How to Remove SafeFinder.com Redirect Virus (Removal Guide)

I didn’t realize my browser has been hijacked by SafeFinder.com virus until my antivirus told me so. I usually clean some cookies and history records after browsing web sites. However, I cannot get rid of the redirect virus in the same way this time. What is the best way to get rid of this threat and get my browser back to normal? Any help will be appreciated.

What is SafeFinder.com?

SafeFinder.com is responsible for promoting specific products created by cyber hackers through the way of attaching undesirable toolbars, malicious scripts as well as potentially harmful extensions on the browser for taking over it. Its design and outfit look professional and quite normal as other legitimate webpage. There is only a search bar on the whole page. You can use it to search by entering keywords into the search bar. However, the search results offered by the search engine are not exactly associated with the keywords. The search results it offers are often websites with advertising or unhealthy contents. So the search results are not real. If you click on some unknown websites in the search results, many other computer infections may be downloaded. It can allow other unknown Trojan or backdoor programs to insert system. For instance, some browser settings and system settings are changed and the computer security levels become lower. In this case, other malware can take the chance to break into your computer and further steal your private information like banking account details if you make online payment during the infection session. The personal files stored in your computer will also be stolen. Some computer may face more serious situations such as blue screen of death, system crash or file encryption. The worst thing is that you won’t be able to open them!

In most cases, you may get this virus when you visit some web site. When you are viewing entertainment website, browsing music webpage or playing mini games on websites, you may not notice the webpage is infected with virus or not. You may ignore the suggestion if you don’t want. After installation, they will start to change the system settings to create a better environment for more viruses to reproduce. When you set SafeFinder.com as your homepage, you are giving the redirect virus an opportunity to infect and hijack your browser. Some other malicious redirect virus can hijack your browser as long as you visit malicious website. Actually, not all websites are safe to browse and not all files are safe to open, either. Currently, you may consider eliminating the browser hijacker by the help of manual removal solution instead of utilizing the antivirus program for the virus can effectively avoid its scanner. Other system applications are also affected due to this virus. Please follow the guide given below to manually get rid of the redirect virus. Don’t ignore it, it is much stronger than you can imagine.

How to Manually Remove SafeFinder.com in Several Steps

Tips: Before you remove SafeFinder.com, you need to make a backup of the system in case you make mistakes when deleting the files and registry entries related to the redirect virus. The real difficult part is to identify the files related to the virus because the files would be randomly named. Inexperienced users should not try manual way. It requires enough you to have computer skills. If you don’t have sufficient knowledge, it’s strongly suggested to use automatic remover tool.

Step 1: Set the default homepage back

For Internet Explorer:
Click on Browser Tools
Select Manage Add-ons on the tools window
Click Search Provider
Here you can see many kinds of search engine option as Bing and Google, select your favorite one to be a default homepage.
Choose Search Results and click on Remove icon to eliminate it
Click Tools, select Internet Options and then the General tab. Here you can option a website you like and save it.
c. Select ‘Search Results’ and click ‘Remove’ to remove it;

For Google Chrome:
Open Customize and control
Click on Settings
Select on Basic Options icon
Here you can reset your homepage (e.g.Google.com)
Once you choose a default homepage, click on Manage Search Engines and then click Google to be your default search engine.
Remove it from the browser by clicking Search Result and then the X’ mark

For Mozilla Firefox:
Click Manage Search Engine
Select Search Results and then click Remove option, click OK
Open Tools, under the General tab, set Google.com as default homepage

Step 2: Locate related files of SafeFinder.com and remove them from the computer
%AllUsersProfile%
%AllUsersProfile%\Programs\{random letters}\
%AllUsersProfile%\Application Data\~r
%AllUsersProfile%\Application Data\~dll

Step 3: Remove cookies on all browsers
Internet Explorer:
Click options on the browser and then choose Internet Options
Open General tab, click Delete Browsing History to remove all related cookies
Select cookies and click Delete

Firefox:
Click option
Select Privacy and then click on Remove Individual Cookies icon
Delete relevant cookies list on the box

Google Chrome:
Click option
Open Under the Bonnet tab
Select Privacy and then click Clear browsing data
Delete all cookies

Step 4: Remove malicious registry entries
Open Registry Editor on the start menu
Type in Regedit and click OK
Remove all the following registry entries
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings “CertificateRevocation” = ‘1’
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Attachments “SaveZoneInformation” = ‘0’

Conclusion: SafeFinder.com is a threat which can do harm to your PC seriously. Even many famous antivirus programs couldn’t remove it safely and completely. You need to be careful when downloading programs from the internet. This can only lead to bigger problems. The manual removal guide given above is only for PC users who acquire certain levels of computer skills. Otherwise, the entire instructions listed above only have the ability to clean up common virus. Moreover, if you are a professional computer technician or experienced PC users, manual way is an absolute and accurate way for your infected computer. However, if you don’t have sufficient knowledge about PC, you had better resort to a safer and easier way. What’s worse, it may cause further damage over time. As mentioned above, this virus infection is a terrible computer infection. The related files may have been modified. The removal of SafeFinder.com is also good for the proper running of other normal applications and legal system files.