E-Searches.com. How to remove? (Uninstall guide)
E-Searches browser hijacker pretends to be a useful search tool
E-Searches.com is a shady search engine that might hijack Google Chrome web browser. It widely spreads via eSearches extensions in software bundles, changes browser’s settings and starts controlling user’s activities online. Thus, instead of simplifying and improving browsing experiences, it works as a browser hijacker.
The main task for the eSearches virus is to take control over the web browser. As a result, the hijacker replaces current default search engine and homepage with its domain. In order to prevent users from reverting these changes, this potentially unwanted application might also alter browser’s or system’s settings.
Therefore, E-Searches.com removal requires putting more effort than deleting unwanted domain and entering Google. Once you reboot the computer, this shady search tool will come back. This activity allows forcing users into using the questionable search tool and clicking links that will bring developers revenue.
E-Searches.com redirect issue is serious. The hijacker not only prevents from finding needed information but might redirect to high-risk, phishing or infected websites too. This program might be used for driving traffic to promotional websites, and developers do not pay attention to user’s safety and partners’ credibility.
Additionally, E-Searches.com virus might display misleading or malware-laden ads.[1] Thus, you should not click on any links, buttons, pop-ups or banners once you find this search tool on the browser to avoid possible attacks.
The Privacy Policy of the E-Searches is also shady. Nevertheless, developers claim they are not collecting and sharing personally identifiable information; they are still interested in non-personally identifiable details, such as:
- IP address;
- search terms;
- clicked ads;
- clicked search links;
- User Agent information.
These details help developers to “improve” search results and served ads. What is more, aggregated information might be shared with third-parties that might also want to convince you into clicking suspicious commercial content.
Thus, we highly recommend minimizing your chances to be tricked by fake commercial content and getting back control over your browser. You should remove E-Searches.com immediately. The quickest and easiest way to get rid of it is to use Reimage or another anti-malware.
Click 'Start -> Control Panel -> Programs and Features' (if you are 'Windows XP' user, click on 'Add/Remove Programs').
If you are 'Windows 10 / Windows 8' user, then right-click in the lower left corner of the screen. Once 'Quick Access Menu' shows up, select 'Control Panel' and 'Uninstall a Program'.
Right click on each of suspicious entries and select 'Uninstall'
Right click on browsers' icon and select 'Properties'
Select 'Shortcut' tab and delete 'http://isearch.babylon.com...' or other suspicious URL
Cick 'Go' and select 'Applications'
Click on every malicious entry and select 'Move to Trash'
Click on menu icon and select 'Manage add-ons'
Right click on each of malicious entries and select 'Disable'
Delete malicious URL, enter your desired domain name and click 'Apply' to save changes
Go to 'Advanced' tab and click on 'Reset' button. Now select 'Delete personal settings' and click on 'Reset' button again
Go to Settings and select 'Choose what to clear'
Select 'Clear' button
Open the start menu and select 'Task Manager'
Right-click 'Microsoft Edge' and select 'Go to details'
Select 'More details' if 'Go to details' option fails to show up
Find Microsoft Edge entries and select 'End Task'
Go to Microsoft Edge folder on your computer, right-click every entry and click 'Delete'
Find Windows PowerShell, right-click it and select 'Run as administrator'
Copy and paste a required command and press 'Enter'
Click on menu icon and select 'Add-ons'
Select 'Extensions' and look for malicious entries. Click 'Remove' to get rid of each of them
When in 'General' tab, delete malicious URL from 'Home Page' section or click on 'Restore to Default' button. Click 'OK' to save changes
Click on menu icon and then on '?'. Select 'Troubleshooting Information'
Click on 'Reset Firefox' button for a couple of times
Click on menu icon. Select 'Tools' and 'Extensions'
Look for malicious entries and delete each of them by clicking on the Trash bin icon
After clicking on menu and 'Settings', select 'Set pages'
Click 'X' to remove malicious URLs
When in 'Settings', select 'Manage search engines...'
