Search.tapufind.com hijacker - How to remove

Search.tapufind.com can be considered to be both – a browser hijacker and a redirect virus. Search.tapufind.com acts differently in every unique case and sometimes it will only redirect you to its homepage while in other cases it can overtake over your web browser completely, changing various settings and making it unrecognisable. Search.tapufind.com does this to spy on and control people’s browsing activity.

About Search.tapufind.com:

Type of threat	Browser hijacker, redirect virus.
How Search.tapufind.com hijacker works	The home page, new tab, and default search webpages are replaced with Search.tapufind.com, your search results are delivered by Yahoo.
Problems caused by the redirects	Some browser settings are locked by the Search.tapufind.com add-on, you see more ads in search results.
How to remove Search.tapufind.com	Scan for malware (with Spyhunter for PC, Combo Cleaner for Mac, others), remove the Search.tapufind.com add-on, restore browser settings.

In case you are a victim of this infection and have no clue how to deal with it, you are in the right place. We have previously dealt with infections like 5finder or shop-finditquick.com infection – both of those viruses are really similar to Tapufind hijacker, therefore we have what it takes to remove a virus like this. If you want to learn more about features of search.tapufind.com and how to protect your computer from it – continue reading the article or if you just want to learn how to eliminate this infection, scroll down to the end of this article right now.

Things you should know about search.tapufind.com virus

How do we know that this add-on is a browser hijacker? Well, there are several red flags indicating the malicious traits of search.tapufind.com, and one of them is the traffic source to this website. Usually, legitimate websites get traffic from search engines or social networks. If over 90% of the website’s traffic is direct, you can already suspect that something is wrong.

In this case, as estimated by SimilarWeb, search.tapufind.com gets almost all its traffic from direct visits. That’s because once a web browser is infected with this malicious add-on, it will automatically set search.tapufind.com as the homepage and default search engine on that browser, so every time you open it, this website will be the first one you pay a visit to.

You should now that the search.tapufind.com website itself is not a virus – it’s just a consequence of the malicious add-on that modified your web browser. There is also a tapufind.com site and it serves as the landing page for everyone who wants to add this tool to their web browser. It is presented as a useful search enhancer that will allow you to find more accurate results faster. Obviously, that’s a complete lie.

This search website won’t provide you with a unique search engine – it employs the Yahoo search engine, so you will get the same results. Those results might be modified in a bad way – you might see additional advertisements or links to affiliated websites in the results page. You can also notice a Safe Finder logo on the results page, so it is obvious that Tapufind is affiliated with this virus, as well.

You might think to yourself – what’s the point of malware like this? Why do they do it? The answer is obvious – cybercriminals behind Tapufind build an audience by infecting computers and redirecting users to these websites so that the audience can be monetised by showing them ads. Search.tapufind.com makes money by redirecting you to sponsored content that advertisers pay to display.

Search.tapufind.com can also track your searches and leak this information to other parties. That’s one of the main reasons we do not recommend you to use it. Besides its lack of any valuable features whatsoever.

Removal tools for search.tapufind.com

We have already mentioned that the website tapufind.com is meant for downloads of this add-on. However, that’s not always how search.tapufind.com spreads – it gets installed using deceptive distribution methods, such as bundling and deceptive advertisements. Search.tapufind.com may have been installed by a free app that you downloaded from a shady site or by a misleading pop-up advertisement on a bad website. So that’s two main things to watch out for if you don’t want to get infected.

Now, if search.tapufind.com is already operating on your computer, we suggest you get a decent anti-malware application and let it deal with it. Use Spyhunter for Windows, Combo Cleaner for macOS, or another reputable tool for this task, and either one of those programs will automatically detect malicious files of Search.tapufind.com and remove them automatically.

After scanning your computer with anti-malware software, you should restore the default settings of your web browser and that has to be done manually. Instructions for how to do that can be found below. Mac users may need to check System Preferences -> Profiles and remove suspicious profiles.

Automatic Malware removal tools

Search.tapufind.com elimination

How to remove tapufind hijacker using Windows Control Panel

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

Delete Search.tapufind.com hijacker from your applications.

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

Manual removal