Remove Search My Tabs virus (Removal Guide) - Free Guide
In-depth review of Search My Tabs adware: what do you need to know
Search My Tabs is a computer program that affects Chrome web browser mainly. Once installed, it starts tracking user’s activities[1] the entire time one surfs the Internet. This adware program records anonymous information including browsing preferences, search queries, and similar data only to present highly annoying web ads later. IT professionals recommend users to remove Search My Tabs ASAP.
On its official web page, Search My Tabs virus appears to be a trustworthy and even useful tool. Its the representation of this program that makes it look appealing. However, although it promises users to “Be more productive and spend less time to navigate in a bunch of opened tabs,” all that it does is serves ads during browsing sessions on a daily basis. Such activity is not only useless, annoying and dangerous but aggravating the browsing experience as well.
Ad-supported programs like SearchMyTabs usually aim to find out what content interests the user and then serve similar ads daily. When infected with this hazardous software, you might encounter the following issues during your browsing sessions:
- Browser crashes;
- System slowdowns;
- Error messages;
- URL redirects;
- Pop-up, pop-under, banner ads and the like.
Please, do not let this questionable Chrome extension control your browsing sessions and push unwanted ads to your screen. Remove Search My Tabs without hesitations, especially because cybersecurity experts rank it as a potentially unwanted and spyware-type program.[2]
Experts from NoVirus.uk[3] say that the easiest way to complete Search My Tabs removal is to use an anti-malware software. Our team suggests using Reimage Reimage Cleaner Intego or Malwarebytes as these are the programs we trust.
Search My Tabs is an annoying virus that usually affects Google Chrome users. Once installed, it starts bothering the computer user by displaying never-ending ads.
Ways to install unwanted browser-hijacking programs
Although SearchMyTabs virus belongs to adware category, it has similarities with browser-hijacking programs. It spreads via software bundles and so does almost all potentially unwanted programs.
If you do not want to clutter your computer with shady and hardly trustworthy applications, never hesitate when choosing settings for software installation. We always suggest choosing Custom or Advanced settings as these are the only ones that allow modifying components of the downloaded program. After selecting these settings, we recommend you to uncheck suggestions to add suspicious extras to your PC.
Remove Search My Tabs now
Cannot stand ads and redirects caused by this potentially unwanted program? Then remove Search My Tabs virus using instructions given below. This potentially unwanted program is very similar to History Cleaner virus which we described earlier – to eliminate it from your computer, you have to delete the extension embedded in Chrome browser.
Full Search My Tabs removal requires using anti-malware software. It also helps to identify and eliminate all other potential threats silently lurking in the computer system.
You may remove virus damage with a help of Reimage Reimage Cleaner Intego. 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.
To remove Search My Tabs virus, follow these steps:
Erase Search My Tabs from Windows systems
The provided steps explain how to clean Windows OS from adware and browser hijacker components.
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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 Search My Tabs and related programs
Here, look for Search My Tabs or any other recently installed suspicious programs. -
Uninstall them and click OK to save these changes.
- Remove Search My Tabs from Windows shortcuts
Right click on the shortcut of Mozilla Firefox and select Properties.
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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.
Get rid of Search My Tabs from Mac OS X system
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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 Search My Tabs or any other suspicious programs on it. Now right click on every of such entries and select Move to Trash.
Uninstall Search My Tabs 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.
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You will see a Manage Add-ons window. Here, look for Search My Tabs 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.
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Reset Internet Explorer
Click on the gear icon (menu) again and select Internet options. Go to Advanced tab. - Here, select Reset.
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When in the new window, check Delete personal settings and select Reset again to complete Search My Tabs removal.
Eliminate Search My Tabs virus 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, Search My Tabs should be removed from your Microsoft Edge browser.
Remove Search My Tabs 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.
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Here, select Search My Tabs 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.
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Now you will see Reset Firefox to its default state message with Reset Firefox button. Click this button for several times and complete Search My Tabs removal.
Delete Search My Tabs from Google Chrome
Delete an extension called Search My Tabs. This will help to block annoying ads that the potentially unwanted program used to deliver on a daily basis.
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Delete malicious plugins
Open Google Chrome, click on the menu icon (top right corner) and select Tools → Extensions.
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Here, select Search My Tabs and other malicious plugins and select trash icon to delete these entries.
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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 Search My Tabs removal.
Erase Search My Tabs 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.
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Here, select Extensions and look for Search My Tabs 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 Search My Tabs, 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.
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Reset Safari
Open Safari browser and click on Safari in menu section at the top left of the screen. Here, select Reset Safari....
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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 Search My Tabs removal process.
Access your website securely from any location
When you work on the domain, site, blog, or different project that requires constant management, content creation, or coding, you may need to connect to the server and content management service more often. It is a hassle when your website is protected from suspicious connections and unauthorized IP addresses.
The best solution for creating a tighter network could be a dedicated/fixed IP address. If you make your IP address static and set to your device, you can connect to the CMS from any location and do not create any additional issues for server or network manager that need to monitor connections and activities. This is how you bypass some of the authentications factors and can remotely use your banking accounts without triggering suspicious with each login.
VPN software providers like Private Internet Access can help you with such settings and offer the option to control the online reputation and manage projects easily from any part of the world. It is better to clock the access to your website from different IP addresses. So you can keep the project safe and secure when you have the dedicated IP address VPN and protected access to the content management system.
Backup files for the later use, in case of the malware attack
Computer users can suffer various losses due to cyber infections or their own faulty doings. Software issues created by malware or direct data loss due to encryption can lead to problems with your device or permanent damage. When you have proper up-to-date backups, you can easily recover after such an incident and get back to work.
It is crucial to create updates to your backups after any changes on the device, so you can get back to the point you were working on when malware changes anything or issues with the device causes data or performance corruption. Rely on such behavior and make file backup your daily or weekly habit.
When you have the previous version of every important document or project you can avoid frustration and breakdowns. It comes in handy when malware occurs out of nowhere. Use Data Recovery Pro for the system restoring purpose.
About the author
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References
- ^ Joanna Geary. Tracking the trackers: What are cookies? An introduction to web tracking. The Guardian - Technology. Latest Technology News, Comment and Analysis.
- ^ Spyware. Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.
- ^ NoVirus. NoVirus. Malware and Spyware Removal Guidance.
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