Click 'X' to remove malicious URLs
When in 'Settings', scroll down to 'Reset browser settings' button and click on it
Click on 'Reset' button to complete your removal
Click on 'Safari' and select 'Preferences'
Go to 'Extensions' and uninstall malicious add-ons
When in 'General', delete malicious URL and enter your desired domain name
Click on 'Safari' and select 'Reset Safari...'
Select all options and click on 'Reset' button
Download sources of the browser hijacker
The hijacker has an official website that has a download button. However, it redirects to Chrome Web Store[2] where developers beautifully present their add-on. But direct downloads are not the main way how the hijacker spreads. It might sneak into the system without user’s knowledge too.
The E-Searches.com hijack might occur when users download free programs incorrectly, meaning they rely on Quick/Standard installation that does not warn about included third-party apps. The majority of freeware or shareware are bundles, so they might promote various useless software, say security specialists from viirused.ee.[3]
To avoid infiltration of undesired and problematic programs, you should:
- Download software from reliable sources;
- Use Advanced/Custom installer;
- Follow the installation guide attentively;
- Unmark pre-selected entries;
- Read Privacy Policy and EULA.
Termination of eSearches virus
In order to remove E-Searches.com manually, you have to uninstall browser add-on, as well as other related entries from the browser and computer. Then you should reset Chrome to make sure that all related entries are deleted entirely.
Our team has prepared manual E-Searches.com removal guide below. Thus, we highly recommend following it attentively in order not to overlook its components. However, if you want to speed up the deletion, you can opt for the automatic method too.
You can remove virus damage automatically with a help of one of these programs: Reimage, Malwarebytes. We recommend these applications because they can easily delete potentially unwanted programs and viruses with all their files and registry entries that are related to them.
To remove E-Searches.com, follow these steps:
Get rid of E-Searches.com from Windows systems
To remove E-Searches.com browser hijacker, you have to uninstall all suspicious entries from the computer and reset Google Chrome.
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Click Start → Control Panel → Programs and Features (if you are Windows XP user, click on Add/Remove Programs).
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If you are Windows 10 / Windows 8 user, then right-click in the lower left corner of the screen. Once Quick Access Menu shows up, select Control Panel and Uninstall a Program.
- Uninstall E-Searches.com and related programs
Here, look for E-Searches.com or any other recently installed suspicious programs. -
Uninstall them and click OK to save these changes.
- Remove E-Searches.com from Windows shortcuts
Right click on the shortcut of Mozilla Firefox and select Properties. -
Go to Shortcut tab and look at the Target field. Delete malicious URL that is related to your virus.
Repeat steps that are given above with all browsers' shortcuts, including Internet Explorer and Google Chrome. Make sure you check all locations of these shortcuts, including Desktop, Start Menu and taskbar.
WindowsMac OS XInternet ExplorerMicrosoft EdgeFirefoxGoogle ChromeSafariUninstall E-Searches.com from Mac OS X system
To get rid of the hijacker, you have to investigate the system first and remove all questionable applications.
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If you are using OS X, click Go button at the top left of the screen and select Applications.
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Wait until you see Applications folder and look for E-Searches.com or any other suspicious programs on it. Now right click on every of such entries and select Move to Trash.
Erase E-Searches.com from Internet Explorer (IE)
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Remove dangerous add-ons
Open Internet Explorer, click on the Gear icon (IE menu) on the top right corner of the browser and choose Manage Add-ons. -
You will see a Manage Add-ons window. Here, look for E-Searches.com and other suspicious plugins. Disable these entries by clicking Disable:
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Change your homepage if it was altered by virus:
Click on the gear icon (menu) on the top right corner of the browser and select Internet Options. Stay in General tab. -
Here, remove malicious URL and enter preferable domain name. Click Apply to save changes.
-
Reset Internet Explorer
Click on the gear icon (menu) again and select Internet options. Go to Advanced tab. - Here, select Reset.
-
When in the new window, check Delete personal settings and select Reset again to complete E-Searches.com removal.
Remove E-Searches.com from Microsoft Edge
Reset Microsoft Edge settings (Method 1):
- Launch Microsoft Edge app and click More (three dots at the top right corner of the screen).
- Click Settings to open more options.
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Once Settings window shows up, click Choose what to clear button under Clear browsing data option.
