Pico-search.com

Pico-search.com is a questionable search engine promoted by a browser hijacker. This browser extension claims to “provide the ultimate online search experience,” but, instead, it can expose you to harmful web content. As a matter of fact, we have found that recently this search engine has been down. This can mean that it will start up soon and it will be more heavily promoted, but it may also be an indication that it was shut down permanently. However, if it is up and running, you may land on malicious websites by engaging with content offered by this hijacker. Unfortunately, it is also possible that this malware infection does not enter your computer all alone. The chance of your finding other browser hijackers, adware programs, and potentially unwanted programs on your system is rather high. Therefore, we suggest that you remove Pico-search.com right away whether the server is functioning or not.

To make this browser hijacker appear as a legitimate and useful browser extension, its creators even set up a promotional webpage, info.pico-search.com. This is a rather simple page with limited amount of information on this application. Yet, that limited information is available in more than a dozen languages apart from English, of course, including Arabic, Dutch, French, and Korean. The most suspicious thing about this page is that there is actually no download link or button. Yes, you heard it right; this application is not available for download on its own official page. However, you can find three different links and pages with removal instructions. Obviously, this webpage is not the source of your infection. So there has to be another way for this browser hijacker to travel on the net so that it can infect unsuspecting computer users.

This “another way” is none other than bundling, of course. This questionable distribution method is very often used by schemers to spread malicious third-party installers on the Internet. Therefore, it is quite likely that Pico-search.com is not the only passenger in a malicious bundle. The main source of such software packages are suspicious websites that promote a lot of third-party content (advertisements). These sites are most commonly dating, gaming, freeware, and torrent pages. It is possible that you are looking for a free file or software to download and you land on an unfamiliar site. That is why it is easy to click on fake download buttons or other misleading content that in reality drops an infectious bundle onto your system instead of a legitimate file. If this sounds familiar to you, it is important that you delete Pico-search.com and scan your system for other infections as well.

We have discovered that this browser hijacker is actually identical to other known infections, including bit-search.com and royal-search.com. This infection may collect information about you from your browser history and based on other technologies to be able to send customized content to your screen. The problem is that cyber criminals can exploit this extension and use it for their vicious agenda to redirect you to their malicious websites. This application is obviously used by its creators to generate easy income through third-party advertising, i.e., rerouting web traffic to affiliated websites. This can be done by modifying search results. If you catch this browser hijacker in your browsers, do not click on anything you can associate with it. This search page may also display potentially unreliable video thumbnails at the bottom of the page, for example. If you do not want to end up on fake websites and become the next victim of cyber criminals, we suggest that you delete Pico-search.com right away.

We have found that the best and easiest way to remove this browser hijacker is to reset your affected browsers, including Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome as well as Internet Explorer. You should know, though, that by resetting your browsers you lose all your settings since everything goes back to default. If you do not want that for some reason, we suggest that you restore the home page, new tab page, and default search engine settings as well as remove this browser extension. This will take more time, of course, but your other settings will remain unaffected. We have prepared a guide for you to reset your browser below this article. So follow these instructions if you choose to get rid of this hijacker this way. It is possible that this is not the first time you let a malware infection onto your system. It is also quite likely that you can detect other threats on your computer right now. If you would like to protect your precious files and personal information from cyber criminals and their constant attacks, we recommend that you download and install a powerful up-to-date anti-malware program as soon as possible.

How to remove Pico-search.com from browsers

Google Chrome

1. Tap Alt+F and open Settings.
2. Scroll down and click Show advanced settings.
3. Click Reset settings at the bottom.
4. Press Reset in the pop-up.

Mozilla Firefox

1. Tap Alt+H and choose Troubleshooting Information.
2. Press Refresh Firefox.
3. In the confirmation window, click Refresh Firefox.
4. Click Finish.

Internet Explorer

1. Tap Alt+T and select Internet Options.
2. Choose the Advanced tab and click Reset.
3. Tick Delete personal settings and click Reset.
4. Press Close.