WebPDFSearch Hijacker - How to remove

WebPDFSearch is a browser extension and a hijacker. It takes over your search results, causing them to be displayed by unexpected sites. It also opens ads in your browser.

While WebPDFSearch is not too dangerous, it does mess with your browser settings and is bad for privacy. As a result, it’s best to remove it and restore your browser settings to match your preferences.

In short about WebPDFSearch adware:

Threat type	Adware, browser hijacker.
How WebPDFSearch affects web browsers	It changes what site delivers your internet search results, it reads your search terms and browsing history, it displays ads in the browser.
How it gets installed	Promoted online by deceptive ads.
How to stop WebPDFSearch redirects	Remove the WebPDFSearch extension, find and delete malware with antivirus scanners (Combo Cleaner for Mac, Spyhunter for PC, others), block notifications in your browser settings.

What is WebPDFSearch?

WebPDFSearch is a search hijacker

Despite its name, WebPDFSearch has nothing to do with PDFs. It’s just a search hijacker.

It’s a browser extension – like a small program that gets installed on your browser (instead of your computer). It only affects your web browser, like Chrome or Edge. But its effects are still significant:

• WebPDFSearch causes search redirects to Yahoo or another site. No matter what your preferred search engine is.
• Slightly more ads than usual appear in your search results.
• Internet search results take a little longer than normal to appear. That’s because WebPDFSearch sends your queries to Feed.webpdfsearch.com.
• Because of the redirects, Webpdfsearch.com gets to read your search queries, which is a problem for your privacy. Ordinarily, your internet search terms are private between you and the search engine that you use. WebPDFSearch should not be able to read them.
• In addition, WebPDFSearch gets to read your browsing history, including which search results and ads you click on.

It’s also possible that WebPDFSearch shows you pop-up ads and opens random webpages. Its main goal is to advertise and to force users to visit affiliate links, which could result in malicious sites being opened.

It is installed in potentially misleading ways

How does WebPDFSearch get installed, if it’s such a useless and even malicious extension?

I can say that it’s advertised on file download sites – sites that allow you to upload and download files. They’re often used to host pirated files, like free movies and games. They tend to display a lot of ads, including pop-up ads that appear when you click anywhere on the page (especially the download button).

When an ad for WebPDFSearch appears, it tries to blend in with the file download process. It looks like a Download page, or it claims to be the first step in a longer process. If you’re not familiar with these ad formats, you might think that you must install WebPDFSearch to be able to download your file. But if you’re familiar with those ads, you must have seen them used before by other malicious extensions, like UltimateStreamSearch, StreaminSearchs, and others.

In addition, those deceptive ads on Webpdfsearch.com also ask you to allow their notifications. If you do, that could later cause pop-up ad spam.

Besides pop-up ads, another possible way that WebPDFSearch and other extensions get installed is by being bundled with other programs.

How to stop WebPDFSearch redirects

Remove unwanted programs

WebPDFSearch is a browser extension. While it’s installed and enabled, it’s able to hijack your searches. So, to be stopped, it needs to be removed from your browser. Extension removal instructions are at the bottom. In addition, you can remove WebPDFSearch from the extension area in your browser’s window to the right of your address bar.

After removing WebPDFSearch, check your other programs, apps, and browser extensions. Considering the way that WebPDFSearch gets installed and the sorts of ads that it shows, it’s important to review your apps and files for potentially unsafe items. Scan your computer with antivirus programs, like Combo Cleaner for macOS, Spyhunter for Windows, and others. Review your installed apps and programs to see if ay were installed at or around the time that WebPDFSearch started redirecting your searches. Remove those programs that are suspicious.

Block unwanted ads

Finally, some sites might be sending you unwanted pop-up ads – little boxes that appear in the corner of your internet browser. Even when all the malicious extensions and programs are uninstalled, there is a way for websites like Webpdfsearch.com to access your browser.

You can block notifications from Webpdfsearch.com and from other sites that might be abusing them to stop unwanted ads:

• Chrome – open Settings, scroll down to Site settings (under Privacy and security), click on Notifications.
• Edge (Chromium) – open Settings, click Site Permissions, Notifications.
• Firefox – open Settings, Privacy & Security, scroll down to Permissions, and click on Settings next to Notifications.
• Safari – in the Safari menu, choose Preferences, Websites, Notifications.

You can also stop notification ads as they come. Instead of closing them, look for a settings button and press it. Then, select the option to block all notifications from the site. This prevents the site from sending you any more notification messages.

Automatic Malware removal tools

Restore browser settings

TopHow To remove WebPDFSearch 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 WebPDFSearch 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 WebPDFSearch 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 WebPDFSearch 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 WebPDFSearch 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 WebPDFSearch 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 WebPDFSearch 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.