Search.searchbenny.com Redirects - How to remove

Search.searchbenny.com is a fake search site that’s been hijacking computers for at least five years now. It takes over web browsers and redirects searches to Yahoo.com. Search.searchbenny.com is connected to Genieo Search, a known malicious site. The effect that it has on the browser is to make web searching frustrating, slow, interrupted by redirects, and full of irrelevant ads.

About Search.searchbenny.com:

Type of threat	Adware, browser hijacker.
How Search.searchbenny.com gets downloaded	Bundled with free apps, advertised on shady search engines and download sites.
How Searchbenny works	Takes over searches and redirects them to Genieo and to Yahoo, cause the search results to show additional ads.
How to remove Search.searchbenny.com	Find and delete malicious files, remove malware with anti-malware programs (Combo Cleaner for Mac, Spyhunter for PC, others), delete suspicious files, restore browser settings.

How Search.searchbenny.com spreads

Search.searchbenny.com was most popular back in 2015, when complaints flooded the web of Search.searchbenny.com taking over web browsers. Search.searchbenny.com is adware and a browser hijacker. Its main function seems to be to show advertisements to victims by redirecting their searches. Victims said they got Searchbenny after they downloaded and installed infected apps from unofficial sites.

When an installer for an app has another app hidden in it and installs it by default, that’s called bundling. And though it’s not always bad, bundling is often used to spread adware and other malware.

Sites that distribute Search.searchbenny.com are freeware download sites, as well as fake sites whose search engine ads look like official download links. It’s very easy to fall for them, even for those who can usually recognize scams. Fastquicksearch.com and similar sites tend to show a lot of fake download links when you search for a program.

How Searchbenny works

When Search.searchbenny.com takes over a browser, it might not be visible until you try to search for something. Search.searchbenny.com redirects searches to Search2.genieosearch.com which opens Yahoo.com. Search.searchbenny.com leads to Yahoo search results, but with more ads. Very much like Friendlysocket.com and Search.strtpoint.com.

It’s good for Search.searchbenny.com to be as sneaky as possible. That way, people have a hard time finding and removing it. And the longer Search.searchbenny.com is able to hijack your searches, the more money it makes.

Search.searchbenny.com is very close to Search.quitelex.com, Search.pagerpost.com, Ssrch-s.flagbeg.com, and others. They all redirect searches to Search2.genieosearch.com which then opens Yahoo Genieo – Yahoo search results with, in my experience, more ads than the same query produces in normal Yahoo.

As far as I know, Search.searchbenny.com doesn’t steal user information, such as passwords. Some browser extensions do, though, so that’s always a concern.

Victims complain that when they find Search.searchbenny.com and try to delete it, it keeps coming back. Search.searchbenny.com can be removed, it just takes a bit of effort.

How to remove Search.searchbenny.com

Search.searchbenny.com is just a website so it can be blocked, but blocking it will only lead to the browser trying and failing to load it.

It’s needed to find the programs, apps, and browser extensions that are responsible for keeping Search.searchbenny.com installed and then to delete them. You can look for the malicious files manually or with an anti-malware app, like Combo Cleaner for macOS, Spyhunter for Windows, etc.

MacOS users might have tried to remove Search.searchbenny.com and failed because the app keeps coming back from the Trash folder. That happens because additional files and settings were created by the malware. Here’s what you can do:

• Start the Mac in safe mode (reboot, then hold the Shift keyboard key while the Mac is turning on).
• Check the System Preferences -> Profiles window for unknown profiles. Remove the profiles that you did not create.
• Check the files in ~Library/LaunchAgents/, /Library/LaunchDaemons/, ~Library/Application Support/, /Library/Application Support/ folders. You can open them by using the Finder -> Go -> Go to Folder dialog. Display the files in a list and then sort them by date added. Delete those that are suspicious and appeared at the same time as Search.searchbenny.com did.
• Delete Search.searchbenny.com’s apps and browser extensions.

Finally, take a look at your browser settings, especially your start page and default search engine settings. Sites like Fastquicksearch.com that show deceptive ads for software download queries are browser hijackers just like Search.searchbenny.com, so it’s important to check for other hijackers and remove them, too.

Automatic Malware removal tools

Restore browser settings

TopHow To remove Search.searchbenny.com Redirects 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 Search.searchbenny.com Redirects, 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 Search.searchbenny.com Redirects from Safari:Top

Remove malicious extensions

• Click on Safari menu on the top left corner of the screen. Select Preferences.
  
• Select Extensions and uninstall searchbenny Redirects and other suspicious extensions.
  
• If your homepage was changed, click on Safari menu on the top left corner of the screen. Select Preferences and choose General tab. Enter preferable URL to the homepage field.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings(older versions) If you are still experiencing any issues related to Search.searchbenny.com Redirects, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on Safari menu on the top left corner of the screen. Select Reset Safari…
  
• Select which options you want to reset (usually all of them come preselected) and click on the Reset button.
  

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

How to remove Search.searchbenny.com Redirects 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 searchbenny Redirects, 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 Search.searchbenny.com Redirects 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 Search.searchbenny.com Redirects 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 Search.searchbenny.com Redirects, 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.