If your Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer web browser startpage have replaced to SearchTab somehow, and you have tried to modify home page and search provider from internet browser settings, but it did not help, then it could mean that your internet browser has been hijacked with obnoxious malicious software from the browser hijacker family. The hijacker is an one type of unwanted applications that can impose changes to web browsers settings without your’s permission, to redirect you into unwanted web pages. The browser hijacker mostly modify the FF, Chrome, Internet Explorer and MS Edge current start page, new tab page and default search provider with its own.
A browser hijacker virus alters your homepage and search provider to unwanted SearchTab site
Table of contents
- What is SearchTab
- SearchTab home page removal tutorial
- Manual SearchTab redirect removal
- Remove SearchTab related software through the Control Panel of your personal computer
- Clean up the web-browsers shortcuts which have been hijacked by SearchTab
- Remove SearchTab redirect Google Chrome
- Get rid of SearchTab start page from IE
- Remove SearchTab from Mozilla Firefox by resetting browser settings
- SearchTab redirect automatic removal
- Manual SearchTab redirect removal
- Use AdBlocker to stop SearchTab and stay safe online
- Where the SearchTab browser hijacker comes from
- To sum up
When you are performing searches using the web-browser that has been affected with SearchTab, the search results will be returned from Bing, Yahoo or Google Custom Search. The devs behind SearchTab browser hijacker infection are most likely doing this to make advertisement money from the advertisements shown in the search results.
Also, adware (also known as ‘ad-supported’ software) can be installed on the PC together with SearchTab hijacker. It will insert tons of advertisements directly to the pages which you view, creating a sense that advertisements has been added by the makers of the site. Moreover, legal ads can be replaced on fake advertisements which will offer to download and install various unnecessary and malicious programs. Moreover, the SearchTab browser hijacker infection has the ability to collect a wide variety of user data that can be later used for marketing purposes.
The browser hijacker infection such as SearchTab often modify all browser shortcuts that located on your Desktop to force you visit various annoying pages and display unwanted ads. As a result, your web browser can still redirect you to an intrusive web-site despite your internet browser is actually free of browser hijacker.
Therefore it is very important to free your PC system of hijacker ASAP. Follow the tutorial below to remove SearchTab homepage, as well as other malware and ‘ad supported’ software, which may be installed onto your PC along with it.
SearchTab home page removal tutorial
The answer is right here on this web-page. We have put together simplicity and efficiency. It will help you easily to free your PC of hijacker. Moreover, you may select manual or automatic removal way. If you are familiar with the system then use manual removal, otherwise use the free anti malware tool designed specifically to remove browser hijacker such as SearchTab. Of course, you can combine both methods. Read this manual carefully, bookmark or print it, because you may need to exit your browser or restart your PC system.
Manual SearchTab redirect removal
The following instructions is a step-by-step guide, which will help you manually delete SearchTab from the Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Internet Explorer and Edge.
Remove SearchTab related software through the Control Panel of your personal computer
First of all, check the list of installed applications on your machine and remove all unknown and recently installed software. If you see an unknown application with incorrect spelling or varying capital letters, it have most likely been installed by malware and you should clean it off first with malicious software removal tool such as Zemana Anti-malware.
Windows 8, 8.1, 10
First, click Windows button
, then click Search 
. Type ‘Control panel’and press Enter as shown on the image below.
When the ‘Control Panel’ opens, click the ‘Uninstall a program’ link under Programs category as shown on the image below.
You will see the ‘Uninstall a program’ panel as shown on the image below.
Very carefully look around the entire list of software installed on your computer. Most likely, one or more of them are responsible for the appearance of pop up advertisements and web-browser redirect to the intrusive SearchTab page. If you have many programs installed, you can help simplify the search of harmful software by sort the list by date of installation. Once you have found a suspicious, unwanted or unused program, right click to it, after that click ‘Uninstall’.
Windows XP, Vista, 7
First, press ‘Start’ button and select ‘Control Panel’ at right panel as shown on the screen below.
After the Windows ‘Control Panel’ opens, you need to click ‘Uninstall a program’ under ‘Programs’ as shown below.
You will see a list of applications installed on your machine. We recommend to sort the list by date of installation to quickly find the software that were installed last. Most likely they responsibility for the appearance of popup advertisements and browser redirect. If you are in doubt, you can always check the program by doing a search for her name in Google, Yahoo or Bing. Once the program which you need to uninstall is found, simply click on its name, and then click ‘Uninstall’ as shown in the figure below.
