IT security experts named the FnP Search a browser hijacker. What is a browser hijacker? Browser hijacker infection is a web-browser extension or program that engages in behavior that is unexpected, or that negatively affects the user’s Internet surfing experience. Examples include programs that modifies internet browser’s start page, search provider or similar browser settings to ones you don’t want.
FnP Search makes unwanted changes to browser settings, redirects your searches to http://s2.fastandprettysearch.com/…
When you are performing searches using the browser that has been affected by FnP Search, the search results will be returned from s2.fastandprettysearch.com. The creators of FnP Search hijacker infection are most probably doing this to make advertisement profit from the advertisements displayed in the search results.
It’s not a good idea to have an unwanted application such as the FnP Search hijacker on your computer. The reason for this is simple, it doing things you don’t know about. The hijacker can gather marketing-type data about you which may be later used for marketing purposes. You don’t know if your home address, account names and passwords are safe. And of course you completely do not know what will happen when you click on any advertisements on the FnP Search web-page.
Threat Summary
| Name | FnP Search |
| Type | browser hijacker, search engine hijacker, home page hijacker, toolbar, unwanted new tab, redirect virus |
| Symptoms |
|
| Removal | FnP Search removal guide |
We advise you to remove FnP Search and clean your computer of hijacker infection sooner, until the presence of the browser hijacker infection has not led to even worse consequences. Complete the guidance below that will assist you to completely remove FnP Search search, using only the built-in Windows features and a few of specialized free utilities.
How to Remove FnP Search redirect virus
Not all undesired applications like browser hijacker responsible for redirects to FnP Search are easily uninstallable. You might see a new home page, newtab page, search provider and other type of undesired changes to the Mozilla Firefox, Chrome, MS Edge and Internet Explorer settings and might not be able to figure out the program responsible for this activity. The reason for this is that many undesired programs neither appear in MS Windows Control Panel. Therefore in order to fully remove FnP Search search, you need to perform the steps below. Read this manual carefully, bookmark it or open this page on your smartphone, because you may need to close your web-browser or reboot your computer.
To remove FnP Search, perform the steps below:
- Remove FnP Search search without any utilities
- How to remove FnP Search automatically
- Block FnP Search and other unwanted web pages
- Don’t know how your internet browser has been hijacked by FnP Search hijacker?
- To sum up
Remove FnP Search search without any utilities
To remove FnP Search browser hijacker, adware and other unwanted applications you can try to do so manually. Unfortunately some of the hijackers won’t show up in your application list, but some hijacker infections may. In this case, you may be able to get rid of it through the uninstall function of your system. You can do this by completing the steps below.
Delete unwanted or newly installed programs
First of all, check the list of installed programs on your PC and uninstall all unknown and recently installed applications. If you see an unknown program with incorrect spelling or varying capital letters, it have most likely been installed by malware and you should clean it off first with malware removal tool like Zemana Anti-malware.
Windows 8, 8.1, 10
First, click Windows button
, then click Search 
. Type ‘Control panel’and press Enter as displayed in the figure below.
After the ‘Control Panel’ opens, press the ‘Uninstall a program’ link under Programs category as displayed in the figure below.
You will see the ‘Uninstall a program’ panel as on the image below.
Very carefully look around the entire list of apps installed on your PC. Most probably, one of them is the browser hijacker that causes browsers to display unwanted FnP Search web page. If you’ve many apps installed, you can help simplify the search of malicious software by sort the list by date of installation. Once you’ve found a questionable, unwanted or unused application, right click to it, after that click ‘Uninstall’.
Windows XP, Vista, 7
First, press ‘Start’ button and select ‘Control Panel’ at right panel similar to the one below.
When the Windows ‘Control Panel’ opens, you need to click ‘Uninstall a program’ under ‘Programs’ similar to the one below.
You will see a list of programs installed on your personal computer. We recommend to sort the list by date of installation to quickly find the apps that were installed last. Most probably, it’s the hijacker responsible for redirects to FnP Search. If you’re in doubt, you can always check the program by doing a search for her name in Google, Yahoo or Bing. When the program which you need to delete is found, simply click on its name, and then press ‘Uninstall’ as displayed on the image below.
Remove FnP Search from Chrome
If you are getting FnP Search instead of your start page or search engine, then you can try to delete it by resetting Chrome to its original state. It will also clear cookies, content and site data, temporary and cached data. However, your saved bookmarks and passwords will not be lost. This will not affect your history, passwords, bookmarks, and other saved data.
