CoolStreamSearch Hijacker - How to remove

When your search results are returned by unfamiliar sites and when pop-ups from Coolstreamsearch.com start cluttering your screen, those are signs that CoolStreamSearch has infected your browser. CoolStreamSearch is a mild adware infection – it opens promoted sites and collects data on how you use the internet. It’s not very dangerous, but it sure is annoying. Luckily, you can uninstall CoolStreamSearch and it’ll stop messing with your browser.

In short about CoolStreamSearch:

Threat type	Browser hijacker, adware.
Infection symptoms	Internet search results show up on Mybrowser-search.com, you see more advertisements than usual.
Problems with CoolStreamSearch	It collects data about your browsing habits, it interferes with your internet browsing, it gets installed without permission.
How to remove CoolStreamSearch	Uninstall it from your browser, remove all malware with antivirus programs (Spyhunter for PC, Combo Cleaner for Mac, others).

Problems with CoolStreamSearch

If you noticed “CoolStreamSearch” in your browser’s address bar, if your search queries are getting redirected to unfamiliar sites, and if you see unusually many ads pop up on your screen, then a malicious extension might have been installed on your browser.

CoolStreamSearch is an extension that offers to somehow improve your internet search experience. It does this by changing your default search engine settings so that it’s in control of your search results. When you type a query into your address bar, it’s sent to Feed.coolstreamsearch.com, which then opens Yahoo.com or Mybrowser-search.com through Onlinebars.xyz.

It also logs some data about your browsing habits:

• What you search for.
• Which search results and ads you click on.
• Your browsing history.
• What your location and language are.

And it might share this data with other companies. This is a little bad for your privacy.

Another problem with CoolStreamSearch is that it lacks useful features. Since it’s a browser extension, you might expect it to do something. Useful add-ons can block ads, change the colors of webpages, compare products and prices on different sites, etc. But CoolStreamSearch doesn’t do anything other than change search settings and collect data.

And because it’s so useless and cannot rely on honest advertising, CoolStreamSearch needs alternative ways to get people to install it. Deceptive ads, such as fake download links, are used. It might also get bundled as an optional offer with the installers of various free programs.

It’s not unlikely that CoolStreamSearch gets installed together with one or two other malicious extensions.

How to remove CoolStreamSearch

To stop CoolStreamSearch from manipulating your searches and tracking your data, you need to remove its browser extension and get rid of it from your settings.

Remove the extension

Uninstall CoolStreamSearch as described below. At the same time, review all of your third-party extensions:

• Read their permissions and see if they fit the features of the extensions.
• Read their privacy policies and consider if you’re comfortable with them.
• Look at the extension’s reviews. See if people are discussing the features of the extension and what sorts of problems they run into.

Avoid using too many browser add-ons. CoolStreamSearch’s problems aren’t unique – the excessive data collection and unnecessary settings changes are done by other extensions, as well. CoolStreamSearch is just notable because it lacks any useful features to make up for its advertising behavior (Browser Extensions Are a Privacy Nightmare: Stop Using So Many of Them).

To remove the most obvious threats, it’s recommended to have an antivirus app, such as Spyhunter for Windows, Combo Cleaner for macOS, and others, scan your device. Whatever scanner you use, make sure it can detect PUPs (potentially unwanted programs).

Review your settings

After deleting CoolStreamSearch and other adware, there’s still some work left. First, check your web push notification settings:

• Chrome – open Settings, scroll down to Site settings (under Privacy and security), click on Notifications.
• Edge (Chromium) – open Settings, click Site Permissions, Notifications.
• Safari – in the Safari menu, choose Preferences, Websites, Notifications.
• Firefox – open Settings, Privacy & Security, scroll down to Permissions, and click on Settings next to Notifications.

These are for which websites can show messages on your screen. You probably don’t want Coolstreamsearch.com to be set to “Allow” because that would allow it to show pop-ups in your browser.

The instructions below show how to check your search engine and home page settings – now that CoolStreamSearch is gone, you’re free to set them to your preferred sites.

Automatic Malware removal tools

Restore browser settings

TopHow To remove CoolStreamSearch Hijacker from Google Chrome:

• Click on the 3 horizontal lines icon on a browser toolbar and Select More Tools→Extensions
  
• Select all malicious extensions and delete them.
  
• Click on the 3 horizontal lines icon on a browser toolbar and Select Settings
  
• Select Manage Search engines
  
• Remove unnecessary search engines from the list
  
• Go back to settings. On Startup choose Open blank page (you can remove undesired pages from the set pages link too).
• If your homepage was changed, click on Chrome menu on the top right corner, select Settings. Select Open a specific page or set of pages and click on Set pages.
  
• Delete malicious search websites at a new Startup pages window by clicking “X” next to them.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings

If you are still experiencing any issues related to CoolStreamSearch Hijacker, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on a Chrome’s menu button (three horizontal lines) and select Settings.
• Scroll to the end of the page and click on theReset browser settings button.
  
• Click on the Reset button on the confirmation box.
  

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.

How to remove CoolStreamSearch Hijacker from Microsoft Edge:Top

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Microsoft Edge window. Select “Extensions”.

• Select all malicious extensions and delete them.

• Click on the three-dot menu on the browser toolbar and Select Settings

• Select Privacy and Services and scroll down. Press on Address bar.

• Choose Manage search engines.

• Remove unnecessary search engines from the list: open the three-dot menu and choose Remove.

• Go back to Settings. Open On start-up.
• Delete malicious search websites at Open specific page or pages by opening the three-dot menu and clicking Delete.

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings If you are still experiencing any issues related to CoolStreamSearch Hijacker, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings

• Click on Edge's menu button and select Settings. Click on the Reset Settings button on the left.
• Press the Restore settings to their default values option.

• Click on the Reset button on the confirmation box.

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.

How To remove CoolStreamSearch Hijacker from Firefox:Top

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Mozilla window and select the “Add-ons” icon (Or press Ctrl+Shift+A on your keyboard).
  
• Go through Extensions and Addons list, remove everything CoolStreamSearch Hijacker related and items you do not recognise. If you do not know the extension and it is not made by Mozilla, Google, Microsoft, Oracle or Adobe then you probably do not need it.
  
• If your homepage was changed, click on the Firefox menu in the top right corner, select Options → General. Enter a preferable URL to the homepage field and click Restore to Default.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings If you are still experiencing any issues related to CoolStreamSearch Hijacker, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Mozilla Firefox window. Click on the Help button.
  
• ChooseTroubleshooting Information on the Help menu.
  
• Click on theReset Firefox button.
  
• Click on the Reset Firefox button on the confirmation box. Mozilla Firefox will close and change the settings to default.
  

If the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program to identify malicious entries.