Clean up the web-browsers shortcuts which have been hijacked by SearchTab
After the browser hijacker infection is started, it can also change the browser’s shortcuts, adding an argument like “http://site.address” into the Target field. Due to this, every time you run the internet browser, it will open an unwanted page.
Click the right mouse button to a desktop shortcut which you use to run your web-browser. Next, select the “Properties” option. Important: necessary to click on the desktop shortcut for the browser which is re-directed to the SearchTab or other undesired site.
Further, necessary to look at the text that is written in the “Target” field. The hijacker can rewrite the contents of this field, which describes the file to be launch when you launch your web-browser. Depending on the web-browser you are using, there should be:
- Google Chrome: chrome.exe
- Opera: opera.exe
- Firefox: firefox.exe
- Internet Explorer: iexplore.exe
If you are seeing an unknown text similar “http://site.addres” that has been added here, then you should remove it, as shown below.
Next, click the “OK” button to save the changes. Now, when you run the internet browser from this desktop shortcut, it does not occur automatically reroute on the SearchTab page or any other intrusive web sites. Once the step is finished, we recommend to go to the next step.
Remove SearchTab redirect from Google Chrome
Run the Reset browser tool of the Chrome to reset all its settings like new tab page, home page and search engine by default to original defaults. This is a very useful tool to use, in the case of web-browser hijacks like SearchTab.
Open the Chrome menu by clicking on the button in the form of three horizontal stripes (
). It will open the drop-down menu. Next, click to “Settings” option.
Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the “Show advanced settings” link. Now scroll down until the Reset settings section is visible, as shown on the image below and click the “Reset settings” button.
Confirm your action, press the “Reset” button.
Get rid of SearchTab start page from IE
First, open the Internet Explorer, press 
) button. Next, click “Internet Options” as shown on the image below.
In the “Internet Options” screen select the Advanced tab. Next, click Reset button. The Internet Explorer will show the Reset Internet Explorer settings dialog box. Select the “Delete personal settings” check box and click Reset button.
You will now need to restart your machine for the changes to take effect. It will remove SearchTab hijacker infection, disable malicious and ad-supported web browser’s extensions and restore the Internet Explorer’s settings like homepage, newtab page and default search engine to default state.
Remove SearchTab from Mozilla Firefox by resetting browser settings
Click the Menu button (looks like three horizontal lines), and click the blue Help icon located at the bottom of the drop down menu like below.
A small menu will appear, click the “Troubleshooting Information”. On this page, click “Refresh Firefox” button as shown on the image below.
Follow the onscreen procedure to return your Firefox web-browser settings to its original state.
SearchTab redirect automatic removal
Many antivirus companies have designed software that help detect and remove browser hijacker infection, and thereby return internet browsers settings. Below is a a few of the free programs you may want to run. Your personal computer can have a ton of PUPs, adware and browser hijackers installed at the same time, so we suggest, if any unwanted or malicious application returns after rebooting the PC system, then start your computer into Safe Mode and run the anti-malware tool once again.
Automatically get rid of SearchTab redirect with Zemana Anti-malware
We recommend using the Zemana Anti-malware. You may download and install Zemana Anti-malware to find and get rid of SearchTab from your computer. When installed and updated, the malicious software remover will automatically scan and detect all threats exist on the personal computer.
Download Zemana Anti Malware by clicking on the link below.
159533 downloads
Author: Zemana Ltd
Category: Security tools
Update: July 16, 2019
Once the downloading process is complete, close all programs and windows on your computer. Open a directory in which you saved it. Double-click on the icon that’s named Zemana.AntiMalware.Setup as shown in the figure below.
When the install begins, you will see the “Setup wizard” that will allow you install Zemana Anti Malware on your system.
Once installation is complete, you will see window as shown on the image below.
Now click the “Scan” button to perform a system scan with this utility for the hijacker that cause SearchTab web-site to appear. This process can take some time, so please be patient.
When finished, you will be displayed the list of all detected threats on your personal computer. When you are ready, press “Next” button.
The Zemana Anti-malware will delete browser hijacker that causes internet browsers to show unwanted SearchTab page and add threats to the Quarantine.
Use Malwarebytes to get rid of SearchTab start page
Delete SearchTab hijacker infection manually is difficult and often the hijacker infection is not completely removed. Therefore, we suggest you to use the Malwarebytes Free that are completely clean your personal computer. Moreover, the free application will allow you to get rid of malware, PUPs, toolbars and adware that your PC can be infected too.
