SearX. How to remove? (Uninstall guide)
Searx reveals its source-code to the hackers
“SearX virus” is a title users grant to a questionable search engine [1] which shows up on their browsers without any notice. An interesting feature is that this program is fully “hackable” and its code can be found on Adam Tauber’s (Asciimoo) Github account [2]. It seems that the Budapest-based developer initially used Python to program the software which has later received 46 more contributors. Though it is common for this search engine to show up on the computers automatically, it can also be easily accessed online by typing searx.me into the URL bar. It is interesting though that the very same website can also be found on other domains including navsmart.info or seeks.ru. Such tendency may be attributed to an attempt for ensuring a more extensive software distribution. While we cannot judge the program’s ability to provide the users with the promised metasearch [3] functionality, we can confidently say that the strategies it uses for the expansion deserve little respect. Regardless of whether the product is legitimate or not, it just plain rude to shove it in people’s faces against their will. That’s why you should not hesitate when it comes to SearX removal. Start the procedure by scanning your device with Reimage or similar antivirus software and we are almost certain Searx Search will show up as one of “suggested to remove” option. Of course, you may continue using this search service, if you please, but remember that you are doing it at your own risk.
Questions about SearX
Searx seems like a perfect choice if you want to browse without being tracked [4]. Program developer claims that he does not keep logs and does not create profiles of about the users unlike other popular search engines do. Nevertheless, that’s merely what the service creator wants you to think, and there is virtually no way of validating it. Thus, you can take Asciimoo’s advice and simply refuse to “trust somebody you don’t know or a system you can’t control.” Who knows, maybe it’s just another cleverly disguised browser hijacker virus which tracks everything you do online and uses this information for some malicious cause. Remove SearX if you are unhappy with the service or if you did not intend to use it in the first place.


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
Potentially unwanted application hides inside freeware packages
Searx is one of those programs that do not need special conditions to infiltrate computers. All that is necessary for this virus to occupy your system is careless software installation. Typically, freeware and shareware programs come bundled [5] with some additional suggested software. But such software packages can be easily rebundled, adding other software to the package. That’s probably what happens during SearX infiltration as well. Opting for the Advanced settings when installing freeware or shareware may help diminish the risk of it happening.
SearX removal requires browser reset
Indeed, simple uninstall may not be enough to remove Searx virus from the computer. Thus, it might be helpful to reset all of the affected browsers as well. You will learn how to perform Google Chrome, IE, Edge or Mozilla Firefox reset in the tutorial below. Just above it, you will also find manual SearX removal instructions which may come in handy if you choose to delete the software manually.
You can remove virus damage automatically with a help of one of these programs: Reimage, Malwarebytes MalwarebytesCombo Cleaner, Plumbytes Anti-MalwareMalwarebytes Malwarebytes. We recommend these applications because they detect potentially unwanted programs and viruses with all their files and registry entries that are related to them.
To remove SearX, follow these steps:
Erase SearX from Windows systems
Using the instructions below you will learn how to remove Searx.me or any other Searx-related hijacker from your computer manually.
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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 SearX and related programs
Here, look for SearX or any other recently installed suspicious programs. -
Uninstall them and click OK to save these changes.
- Remove SearX 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 ChromeSafariGet rid of SearX 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 SearX or any other suspicious programs on it. Now right click on every of such entries and select Move to Trash.
Delete SearX 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. -
You will see a Manage Add-ons window. Here, look for SearX 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 SearX removal.
Uninstall SearX from Microsoft Edge
When exterminating the hijacker from your computer, pay attention to your web browsers as well. Go through the list of Edge extensions and remove the unwanted components manually. Then, perform the reset.
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.
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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, SearX should be removed from your Microsoft Edge browser.
WindowsMac OS XInternet ExplorerMicrosoft EdgeFirefoxGoogle ChromeSafariRemove SearX 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. -
Here, select SearX 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. -
Now you will see Reset Firefox to its default state message with Reset Firefox button. Click this button for several times and complete SearX removal.
Eliminate SearX from Google Chrome
To help you remove the PUP from your Google Chrome, we have prepared the following guidelines:
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Delete malicious plugins
Open Google Chrome, click on the menu icon (top right corner) and select Tools → Extensions. -
Here, select SearX 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 SearX removal.
Erase SearX 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 SearX 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 SearX, 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.... -
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 SearX removal process.
About the author
References
- ^ John Leyden. Search engine results increasingly poisoned with malicious links. TheRegister. Sci/Tech News for the World .
- ^ Privacy-respecting metasearch engine. Github. The world's leading software development platform.
- ^ Varun Kashyap. What is a meta search engine & how it works?. MakeUseOf. Technology, Simplified.
- ^ Search engine marketing. Wikipedia. The free encyclopedia.
- ^ Product bundling. Wikipedia. The free encyclopedia.