Gergana has completed a bachelor degree in Marketing from the University of National and World Economy. She has been with the STF team for three years, researching malware and reporting on the latest infections.
Gergana has completed a bachelor degree in Marketing from the University of National and World Economy. She has been with the STF team for three years, researching malware and reporting on the latest infections.
Foxsearch.me is the domain of a hoax search engine that may hijack popular browsers so it can force users to utilize its services. Once Foxsearch.me penetrates the system it may access the browser settings and make various changes. The changes usually refer the home page, the search engine and the new tab page of the affected browser. All are likely to be set to redirect to FoxSearch.me. In case that you want to regain your online security, it is advisable to remove Foxsearch.me entirely from your browser and PC.
This article aims to help you with the removal process of Foxsearch.me redirect by providing a detailed step-by-step guide.
Threat Summary
Name
Foxsearch.me
Type
Browser Hijacker, PUP
Short Description
Every browser application on your computer might get affected. The hijacker will redirect you and show a lot of advertisements and sponsored content.
Symptoms
Browser settings which will get changed are the homepage, search engine and new tab.
Distribution Method
Freeware Installations, Bundled Packages
Detection Tool
See If Your System Has Been Affected by Foxsearch.me
Foxsearch.me redirect may occur after an installation of free apps. Such apps are usually presented as useful and can be downloaded from various torrent websites. Actually, the browser hijacker may be bundled with the installation setup of the freeware and hidden in the Advanced/Custom options. It is well-known fact that most users install new software just by clicking the Next button paying a little to no attention to the additional products that get along with the primary product. As bundling is one of the most preferred distribution ways for browser hijackers like Foxsearch.me it is advisable always to select the Custom installation options where all potentially unwanted programs may be unmarked. Thus it is most likely to prevent the hijacker from affecting the system and the installed browsers.
Foxsearch.me – Technical Analysis
The design of Foxsearch.me homepage resembles a lot those of Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Bing and other trustworthy search engines. In fact, this trick aims to convince you that the website and its services are reliable. The practice is commonly applied by creators of browser hijackers. After an infection with Foxsearch.me redirect you may notice that most of the installed browsers (Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Edge, Safari, Opera, etc.) are set to show you the vague domain of the hijacker each time you open the browser. You may be harshly forced to use its services as it may also appear on each new tab. Below you can see how the search engine and the homepage of Foxsearch.me look like:
Even though Foxsearch.me is not considered to be a malware it has the annoying ability to penetrate the system, hijack installed browsers without asking for evident permission.
The primary purpose of Foxsearch.me is to collect information about your online behavior so it can deliver you targeted content and displays numerous advertisements in the affected browser. This pattern guarantees its creators money revenue from advertisers who sponsor the process. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee of your online security as sponsored results may land you on corrupted web pages that automatically deliver malware on the computer. Furthermore, the large number of online advertisements of all kind may reduce the system performance which can cause severe browser crashes.
The removal process of Foxsearch.me is the step that will help you to regain the security of your PC and browsers.
Foxsearch.me – Privacy Policy
In this paragraph, we will review some of the privacy-related statements made in Foxsearch.me Privacy Policy. This section reveals what information Foxsearch.me collects from people who are using its services and how the company handles this information. It gets clear that the company receives the following non-personal information:
Browsing history – including all search queries and visited websites
IP-address
Cookies and related Data
The personal information gathered and saved on their servers includes:
Your name
E-mail and / or addresss
However, being classified as a typical browser hijacker by security experts, Foxsearch.me is believed to obtain additional information that is not mentioned in its Privacy Policy from its users. In order to keep your privacy and stay safe online, it is better to consider the complete elimination of the potentially unwanted program from the PC.
Remove Foxsearch.me Redirect
A simple uninstall of Foxsearch.me from the browser does not mean that it is gone from the PC. To get rid of the annoying redirect completely you can follow the step-by-step removal guide below that aims to help you. The removal process of Foxsearch.me redirect may be a slightly tough task even for the tech-savvy users. What’s more is that the manual removal approach may not always stop the annoying redirects to Foxsearch.me and that’s why security experts recommend the help of an advanced anti-malware tool. Such a tool will completely clean all the malware from the system and keep you safe in future.
Gergana has completed a bachelor degree in Marketing from the University of National and World Economy. She has been with the STF team for three years, researching malware and reporting on the latest infections.
