Search-starter.com hijacker - How to remove

Search-starter.com, also known as the Search Starter, is correctly classified as a browser hijacker that modifies the homepage and the default search engine for your web browser into https://search-starter.com. These browser amendments are not well-accepted by users. The hijacked homepage contains various advertisement banners and sponsored links leading to third-party websites advertised by the Search Starter. Finally, the search queries you submit through search-starter.com search box will be delivered by pseudo search engines that cannot furnish you with the decent search results. In light of this information, we believe that removing this hijacker from the browser is the only logical decision. The issue described in the article below is similar to the troubles caused by searchhome-page.com, startpage-home.com, and webhome-page.com hijackers.

The problem with search-starter.com is a universal one. People from various parts of the world recently noticed the aforesaid modifications of their browsers. Note that Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox are the main targets of the hijacker, even though other browsers are not immune, especially the ones that are based on the Chromium open-source project. This tutorial will shed the light on why exactly Search Starter is in your computer, the danger of tolerating it, and the ways to get rid of the hijacker effectively.

Why is search-starter.com in your browser

The search-starter.com redirection issue is explained by availability of the Search Starter extension which is in control of your browser settings right now. The problem is that the majority of people who noticed their browser to be hijacked by search-starter.com do not remember installing the extension directly. They how exactly was it installed? This question is of vital importance, since answering it will help you to avoid installation of suspicious software in the future.

Generally speaking, all browser hijackers, including the Search Starter, are often promoted with the method called “bundling”. This takes place during the installation of free software that may be bundled by default with other extra utilities. Often integrating additional software with a free application is actually the price users pay for making it possible to download these free programs. However, there is always a chance to avoid these additional installations, you just need to switch the freeware installer into the “Advanced” or “Custom” installation mode to uncheck these extra programs from being installed by default. We have examined infections similar to this one, such as Search.hfreeonlineradioapp2.com, Nxt01.club, or Songs Search, and we can confidently claim that bundling is the most common method to distribute such malware.

It is quite regretful to admit that the majority of users skip this very important step while installing free utilities. So, they may just blindly click on “Next” or “I agree” buttons during the installation of the freeware. This way they allow a lot of other programs to be installed, and only then they really regret their failure to be careful. This results in the installation of Search Starter extension that hijacks the browser with search-starter.com modifier. There may be other unauthorized installations, including even more dangerous programs.

Is search-starter.com a helpful tool

Search-starter.com hijacker only helps those who distribute it on the Internet. It does not help you to find more relevant information. The hijacker promotes many sponsored links and advertisement banners located on the hijacked home page and on top of the pseudo search results delivered by it. So, you will first see sponsored content and only then some links that could match your search queries. When you click on the ads delivered by the search-starter.com this automatically brings the profit to the distributors of the hijacker.

Search-starter.com hijacker is additionally involved in regularly spying over your browsing activities. The information you submit through your browser will be permanently collected and transferred to third parties. Afterward, they may easily manipulate this data for various illegal purposes, for example, to inject more ads that might be relevant to you. Yet, this does not legalize the hijacker in your browser, does it?

How to remove search-starter.com

We have already mentioned that search-stater.com unauthorized browser alterations are under the control of the Search Stater extension. This means that manually changing your home page or the default search engine back to google.com will not fix the issue. The Search Stater will still be in control of your browser and will keep hijacking it until you finally delete the extension. So, access the list of your available browser extensions (add-ons), locate the Search Starter and get rid of it right away.

Another important step to fix your browser is to scan your system thoroughly with Spyhunter anti-malware programs. This is of crucial importance since some adware samples may still be active in your computer and could sooner or later inject other malicious components into your system. On the contrary, when your system is protected by powerful anti-virus software you will no longer experience the problem of the attack on the part of browser hijackers like search-starter.com.

Automatic Malware removal tools

Search-starter.com virus removal

How to remove Search-starter.com hijacker using Windows Control Panel

Many hijackers and adware like Search-starter.com hijacker install some of their components as regular Windows programs as well as additional software. This part of malware can be uninstalled from the Control Panel. To access it, do the following.

• Start→Control Panel (older Windows) or press Windows Key→Search and enter Control Panel and then press Enter (Windows 8, Windows 10).
• Choose Uninstall Program (if you don't see it, click in the upper right next to "View by" and select Category).
• Go through the list of programs and select entries related to Search-starter.com hijacker . You can click on "Name" or "Installed On" to reorder your programs and make Search-starter.com hijacker easier to find.
• Click the Uninstall button. If you're asked if you really want to remove the program, click Yes.
• In many cases anti-malware programs are better at detecting related parasites, thus I recommend installing Spyhunter to identify other programs that might be a part of this infection.

How to remove Search-starter.com hijacker from macOS

Delete Search-starter.com hijacker from your applications.

1. Open Finder.
2. In the menu bar, click Go.
3. Select Applications from the dropdown.
4. Find the Search-starter.com hijacker app.
5. Select it and right-click it (or hold the Ctrl and click the left mouse button).
6. In the dropdown, click Move to Bin/Trash. You might be asked to provide your login password.

TopHow To remove Search-starter.com 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 Search-starter.com 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 Search-starter.com 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 Search-starter.com 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 Search-starter.com 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.

How to remove Search-starter.com 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 Search-starter.com 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 Search-starter.com hijacker from Safari:Top

Remove malicious extensions

• Click on Safari menu on the top left corner of the screen. Select Preferences.
  
• Select Extensions and uninstall Search-starter.com hijacker 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-starter.com hijacker, 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.