Search.SafeFinder.com (Removal Instructions) - Apr 2017 update

Search.SafeFinder.com Removal Guide

What is Search.SafeFinder.com?

Essential things to know about Search.SafeFinder.com redirect issue

Search.SafeFinder.com virus is just another name to identify Safe Finder virus, which is a potentially unwanted program (PUP)[1]. Technically, we cannot classify it as a virus, although its functionality barely differs from one. This questionable program can be installed on both Windows and Mac OS platforms, and hijack settings of three major web browsers – Internet Explorer, Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. This tool falsely claims to be designed to protect the user and his/hers computer during one’s browsing sessions, however, it seems that at this point we are dealing with a typical browser hijacker who tries to sugarcoat its real aims by introducing itself as a beneficial tool that can improve user’s browsing experience[2].

Search.SafeFinder.com virusIf Search.SafeFinder.com virus started redirecting you to suspicious websites, discontinue using this questionable search engine and remove Safe Finder from the system! Once installed, this browser hijacker messes up your browser’s settings and makes you experience redirects to Search.SafeFinder.com search engine, because it sets this URL as a new default home and new tab page. In addition, you should keep in mind that you have to be very careful with its search results because they are likely to be altered. Also, try to avoid pop-up ads that may also be displayed by Search.SafeFinder.com because they can be filled with various links trying to redirect you to predetermined/affiliate websites. In most of the cases, this search site seeks to promote affiliate websites that pay for its owners in exchange for this doubtful marketing campaign. If your Internet Explorer, Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox browsers have fallen victims to Search.SafeFinder.com hijack, you should use a step-by-step guide that is given below and remove this questionable search engine from the system. Otherwise, you may find yourself experiencing repetitious redirects to suspicious websites[3]. By the way, this search engine is capable of tracking PC users because it collects details such as what sites people like to visit, how much time they spent on them, what search queries they made, etc. Please, be very careful and never allow such activities. The easiest way to put an end to suspicious Safe Finder’s activity is to remove Search.SafeFinder.com software from your computer, and you can choose how you want to do it. If you’re looking for a manual Search.SafeFinder.com removal tutorial, you can find it at the end of this post. If you’re looking for automatic problem-solving software to remove this hijacker, we recommend using FortectIntego or Malwarebytes.

How can I stop such programs before they enter my PC?

Search.SafeFinder.com can easily hijack[4] your PC system unnoticed and show up on each of web browsers because it is distributed by a long list of freeware and shareware. We can hardly say what programs now contribute to promotion of this search tool, so you will have to use these general tips for trying to prevent infiltration of Search.SafeFinder.com virus. First of all, try to make a small research before installing freeware from unknown sources. Read reviews, comments and online discussions to check the program before installing it on the system. Secondly, read End User License Agreement to know more about the program that you want to install. Then, choose Custom or Advanced installation option and then follow every installation step of the freeware in order to find the check mark that allows installation of Search.SafeFinder.com or other “optional downloads”[5]. Of course, you should uncheck it. If you found Search.SafeFinder.com instead of your start page or default search engine, you can remove it with a help of the guide we provided down below.

Should I use Search.SafeFinder.com removal tool?

It is up to you to decide which Search.SafeFinder.com removal method you prefer, however, we strongly recommend going for the automatic one because it is the easiest and most secure way to remove Search.SafeFinder.com virus. This search site may start causing lots of annoying ads, slow downs and similar inconveniences, and this can happen because the described hijacker tends to be distributed in conjunction with other PUPs. Finding all of them on your own is going to be a time-consuming task, so if you’re short of time, you can scan the system with tools such as FortectIntego.

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.

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What to do if failed?
If you failed to fix virus damage using Fortect Intego, submit a question to our support team and provide as much details as possible.
Fortect Intego has a free limited scanner. Fortect Intego offers more through scan when you purchase its full version. When free scanner detects issues, you can fix them using free manual repairs or you can decide to purchase the full version in order to fix them automatically.
Alternative Software
Different software has a different purpose. If you didn’t succeed in fixing corrupted files with Fortect, try running SpyHunter 5.
Alternative Software
Different software has a different purpose. If you didn’t succeed in fixing corrupted files with Intego, try running Combo Cleaner.