Gergana has completed a bachelor degree in Marketing from the University of National and World Economy. She has been with the STF team for three years, researching malware and reporting on the latest infections.
Gergana has completed a bachelor degree in Marketing from the University of National and World Economy. She has been with the STF team for three years, researching malware and reporting on the latest infections.
Foxsearch.me may remain persistent on your system and may re-infect it. We recommend you to download SpyHunter and run free scan to remove all virus files on your PC. This saves you hours of time and effort compared to doing the removal yourself.
Before starting the actual removal process, we recommend that you do the following preparation steps.
Make sure you have these instructions always open and in front of your eyes.
Do a backup of all of your files, even if they could be damaged. You should back up your data with a cloud backup solution and insure your files against any type of loss, even from the most severe threats.
Be patient as this could take a while.
Step 1: Boot Your PC In Safe Mode to isolate and remove Foxsearch.me
OFFER
Manual Removal Usually Takes Time and You Risk Damaging Your Files If Not Careful!
We Recommend To Scan Your PC with SpyHunter
Keep in mind, that SpyHunter’s scanner is only for malware detection. If SpyHunter detects malware on your PC, you will need to purchase SpyHunter’s malware removal tool to remove the malware threats. Read our SpyHunter 5 review. Click on the corresponding links to check SpyHunter’s EULA, Privacy Policy and Threat Assessment Criteria
1. Hold Windows key()+ R
2. The “Run” Window will appear. In it, type “msconfig” and click OK.
3. Go to the “Boot” tab. There select “Safe Boot”, tick “Network” and then click “Apply” and “OK”.
Tip: Make sure to reverse those changes by unticking Safe Boot after that, because your system will always boot in Safe Boot from now on.
4. When prompted, click on “Restart” to go into Safe Mode.
5. You can recognise Safe Mode by the words written on the corners of your screen.
Step 2: Clean any registries, created by Foxsearch.me on your computer.
The usually targeted registries of Windows machines are the following:
You can access them by opening the Windows registry editor and deleting any values, created by Foxsearch.me there. This can happen by following the steps underneath:
1. Open the Run Window again, type “regedit” and click OK.
2. When you open it, you can freely navigate to the Run and RunOnce keys, whose locations are shown above.
3. You can remove the value of the virus by right-clicking on it and removing it.
Tip: To find a virus-created value, you can right-click on it and click “Modify” to see which file it is set to run. If this is the virus file location, remove the value.
Step 3: Find files created by Foxsearch.me
For Windows 8, 8.1 and 10. For Windows XP, Vista, and 7.
For Newer Windows Operating Systems
1: On your keyboard press + R and write explorer.exe in the Run text box and then click on the Ok button.
2: Click on your PC from the quick access bar. This is usually an icon with a monitor and its name is either “My Computer”, “My PC” or “This PC” or whatever you have named it.
3: Navigate to the search box in the top-right of your PC’s screen and type “fileextension:” and after which type the file extension. If you are looking for malicious executables, an example may be “fileextension:exe”. After doing that, leave a space and type the file name you believe the malware has created. Here is how it may appear if your file has been found:
N.B. We recommend to wait for the green loading bar in the navination box to fill up in case the PC is looking for the file and hasn’t found it yet.
For Older Windows Operating Systems
In older Windows OS’s the conventional approach should be the effective one:
1: Click on the Start Menu icon (usually on your bottom-left) and then choose the Search preference.
2: After the search window appears, choose More Advanced Options from the search assistant box. Another way is by clicking on All Files and Folders.
3: After that type the name of the file you are looking for and click on the Search button. This might take some time after which results will appear. If you have found the malicious file, you may copy or open its location by right-clicking on it.
Now you should be able to discover any file on Windows as long as it is on your hard drive and is not concealed via special software.
IMPORTANT! Before starting “Step 4”, please boot back into Normal mode, in case you are currently in Safe Mode. This will enable you to install and use SpyHunter 5 successfully.
Step 4: Scan for Foxsearch.me with SpyHunter Anti-Malware Tool
1. Click on the “Download” button to proceed to SpyHunter’s download page.
It is recommended to run a scan before purchasing the full version of the software to make sure that the current version of the malware can be detected by SpyHunter. Click on the corresponding links to check SpyHunter’s EULA, Privacy Policy and Threat Assessment Criteria.
2. After you have installed SpyHunter, wait for it to update automatically.
3. After the update process has finished, click on the ‘Malware/PC Scan’ tab. A new window will appear. Click on ‘Start Scan’.
