Search-shield.com Removal Guide

Search-shield.com, a questionable search engine, can show up in your browsers after you click on unsafe third-party ads. This search engine is indeed a homepage and new tab hijacker because this is what it does – it changes your browser settings to make sure that you are exposed to its content and promotions of third parties. We have found that this search page simply tries to ride the wave of a reputable search engine, Bing, and shows modified search results through this third-party search engine. Since these results may contain ads and links coming from unreliable third parties, there is a chance that you click on such content and end up on malicious websites and being scammed. This is why we believe that you should remove Search-shield.com right now. But this may well be just one of the threats on your system. Please read our full report to find out more about the potential risks and how you can safeguard your system from similar malware attacks.

Our research shows that this unreliable search engine was created by ClientConnect Ltd. who is responsible for Snap.do, Trovi search-armor.com, and other questionable and potentially harmful search engines as well. Just like most of its “siblings,” this infection also spreads through unsafe third-party ads, such as pop-up ads generated by adware programs, including Ads By Tribalad, Vertech, and Findizer. In other words, it is quite likely that your computer was previously penetrated by ad-supported programs and this is how you may have clicked on the wrong ad to have this search engine installed in your browsers. However, clicking on third-party ads shown by adware programs can cause multiple security issues for you because it is possible that you drop a whole bundle of malware threats onto your system and not just one single search engine.

Of course, it is also possible that you get exposed to such unsafe third-party ads when you land on suspicious file-sharing and gaming websites. These sites can give space to unreviewed third parties who may display totally misleading ads that, for example, seem to be a part of the main content, such as buttons, links, etc. These deceiving ads may also pretend to be system notifications or fake software updates. Clicking on any of these could result in your downloading a bundle of malware threats. This is why we suggest that you scan your computer with a proper malware scanner to identify all possible sources of threats after you delete Search-shield.com, of course.

This search engine uses Bing as a shield. It even says on the fake toolbar at the top of the page that this search engine provides “results by Bing” to emphasize it more. What’s more, there is also a Bing logo right above the search box. So if you are an unsuspecting computer user, you may think that this search website is totally reliable and authentic. But this would be a mistake indeed. Why? Because this search engine has capabilities to gather information about your online habits and use this to make a profile on you to provide you customized content. This gets risky when cyber criminals take advantage of this search engine and inject their own corrupt links into the otherwise legitimate search results. In other words, this search page can manipulate the results even though they all appear to come from Bing.

If you click on content that comes from crooks, you may find yourself on malicious websites. It is also possible that you open multiple tabs of fake and malicious pages. You need to know that some criminals can attack your computer simply by your loading a malicious page. This means that you do not even need to click anywhere because the page contains code that can exploit the bugs in your outdated browsers and drivers (Flash and Java). You can easily get infected by some serious threats this way. This is why it is essential that you keep all your programs and drivers always up-to-date. If you want to protect your computer, you should remove Search-shield.com ASAP.

So here is what you should do if you are ready to step up and fight this battle. We have found that the most efficient way to eliminate Search-shield.com is to reset all the affected browsers, including Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Internet Explorer as well. If you have never done this before, please use our guide below. Keep in mind that even if you stick to certain strict rules of web surfing, it is possible that malware infections find a way to your system. Therefore, we find it very important to protect our computers with reliable anti-malware software. And, this is what we also suggest that you do if you do not want to find yourself in similar or even worse situations.

How to remove Search-shield.com from your browsers

Mozilla Firefox

1. Press Alt+H and go to Troubleshooting Information.
2. Click Refresh Firefox and click Refresh Firefox in the pop-up.
3. Press Finish.

Google Chrome

1. Press Alt+F and go to Settings.
2. At the bottom, click Show advanced settings.
3. At the bottom, click Reset settings.
4. In the pop-up, click Reset.

Internet Explorer

1. Press Alt+T and go to Internet Options.
2. Select the Advanced tab and press Reset.
3. Tick the Delete personal settings checkbox and press Reset.
4. Click Close.