First run the Chrome. Next, click the button in the form of three horizontal dots (
).
It will show the Chrome menu. Choose More Tools, then click Extensions. Carefully browse through the list of installed add-ons. If the list has the add-on signed with “Installed by enterprise policy” or “Installed by your administrator”, then complete the following guidance: Remove Google Chrome extensions installed by enterprise policy.
Open the Google Chrome menu once again. Further, press the option called “Settings”.
The web-browser will display the settings screen. Another way to display the Google Chrome’s settings – type chrome://settings in the internet browser adress bar and press Enter
Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the “Advanced” link. Now scroll down until the “Reset” section is visible, as on the image below and click the “Reset settings to their original defaults” button.
The Google Chrome will open the confirmation dialog box as displayed in the following example.
You need to confirm your action, press the “Reset” button. The internet browser will launch the task of cleaning. Once it is done, the browser’s settings including search engine by default, start page and newtab page back to the values which have been when the Google Chrome was first installed on your PC.
Remove FnP Search from Mozilla Firefox by resetting internet browser settings
If your Mozilla Firefox web browser home page has changed to FnP Search without your permission or an unknown search engine opens results for your search, then it may be time to perform the web browser reset. Essential information like bookmarks, browsing history, passwords, cookies, auto-fill data and personal dictionaries will not be removed.
First, launch the Firefox and press 
button. It will open the drop-down menu on the right-part of the browser. Further, click the Help button (
) as displayed in the figure below.
In the Help menu, select the “Troubleshooting Information” option. Another way to open the “Troubleshooting Information” screen – type “about:support” in the browser adress bar and press Enter. It will display the “Troubleshooting Information” page as displayed on the image below. In the upper-right corner of this screen, click the “Refresh Firefox” button.
It will display the confirmation dialog box. Further, press the “Refresh Firefox” button. The Firefox will begin a process to fix your problems that caused by the FnP Search browser hijacker infection. When, it’s finished, press the “Finish” button.
Get rid of FnP Search home page from Internet Explorer
In order to restore all internet browser homepage, search engine by default and new tab you need to reset the IE to the state, that was when the MS Windows was installed on your PC system.
First, run the IE, press 
) button. Next, click “Internet Options” as on the image below.
In the “Internet Options” screen select the Advanced tab. Next, click Reset button. The Internet Explorer will open the Reset Internet Explorer settings prompt. Select the “Delete personal settings” check box and click Reset button.
You will now need to restart your PC system for the changes to take effect. It will get rid of browser hijacker responsible for redirecting user searches to FnP Search, disable malicious and ad-supported web-browser’s extensions and restore the Internet Explorer’s settings like homepage, new tab page and default search engine to default state.
How to remove FnP Search automatically
Using a malware removal utility to locate and get rid of browser hijacker infection hiding on your personal computer is probably the easiest way to remove the FnP Search home page. We suggests the Zemana Anti Malware (ZAM) program for Microsoft Windows PCs. HitmanPro and MalwareBytes are other anti malware tools for Microsoft Windows that offers a free malware removal.
Scan and clean your computer of FnP Search with Zemana Anti Malware (ZAM)
Zemana Free is a free tool that performs a scan of your computer and displays if there are existing adware software, browser hijackers, viruses, worms, spyware, trojans and other malicious software residing on your PC system. If malicious software is found, Zemana AntiMalware (ZAM) can automatically remove it. Zemana AntiMalware does not conflict with other antimalware and antivirus apps installed on your personal computer.
- First, visit the following page, then click the ‘Download’ button in order to download the latest version of Zemana Anti-Malware.
Zemana AntiMalware
164113 downloads
Author: Zemana Ltd
Category: Security tools
Update: July 16, 2019
- At the download page, click on the Download button. Your web-browser will display the “Save as” dialog box. Please save it onto your Windows desktop.
- Once downloading is done, please close all applications and open windows on your machine. Next, start a file named Zemana.AntiMalware.Setup.
- This will run the “Setup wizard” of Zemana Free onto your PC system. Follow the prompts and do not make any changes to default settings.
- When the Setup wizard has finished installing, the Zemana AntiMalware (ZAM) will run and display the main window.
- Further, click the “Scan” button to search for hijacker responsible for changing your web browser settings to FnP Search. A scan can take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the number of files on your PC and the speed of your machine. While the Zemana Free is checking, you can see number of objects it has identified either as being malicious software.
- Once Zemana completes the scan, it will open the Scan Results.
