What is Searchit virus? IT security professionals has determined that Searchit is a browser hijacker. What is a browser hijacker? The browser hijacker is a malicious software or browser plugin that engages in behavior that is unexpected, or that negatively affects the user’s Web surfing experience. Examples include software that changes web-browser’s start page, search engine or some other settings of a browser to ones you don’t want.
The Searchit virus will change your web browser’s search engine so that all searches are sent via Searchit, which redirects to Bing, Yahoo or Google Custom Search engine which shows the search results for your query. The creators of this virus are utilizing legitimate search provider as they may earn revenue from the ads which are opened in the search results.
While the Searchit hijacker virus is active, you won’t be able to restore the Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Safari’ settings such as startpage, new tab and search engine. But this does not mean that you should just ignore it or get along with this fact. Because this is not the best option, due to the Searchit redirect virus you can have problems with the Chrome, Safari and Mozilla Firefox, intrusive ads and even personal info theft.
Thus, the Searchit virus is quite dangerous. So, we suggest you delete it from your MAC without a wait. Follow the tutorial presented below to remove Searchit virus from the Chrome, Firefox and Safari.
Remove Searchit virus from Apple Mac (Removal guide)
The Searchit is a virus that you might have difficulty in removing it from your computer. Luckily, you’ve found the effective removal guide in this post. Both the manual removal way and the automatic removal solution will be provided below and you can just choose the one that best for you. If you’ve any questions or need assist then type a comment below. Certain of the steps will require you to reboot your MAC or exit this web page. So, read this tutorial carefully, then bookmark or print it for later reference.
To remove Searchit virus, follow the steps below:
- Manual Searchit virus removal
- How to delete Searchit virus with free programs
- Use AdBlocker to stay safe online
- How did Searchit virus get on your MAC system
- To sum up
Manual Searchit virus removal
If you perform exactly the steps below you should be able to delete the Searchit virus from the Chrome, Safari and Mozilla Firefox internet browsers.
Delete dubious apps using the Finder
It is of primary importance to first identify and delete all potentially unwanted apps, ad supported software applications and browser hijackers through ‘Applications’ section of your Finder.
- Open the Finder.
- Click “Applications”.
- It will open a list of all apps installed on the MAC OS.
- Scroll through the all list, and remove suspicious and unknown software. Pay maximum attention to the program you installed last.
- Drag the dubious application from the Applications folder to the Trash.
- Empty Trash.
Remove Searchit virus from Google Chrome
Resetting Google Chrome to original state is useful in deleting the Searchit virus from your web-browser. This way is always advisable to complete if you have trouble in removing changes caused by browser hijacker virus.
Open the Google Chrome menu by clicking on the button in the form of three horizontal dotes (
). It will show the drop-down menu. Select More Tools, then click Extensions.
Carefully browse through the list of installed extensions. If the list has the extension labeled with “Installed by enterprise policy” or “Installed by your administrator”, then complete the following guide: Remove Google Chrome extensions installed by enterprise policy otherwise, just go to the step below.
Open the Google Chrome main menu again, click to “Settings” option.
Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the “Advanced” link. Now scroll down until the Reset settings section is visible, as shown below and click the “Reset settings to their original defaults” button.
Confirm your action, press the “Reset” button.
Remove Searchit redirect virus from Firefox
This step will allow you remove Searchit, third-party toolbars, disable malicious extensions and revert back your default start page, newtab and search engine 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 as displayed on the screen below.
A small menu will appear, click the “Troubleshooting Information”. On this page, click “Refresh Firefox” button as on the image below.
Follow the onscreen procedure to restore your Mozilla Firefox web-browser settings to their default values.
Remove Searchit redirect virus from Safari
The Safari reset is great if your browser is hijacked or you’ve unwanted plugins or toolbars on your web-browser, that installed by a malware.
Click Safari menu and select “Preferences”.
It will open the Safari Preferences window. Next, click the “Extensions” tab. Look for unknown and suspicious extensions on left panel, select it, then press the “Uninstall” button. Most important to delete all unknown extensions from Safari.
Once complete, click “General” tab. Change the “Default Search Engine” to Google.
Find the “Homepage” and type into textfield “https://www.google.com”.
How to delete Searchit virus with free programs
Manual removal is not always as effective as you might think. Often, even the most experienced users can not completely remove browser hijacker virus from the infected MAC. So, we recommend to scan your MAC for any remaining malicious components with free browser hijacker virus removal apps below.
Use MalwareBytes to remove Searchit virus
Delete Searchit browser hijacker virus manually is difficult and often the hijacker virus is not completely removed. Therefore, we advise you to use the MalwareBytes Free which are fully clean your computer. Moreover, this free application will help you to remove malicious software, PUPs, toolbars and ad supported software that your MAC OS may be infected too.
MalwareBytes AntiMalware (MBAM) can be downloaded from the following link.
20850 downloads
Author: Malwarebytes
Category: Security tools
Update: September 10, 2020
After the downloading process is finished, close all apps and windows on your machine. Run the saved file. Follow the prompts.
The MalwareBytes AntiMalware (MBAM) will automatically start and you can see its main screen like below.
Now press the “Scan” button to start scanning your MAC for the Searchit browser hijacker and other browser’s harmful plugins. Depending on your MAC OS, the scan can take anywhere from a few minutes to close to an hour. When a threat is found, the count of the security threats will change accordingly. Wait until the the checking is finished.
When that process is finished, you can check all items detected on your MAC OS. Once you’ve selected what you wish to get rid of from your computer press “Remove Selected Items” button. The MalwareBytes will begin to get rid of browser hijacker that responsible for internet browser redirect to the annoying Searchit site.
Use AdBlocker to stay safe online
Use adblocker application like AdGuard in order to stop ads, malvertisements, pop-ups and online trackers, avoid having to install malicious and adware browser plug-ins and add-ons which affect your MAC system performance and impact your MAC system security. Surf the Internet anonymously and stay safe online!
- Download AdGuard on your MAC by clicking on the following link.
AdGuard for Mac download
3687 downloads
Author: © Adguard
Category: Security tools
Update: January 17, 2018
- After the download is finished, start the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” program window. Follow the prompts.
- After the installation is finished, click “Skip” to close the install program and use the default settings, or click “Get Started” to see an quick tutorial which will assist you get to know AdGuard better.
- In most cases, the default settings are enough and you don’t need to change anything. Each time, when you start your machine, AdGuard will launch automatically and stop unwanted ads, block malicious or misleading web-sites.
How did Searchit browser hijacker virus get on your MAC system
Probably Searchit browser virus get installed onto your MAC when you have installed certain free software such as E-Mail checker, PDF creator, video codec, etc. Because, most commonly, a browser virus can be bundled within the setup files from webpages which hosts free software. So, you should start any files downloaded from the Internet with great caution! Always carefully read the ‘User agreement’, ‘Software license’ and ‘Terms of use’. In the procedure of installing a new program, you need to select a ‘Manual’, ‘Advanced’ or ‘Custom’ installation mode to control what components and bundled apps to be installed.
To sum up
Once you’ve finished the few simple steps above, your MAC system should be free from the Searchit virus and other malicious software. Unfortunately, if the few simple steps does not help you, then you have caught a new hijacker virus, and then the best way – ask for help here.
I was installing Mac OS 10 iso for a YouTube video, and I put the passcode in, but my background went flashing black and white, and the second I saw it flashing, I turned off my Windows computer and checked my phone. I got a security alert from Google Accounts, so I changed my password and turned on my computer again. I turned off Wi-Fi and done a virus test. Windows Defender did not recognise anything. So, I
went on the Internet and removed the SearchIT chrome extnsion.