PDFSearchHQ Hijacker - How to remove

If you noticed the site Pdfsearchhq.com loading in your browser, then you may have got PDFSearchHQ in your browser. While PDFSearchHQ is installed, it is in control over your browser’s default search engine – and over what internet search results you see. It also reads your browsing history and your search history.

You can remove PDFSearchHQ and other unwanted add-ons, which will give you back control over your search settings.

In short about PDFSearchHQ:

Classification	Browser hijacker, adware.
How PDFSearchHQ affects the browser	It hijacks the search engine and replaces it with Yahoo, it sends notification messages.
How the hijacker spreads	It’s advertised online, it’s included in the installers of other programs.
How to remove PDFSearchHQ	Find and remove malicious browser add-ons manually or with antivirus programs (Spyhunter for PC, Combo Cleaner for Mac, others), block notification spam.

What does PDFSearchHQ do?

PDF Search HQ or PDFSearchHQ is a search hijacker. It’s a website, as well as a browser extension. The extension, once installed, takes over the default search engine in your browser. It makes it so your browser opens the PDFSearchHQ website when you try to search the internet.

The default search engine is a setting that controls which website your browser opens to search the internet. With PDFSearchHQ installed, the default search engine is Feed.pdfsearchhq.com, which immediately opens Yahoo.com. This is relatively minor, but it has some concerning implications:

• PDFSearchHQ gets access to your search queries, which would normally only be known to you and the search engine that you use (whether it’s Google, Bing, Yahoo, or others). With PDFSearchHQ, your search queries are exposed to another site. This is valuable for ad targeting.
• In addition, the PDFSearchHQ extension can read your browsing history, which helps it monitor which search results and ads you click on.
• While the extension is installed, you can’t change your search engine setting. The search engine site is under the control of the operators of PDFSearchHQ.

The PDFSearchHQ site asks visitors to subscribe to its notifications, which allows it to show messages in the corner of the browser. You might experience these as pop-up ads.

It’s worth mentioning that PDFSearchHQ lacks any useful features. As a result, its effects on web browsers are all negative: it restricts your search engine choices and it harms your privacy. Just like many other extensions.

Interestingly, PDFSearchHQ is very similar in name to PDF Converter HQ. They’re both advertising browser add-ons, but they’re made by different companies.

How is it installed?

The PDFSearchHQ extension on the Chrome Web Store apparently has over ten thousand users. How does that happen, considering that the extension is useless and even harmful to the user experience? Why does anyone install it?

In many cases, people don’t install it on purpose. PDFSearchHQ is promoted with ads that are extremely misleading. These ads imply that PDFSearchHQ is somehow necessary. Some of these ads are basically fake download link and buttons that try to trick those who see them.

This might be why ads for PDFSearchHQ show up on file-hosting sites, such as File-upload.com. Pop-up ads for the extension show up on the screen just as people are expecting to see a download link, which leads some of them to install PDFSearchHQ mistakenly.

This is why it’s important to be careful of ads and redirects on pirating websites. Pirate sites show a lot of predatory and deceptive ads that promote various infections.

In addition, hijackers like PDFSearchHQ can be included in the installers of other programs thanks to bundlers like InstallCore. This also results in unwanted programs being installed.

How to remove PDFSearchHQ

Find and remove all suspicious browser extensions, including PDFSearchHQ. You can do it in browser settings or from the extension area in the upper right corner of your browser. The instructions for removing extensions are below.

It’s important to look at all of your third-party extensions and remove all those that are suspicious, that have too permissive privacy policies, excessive permissions, or that got installed without your permission. Use antivirus programs, like Spyhunter for Windows, Combo Cleaner for macOS, and others to check your browser and the rest of your computer for low-reputation or malicious programs.

Besides removing PDFSearchHQ, you might want to block notifications from sites that misuse them. Here’s how to reach notification settings in your browser:

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

You can also change your notification settings to disable notification prompts in the future.

Automatic Malware removal tools

How to restore browser settings

TopHow To remove PDFSearchHQ 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 PDFSearchHQ 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 PDFSearchHQ 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 PDFSearchHQ 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 PDFSearchHQ 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 PDFSearchHQ 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 PDFSearchHQ 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.