How to Remove Search.co-cmf.com Browser Hijacker? - Removal Guide

Search.co-cmf.com is a browser hijacker which often slips into target computers secretly and causes various problems making the infected machine run very slowly.  It modifies browser settings as soon as it gets installed onto the target computer and as a result, the browser will have to be confronted with plenty of redirection and popping up of advertisements.  It's never too early to remove the virus from an infected computer considering the damages it could bring to the machine and the system.

Since the redirect always sneaks into the infected system in secret ways, most of the users will not realize its existence in time.  The virus takes advantages of the blindness of computer users who may not pay enough attention to the unnoticeable options when they are installing or downloading any programs.  It is common cases that a redirect virus attatches to some general installers of software to gets installed onto random computers because most innocent net users won't notice the install or download option of the redirect during the boring installation of a program.  In fact, most of the programs we know of are fine to use but the origion of the installer is questionable which become a common cause of redirect infection. It's necessary and highly recommended to be cautious when you try to download anything from the Internet. 

The bad effects this Search.co-cmf.com redirect virus can bring to a computer is huge and beyond your imagination.  It makes people very puzzled when the net users begin to realize the existence of more and more plug-ins, bookmarks, and toolbars on the browsers.  It is also frustrating to have ads popping ups when one is focus on something with the computer.  Despite of the annoying external phenomena, the real bad consequence the virus leads to the computer is making more opportunities of being attacked by remote hackers and any other online computer threats.

When it comes to the effects of a browser hijacker, there are many cases we have to illustrate.  Taking this Search.co-cmf.com redirect item as an example, it changes the browser settings which cause page redirection and new tab popping up, as well as strange download and installation of unknown plug-ins.  The main purpose of the cyber criminals who create such viruses are to collect useful information from the computer and gain illegal profits from pay-per-click principle.  Thus if one computer is attacked by this redirect, the data on it will not be safe anymore because this redirect will never stop collecting the sensitive data by analyzing the system files on the hard drives.  In order to make it hard to be eliminated by the antivirus program, the browser hijacker spreads its files and registry to many random folders following the similar name of common system ones.  

How to Remove Search.co-cmf.com Virus Completely?

1. Remove the browser hijacker from the infected computer.

Click on the Start button and select Control Panel. Click on Uninstall a program under the Programs category.

Find out and locate the programs related to the browser hijacker. Click on the Uninstall button to remove them all.

2. Launch the infected browser and remove the add-ons or extensions related to the browser hijacker.

Internet Explorer:

Open IE, click on Tools and then select Manage Add-ons. When it opens a window, click on Toolbars and Extensions. Find out the extensions related to the browser hijacker and select them. Then, right-click them and click on the Disable option. Restart IE to finish the procedure.

Google Chrome:

Launch Google Chrome. Click on the Three-bar icon on top-right of the browser, select tools and then Extensions from the list. After that, click Extensions on the left side of the window. Locate the extension related to the browser hijacker, select it and click on the trash icon. Restart the browser to complete the procedure.

Mozilla Firefox:

Start Firefox and click on the tool menu from the top menu. Click on the Add-ons tab to open the configuration window. Then, click Extensions on the left side of this window. Now find out the extensions of the redirect virus and remove them from the browser. Restart the browser to complete the process.

3. Show hidden files and folders.

Go to Control panel again and click on Appearance and Personalization. Then double click on Folder Options. Hit the View tab, tick Show hidden files, folders and drives and deselect Hide protected operating system files (Recommended). Click on the OK button to apply the changes.

4. Delete the malicious files of Search.co-cmf.com from the local disk.

The files listed below are reference only because the virus may has the ability to changes the names and locations of its files.

%Program Files%\ random

%AppData%\Protector-[rnd].exe

%AppData%\Inspector-[rnd].exe

%AppData%\vsdsrv32.exe

5. Open Registry Editor and delete the registry entries of the browser hijacker.

Press Windows+ R keys simultaneously to open the Run window. Then type regedit in the run box and press Enter key to open Registry Editor.

After that, find out and delete all the registry entries of the redirect virus. The below registry entries are also for reference only.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\[random].exe

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\browser hijacker name

HKEY_CURRENT_USER \Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System DisableRegistryTools = 0

6. Restart the infected computer to apply all changes.

Conclusion

It can be a disaster when a computer is attacked by the Search.co-cmf.com virus especially when he or she is not a computer savvy.  It's true that this Search.co-cmf.com won't be seen as a technical computer "virus" while it can cause virus attack to the compromised machine.  When this redirect maintains in a computer, it consists on exploiting the bugs and vulnerabilities of the system to make them more and easier to be attack by more kinds of threats.  Another trick it takes is to spread its files all over the hard drive making it nearly impossible to be cleaned out thoroughly because it is really difficult task to clean all the similar files safely.  To protect one's computer from being invaded by more and more problems, the user should often scan the virus with the help of reliable antivirus software to keep the PC clean.  The last but not least, it is also a good habit to update the security programs to the latest version in order to make the computer powerful enough to killing newer viruses.