Getting rid of Search.SafeFinder.com. Follow these steps

Uninstall from Windows

Uninstall all programs installed without your permission, for instance, Safe Finder (by Linkury) and LPT System Updater Service (by LPT). It is important that you remove ALL suspicious programs from there. Then, fix affected browser shortcuts as shown in the example below. This step is extremely important, so if you miss it, you might have to experience a search.safefinder.com comeback.

Instructions for Windows 10/8  machines:

  1. Enter Control Panel into Windows search box and hit Enter or click on the search result.
  2. Under Programs, select Uninstall a program. Uninstall from Windows 1
  3. From the list, find the entry of the suspicious program.
  4. Right-click on the application and select Uninstall.
  5. If User Account Control shows up, click Yes.
  6. Wait till uninstallation process is complete and click OK. Uninstall from Windows 2

If you are Windows 7/XP user, proceed with the following instructions:

  1. Click on Windows Start > Control Panel located on the right pane (if you are Windows XP user, click on Add/Remove Programs).
  2. In Control Panel, select Programs > Uninstall a program. Uninstall from Windows 7/XP
  3. Pick the unwanted application by clicking on it once.
  4. At the top, click Uninstall/Change.
  5. In the confirmation prompt, pick Yes.
  6. Click OK once the removal process is finished.

Delete from macOS

Go to Applications folder and detect suspicious applications that you cannot remember installing. Move them all to Trash. You might find a program called Safe Finder, but remember that it can hide under a different name as well.

Remove items from Applications folder:

  1. From the menu bar, select Go > Applications.
  2. In the Applications folder, look for all related entries.
  3. Click on the app and drag it to Trash (or right-click and pick Move to Trash) Uninstall from Mac 1

To fully remove an unwanted app, you need to access Application Support, LaunchAgents, and LaunchDaemons folders and delete relevant files:

  1. Select Go > Go to Folder.
  2. Enter /Library/Application Support and click Go or press Enter.
  3. In the Application Support folder, look for any dubious entries and then delete them.
  4. Now enter /Library/LaunchAgents and /Library/LaunchDaemons folders the same way and terminate all the related .plist files. Uninstall from Mac 2

Remove from Microsoft Edge

Delete unwanted extensions from MS Edge:

  1. Select Menu (three horizontal dots at the top-right of the browser window) and pick Extensions.
  2. From the list, pick the extension and click on the Gear icon.
  3. Click on Uninstall at the bottom. Remove extensions from Edge

Clear cookies and other browser data:

  1. Click on the Menu (three horizontal dots at the top-right of the browser window) and select Privacy & security.
  2. Under Clear browsing data, pick Choose what to clear.
  3. Select everything (apart from passwords, although you might want to include Media licenses as well, if applicable) and click on Clear. Clear Edge browsing data

Restore new tab and homepage settings:

  1. Click the menu icon and choose Settings.
  2. Then find On startup section.
  3. Click Disable if you found any suspicious domain.

Reset MS Edge if the above steps did not work:

  1. Press on Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager.
  2. Click on More details arrow at the bottom of the window.
  3. Select Details tab.
  4. 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. Reset MS Edge

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.

  1. Find the following folder on your computer: C:\\Users\\%username%\\AppData\\Local\\Packages\\Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe.
  2. Press Ctrl + A on your keyboard to select all folders.
  3. Right-click on them and pick Delete Advanced MS Edge reset 1
  4. Now right-click on the Start button and pick Windows PowerShell (Admin).
  5. 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 Advanced MS Edge reset 2

Instructions for Chromium-based Edge

Delete extensions from MS Edge (Chromium):

  1. Open Edge and click select Settings > Extensions.
  2. Delete unwanted extensions by clicking Remove. Remove extensions from Chromium Edge

Clear cache and site data:

