Searchfort.online redirect virus - How to remove

Searchfort.online is a rather new redirect virus variant of SearchForth and also SearchFortPlus viruses. It does not have any new special features other than a different domain name and advertising networks, however, while there are many similarities, Searchfort.online infection needs to be mentioned separately because of the speed it has been spreading this past July and August 2018, already having 9.83 million users worldwide.

The Searchfort.online redirect virus is hard to notice because it rarely displays its own website instead of some affiliated sponsor’s promotions and ads, yet it could be seen for a second in the URL bar after clicking on the unusual hyperlink, advertisement banner, pop-up or simply when browsing with your infected search engine. If you do keep noticing Searchfort.online coming up then it is about time to read this article and get rid of the malicious redirect malware which not only slows down your online surfing but causes way much more problems than you could expect. (See what adware can do to your computer).

What does the  Searchfort.online  redirect virus do

Searchfort.online redirect is often caused by other malware like PUPs or adware, that got sneakily installed with other program bundles. The website itself does not come out as malicious on Virus, yet some antivirus programs classify it as a dangerous page that contains adware, therefore it gets blocked. Basically, it is not a virus itself, but it can deliver some malware through the advertisements that it will display or sites where it will redirect you to. Searchfort.online will show pop-ups, scam messages, fake update requests, advertisements, offers or will be a-man-in-the-middle between the user and Yahoo Search browsing engine to increase the Web traffic to the already popular engine.

According to the SimilarWeb.com Searchfort.online mostly targets users from Romania, Brazil, and Philippines, but is common all around the world. The top ad networks that Searchfort.online is working with to generate ads are Voluum, Adcash, AdReactor, Propeller Ads Media, AdsTerra, Cobalten. As you may know some of these promotion networks are known for spreading malware in their ads, but that does not bother Searchfort.online developers, because they are generating a lot of revenue from them without doing much work. Some other redirect viruses like Adf.ly, Adskpak.com, Go.trafficshop.com or Popcornvod.com are using the same techniques to earn money by redirecting users to offers.(How to better recognize the malicious advertising online)

However, that is not the only way that Searchfort.online builds funds by using the victim. Another really sly and dreadful method is to gather the non-personal and some very personal information about the infected user such as search queries, visited websites, name, age, passwords, bank account details, credit card info and sell it to third parties for Marketing reasons or on the DarkWeb for anyone who may want to hack the account and etc. While the last option is very extreme and barely happens, there is always a possibility that you may become the victim of the hackers.

How does Searchfort.online spread

There are quite a few possible known methods that Searchfort.online redirect virus can be distributed. One of them is the unfortunate click on a referring site’s link, which directs the user to the Searchfort.online. These links can be placed by another malware that has already infected your PC or simply stored on the shady websites that allow third-party advertising. Once the victim gets tranferred from one redirect virus to Searchfort.online, the website tries to download the Aztec Media adware application (JS/Adware.AztecMedia.A) with the help of javascript in order to infect the system so that the virus could settle and keep redirecting you more than once. (How to beat the malvertising).

However, the other technique that Searchfort.online redirect virus spreads is the opposite of the first one. Firstly, you get an adware virus, potentially unwanted program (PUP) or ‘Search App’ browser extension installed when downloading programs that are bundled from freeware distributing websites or run a fake update and a silent malware that generates ads, pop-ups, redirects installs without your notice. Then you start experiencing the nasty and annoying Searchfort.online threat in your browser. But no matter what is your case and what way you chose to remove the malware, it is beneficial to learn more about Online safety.

How to remove Searchfort.online redirect virus fast

The most optional way to deal with the Searchfort.online redirect virus infection is to get an automatic malware removal software like SpyHunter, which is designed to discover, hunt and destroy pretty much any type of virtual threat. SpyHunter is great because it uses sophisticated methods to find viruses like Searchfort.online and their persistence files in the most distant and secret directories, therefore, after the scan and malware termination there would be no reoccurring infection since most viruses tend to come back. Another great thing about anti-spyware programs is that they can detect other threats as well, which can be very useful when you do not know how long has the virus been in the system and if it was brought or it brought any new virtual parasites.

Automatic Malware removal tools

How to get rid of the Searchfort.online manually

In order to remove Searchfort.online virus manually, you’ll have to find the redirect causing adware or extension and uninstall it from your computer or browser. Since we know that the main application causing the Searchfort.online redirect is the ‘Search App’ extension, therefore our suggestion would be to first check your Mozilla or Chrome and see if there is such browsing enhancer. If that is the case you can follow our guidelines below to learn how to remove it properly. If not, there may be a possibility of other adware existence which is causing Searchfort.online redirects and can be found in your Control Panel.

One of the downsides of the manual removal is that there is no indication what exactly is the name of the unwanted program, therefore you should look for the unseen software that was installed approximately around the same time when Searchfort.online virus started showing up. That is why in this case the automatic tool has an advantage because it detects malware by the behavior instead of the name.

How to remove SearchFort using Windows Control Panel

Many hijackers and adware like Searchfort.online redirect virus 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 SearchFort . You can click on "Name" or "Installed On" to reorder your programs and make Searchfort.online redirect virus 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 SearchFort from macOS

Delete Searchfort.online redirect virus from your applications.

1. Open Finder.
2. In the menu bar, click Go.
3. Select Applications from the dropdown.
4. Find the SearchFort 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.

TopRemove malicious extensions from Internet Explorer

• Press on the Gear icon→Manage Add-ons.
  
• Go through Toolbars and extensions. Remove everything related to Searchfort.online redirect virus and items you do not know that are made not by Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Oracle or Adobe.
  
• Close the Options.

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings

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

• Press on the Gear icon->Internet Options.
  
• Choose the Advanced tab and click on the Reset button.
  
• Select a “Delete personal settings” checkbox and click on the Reset button.
  
• Click on the Close button on the confirmation box, then close your browser.
  

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

TopRemoving Searchfort.online redirect virus from Chrome

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Google Chrome window. Select “Settings”.
  
• Click “Extensions” on the left menu bar.
• Go through the extensions list and remove programs you do not need, especially similar to SearchFort. Click on the trash bin icon next to Searchfort.online redirect virus or other add-ons you want to remove.
  
• Press on the “Remove” button on the Confirmation window.
  
• If unsure, you can disable them temporarily.
  
• Restart Chrome.

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings

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

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

TopRemoving Searchfort.online redirect virus from Firefox

• 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 SearchFort 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.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings If you are still experiencing any issues related to Searchfort.online redirect virus, 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.
  
• Choose Troubleshooting Information on the Help menu.
  
• Click on the Reset Firefox button.
  
• Click on the Reset Firefox button on the confirmation box. Mozilla Firefox will close and change the settings to default.
  

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

How to remove Searchfort.online redirect virus from Microsoft Edge:Top

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

• Go through the extensions list and remove programs you do not need, especially similar to SearchFort. Click on the "Remove" icon next to Searchfort.online redirect virus or other add-ons you want to remove.

• Press on the “Remove” button on the Confirmation window.

• If unsure, you can disable them temporarily.

• Restart Microsoft Edge.

TopRemoving SearchFort from Safari (Mac OS X)

• Click on the Safari menu.
• Choose Preferences.
  
• Click on the Extensions Tab.
• Click on the Uninstall button near the Searchfort.online redirect virus. Remove all other unknown or suspicious entries too. If you are not sure whether you need the extension or not, you can simply uncheck the Enable check-box to disable the extension temporarily.
  
• Restart Safari.

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings

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

• Click on the 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.