Search.showmoreabout.com Removal Guide

Search.showmoreabout.com is a new search engine that may look like an innocent and authentic one; in fact, it is possible that you will not even realize that it has become your home page because it appears to be very simple. Due to its traits, we have labeled this infection as a browser hijacker as it can modify your home page settings in the three most popular browsers, including Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, and Mozilla Firefox. The main goal of this hijacker is obviously making easy money for its creators through third-party advertizing. However, you can never know whether you can trust the content coming from this search engine or not. What if you are presented with potentially unreliable content inserted among the search results? We do not think that you would like to infect your machine with further malware threats or end up on fake websites run by cyber crooks. Therefore, we suggest that you remove Search.showmoreabout.com from your system and make sure that you do not leave any other potential threat source on board if you want to use a perfectly safe computer.

This browser hijacker comes from a company called Linkury, Inc. (linkury.com) that provides “monetization solutions for search and non-search across all platforms.” In all fairness, this company and its website appear to be authentic and professional. It seems that you can install this search engine, which claims to be an independent development, when you are installing any of the products this company has to offer. However, our tests and research show that it is less likely for you to have this browser hijacker in your browsers through this official channel than from alternative sources, which could present more security-related issues as well.

As a matter of fact, it is more likely that you install this search engine via free software bundles that you download by clicking on unsafe third-party advertisements or from questionable file-sharing websites. When your computer is infected with adware, it may become obvious after some time as you get annoyed by the flow of ads whenever you want to peacefully surf the web. However, what many users still do not seem to understand is that these ads can be unreliable and also relevant-looking due to some previous spying on you. Therefore, clicking on these ads could either take you to malicious websites or you may also drop a bundle of malware threats onto your system. An adware program may also hijack otherwise legitimate ads you can see on reputable websites. So, if your system is infected, you should never trust any ads or even links on search results pages because you could be up for a surprise.

It is also possible that you land on a suspicious file-sharing, gaming, or porn page with the intention of downloading free files. However, clicking on the download button could result in your downloading a malicious installer that packs several malware infections on top of the promised file, which may or may not even work. This is why it is so important to always use legitimate and official sites when you want to download or update software. If you want to save your computer from further issues, we suggest that you delete Search.showmoreabout.com and scan your system with a proper malware scanner to see what you are really up against.

This questionable search engine does not have a toolbar or any extra feature apart from the search box and a drop-down menu to choose from a dozen languages. Since this main page is practically full of unused space, it is possible that in the future you will see third-party ads there, too. Our tests indicate that the search results can be manipulated by this hijacker to include affiliate website links and advertisements, which is the base for the income this infection was created to generate. However, the problem with this and the possibility that this browser hijacker collects information about your online activities is that cyber criminals may exploit all this and use them as traps for unsuspecting computer users.

If you happen to click on content coming from crooks, you may be led to a fake website where you could become the next victim of an online crime. But you may also open new tabs with malicious sites trying to trick you into downloading false updaters or browser plugins that are supposedly urgent for you to view certain content. In any case, using this search engine could lead to virtual security issues. If you would like to keep your system clean and void of malware infections, we suggest that you remove Search.showmoreabout.com as soon as possible.

It seems that this malware infection only affects your home page settings in your browsers. The obvious solution presents itself: You need to restore your home page URL address to use one that you trust and would like to see as your home page whenever you start up your browsers. You can use our instructions below if you need help with this. Do not forget that you can do a lot for your protection if you keep all your drivers and programs regularly updated, which can make your system less vulnerable as cyber criminals cannot exploit outdated software bugs and holes. However, if you want real peace of mind, you may want to think about installing a reputable anti-malware program, such as SpyHunter.

Remove Search.showmoreabout.com from your browsers

Internet Explorer

1. Press Win+R and enter regedit. Press OK.
2. Edit “http://search.showmoreabout.com” value data in the following registry keys:
   HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\Start Page (64-bit!)
   HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\Start Page
   HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\Start Page
3. Edit the value data in these value names in “HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchScopes\{0633EE93-D776-472f-A0FF-E1416B8B2E3A}”:
   FaviconURL (value data: “http://search.showmoreabout.com/favicon.ico”)
   FaviconURLFallback (value data: “http://search.showmoreabout.com/favicon.ico”)
   TopResultURL (value data: “http://search.showmoreabout.com”)
   URL (value data: “http://search.showmoreabout.com”)
4. Close the editor.

Google Chrome

1. Press Win+E.
2. Find the “%LocalAppData%\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default” folder.
3. Delete the following files: Preferences, Secure Preferences, and Web Data
4. Empty your Recycle Bin.

Mozilla Firefox

1. Press Win+E.
2. Find the “%AppData%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\{Unique Mozilla user ID}” folder.
3. Edit the prefs.js file in a text editor (e.g., Notepad).
4. Edit the user_pref("browser.startup.homepage", "http://search.showmoreabout.com/") string and modify the URL with a home page like “google.com”.