Remove THESMARTSEARCH.COM, Get Rid of Redirect Virus Thoroughly

THESMARTSEARCH.COM is a piece of browser hijacker typically used to promote specific commercially oriented websites. As soon as the redirect virus infects the browser, it will change the browser settings without your consent. The result of the modification made by this virus is that the start page and the browser search are redirected to some suspicious sites and many PC users may be misled by it. In this case, the browser home page will be replaced to the specific option once user enables the browser and starts a search. Users won’t be able to access their favorite sites smoothly because the threat may block them.

Under normal circumstance, THESMARTSEARCH.COM browser hijack will redirect PC users to visit advertising sites while going online, and then PC users will see many unsafe links and advertisement pages. It is a tool that can be easily used by cyber hackers to gain commercial profits. The advertisements appear tempting so that numerous computer users are attracted by them and cannot help clicking on pop-up ads or sponsored links. Users should be aware of the pops- up triggered by THESMARTSEARCH.COM for the infection will result in huge loss of money.

There is no reason to let THESMARTSEARCH.COM virus stay on the system form a long time. Most of the victims choose to keep this malware on the browser for they thinks that the ads pops displayed on the browser extension will devastate the system if they never click on it. However, things are not that simple. Since the redirect virus can cause some modifications in the computer system, things may be out of control. This virus blocks the system security tools and makes the whole infected system fragile, other harmful malwares and viruses would seize the opportunities to intrude into the affected computer effortlessly. If so, the system will be in the trouble of loads of perilous malware and system resources will be consumed without user’s permission. If users don’t take effective measures to get rid of the redirect virus from PC, their PCs may be further damaged and compromised. Therefore, it is necessary that users immediately get rid of the nasty redirect virus with the effective method.

How to Remove THESMARTSEARCH.COM Hijacker Completely

1. Remove the browser hijacker from the infected computer.

Click on the Start button and select Control Panel. Click on Uninstall a program under the Programs category.

Find out and locate the programs related to THESMARTSEARCH.COM browser hijacker. Click on the Uninstall button to remove them all.

2. Launch the infected browser and remove the add-ons or extensions related to the browser hijacker.

Internet Explorer:

Open IE, click on Tools and then select Manage Add-ons. When it opens a window, click on Toolbars and Extensions. Find out the extensions related to the browser hijacker and select them. Then, right-click them and click on the Disable option. Restart IE to finish the procedure.

Google Chrome:

Launch Google Chrome. Click on the Three-bar icon on top-right of the browser, select tools and then Extensions from the list. After that, click Extensions on the left side of the window. Locate the extension related to the browser hijacker, select it and click on the trash icon. Restart the browser to complete the procedure.

Mozilla Firefox:

Start Firefox and click on the tool menu from the top menu. Click on the Add-ons tab to open the configuration window. Then, click Extensions on the left side of this window. Now find out the extensions of the redirect virus and remove them from the browser. Restart the browser to complete the process.

3.Show hidden files and folders.

Go to Control panel again and click on Appearance and Personalization. Then double click on Folder Options. Hit the View tab, tick “Show hidden files, folders and drives” and deselect “Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)” . Click on the OK button to apply the changes.

4.Delete the malicious files of THESMARTSEARCH.COM from the local disk.

The files listed below areor reference only because the virus may has the ability to changes the names and locations of its files.

%Program Files%\ random

%AppData%\Protector-[rnd].exe

%AppData%\Inspector-[rnd].exe

%AppData%\vsdsrv32.exe

5. Open Registry Editor and delete the registry entries of the browser hijacker..

Press Windows+ R keys simultaneously to open the Run window. Then type “regedit” in the run box and press Enter key to open Registry Editor.

After that, find out and delete all the registry entries of THESMARTSEARCH.COM. The below registry entries are also for reference only.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\[random].exe

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\browser hijacker name

HKEY_CURRENT_USER \Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System ‘DisableRegistryTools’ = 0

6. Restart the infected computer to apply all changes.

Conclusion

Removing THESMARTSEARCH.COM is not easy for most users infected with it. Generally speaking, users won’t realize the danger until things getting quite serious. Cyber hackers just lure this type of users to seek chances to boost commercial gains. Run system scan regularly to detect any cunning infections and try the best to find any exception happened in the computer so as to find the better solution to solve problems caused by malicious virus. Since the redirect virus often comes bundled with free third-party applications, users need for careful when they free download some programs because some freeware may be malware or embedded in suspicious applications and do harm to the computer systems once installed. Besides, it has the ability to fix your corrupt system and provide real time protection to prevent your PC from other potential threats. If you have need to instantly remove THESMARTSEARCH.COM, you may consider trying the manual removal solution.