  1. Click on Menu and go to Settings.
  2. Select Privacy, search and services.
  3. Under Clear browsing data, pick Choose what to clear.
  4. Under Time range, pick All time.
  5. Select Clear now. Clear browser data from Chroum Edge

Reset Chromium-based MS Edge:

  1. Click on Menu and select Settings.
  2. On the left side, pick Reset settings.
  3. Select Restore settings to their default values.
  4. Confirm with Reset. Reset Chromium Edge

Remove from Mozilla Firefox (FF)

Fix Firefox by deleting all additional extensions that were injected into your browser without your knowledge. You might want to refresh Firefox afterwards.

Remove dangerous extensions:

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

Reset the homepage:

  1. Click three horizontal lines at the top right corner to open the menu.
  2. Choose Options.
  3. Under Home options, enter your preferred site that will open every time you newly open the Mozilla Firefox.

Clear cookies and site data:

  1. Click Menu and pick Settings.
  2. Go to Privacy & Security section.
  3. Scroll down to locate Cookies and Site Data.
  4. Click on Clear Data…
  5. Select Cookies and Site Data, as well as Cached Web Content and press Clear. Clear cookies and site data from Firefox

Reset Mozilla Firefox

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

  1. Open Mozilla Firefox browser and click the Menu.
  2. Go to Help and then choose Troubleshooting Information. Reset Firefox 1
  3. Under Give Firefox a tune up section, click on Refresh Firefox…
  4. Once the pop-up shows up, confirm the action by pressing on Refresh Firefox. Reset Firefox 2

Remove from Google Chrome

Open Chrome and eliminate extensions that weren’t added by your hand. You should be looking for extensions such as Safe Finder or LPT.

Delete malicious extensions from Google Chrome:

  1. Open Google Chrome, click on the Menu (three vertical dots at the top-right corner) and select More tools > Extensions.
  2. 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. Remove extensions from Chrome

Clear cache and web data from Chrome:

  1. Click on Menu and pick Settings.
  2. Under Privacy and security, select Clear browsing data.
  3. Select Browsing history, Cookies and other site data, as well as Cached images and files.
  4. Click Clear data. Clear cache and web data from Chrome

Change your homepage:

  1. Click menu and choose Settings.
  2. Look for a suspicious site in the On startup section.
  3. 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:

  1. Click on Menu and select Settings.
  2. In the Settings, scroll down and click Advanced.
  3. Scroll down and locate Reset and clean up section.
  4. Now click Restore settings to their original defaults.
  5. Confirm with Reset settings. Reset Chrome 2

Delete from Safari

Remove unwanted extensions from Safari:

  1. Click Safari > Preferences…
  2. In the new window, pick Extensions.
  3. Select the unwanted extension and select Uninstall. Remove extensions from Safari

Clear cookies and other website data from Safari:

  1. Click Safari > Clear History…
  2. From the drop-down menu under Clear, pick all history.
  3. Confirm with Clear History. Clear cookies and website data from Safari

Reset Safari if the above-mentioned steps did not help you:

  1. Click Safari > Preferences…
  2. Go to Advanced tab.
  3. Tick the Show Develop menu in menu bar.
  4. From the menu bar, click Develop, and then select Empty Caches. Reset Safari

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 Search.SafeFinder.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 stealing programs

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. 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 the server or network manager that needs to monitor connections and activities. 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.

 

Recover files after data-affecting malware attacks

While much of the data can be accidentally deleted due to various reasons, malware is one of the main culprits that can cause loss of pictures, documents, videos, and other important files. More serious malware infections lead to significant data loss when your documents, system files, and images get encrypted. In particular, ransomware is is a type of malware that focuses on such functions, so your files become useless without an ability to access them.

Even though there is little to no possibility to recover after file-locking threats, some applications have features for data recovery in the system. In some cases, Data Recovery Pro can also help to recover at least some portion of your data after data-locking virus infection or general cyber infection. 

 

About the author
Jake Doevan
Jake Doevan - Computer technology expert

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References
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