Remove Adamant Search virus (Free Guide)

Adamant Search poses online privacy issues

The picture illustrating Adamant Search engine

Adamant Search virus functions as a search engine found at https://search.pristineapp.com. It might look like an ordinary browsing tool. In fact, it might seem highly appealing as it supposedly offers faster news delivery and more convenient Youtube video watching.

You might also find Adamant Newsfeed and Adamant Search extension in the Chrome web store. All might seem fine and dandy except the fact that this search engine and extension highly endangers your privacy and may lead to cyber issues.

Here is an extract from its privacy policy:

We do sell, rent, trade, and rent Users personal identification information to others. We may share generic aggregated demographic information not or linked to any personal identification information regarding visitors and users with our business partners, trusted affiliates and advertisers for the purposes outlined above.

It does not only compile non-personal information, which includes IP address, search inquiries, visited domains, but your personal information, full name, email address and phone number, as well. It clearly mentions that it shares and sells such data.

In that case, the end receiver of your personal data might be anyone as long as they pay sufficient amount of money. Likewise, it would not be surprising if such data falls into the hands of hackers. They may exploit such data for a variety of purposes:

creating targeted spam emails infected with ransomware^[1]
diverting you to infecting websites based on your search entries^[2]
using your data for setting up phishing sites

Due to these features, it is recommended to remove Adamant Search rather than keep it. Fortect Intego or Malwarebytes Malwarebytes will assist you in getting rid of its cookies and web elements faster.

If you are not convinced to get rid of it, take into consideration the fact that the search engine does not support security plug-ins. Moreover, in the very same privacy policy, you might see the notice that this search engine contains links to third parties, who they have no control over.

Likewise, when Adamant Search redirect phenomenon activates, there are more than enough chances that you find yourself in an insecure domain. Likewise, make a rush to initiate Adamant Search removal.

PUP transmission trends

Some PUPs, specifically browser hijackers, tend to function via web scripts. These rogue site often have a plain homepage or any at all, but instead operates an intermediary redirection to another domain.

More elaborate hijackers, like Adamant Newsfeed or Search plug-ins, have their own website and can be found in Chrome web store. Likewise, the probability of Adamant Search hijack is quite low.

On the other hand, pay attention when you install free media players or file converters or even Skype. They may have optional add-ons under “Recommended” or “Custom” installation settings. Unmark the unnecessary ones and proceed further.

Delete Adamant Search completely

If you have added Adamant Newsfeed or Search browser extensions, your default search engine will be replaced to search.pristineapp.com. In order to revert modifications, scan the browser with malware elimination tool. This is faster Adamant Search removal method.

You may also reset the browser. It will also remove Adamant Search virus and its extensions. This browser malware is also detectable in other domains such as Portuguese or Romanian^[3]sites.

Uninstall from Windows

Uninstall from Windows 10/8:

Type Control Panel into the Windows search box and open the result.
Under Programs, select Uninstall a program.

Uninstall from Windows 7/XP:

Click on Windows Start > Control Panel (Windows XP users should click on Add/Remove Programs).
In Control Panel, select Programs > Uninstall a program.

Remove the unwanted program:

In the Programs and Features window, look for any recently installed suspicious entries, select them, and click Uninstall.
If User Account Control appears, click Yes to confirm, then complete the removal.

Delete from macOS

Remove the unwanted application:

From the menu bar, select Go > Applications.
In the Applications folder, look for any suspicious entries, then drag them to Trash (or right-click and pick Move to Trash).

Delete leftover files and folders:

Select Go > Go to Folder.
Enter /Library/Application Support and remove any suspicious folders related to the unwanted program.
Repeat the same check in the /Library/LaunchAgents and /Library/LaunchDaemons folders, deleting any suspicious entries.
Finally, empty the Trash to permanently remove the leftovers.

Reset Internet Explorer

Remove dangerous add-ons:

Open Internet Explorer, click on the Gear icon (IE menu) on the top-right corner of the browser
Pick Manage Add-ons.
You will see a Manage Add-ons window. Here, look for suspicious plugins. Click on these entries and select Disable.

Change your homepage if it was altered:

Open IE and click on the Gear icon.
Select Internet Options.
In the General tab, delete the Home page address and replace it by your preferred one (for example, Google.com).
Click Apply and then select OK.

Delete temporary files:

Press on the Gear icon and select Internet Options.
Under Browsing history, click Delete...
Select relevant fields and press Delete.