- Review the results once the utility has complete the system scan. If you think an entry should not be quarantined, then uncheck it. Otherwise, simply press the “Next” button. The tool will begin to remove browser hijacker responsible for redirecting your browser to FnP Search web-site. When the cleaning procedure is done, you may be prompted to restart the PC.
- Close the Zemana AntiMalware and continue with the next step.
Get rid of FnP Search hijacker and malicious extensions with Hitman Pro
If Zemana cannot get rid of this browser hijacker, then we advises to run the Hitman Pro. The Hitman Pro is a free powerful, professional removal utility for malware, adware, PUPs, toolbars as well as browser hijacker which cause FnP Search web site to appear. It completely removes all traces and remnants of the infection.
- Hitman Pro can be downloaded from the following link. Save it to your Desktop so that you can access the file easily.
- When downloading is complete, double click the Hitman Pro icon. Once this tool is launched, click “Next” button to detect browser hijacker that developed to redirect your browser to the FnP Search web-page. A scan can take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the number of files on your computer and the speed of your system. During the scan HitmanPro will look for threats exist on your PC system.
- When the scan is complete, Hitman Pro will display a scan report. When you’re ready, press “Next” button. Now click the “Activate free license” button to start the free 30 days trial to remove all malware found.
Automatically get rid of FnP Search start page with MalwareBytes Free
Manual FnP Search homepage removal requires some computer skills. Some files and registry entries that created by the browser hijacker can be not completely removed. We advise that run the MalwareBytes Free that are completely free your PC of browser hijacker. Moreover, this free program will allow you to remove malware, potentially unwanted software, adware and toolbars that your machine can be infected too.
- First, visit the following page, then press the ‘Download’ button in order to download the latest version of MalwareBytes Free.
Malwarebytes Anti-malware
326464 downloads
Author: Malwarebytes
Category: Security tools
Update: April 15, 2020
- When the downloading process is done, close all programs and windows on your computer. Open a folder in which you saved it. Double-click on the icon that’s named mb3-setup.
- Further, press Next button and follow the prompts.
- Once setup is finished, click the “Scan Now” button to perform a system scan for the browser hijacker infection which developed to redirect your browser to the FnP Search web-site. This procedure may take some time, so please be patient. While the tool is scanning, you can see how many objects and files has already scanned.
- After the system scan is done, it will open the Scan Results. Review the results once the utility has done the system scan. If you think an entry should not be quarantined, then uncheck it. Otherwise, simply click “Quarantine Selected”. After disinfection is complete, you may be prompted to reboot your system.
The following video offers a step-by-step guide on how to remove hijackers, adware and other malicious software with MalwareBytes Anti Malware.
Block FnP Search and other unwanted web pages
By installing an ad blocking application like AdGuard, you are able to stop FnP Search, autoplaying video ads and get rid of a lot of distracting and unwanted ads on web-pages.
Visit the page linked below to download AdGuard. Save it to your Desktop.
26659 downloads
Version: 6.4
Author: © Adguard
Category: Security tools
Update: November 15, 2018
After downloading it, start the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” screen as displayed in the figure below.
Follow the prompts. After the setup is finished, you will see a window as displayed on the screen below.
You can click “Skip” to close the setup application and use the default settings, or press “Get Started” button to see an quick tutorial that will help 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 launch your system, AdGuard will run automatically and stop unwanted ads, block FnP Search, as well as other harmful or misleading web sites. For an overview of all the features of the application, or to change its settings you can simply double-click on the AdGuard icon, which is located on your desktop.
Don’t know how your internet browser has been hijacked by FnP Search hijacker?
The majority of browser hijackers such as FnP Search is bundled within free applications or even paid programs which Net users can easily download online. The installers of such applications, most commonly, clearly display that they will install bundled programs. The option is given to users to block the installation of any optional applications. So, in order to avoid the install of any browser hijackers: read all disclaimers and install screens very carefully, choose only Custom or Advanced setup method and reject all optional applications in which you are unsure.
To sum up
Now your computer should be clean of the hijacker that cause a reroute to FnP Search web page. We suggest that you keep Zemana Anti Malware (to periodically scan your computer for new hijackers and other malware) and AdGuard (to help you block annoying ads and malicious web-sites). Moreover, to prevent any browser hijacker, please stay clear of unknown and third party apps, make sure that your antivirus application, turn on the option to find potentially unwanted applications.
If you need more help with FnP Search redirect related issues, go to here.
