Search.yourspeedtestcenter.com Removal Guide

Search.yourspeedtestcenter.com is not an ordinary search engine, and you will find out what it is by reading this description. To put is simply, it is a browser hijacker set to modify your web browser’s settings. We recommend that you remove it because it can severely compromise your computer’s security with its promotional links that it includes in its search results. This hijacker only poses as a legitimate search engine, but in reality, it was created by a malware developer that makes money off online advertising.

Without exception, all browser hijackers are created for the purpose of making money for their creators and their partners. To achieve this, Search.yourspeedtestcenter.com and other browser hijackers literally hijack your browser’s settings and modify specific settings. In the case of this particular browser hijacker, it will hijack the homepage address of Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox, but it will hijack the new tab page of Google Chrome as well. So it replaces the search-related parameters to force you to use Search.yourspeedtestcenter.com for performing searches online. This sneaky tactic has proven very successful over the years, and that is the reason browser hijackers are such a prevalent type of malware.

However, browser hijackers can have significant differences. For example, Search.yourspeedtestcenter.com comes with a browser add-n that can either be called Speedtest or Your Speed Test Center that are designed for Firefox and Chrome respectively. However, there is no add-on for Internet Explorer as this hijacker is installed as an application that hijacks it on the Windows Registry level. This hijacker’s successful promotional campaign tricks users into installing it because it claims that its browser add-on will help determine your Internet speed. However, tests have shown this to be a false claim because it does none of that. Nevertheless, this hijacker might provide links to Internet speed testing websites, but promoting a service is not the same as providing it.

When you enter a search query to Search.yourspeedtestcenter.com it redirects it to Yahoo.com, a legitimate search engine that is often exploited by greedy Internet advertisers. Testing has shown that the search results from the redirected search queries differ from those presented by the unmodified Yahoo.com search engine. We have discovered that this malware’s developers inject promotional links to the search results which is alarming because they might be of questionable nature. Indeed, it is possible for this hijacker to inject malicious links that if clicked can redirect you to malicious websites or initiate the download of dangerous software.

The developer behind this infection is an entity that labels its releases “by SaferBrowser” and this label indicates that this particular browser hijacker belongs to an established family of malware. In the recent past, we have also tested clone hijackers that include Search.searchtmp.com, Search.easyinterestsaccess.com, and Search.yourmovietimenow.com, among others. All of these hijackers are equally unreliable, so you should avoid using them if you happen to encounter any one of them in the future.

However, it is possible to get this hijacker accidentally by clicking on fake pop-up advertisements known to promote it. These kinds of pop-ups are displayed by adware-type software, so you should check your computer for this type of malware. Also, you can get Search.yourspeedtestcenter.com with the aforementioned browser extensions from its main website at Yourspeedtestcenter.com. So this browser hijacker has no shortage of distribution channels, and you can get it accidentally if your PC is unprotected by an anti-malware application.

As you can see, Search.yourspeedtestcenter.com is nothing more than a browser hijacker that poses as a legitimate search engine. It comes with browser extensions that do nothing apart from managing the hijacking process while their developers claim that they help you determine your Internet speed. This hijacker is prone to show advertisements in its search results, so you have to remove it to keep your PC out of harm’s way.

Removal Instructions

Microsoft Internet Explorer

1. Press Windows+R keys, enter regedit, and click OK.
2. In Windows Registry, navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main
3. Find the Start Page string.
4. Right-click it and click Modify.
5. Replace the Value data to your preferred homepage address.
6. Then deletethe following registry keys
   • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\YourSpeedTestCenter
   • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\YourSpeedTestCenter

Google Chrome

1. Press Windows+E keys on your keyboard.
2. Enter the following file paths
   • %LOCALAPPDATA%\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions
   • %UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions
3. Delete beepnafbdnbdoddjbahalojapnnblnga
4. Then, navigate to %LocalAppData%\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default
5. Locate and delete Preferences, Secure Preferences and Web Data files

Mozilla Firefox

1. Press Windows+E keys on your keyboard.
2. Enter these file paths and delete @Speedtest and @Speedtest.xpirespectively
   • %AppData%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\{random name}\jetpack
   • %AppData%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\{random name}\extensions
3. Then, navigate to %AppData%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\{random name}
4. Locate the prefs.js file, open it and replace http://search.yourspeedtestcenter.com with your preferred URL.