Remove Search.searchgbv.com (Virus Removal Guide) - Free Instructions
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 ReimageIntego 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 ReimageIntego) and proceed with Search.searchgbv.com removal procedure.
Search.searchgbv.com is a potentially unwanted program that hijacks startup page and and displays unwanted adverts
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 may remove virus damage with a help of ReimageIntego. 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.searchgbv.com, follow these steps:
Remove Search.searchgbv.com from Windows systems
To remove Search.searchgbv.com from Windows 10/8 machines, please follow these steps:
- 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 entries related to Search.searchgbv.com (or any other recently installed 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 Search.searchgbv.com from Mac OS X system
To eliminate Search.searchgbv.com from Mac OS, follow these steps carefully:
If your macOS is displaying some infection symptoms, proceed with the following guide:
Remove Search.searchgbv.com from Applications folder:
- From the menu bar, select Go > Applications.
- In the Applications folder, look for Search.searchgbv.com-related entries.
- Click on the app and drag it to Trash (or right-click and pick Move to Trash)
To fully remove Search.searchgbv.com, 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 related to Search.searchgbv.com and then delete them.
- Now enter /Library/LaunchAgents and /Library/LaunchDaemons folders the same way and terminate all the Search.searchgbv.com-related entries.
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
- Pick Manage Add-ons.
- You will see a Manage Add-ons window. Here, look for Search.searchgbv.com and other suspicious plugins. Click on these entries and select Disable.
Change your homepage if it was altered:
- Open IE and click on the Gear icon.
- Select Internet Options.
- In the General tab, delete the Home page address and replace it by your preferred one (for example, Google.com).
- Click Apply and then select OK.
Delete temporary files:
- Press on the Gear icon and select Internet Options.
- Under Browsing history, click Delete…
- Select relevant fields and press Delete.
Reset Internet Explorer:
- Click on Gear icon > Internet options and select Advanced tab.
- Select Reset.
- 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
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 Search.searchgbv.com-related 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.
Reset MS Edge if that 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 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.
Uninstall Search.searchgbv.com from Mozilla Firefox (FF)
Manually reste Mozilla Firefox' settings:
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 plugins that are related to Search.searchgbv.com and click Remove.
Clear cookies and site data:
- Click Menu and pick Options.
- 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.
In case Search.searchgbv.com did not get removed after following the instructions above, 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 – this should complete Search.searchgbv.com removal.
Get rid of Search.searchgbv.com 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 Search.searchgbv.com 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.
If the above-methods did not help you, reset Google Chrome to eliminate all the Search.searchgbv.com-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 to complete Search.searchgbv.com removal.
Remove Search.searchgbv.com from Safari
Remove unwanted extensions from Safari:
- Click Safari > Preferences…
- In the new window, pick Extensions.
- Select the unwanted extension related to Search.searchgbv.com 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 Search.searchgbv.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: ReimageIntego, SpyHunter 5Combo Cleaner or Malwarebytes.
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- ^ Potentially unwanted program. Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.
- ^ Margaret Rouse . Ransomware. SearchSecurity. Security information.
- ^ NoVirus. NoVirus. UK's cybersecurity news and articles.
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