E-Searches.com (Tutorial) - Free Guide
E-Searches.com Removal Guide
What is E-Searches.com?
E-Searches – a browser hijacker pretends to be a useful search tool
E-Searches.com is a questionable search engine that might hijack the Google Chrome web browser. It widely spreads as an extension in software bundles, changes browser 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 app is to take control over the web browser. As a result, the hijacker replaces the current default search engine and homepage with its domain. To prevent users from reverting these changes, it might also alter the browser’s or system’s settings.
Name | E-Searches.com |
Type | Browser hijacker |
Distribution | Software bundling, third-party websites, ads |
Operation | Replaces homepage and new tab address with an alternative one and appends its customized search engine; when using it, users will see more sponsored links; in the background, the app tracks user data |
Uninstall | You can get rid of this or any other PUP by following our detailed instructions below |
System fix | After the elimination of adware or malware, we highly recommend running a scan with FortectIntego repair software |
E-Searches.com removal might require putting more effort than just deleting unwanted domains. Once you restart your browser or open a new tab, you will see that the altered homepage is back. This activity allows forcing users into using the questionable search tool and clicking links that will bring developers revenue.
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, the hijacker might display misleading and intrusive 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 app 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.
This data helps developers to “improve” search results and served ads. In reality, these alleged improvements are nothing but ads that allow the PUP developers to monetize on users' clicks. 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 of being 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 SpyHunter 5Combo Cleaner or another anti-malware. If you want to clean your web browsers quickly and stop system crashes or errors, we recommend using the FortectIntego repair tool.
E-Searches.com is a shady search engine that might redirect to potentially dangerous websites.
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 the user’s knowledge too.
The unexpected PUP appearance might occur when users download free programs incorrectly, meaning they rely on Quick/Standard installation that does not warn about included third-party apps. Most freeware or shareware is bundled, 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 the PUP manually, you have to uninstall the 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 a manual 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. The best solution would be to combine both of them to ensure that your browser is clean.
You may remove virus damage with a help of FortectIntego. SpyHunter 5Combo Cleaner and Malwarebytes are recommended to detect potentially unwanted programs and viruses with all their files and registry entries that are related to them.
Getting rid of E-Searches.com. Follow these steps
Uninstall from Windows
Uninstall all suspicious entries from the computer – access Control Panel for that.
Instructions for Windows 10/8 machines:
- Enter Control Panel into Windows search box and hit Enter or click on the search result.
- Under Programs, select Uninstall a program.
- From the list, find the entry of the suspicious program.
- Right-click on the application and select Uninstall.
- If User Account Control shows up, click Yes.
- Wait till uninstallation process is complete and click OK.
If you are Windows 7/XP user, proceed with the following instructions:
- Click on Windows Start > Control Panel located on the right pane (if you are Windows XP user, click on Add/Remove Programs).
- In Control Panel, select Programs > Uninstall a program.
- Pick the unwanted application by clicking on it once.
- At the top, click Uninstall/Change.
- In the confirmation prompt, pick Yes.
- Click OK once the removal process is finished.
Delete from macOS
To get rid of the hijacker, you have to investigate the system first and remove all questionable applications.
Remove items from Applications folder:
- From the menu bar, select Go > Applications.
- In the Applications folder, look for all related entries.
- Click on the app and drag it to Trash (or right-click and pick Move to Trash)
To fully remove an unwanted app, you need to access Application Support, LaunchAgents, and LaunchDaemons folders and delete relevant files:
- Select Go > Go to Folder.
- Enter /Library/Application Support and click Go or press Enter.
- In the Application Support folder, look for any dubious entries and then delete them.
- Now enter /Library/LaunchAgents and /Library/LaunchDaemons folders the same way and terminate all the related .plist files.
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 on Uninstall at the bottom.
Clear cookies and other browser data:
- Click on the Menu (three horizontal dots at the top-right of the browser window) and select Privacy & security.
- Under Clear browsing data, pick Choose what to clear.
- Select everything (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 Disable if you found any suspicious domain.
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.
If this solution failed to help you, you need to use an advanced Edge reset method. Note that you need to backup your data before proceeding.
- Find the following folder on your computer: C:\\Users\\%username%\\AppData\\Local\\Packages\\Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe.
- Press Ctrl + A on your keyboard to select all folders.
- Right-click on them and pick Delete
- Now right-click on the Start button and pick Windows PowerShell (Admin).
- When the new window opens, copy and paste the following command, and then press Enter:
Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers -Name Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register “$($_.InstallLocation)\\AppXManifest.xml” -Verbose
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.
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 unwanted plugin and click Remove.
Reset the homepage:
- Click three horizontal lines at the top right corner to open the menu.
- Choose Options.
- Under Home options, enter your preferred site that will open every time you newly open the Mozilla Firefox.
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, as well as Cached Web Content and press 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 the suspicious plugins that might be 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 unwanted extensions from Safari:
- Click Safari > Preferences…
- In the new window, pick Extensions.
- Select the unwanted extension and select Uninstall.
Clear cookies and other website data from Safari:
- Click Safari > Clear History…
- From the drop-down menu under Clear, pick all history.
- Confirm with Clear History.
Reset Safari if the above-mentioned steps did not help you:
- Click Safari > Preferences…
- Go to Advanced tab.
- Tick the Show Develop menu in menu bar.
- From the menu bar, click Develop, and then select Empty Caches.
After uninstalling this potentially unwanted program (PUP) and fixing each of your web browsers, we recommend you to scan your PC system with a reputable anti-spyware. This will help you to get rid of E-Searches.com registry traces and will also identify related parasites or possible malware infections on your computer. For that you can use our top-rated malware remover: FortectIntego, SpyHunter 5Combo Cleaner or Malwarebytes.
How to prevent from getting browser hijacker
Stream videos without limitations, no matter where you are
There are multiple parties that could find out almost anything about you by checking your online activity. While this is highly unlikely, advertisers and tech companies are constantly tracking you online. The first step to privacy should be a secure browser that focuses on tracker reduction to a minimum.
Even if you employ a secure browser, you will not be able to access websites that are restricted due to local government laws or other reasons. In other words, you may not be able to stream Disney+ or US-based Netflix in some countries. To bypass these restrictions, you can employ a powerful Private Internet Access VPN, which provides dedicated servers for torrenting and streaming, not slowing you down in the process.
Data backups are important – recover your lost files
Ransomware is one of the biggest threats to personal data. Once it is executed on a machine, it launches a sophisticated encryption algorithm that locks all your files, although it does not destroy them. The most common misconception is that anti-malware software can return files to their previous states. This is not true, however, and data remains locked after the malicious payload is deleted.
While regular data backups are the only secure method to recover your files after a ransomware attack, tools such as Data Recovery Pro can also be effective and restore at least some of your lost data.
- ^ 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.