Reset Internet Explorer:

Click on Gear icon > Internet options and select Advanced tab.
Select Reset.
In the new window, check Delete personal settings and select Reset.

Remove from Microsoft Edge

Delete unwanted extensions from MS Edge:

Select Menu (three horizontal dots at the top-right of the browser window) and pick Extensions.
From the list, pick the extension and click on the Gear icon.
Click Remove.

Clear cookies and other browser data:

Click on the Menu (three horizontal dots at the top-right of the browser window) and select Settings > Privacy, search, and services..
Under Clear browsing data, pick Choose what to clear.
Select Cookies and other site data and Cached images and files. (apart from passwords, although you might want to include Media licenses as well, if applicable) and click on Clear.

Restore new tab and homepage settings:

Click the menu icon and choose Settings.
Then find On startup section.
Click Remove next to any suspicious startup page.

Reset MS Edge if the above steps did not work:

Press on Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager.
Click on More details arrow at the bottom of the window.
Select Details tab.
Now scroll down and locate every entry with Microsoft Edge name in it. Right-click on each of them and select End Task to stop MS Edge from running.

Instructions for Chromium-based Edge

Delete extensions from MS Edge (Chromium):

Open Edge and click select Settings > Extensions.
Delete unwanted extensions by clicking Remove.

Clear cache and site data:

Click on Menu and go to Settings.
Select Privacy, search and services.
Under Clear browsing data, pick Choose what to clear.
Under Time range, pick All time.
Select Clear now.

Reset Chromium-based MS Edge:

Click on Menu and select Settings.
On the left side, pick Reset settings.
Select Restore settings to their default values.
Confirm with Reset.
This will disable extensions and reset startup pages but will not delete bookmarks, saved passwords, or browsing history.

Remove from Mozilla Firefox (FF)

Remove dangerous extensions:

Open Mozilla Firefox browser and click on the Menu (three horizontal lines at the top-right of the window).
Select Add-ons.
In here, select the unwanted extension and click Remove.

Reset the homepage:

Click three horizontal lines at the top right corner to open the menu.
Choose Settings.
Under Home, set your preferred homepage and new tab settings.

Clear cookies and site data:

Click Menu and pick Settings.
Go to Privacy & Security section.
Scroll down to locate Cookies and Site Data.
Click on Clear Data...
Select Cookies and Site Data and Temporary cached files and pages, then click Clear.

Reset Mozilla Firefox

If clearing the browser as explained above did not help, reset Mozilla Firefox:

Open Mozilla Firefox browser and click the Menu.
Go to Help and then choose Troubleshooting Information.
Under Give Firefox a tune up section, click on Refresh Firefox...
Once the pop-up shows up, confirm the action by pressing on Refresh Firefox.

Remove from Google Chrome

Delete malicious extensions from Google Chrome:

Open Google Chrome, click on the Menu (three vertical dots at the top-right corner) and select More tools > Extensions.
In the newly opened window, you will see all the installed extensions. Uninstall all suspicious extensions related to the unwanted program by clicking Remove.

Clear cache and web data from Chrome:

Click on Menu and pick Settings.
Under Privacy and security, select Clear browsing data.
Select Browsing history, Cookies and other site data, as well as Cached images and files.
Click Clear data.

Change your homepage:

Click menu and choose Settings.
Look for a suspicious site in the On startup section.
Click on Open a specific or set of pages and click on three dots to find the Remove option.

Reset Google Chrome:

If the previous methods did not help you, reset Google Chrome to eliminate all the unwanted components:

Click on Menu and select Settings.
In the Settings, scroll down and click Advanced.
Scroll down and locate Reset and clean up section.
Now click Restore settings to their original defaults.
Confirm with Reset settings.

Delete from Safari

Remove dangerous extensions:

Open Safari, click Safari in the menu at the top-left of the screen, and select Preferences.
Go to the Extensions tab, look for any suspicious entries, and click Uninstall to remove them.

Clear history and website data:

Click Safari in the menu and pick Clear History.
Set Clear to all history and confirm with Clear History.

Reset Safari:

Click Safari in the menu and select Preferences > Advanced.
Enable Show Develop menu in menu bar.
From the menu bar, click Develop and select Empty Caches.

How to remove Adamant Search virus

Adamant Search poses online privacy issues

PUP transmission trends