tugs&uid=<hard drive id>"
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main "Start Page" = "http://www.<random>.com/?type=hp&ts=<timestamp>&from=tugs&uid=<hard drive id>"
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchScopes "DefaultScope" = "{33BB0A4E-99AF-4226-BDF6-49120163DE86}"
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\StartMenuInternet\FIREFOX.EXE\shell\open\command "(Default)" = "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe http://www.<random>.com/?type=sc&ts=<timestamp>&from=tugs&uid=<hard drive id>"
1. Press Win+R keys on the keyboard together to open the Run box, then type regedit into the search blank
2. Find out and remove all the registry entries related to this browser hijacker in the Registry Editor window
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\StartMenuInternet\Google Chrome\shell\open\command "(Default)" = "C:\Documents and Settings\test\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" http://www.<random>.com/?type=sc&ts=<timestamp>&from=tugs&uid=<hard drive id>"
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main "Start Page" = "http://www.<random>.com/?type=hp&ts=<timestamp>&from=tugs&uid=<hard drive id>"
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchScopes "DefaultScope" = "{33BB0A4E-99AF-4226-BDF6-49120163DE86}"
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\StartMenuInternet\FIREFOX.EXE\shell\open\command "(Default)" = "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe http://www.<random>.com/?type=sc&ts=<timestamp>&from=tugs&uid=<hard drive id>"
Step 4. Remove Search.genieo.com or other suspicious programs recently installed from control panel
For Windows 7 Users:
1). Click on "Start" button at the bottom left corner.
2). Select"Control Panel" in the Start menu
3). In the Control Panel menu, find out and click on"Programs and Features" option
For Windows 8 Users:
1). Right click "Start" button (or lower left corner of your desktop to open the "Quick Access Menu").
2). Click on"Control Panel" option in the menu.
3). Click "Programs and Features" to open the list of installed programs.
4). Select malicious program and click "Uninstall" button.
Step 5. Remove all suspicious add-ons or extensions of Search.genieo.com or other suspicious programs recently installed from your web browsers
For Google Chrome:
1. Open Google Chrome -> click the Customize and control Google Chrome icon with three short stripes on the top right corner -> click on More tools -> click on Extensions
2. Look for suspicious extensions in the list, then click Trash icon to delete them one by one.
For Internet Explorer:
1.Click Tools in the Menu bar and then click Internet Options.
2.Click Programs tab, click Manage add-ons and disable the suspicious add-ons.
For Mozilla Firefox:
1. Start Firefox and press Ctrl+Shift+A on the keyboard at the same time (or click Tools > click Add-ons ) to open Add-ons Manager window. You will see a list of all extensions and plugins installed in Firefox.
2. Look for suspicious add-ons on the Extensions and Plugins. Highlight each one individually and click remove.
Reset Google Chrome:
1. Start Google Chrome and click on the browser "Menu button" (three bars in the right top corner) -> select "Settings" menu option
2. Click on "Show advanced settings" option -> Click on "Reset browser settings" button -> click on "Reset" to ensure the operation
( Note: If you want to save other Chrome extensions and your personal settings, then you need to only remove extension from your web browser instead of running reset command.)
Reset Internet Explorer:
1. Start Internet Explorer and click on "Settings"/ gear icon in the right top corner -> click on "Internet Options"
2. Click on tab "Advanced"-> click "Reset" button
3. Click on the option "Delete personal Settings" -> Click on "Reset" button -> Restart your browser
(Note: If you want to save other extensions installed in your Internet Explorer, then you need to only remove browser helper object from your web browser instead of making reset.)
Reset Mozilla Firefox:
1. Start Mozilla Firefox -> Click on "Menu" (three bars in in the right top corner) -> Select "Help" and click "Troubleshooting information"
2. Click on "Reset Firefox" -> Click on "Reset Firefox" to confirm the operation -> Click on "Finish" to restart Firefox
(Note: If you want to save other Firefox add-ons and your personal information stored in the web browser, then you need to only remove add-on from your web browser instead of using browser reset.)
Step 7. Using RegCure Pro to help you optimize your computer system after finishing all the steps above, then restart your PC to check whether all the steps above take effect.
Option 3: Automatically Remove Search.genieo.com with SpyHunter - Effective Automatic Removal Support
SpyHunter is a powerful, real-time anti-spyware application that designed to assist the average computer user in protecting their PC from malicious threats like worms, Trojans, rootkits, rogues, dialers, spyware,etc. It is important to note that SpyHunter removal tool works well and should run alongside existing security programs without any conflicts.
The following steps below are helpful for you to download and install SpyHunter.
Step1: Click the icon “Download”. Then, download and install SpyHunter on your PC step-by-step.
1. Search.genieo.com is a dangerous and harmful browser hijacker which is a big threat to average computer user. Computer users should remove it without any delay to protect the computer system as well as privacy.
2. Manual removal may be relatively difficult for some inexperienced computer users to perform. Therefore, if you have any problems to remove this browser hijacker manually, you are suggested to download a good and powerful antivirus tool like SpyHunter to help you remove it completely and for good.
>>Download SpyHunter Here to Remove Search.genieo.com Automatically and Completely<<
No comments:
Post a Comment