Search.searchedd.com

If you happen to come across Search.searchedd.com, a page with a search box and the so-called quick-access buttons opening Google Maps, Bing Maps, Gas Prices, News, and Local Weather set on your web browser, it means that it has been hijacked, i.e. its settings have been changed without your knowledge because Search.searchedd.com is considered a browser hijacker. It is not the first hijacker developed by Polarity Technologies Ltd. This company has developed a ton of various browser hijackers, e.g. Search.yourpackagesnow.com, Search.yourmapscenter.com, and Search.yourmapscenter.com, but there is one thing that unites them all – they all look like legitimate search providers. Even though they do look reliable, you can still recognize them quite easily. If a page with a search box has affected all your web browsers (Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, and Google Chrome), i.e. altered their settings without permission, it cannot be a trustworthy search provider. Luckily, the suspicious page can be removed quite easily. All you need to do is to set another page as your homepage or simply reset the affected browser to default settings.

Despite the fact that Search.searchedd.com does look like an ordinary search provider, it is considered a browser hijacker because it changes settings of users’ browsers without their knowledge. As a consequence, they see Search.searchedd.com open when they launch any of their web browsers. We have to admit that this search tool does look legitimate, but we still cannot let you use it because it can only bring you problems. No, it will not start downloading any malicious applications automatically, but it might present you with sponsored links if you use it to search for the information using the search box it has. These links will take you to websites that belong to third parties. Some of these websites might even contain untrustworthy applications or try to obtain some information about you by, for example, offering you to participate in a lottery by providing your name, surname, email, and other personal details. Because of this, no matter how decent this page looks, you should not use it as your search provider.

There is one more reason we do not consider Search.searchedd.com reliable. Researchers working at pcthreat.com have also checked its Privacy Policy during research, and they have discovered a disturbing fact. It has turned out that this search provider actively collects information about users. It not only records a bunch of details that cannot identify users personally, e.g. the type of browser, geographic location, Internet Service Provider, URLs and websites visited, etc., but also records all search queries, meaning that if you enter any personal details in the search box, e.g. your surname, it will be recorded together with other search queries. The recorded information should be mainly used to improve services and present users with offers that may be of interest to them, but the chances are high that it will also be disclosed to third parties. Therefore, if we were you, we would stop using Search.searchedd.com to perform web searches today.

According to our researchers who have analyzed the Search.searchedd.com browser hijacker, it is very likely that you have installed it on your computer together with applications from such websites as filewon.com, filewin.com, and malavida.es. All these websites contain tons of free applications that can be easily downloaded by any user. Browser hijackers are not the only threats that may be spread via such pages, so you should download software only from websites you know are 100% trustworthy. In addition, if you do not want to encounter new malicious software ever again, there must be a security application enabled on your computer. Make sure it is 100% trustworthy because those only pretending to be reliable antimalware tools will definitely not help you prevent malicious software from entering the system.

It is very important that you remove Search.searchedd.com from all affected browsers if you are not going to use it (we do not recommend doing this!) because it will continue collecting some information about you, and it will be opened to you every day. The quickest way to remove it manually is to reset these affected browsers to default, but if you do not have time for the manual removal of this browser hijacker, you can undo the changes applied to your browsers automatically instead.

How to remove Search.searchedd.com

Internet Explorer

1. Open Internet Explorer.
2. Press Alt+T simultaneously to access Tools.
3. Select Internet Options.
4. Click the Advanced tab.
5. Click Reset.
6. Locate Delete personal settings and mark the checkbox next to it.
7. Click Reset again.

Mozilla Firefox

1. Start Mozilla Firefox.
2. Go to the Help menu (press Alt+H).
3. Select Troubleshooting information.
4. At the top, click Refresh Firefox.
5. Confirm the browser reset by clicking Refresh Firefox one more time.

Google Chrome

1. Launch Google Chrome and press Alt+F.
2. Click Settings.
3. Go to the bottom of the page and select Advanced.
4. Locate Reset under the Reset section and click it.
5. Click Reset again in the confirmation window.