Remove powerfulsearch.net Redirect Virus

Description of powerfulsearch.net Redirect Virus

As a redirect virus, powerfulsearch.net redirect virus is classified as a browser hijacker that deceives people into visiting its website to boost traffic and make profits by tricking them into its pop-up links. After completed its installation on the computer, the hijacker virus will force computer users to visit its domain site whenever they start browsers or open a new tab. The main objective of this redirect virus is to disturb internet activities and get monetary benefit from victims. In a word, this browser hijack is created by the hijackers to gain money from na?ve victims. It is not suggested that you do not click on the pop-up ads or sponsored links on the powerfulsearch.net website, or else you may download some malware like Trojan horse, adware or worm onto your computer.

Consequences of powerfulsearch.net

Once the redirect virus gets installed on the targeted computer, it will change the browser settings and DNS settings without any permission. powerfulsearch.net is able to hijack and change web browser, including Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome. The threat also brings about a plenty of troubles and interferes with your browsing experience and redirects your search queries to the unwanted site forcibly. Since being installed, powerfulsearch.net starts to bombard the screen with ads. Those ads are usually include ads, coupons, deals, revenues, pop-banner, and sponsored links, which are utilized to rope victims into purchasing some fake or non-existent products or services. Once the users trust and pay for them, they will finally get nothing but stolen credit cards. What’s worse, the browser hijacker may collect and send people’s confidential data to cybercriminals for illegal activities.

How to Prevent and Remove powerfulsearch.net Redirect Virus

Removing powerfulsearch.net is not a simple process, for it aggressively alters the browser settings like default homepage and search engine without any consent and creates numerous files and registry entries in the computer. Besides changing back the default browser settings modified by this threat, users still need to remove its related codes, files and registry from the affected system. In the case of powerfulsearch.net infection, we highly recommend computer users to remove it as soon as possible.

Steps to Remove powerfulsearch.net Browser Hijacker

Step one: set the default homepage back
For Internet Explorer:
1. Click on Browser Tools
2. Select Manage Add-Ons on the tools window
3. Click Search Provider
4. Here you can see many kinds of search engine option as Bing and Google, select your favorite one to be a default homepage.
5. Choose Search Results and click on Remove icon to eliminate it
6. Click Tools, select Internet Options and then the General tab. Here you can option a website you like and save it.
c. Select the unwanted address and click ‘Remove’ to remove it;
For Google Chrome:
1. Open Customize and control
2. Click on Settings
3. Select on Basic Options icon
4. Here you can reset your homepage (e.g.Google.com）
5. Once you choose a default homepage, click on Manage Search Engines and then click Google to be your default search engine.
6. Remove it from the browser by clicking powerfulsearch.net and then the X’ mark
For Mozilla Firefox:
1. Click Manage Search Engine
2. Select Search Results and then click Remove option, click OK
3. Open Tools, under the General tab, set Google.com as default homepage
Step two: locate related files of the redirect virus and remove them from the computer
%AllUsersProfile%
%AllUsersProfile%\Programs\{random letters}\
%AllUsersProfile%\Application Data\~r
%AllUsersProfile%\Application Data\~dll
Step three: Remove Cookies on all Browsers
Internet Explorer:
a. Click options on the browser and then choose Internet Options
b. Open General tab, click Delete Browsing History to remove all related cookies
c. Select cookies and click Delete
Firefox:
a. Click option
b. Select Privacy and then click on Remove Individual Cookies icon
c. Delete relevant cookies list on the box
Google Chrome:
a. Click option
b. Open Under the Bonnet tab
c. Select Privacy and then click Clear browsing data
d. Delete all cookies
Step four: Remove Malicious Registry
a. Open Registry Editor on the start menu
b. Type in Regedit and click OK
c. Remove all the following registry entries
HKEY
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings “CertificateRevocation” = ‘1’
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Attachments “SaveZoneInformation” = ‘0’

Conclusion

The powerfulsearch.net redirect virus may come as part of a freeware installation that is supported by adware or spyware, but such software usually not be identified as a browser hijacker in the installation procedure. Beyond that, this browser hijacker covers itself by using am undefined End-User License Agreement which is always ignored by users during the installation. Users often install an application without knowing what is really going on. Thus, powerfulsearch.net or other harmful plug-ins/add-ons can be installed on the target computers and then carry out many harmful actions. And then it may lead to many problems on the infected PC like redirecting users to unwanted sites and delivering numerous unwanted pop-up ads, or even downloading other threats to the target machine. Be advised, it is quite necessary for PC users to eliminate this powerfulsearch.net redirect virus in order to avoid further damage from cyber criminals. Now is the crucial time for you to take action to wipe out the powerfulsearch.net redirect virus! Use a professional malware removal tool.