Allo-search.com Removal Guide

Allo-search.com is so much more than a search engine, but not in a good way. While researching this search engine we have found that it is nothing short of a browser hijacker, so removing it should be your top priority. It comes bundled with software developed by Development Media 73 and should automatically replace your browser’s homepage to its address while installing this company’s software. Allo-search.com is an unreliable search engine because its developers use it to promote potentially dangerous websites that might even contain download links to malicious software. You might find Allo-search.com difficult to get rid of; therefore, we have composed a manual removal guide that we hope will come in handy. Note that is some case deleting it manually might not work. If this happens, then we suggest using an antimalware tool.

This browser hijacker was released by a software developing company that calls itself Development Media 73. This company is based in France and even has its French-language website at Dm73.net. However, this particular hijacker has been localized of Indian users. As far as we know, currently, Allo-search.com is being bundled with software that comes exclusively from this developer. It should be set to automatically replace your browser’s homepage without your permission. However, we cannot rule out the possibility that it might the installer might ask your permission to change the homepage. Either way, you should not keep this browser any longer, provided that your computer is infected with it. Interestingly, this hijacker has a lot of clones, including Securery.com, Secury-surf.com, and Explorary.com. But, these browser hijackers are different, because they are tailored to the French-speaking population. Now that we know everything there is to know about Allo-search.com’s origins let us begin analyzing how it works.

Let us assume that you install an application created by Development Media 73. While rushing through the installation wizard, you accidentally accept an offer to change your browser’s homepage to Allo-search.com. Now that this search engine is your browser’s homepage you may be inclined to use it. And, it seems to work like a normal search engine, but only because it uses Google.com to do the searching for it. So essentially you are using Google.com, but the problem is that Allo-search.com can collect information about you which might be used to display tailored advertisements in its search results. Note that the first promotions will say “Ads by Google,” but that will not always be the case. We believe that some of this hijacker’s promotional links can redirect you to websites that contain malicious content, such as malware. The whole idea behind a browser hijacker is to redirect web traffic and thus subject you to undesirable content. Obviously, this is not in your best interest, but the developers do not care as they profit from advertising.

If changing your browser’s homepage has proven unsuccessful, then we suggest that you try our manual removal guide. We have found that Allo-search.com modifies the registry values of Internet Explorer and certain files for Chrome and Firefox. These modifications might prevent you from changing your browser’s homepage, so you ought to fix them. After you have done that you should restore your browser’s settings to default. However if the steps mentioned above do not bring any results, then we suggest Allo-search.com using an anti-malware tool.

Enable Show hidden files, folders, and drives

1. Go to Control Panel.
2. Click Appearance and Personalization.
3. Select View tab.
4. Under Advanced settings, click Show hidden files, folders, and drives.
5. Click OK.

Remove Allo-search.com manually

Microsoft Internet Explorer

1. Press Windows Key+R and type regedit in the dialog box.
2. Go to HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\MAIN.
3. Find the Start page value and right-click on it.
4. Select Modify and enter a new homepage address in the Value data line.
5. Then open your browser and press Alt+T.
6. Select Internet Options and click the Advanced tab.
7. Click Reset and mark the checkbox.
8. Click Reset again.

Mozilla Firefox

1. Press Windows Key+E to open Windows Explorer.
2. Go to C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\{randomletters}.default.
3. Find prefs.js and Delete it.
4. Then, go to C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\{randomletters}.default\searchplugins.
5. Find allo-search.xml and Delete it.
6. Open your browser and press Alt+H.
7. Click Troubleshooting Information.
8. Click Refresh Firefox.
9. In the dialog box, click Refresh Firefox again.
10. Click Finish.

Google Chrome

1. Press Windows Key+E to open Windows Explorer.
2. Go to C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default.
3. Find Preferences, Secure Preferences and Web Data files and Delete them.
4. Open the browser.
5. Press Alt+F and open Settings.
6. Select Show advanced settings.
7. Click Reset settings and click Reset again.