iglobalsearch.com

It is high time we analyze iglobalsearch.com which is not a legitimate search as some of you may be led to believe. This “search engine” falls into the category of browser hijackers and, therefore, we advise that you remove it as soon as you can. In short, it is set to hijack your web browser’s homepage address, new tab page address, and search provider in order to redirect web traffic and subject you to commercial advertisements of unverifiable legitimacy. Thus, if you want to restore your computer’s security, you have to get rid of this annoying and intrusive hijacker along with its shady promotions.

Usually, browser hijackers present advertisements via the search results window. This hijacker is a bit different, however, as it can also render pop-ups like an adware-type program would. This hijacker comes with a unique browser extension named iGlobal. It is compatible with Google Chrome only but in addition to being installed on Chrome it is also installed as an application. Its files are dropped to %LOCALAPPDATA%\gsearch. This location is also set to host .json script files that that give the browser commands to show a set or advertisements. Nevertheless, iGlobal is also installed as a regular Chrome extension in C:\Users\{name}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions and its file is named cfgnanaojckjbggalbgofagbpbdcekja. This extension has an uninstaller that you can run from Control Panel. However, it does not delete the files, so they will remain after you run it and iGlobal will function as normal.

The extension is designed to display pop-up advertisements, but iglobalsearch.com is also set to display advertisements, but in a different manner. It is configured to inject promotional links in its search results that may redirect to shady websites. These websites may turn out to be scam or phishing websites or sites that host malware downloads. Hence, your computer’s security and, by extension, your privacy can be jeopardized, and that is not what you expect from a program and search engine such as these.

It is important to note that if you try to change the search-related settings such as the homepage from Chrome’s settings menu, then your changes will be overridden by iglobalsearch.com because it hijacks the shortcut target as well. When you install the extension, it modifies the browser’s Target line and adds --load-extension=C:\Users\{name}\AppData\Local\gsearch http://iglobalsearch.com to it. As a result, each time you launch the browser, it will execute this command and load iglobalsearch.com. However, if you erase this command, then you will be able to reset the search-related settings to your liking.

Before we conclude this description, we want to touch upon its distribution methods to give you an idea of how this hijacker might have entered your computer. Our research suggests that this hijacker and its accompanying extension are disseminated via malicious installers. Such installers are featured on free software distributing websites, and they are likely to contain various shady programs and browser extensions as a means to cover the costs of running the website and so on. Some of them are often unreliable, and that is exactly the case with iGlobal. Note that most of the visits to iglobalsearch.com come from the United Kingdom, which accounts for 55.7 % of visits, Canada which accounts for 37.1 % of visits, followed by the US with only 7.5 % of visits, and so on. So it is clear that this hijacker favors being featured on English language websites, so there is something to keep an eye out.

In closing, your research has made it abundantly clear that iglobalsearch.com and its extension iGlobal have no reason to be on your PC. Their purpose is to make money from online advertisements, so it has nothing to offer to you. Its search results will not improve your search experience at and can only jeopardize your computer’s security and your personal privacy in the event it promotes malware or phishing websites. If you are having trouble removing it, consult the removal guide below as it will surely help you.

Delete the files

1. Press Windows+E keys.
2. enter %LOCALAPPDATA%\gsearch in the File Explorer.
3. Delete all .json files.
4. Then, enter C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions in the File Explorer.
5. Find and delete cfgnanaojckjbggalbgofagbpbdcekja

Remove the Target line hijacker

1. Right-click on Chrome’s shortcut.
2. Select Properties and select the Shortcut tab.
3. Delete --load-extension=C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\gsearch http://iglobalsearch.com from the Target line.
4. Click OK.

Set a new search engine

1. Open Chrome.
2. Press Alt+F keys.
3. Select Settings.
4. In the Search section, select a new search engine.
5. Then, in the On startup section, click Set pages and chose a search engine.
6. In the Search section, select a search engine from the provided list.