Smart Search Hijacker - How to remove

Smart Search is classified as a browser hijacker that attacks Google Chrome, Safari and Mozilla Firefox on Mac computers. The developers of Smart Search promise that by enabling their service the users will be able to obtain more relevant search information that will be more tailored to the initial search requests, considering the geographical location and other regional settings.

Regretfully, the capabilities of Smart Search to furnish you with the appropriate data are definitely overestimated. There is nothing really “smart” in this pseudo search engine. Web browsing though this service is very complicated and does not lead to genuine information. Instead, a lot of irrelevant content is displayed – sponsored links and excessive ads leading to third-party promoted pages. The hijacker is Labelled as malware in Malwarebytes blog. Plus, its dmg-file is detected by many reputable anti-virus programs according to the information on VirusTotal.

How does Smart Search affect your browsing

Once Smart Search effectively hijacks the targeted browsers, it forces the Mac owners to start their web surfing from dubious pages, for example, weknow.ac, chumsearch.com and, finally, searchmine.net after the latest update. In order to obtain the results through these pseudo search engines, the users are encouraged to click on the “Smart Search” button.

Installation of Smart Search introduces the following unwanted alterations of the browser settings:

• the home page on startup;
• the default search provider;
• new tab URL.

The parameters mentioned above will be under the full control of Smart Search. If you prefer to use google.com or some of its local variants as your startup page, Smart Search will assign searchmine.net instead. Similarly, Google Search will not be your main search engine anymore. Whenever you submit any search queries through Smart Search, they will be redirected through searchmine.net in a similar way.

Whenever you attempt to check the above-mentioned parameters of your browsers and fix the issue manually, Smart Search will still be in control. Changing the home page or the default search engine manually will not result in restoration to your previous browser settings. It is obvious that the hijacker is really smart in its attempt to remain in your browser without taking you personal opinion into consideration.

Main reasons to remove Smart Search

Smart Search attacks Mac computers in a manner similar to other PUPs (potentially unwanted programs). The hijacker is bundled with many free programs, however, the information about its inclusion into the bundle is often concealed in the small print. Therefore, Smart Search is often installed unintentionally by users.

Smart Search is not able to provide you with any valid search results. It has another mission – to generate revenue for its developers. The hijacker displays a lot of sponsored links, advertisement banners, deals, and coupons. If you click on them, the authors of Smart Search get the revenue on the pay-per-click basis for advertising third-party content through your hijacked browser.

Furthermore, Smart Search has the elements of spyware on your computer. It continuously tracks your important information, for example, IP addresses, geographical locations, URLs of the pages you visit, submitted search queries and other details. The problem is that all this private information may be easily shared with third-part companies absolutely illegally. The only logical conclusion is to remove Smart Search as soon as possible to restore your personal control over your browsing.

How to get rid of Smart Search effectively

The following steps are required to manually get rid of Smart Search from your Mac:

• access your Mac Applications, look for suspicious software like MyShopcoupon, MyCouponsmart and move these apps into Trash;
• disable and delete third-party browser extensions like AnySearch 1.2.3 in Safari;
• go to Mac System Preferences, click on “Profiles”;
• choose the “AdminPrefs” profiles and get rid of them;
• restart your Mac.

Another very important step is to scan your Mac with the legitimate anti-virus software. This is mandatory because there may be a lot of other malicious items still remaining on your device and continuing their malicious behavior. Anti-malware software, such as will automatically detect and remove other threats on your computer and will effectively restore your browser to the initial trouble-free condition.

Automatic Malware removal tools

Get rid of Smart Search

How to remove Smart Search using Windows Control Panel

Many hijackers and adware like Smart Search 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 Smart Search . You can click on "Name" or "Installed On" to reorder your programs and make Smart Search 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 Smart Search from macOS

Delete Smart Search Hijacker from your applications.

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