Download Malwarebytes Free from the link below.
317641 downloads
Author: Malwarebytes
Category: Security tools
Update: April 15, 2020
After the download is finished, run it and follow the prompts. Once installed, the Malwarebytes will try to update itself and when this procedure is done, click the “Scan Now” button . This will start scanning the whole computer to find out SearchTab browser hijacker infection and other web-browser’s harmful extensions. While the program is checking, you can see how many objects it has identified as threat. Review the results once the utility has finished the system scan. If you think an entry should not be quarantined, then uncheck it. Otherwise, simply click “Quarantine Selected” button.
The Malwarebytes is a free application that you can use to get rid of all detected folders, files, services, registry entries and so on. To learn more about this malicious software removal tool, we suggest you to read and follow the step-by-step instructions or the video guide below.
Run AdwCleaner to remove SearchTab redirect
If MalwareBytes anti-malware or Zemana anti malware cannot get rid of this browser hijacker infection, then we suggests to run the AdwCleaner. AdwCleaner is a free removal tool for browser hijacker infections, adware, potentially unwanted software and toolbars.
- Download AdwCleaner from the link below.
AdwCleaner download
220748 downloads
Version: 8.3.2
Author: Xplode, MalwareBytes
Category: Security tools
Update: April 28, 2022
- After the download is finished, double click the AdwCleaner icon. Once this utility is started, click “Scan” button to begin scanning your computer for the browser hijacker which reroutes your browser to undesired SearchTab web-site. A system scan can take anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes, depending on your PC system. While the utility is checking, you may see how many objects it has identified as being infected by malware.
- After the system scan is finished, you may check all threats found on your personal computer. Review the scan results and then click “Clean” button. It will open a prompt, click “OK”.
These few simple steps are shown in detail in the following video guide.
Use AdBlocker to stop SearchTab and stay safe online
Run adblocker program like AdGuard in order to block advertisements, malvertisements, pop-ups and online trackers, avoid having to install harmful and adware browser plug-ins and add-ons that affect your personal computer performance and impact your computer security. Surf the World Wide Web anonymously and stay safe online!
- Download AdGuard program from the following link.
Adguard download
25660 downloads
Version: 6.4
Author: © Adguard
Category: Security tools
Update: November 15, 2018
- When the downloading process is done, run the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” program window. Follow the prompts.
- When the installation is complete, press “Skip” to close the install program and use the default settings, or click “Get Started” to see an quick tutorial which will help you get to know AdGuard better.
- In most cases, the default settings are enough and you do not need to change anything. Each time, when you run your computer, AdGuard will launch automatically and block popup advertisements, web sites such SearchTab, as well as other malicious or misleading web-pages. For an overview of all the features of the program, or to change its settings you can simply double-click on the icon named AdGuard, which can be found on your desktop.
Where the SearchTab browser hijacker comes from
The browser hijacker come as a part of some freeware. So always read carefully the installation screens, disclaimers, ‘Terms of Use’ and ‘Software license’ appearing during the install procedure. Additionally pay attention for third-party programs that are being installed along with the main application. Ensure that you unchecked all of them! Also, run an ad blocker program that will help to block malicious, misleading, illegitimate or untrustworthy web-pages.
To sum up
After completing the step by step instructions above, your PC should be clean from malware and browser hijackers. The Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firefox and MS Edge will no longer open SearchTab unwanted site on startup. Unfortunately, if the tutorial does not help you, then you have caught a new browser hijacker, and then the best way – ask for help.
- Download HijackThis by clicking on the link below and save it to your Desktop.
HijackThis download
4166 downloads
Version: 2.0.5
Author: OpenSource
Category: Security tools
Update: November 7, 2015
- Double-click on the HijackThis icon. Next press “Do a system scan only” button.
- After that process is finished, the scan button will read “Save log”, click it. Save this log to your desktop.
- Create a Myantispyware account here. Once you’ve registered, check your e-mail for a confirmation link, and confirm your account. After that, login.
- Copy and paste the contents of the HijackThis log into your post. If you are posting for the first time, please start a new thread by using the “New Topic” button in the Spyware Removal forum. When posting your HJT log, try to give us some details about your problems, so we can try to help you more accurately.
- Wait for one of our trained “Security Team” or Site Administrator to provide you with knowledgeable assistance tailored to your problem with the intrusive SearchTab redirect.
