Search.searchetan.com Removal Guide

Search.searchetan.com is an unreliable search page that offers you easy access to news, weather, and streaming TV-related websites. Based on our tests we believe that this search engine is only created to generate easy revenue through third-party advertising. Therefore, you could be exposed to questionable and potentially risky content mostly via modified search results. We have found that this unreliable search engine is not really new since it is a just a new clone in an ever-growing browser hijacker family that includes Search.watchanysports.com, Search.emailaccessonline.com, and Search.classifiedseasy.com. Some of these hijackers are completely identical, some have different themes but the basics are all the same. Your system security-related issues however may not stop at this malware infection; it is quite possible that there are a number of other infections on board endangering the normal operation of your computer. This is why we advise you to remove Search.searchetan.com from your browsers and all other potentially dangerous applications as well.

You may infect your computer with this browser hijacker after you click on unreliable third-party advertisements, fake updater messages, and when you download malicious freeware bundles. You need to be very careful with third-party content generally because some of them are very misleading and some may be disguised as well. This is one of the reasons to have an authentic anti-malware application installed if you want to enjoy peace of mind while surfing the web and not become paranoid about such contents and questionable websites. However, if you do not have proper protection, it is only you who stands between malware attacks and your operating system. If you are not an experienced user, you could be easily tricked by schemers with fake updater pop-ups claiming that you need to urgently update your software or Flash driver for security reasons. But by installing such an update through such channels would only lead to infecting your system with a malicious bundle.

You can also be presented with unsafe third-party ads and disguised content when you visit shady file-sharing sites, for instance. It is possible that you do not even load such a page on purpose but get redirected due to clicking on other unreliable content, such as a modified search result displayed by a browser hijacker like this one. Installing bundles is always risky if you are not cautious enough to read the download agreement or pay attention to the installation wizard pages. A malicious bundle can hold a number of adware programs, fake alerts, Trojans, keyloggers, browser hijackers as well as potentially unwanted programs. This could mean serious burden for your operating system and increased vulnerability for cyber attacks. We suggest that after you delete Search.searchetan.com from your browsers, you find a reliable online malware scanner and inspect your system for other threats. This is the only way to make sure that no infection remains on your PC and you can feel safe in your virtual world.

This malware infection displays the usual and characteristic fake toolbar at the top. This toolbar contains a search tool on the left and a number of easy-access buttons on its right, including links to news, local weather, and streaming TV-related third-party websites. You should know that, for example, the local weather link takes you to a page with a widget and several questionable third-party ads around it, which can be risky to click on. As a matter of fact, we find this search engine page totally useless and potentially harmful. You can simply use the built-in bookmarking function of your browsers if you want to have quick access to certain preferred websites; and this is without any risks involved. This is one more reason for you to want to delete Search.searchetan.com from your computer. And, there is more.

Unfortunately, you cannot use this search engine safely to search the web because it may modify the search results. In fact, it sends your keywords first to its own server, query.searchetan.com, and then to search.yahoo.com. This redirection gives a chance to this browser hijacker to insert its own third-party ads and links, which could contain unreliable ones as well. If you engage with questionable content, you may land on malicious websites and share your banking or personal details with cyber criminals. This could also mean losing money from your bank accounts. But you may also infect your computer with more dangerous malware threats. If these are not things you wish to experience first hand, we recommend that you act quickly and remove Search.searchetan.com from your PC.

This malware infection seems to only affect the home page setting in your major browsers; therefore, it is enough for you to restore those. If you have never done this before or you forgot how to do this, please use our guide below. It is really not too complicated to eliminate this threat. However, there could be more browser-related infections on board that may require resetting your browsers or extension removal. Since it is also possible that there are other malware threats present on your system, we suggest that you start employing a trustworthy malware removal tool like SpyHunter.

How to remove Search.searchetan.com from browsers

Internet Explorer

1. Tap Win+R and enter regedit. Click OK.
2. Modify value data “http://search.searchetan.com” in these 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. Navigate to “HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchScopes\{0633EE93-D776-472f-A0FF-E1416B8B2E3A}” registry key and modify the value data in the following value names:
   FaviconURL (“http://search.searchetan.com/favicon.ico”)
   FaviconURLFallback (“http://search.searchetan.com/favicon.ico”)
   TopResultURL (“http://search.searchetan.com”)
   URL (“http://search.searchetan.com”)
4. Close the editor.

Mozilla Firefox

1. Tap Win+E to open File Explorer.
2. Navigate to the “%AppData%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\{Unique Mozilla user ID}” folder.
3. Open the prefs.js file in a text editor (Notepad).
4. Overwrite the URL in the user_pref("browser.startup.homepage", "http://search.searchetan.com/") string with a home page URL address of your choice.

Google Chrome

1. Tap Win+E to launch File Explorer.
2. Navigate to the “%LocalAppData%\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default” folder.
3. Delete these files: Preferences, Secure Preferences, and Web Data
4. Empty your Recycle Bin.