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Here, select all what you want to remove and click Clear.
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Now you should right-click on the Start button (Windows logo). Here, select Task Manager.
- When in Processes tab, search for Microsoft Edge.
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Right-click on it and choose Go to details option. If can’t see Go to details option, click More details and repeat previous steps.
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When Details tab shows up, find every entry with Microsoft Edge name in it. Right click on each of them and select End Task to end these entries.
Resetting Microsoft Edge browser (Method 2):
If Method 1 failed to help you, you need to use an advanced Edge reset method.
- Note: you need to backup your data before using this method.
- Find this folder on your computer:
C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe. -
Select every entry which is saved on it and right click with your mouse. Then Delete option.
- Click the Start button (Windows logo) and type in window power in Search my stuff line.
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Right-click the Windows PowerShell entry and choose Run as administrator.
- Once Administrator: Windows PowerShell window shows up, paste this command line after PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> and press Enter:
Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers -Name Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register $($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml -Verbose}
Once these steps are finished, E-Searches.com should be removed from your Microsoft Edge browser.
WindowsMac OS XInternet ExplorerMicrosoft EdgeFirefoxGoogle ChromeSafariEliminate E-Searches.com from Mozilla Firefox (FF)
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Remove dangerous extensions
Open Mozilla Firefox, click on the menu icon (top right corner) and select Add-ons → Extensions. -
Here, select E-Searches.com and other questionable plugins. Click Remove to delete these entries.
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Change your homepage if it was altered by virus:
Click on the menu (top right corner), choose Options → General. - Here, delete malicious URL and enter preferable website or click Restore to default.
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Click OK to save these changes.
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Reset Mozilla Firefox
Click on the Firefox menu on the top left and click on the question mark. Here, choose Troubleshooting Information. -
Now you will see Reset Firefox to its default state message with Reset Firefox button. Click this button for several times and complete E-Searches.com removal.
Delete E-Searches.com from Google Chrome
Uninstall E-Searches and other questionable Chrome extensions. Additionally, you should reset the browser as well.
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Delete malicious plugins
Open Google Chrome, click on the menu icon (top right corner) and select Tools → Extensions. -
Here, select E-Searches.com and other malicious plugins and select trash icon to delete these entries.
-
Change your homepage and default search engine if it was altered by your virus
Click on menu icon and choose Settings. -
Here, look for the Open a specific page or set of pages under On startup option and click on Set pages.
- Now you should see another window. Here, delete malicious search sites and enter the one that you want to use as your homepage.
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Click on menu icon again and choose Settings → Manage Search engines under the Search section.
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When in Search Engines..., remove malicious search sites. You should leave only Google or your preferred domain name.
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Reset Google Chrome
Click on menu icon on the top right of your Google Chrome and select Settings. -
Scroll down to the end of the page and click on Reset browser settings.
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Click Reset to confirm this action and complete E-Searches.com removal.
Get rid of E-Searches.com from Safari
- Remove dangerous extensions
Open Safari web browser and click on Safari in menu at the top left of the screen. Once you do this, select Preferences. -
Here, select Extensions and look for E-Searches.com or other suspicious entries. Click on the Uninstall button to get rid each of them.
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Change your homepage if it was altered by virus:
Open your Safari web browser and click on Safari in menu section. Here, select Preferences as it was displayed previously and select General. -
Here, look at the Homepage field. If it was altered by E-Searches.com, remove unwanted link and enter the one that you want to use for your searches. Remember to include the "http://" before typing in the address of the page.
-
Reset Safari
Open Safari browser and click on Safari in menu section at the top left of the screen. Here, select Reset Safari.... -
Now you will see a detailed dialog window filled with reset options. All of those options are usually checked, but you can specify which of them you want to reset. Click the Reset button to complete E-Searches.com removal process.
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References
- ^ Nicholas Deleon. Another Reason to Use an Ad Blocker: Malvertising Has Tripled This Year. Motherboard. Tech and science website.
- ^ Matthew Hughes. How Safe Is The Chrome Web Store Anyway?. MakeUseOf. The guide in modern tech.
- ^ Viirused. Viirused. Estonian cyber security news.