Topsocialhubsearch.com

Topsocialhubsearch.com is a browser hijacker that will try to make you think it is the best new search engine out there. Unfortunately, if your homepage suddenly gets modified without any prior notice, it means that your computer’s security has been compromised, and you certainly have to do something about it. In this article, you will find more information about the infection, and we will also tell you how to remove Topsocialhubsearch.com from your computer. The manual removal instructions are provided at the bottom of this description. You can also leave us a comment if you have any question about this browser hijacker or your computer’s security in general.

If you are wondering how this infection slithered into your system, we regret to tell you that you must have had something to do it. Of course, we do not imply you installed Topsocialhubsearch.com on purpose, but it is very common that users allow these programs to enter their computers without even realizing it. Perhaps you can already tell that this browser hijacker does not have a direct distribution source. In other words, no one can download it from one official homepage. Instead, the program makes use of other freeware and potentially harmful applications to spread around the web.

During our research, we have found a list of potentially unwanted programs that could be involved in the hijacker’s distribution network. For instance, InteliTerm, TermTrident, SwiftSearch, and other similar applications generate pop-ups that contain outgoing links. Clicking on some of those links may automatically install the browser hijacker on your computer, or you could be redirected to some third-party website that initiates the browser settings modification. From this, we can see that in order to get infected with Topsocialhubsearch.com, you already have to have a list of unwanted software running on your computer.

How does this software manage to enter your system? There is always at least the slightest chance there might be a program or two on your system that you neither need nor want. When you browse the web and look for various products, you may stumble upon third-party websites that host and promote freeware. Downloading freeware from such sources is not safe because the third-party installers may bundle several applications into one. And if you do not read all the steps in the installation wizard, you could end up installing more than just one program. This is probably what happened in your case. As a result, these unwanted applications led to the browser hijacker infection, too.

Perhaps there is a silver lining in this situation, too. Some computer infections are very stealthy and they try to avoid getting detected. Topsocialhubsearch.com, on the other hand, does not such thing. You will know that the browser hijacker has entered your computer the moment you launch your browser. Your default homepage will be changed, and your new tab settings will be modified, too. What’s more, whenever you try to run a web search, you will be redirected through several websites. For example, your search results will be redirected from topsocialhubsearch.com through extsearch.maxwebsearch.com, and then you will land on Yahoo! Search.

Albeit Yahoo! Search has nothing in common with this browser hijacker, you should not click any links on the search results because they could be modified according to your web browsing habits. Almost all browser hijackers can track your browsing history via tracking cookies, so eventually; they can process your online profile, finding out your likes and preferences. As a result, some of the links in your search results can be modified to make it more attractive to you. Nevertheless, that does not mean you have to click those links unconditionally.

Some of the links might be embedded there by cyber criminals that make use of the Topsocialhubsearch.com hijacker to distribute their malicious programs. Of course, the main objective of the browser hijacker is to earn money via the pay-per-click system, but it might also be exploited (without any consent) by third parties for malware distribution. You have to avoid such course of events by removing Topsocialhubsearch.com today.

Follow the instructions below to terminate the infection. If you do not want to uninstall the hijacker manually, you can always get yourself a powerful antispyware tool that will help you delete the program automatically. Make the choice that fits your needs the best.

How to Delete Topsocialhubsearch.com

Internet Explorer

1. Press Win+R and the Run prompt will open.
2. Type regedit into the Open box and click OK.
3. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main.
4. Right-click the Start Page value on the right-pane.
5. Choose Modify and change your startup address.
6. Press OK and close Registry Editor.

Firefox

1. Press Win+R and type %APPDATA% into the Open box.
2. Click OK and go to Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\[Unique Mozilla user ID].
3. Locate and open the prefs.js file.
4. Find and delete the following string: user_pref("browser.startup.homepage", "http://Topsocialhubsearch.com");
5. Save changes and close the file.

Chrome

1. Press Win+R and the type %APPDATA% into the Open box.
2. Click OK and go to Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default.
3. Delete the following files: Preferences, Web Data, and Secure Preferences.