How to Get Rid of Searchz.co Redirect Virus?

Searchz.co is a browser redirect virus capable of hijacking users’ browsers to its own domain and redirecting users’ search results to random ad-based websites. It is closely related to browser hijackers that can intercept almost popular browser hijackers, including Internet Explorer, Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. With all the modifications of browser settings, the default homepage would be replaced by Searchz.co without users noticed. Under the circumstances, when users start their affected web browsers and do a search, they may be redirected to unwanted websites suddenly. Sometimes, users even cannot access the websites they want to visit, since the redirect virus has changed the browser settings and take control over the browsers.

In most cases, Searchz.co redirects users to various advertising sites that they never heard of and shows them tons of pop-up advertisements. To put it bluntly, the redirect virus is designed by cyber hackers to make profits by cheating computer users. While most sites provided by this browser redirect virus are so attractive, majority victims can not control themselves and click on the convincing information offered by the commercial sites and then fall into the trap. The information on the Searchz.co redirect virus can not be trusted at all, PC users should pay attention to this fake search engine to avoid further damage from the cyber criminals.

Searchz.co should not be left on the PC neither kept as the default homepage. 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 as simple as they think. The infected machine will suffer an extremely dangerous situation since redirect virus could mess up the system files step by step. The browser hijacker may lower the security settings of the system as well as the browsers, allowing more and more other cyber threats to break into the compromised machines without scruples. The system performance will be downgraded greatly by the activities triggered by these types of malware and enormous amount of system processes’ resources can be covertly consumed. If users don’t take effective and prompt measures to deal with the redirect virus, the threat may result in many disastrous consequences. Consequently, the best choice to save the infected computer is to get rid of Searchz.co virus and reset the default settings.

Step by Step to Remove Searchz.co Virus Thoroughly

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 Searchz.co 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 Searchz.co from the local disk.

The files listed below are 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 Searchz.co. 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

It is not easy for users to find out when Searchz.co redirect virus came into their machines. Inexperienced computer users are usually tricked by this malware for they seldom pay attention to malware prevention problems. Cyber criminals use this redirect virus to make profit from the na?ve victims. Thus, users should pay more attention to their computer performance and run their advanced antivirus programs to scan the PCs once some weird symptoms show up in order to prevent more damages caused by hidden viruses. That is the reason why user should beware of the computer infection via activating highly trusted and professional antimalware scanner on the computer. Moreover, users are suggested to run their antivirus software to scan the whole system regularly in order to guarantee the computer security. If the manual removal way doesn’t work or you find it too difficult to follow, just download and install a powerful malware removal tool to solve the issue easily.