Search.searchgbv.com. How to remove? (Uninstall guide)
Search.searchgbv.com is a browser hijacker directed to religious individuals
Search.searchgbv.com is a dubious application that enters users’ machines without their permission and makes uncalled changes to each of the installed browsers, including Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Safari, Mozilla Firefox, etc. This potentially unwanted program[1] was designed and developed by Polarity Technology Ltd, which is responsible for many other similar browser hijackers, such as Search.heasyconverter.co, Search.searchmpctpop.com, Search.searchquco.com, etc.
| SUMMARY | |
| Name | Search.searchgbv.com |
|---|---|
| Type | Browser hijacker |
| Browser extension | Get Bible Verses |
| Developer | Polarity Technology Ltd |
| Symptoms | Altered browser settings, invasive ads, etc. |
| Distribution | Software bundling |
| Elimination | You can delete the virus using Reimage or by checking our manual guide below |
Each of these applications have a different “theme” that might be appealing to certain type of audience. Typically, Polarity goes for such factors as internet speed checkers, file converters, maps, locations, etc. This time, the developers decided to appeal to religious people, as Get Bible Verses (the extension which comes together with the browser hijacker) has a variety of links to religious webpages, as well as a quote from Bible in the middle of the screen.
Nevertheless, all the searches are redirected to Yahoo – a legitimate and widely used search engine. However, if you get redirected from a hijacked homepage, a layer of ads will appear in your search results, advertising Polarity’s affiliates. This way, developers earn money for every promoted website and boost their web traffic significantly. To avoid altered search results, you need to remove Search.searchgbv.com from your machine entirely.
Search.searchgbv.com virus may perform the following:
- Alter startup page, new tab URL and search engine address to hxxp://search.searchgbv.com;
- Install additional components, such as other browser extensions, bogus optimization tools, toolbars and other unnecessary software, without users’ permission;
- Display advertisement of affiliates in various forms – such us pop-ups, redirects, in-text links, etc.;
- Change and read bookmarks or favorites;
- Slowdown the web browser;
- Record and share non-personally identifiable information, etc.
Get Bible Verses rerouting tendencies is by far the most dangerous feature. Users could be lead to websites where malicious JavaScripts can download and install malware. This might bring to various perilous computer infections, such as ransomware.[2] This cyber threat can lock up all files on ones PC and demand ransom to be paid for data release.
Additionally, developers also warn users about the following:
8.4 In the event that Polarity goes through a business transition such as a merger, acquisition by another company, consolidation, change of control, reorganization, bankruptcy, or sale or transfer of all or a portion of its assets, your information will be among the assets transferred.
Thus, if you enter any personally identifiable information, it might be transferred as explained above. Security experts from novirus.uk[3] highly discourage users from entering any personal details into a hijacked engine.
It is evident that the browser hijacker is not necessary and might even be harmful to your PC and privacy. Thus download robust security software (such as Reimage) and proceed with Search.searchgbv.com removal procedure.
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
Freeware installers may include potentially unwanted programs
Unfortunately, not many casual computer users are aware of software bundling technique. This method helps PUP developers to distribute their software much more efficiently, while free software authors monetize off the procedure. Unfortunately, this process is legal, and the one who lets unwanted apps in is the user. Therefore, it is vital to learn how to avoid PUP infiltration.
The most important step is not to rush. Users often click “Next” several times without looking. What they don’t realize is that they just accepted Terms and Conditions. Therefore, if you don’t pick Advanced/Custom installation mode, you may entirely skip the option to withdraw additional components. To avoid that, never choose Recommend/Quick settings, despite recommendations by software authors (remember, it is in their best interest to make you install PUPs as they benefit financially).
Search.searchgbv.com uninstallation guide
You can quickly remove Search.searchgbv.com from your machine. First, you could try to eliminate the unwanted application manually – just use our guide below. However, make sure you carefully follow each step as the incorrect procedure will simply fail to get rid of the PUP. Afterward, you will have to reset each of the browser’s settings manually.
The quickest and most convenient Search.searchgbv.com removal can be performed using robust security software. We advise picking one of the programs mentioned below, bring it up to date and run a full system scan.
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 Search.searchgbv.com, follow these steps:
Remove Search.searchgbv.com from Windows systems
-
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.
- Uninstall Search.searchgbv.com and related programs
Here, look for Search.searchgbv.com or any other recently installed suspicious programs. -
Uninstall them and click OK to save these changes.
- Remove Search.searchgbv.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 ChromeSafariDelete Search.searchgbv.com from Mac OS X system
To eliminate Search.searchgbv.com from Mac OS, follow these steps carefully:
-
If you are using OS X, click Go button at the top left of the screen and select Applications.
-
Wait until you see Applications folder and look for Search.searchgbv.com or any other suspicious programs on it. Now right click on every of such entries and select Move to Trash.
Erase Search.searchgbv.com from Internet Explorer (IE)
-
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 Search.searchgbv.com and other suspicious plugins. Disable these entries by clicking Disable:
-
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 Search.searchgbv.com removal.
Eliminate Search.searchgbv.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.
-
Once Settings window shows up, click Choose what to clear button under Clear browsing data option.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.searchgbv.com should be removed from your Microsoft Edge browser.
WindowsMac OS XInternet ExplorerMicrosoft EdgeFirefoxGoogle ChromeSafariUninstall Search.searchgbv.com from Mozilla Firefox (FF)
Manually reste Mozilla Firefox' settings:
-
Remove dangerous extensions
Open Mozilla Firefox, click on the menu icon (top right corner) and select Add-ons → Extensions. -
Here, select Search.searchgbv.com and other questionable plugins. Click Remove to delete these entries.
-
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 Search.searchgbv.com removal.
Get rid of Search.searchgbv.com from Google Chrome
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Delete malicious plugins
Open Google Chrome, click on the menu icon (top right corner) and select Tools → Extensions. -
Here, select Search.searchgbv.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.
-
Click Reset to confirm this action and complete Search.searchgbv.com removal.
Remove Search.searchgbv.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 Search.searchgbv.com or other suspicious entries. Click on the Uninstall button to get rid each of them.
-
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.searchgbv.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 Search.searchgbv.com removal process.
About the author
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References
- ^ Potentially unwanted program. Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.
- ^ Margaret Rouse . Ransomware. SearchSecurity. Security information.
- ^ NoVirus. NoVirus. UK's cybersecurity news and articles.