4. After SpyHunter has finished scanning your PC for any files of the associated threat and found them, you can try to get them removed automatically and permanently by clicking on the ‘Next’ button.
If any threats have been removed, it is highly recommended to restart your PC.
Step 5 (Optional): Try to Restore Files Encrypted by Foxsearch.me.
Ransomware infections and Foxsearch.me aim to encrypt your files using an encryption algorithm which may be very difficult to decrypt. This is why we have suggested a data recovery method that may help you go around direct decryption and try to restore your files. Bear in mind that this method may not be 100% effective but may also help you a little or a lot in different situations.
1. Download the reccomended Data Recovery software by clicking on the link underneath:
2. On the download page, click on the “Download” button:
3. Click on “Save File” button:
4. Accept all agreements and click “Next”:
5. After all the “Next” steps, click on “Install” and then wait for the installation to complete:
6.Run the software. Click on the location to scan for missing or deleted files and click on “Scan”:
7. Wait for the scan to complete, it may take some time. Be advised that this scan is not 100% guaranteed to recover all files, but it does have some chance to get your data back:
Gergana has completed a bachelor degree in Marketing from the University of National and World Economy. She has been with the STF team for three years, researching malware and reporting on the latest infections.
Foxsearch.me may remain persistent on your system and may re-infect it. We recommend you to download SpyHunter and run free scan to remove all virus files on your PC. This saves you hours of time and effort compared to doing the removal yourself.
Before starting the actual removal process, we recommend that you do the following preparation steps.
Make sure you have these instructions always open and in front of your eyes.
Do a backup of all of your files, even if they could be damaged. You should back up your data with a cloud backup solution and insure your files against any type of loss, even from the most severe threats.
Be patient as this could take a while.
Step 1: Boot Your PC In Safe Mode to isolate and remove Foxsearch.me
OFFER
Manual Removal Usually Takes Time and You Risk Damaging Your Files If Not Careful!
We Recommend To Scan Your PC with SpyHunter
Keep in mind, that SpyHunter’s scanner is only for malware detection. If SpyHunter detects malware on your PC, you will need to purchase SpyHunter’s malware removal tool to remove the malware threats. Read our SpyHunter 5 review. Click on the corresponding links to check SpyHunter’s EULA, Privacy Policy and Threat Assessment Criteria
1. Hold Windows key()+ R
2. The “Run” Window will appear. In it, type “msconfig” and click OK.
3. Go to the “Boot” tab. There select “Safe Boot” and then click “Apply” and “OK”.
Tip: Make sure to reverse those changes by unticking Safe Boot after that, because your system will always boot in Safe Boot from now on.
4. When prompted, click on “Restart” to go into Safe Mode.
5. You can recognise Safe Mode by the words written on the corners of your screen.
Step 2: Clean any registries, created by Foxsearch.me on your computer.
The usually targeted registries of Windows machines are the following:
You can access them by opening the Windows registry editor and deleting any values, created by Foxsearch.me there. This can happen by following the steps underneath:
1. Open the Run Window again, type “regedit” and click OK.
2. When you open it, you can freely navigate to the Run and RunOnce keys, whose locations are shown above.
3. You can remove the value of the virus by right-clicking on it and removing it.
Tip: To find a virus-created value, you can right-click on it and click “Modify” to see which file it is set to run. If this is the virus file location, remove the value.
Step 3: Find files created by Foxsearch.me
For Windows 8, 8.1 and 10. For Windows XP, Vista, and 7.
For Newer Windows Operating Systems
1: On your keyboard press + R and write explorer.exe in the Run text box and then click on the Ok button.
2: Click on your PC from the quick access bar. This is usually an icon with a monitor and its name is either “My Computer”, “My PC” or “This PC” or whatever you have named it.
3: Navigate to the search box in the top-right of your PC’s screen and type “fileextension:” and after which type the file extension. If you are looking for malicious executables, an example may be “fileextension:exe”. After doing that, leave a space and type the file name you believe the malware has created. Here is how it may appear if your file has been found:
N.B. We recommend to wait for the green loading bar in the navination box to fill up in case the PC is looking for the file and hasn’t found it yet.
For Older Windows Operating Systems
In older Windows OS’s the conventional approach should be the effective one:
1: Click on the Start Menu icon (usually on your bottom-left) and then choose the Search preference.
2: After the search window appears, choose More Advanced Options from the search assistant box. Another way is by clicking on All Files and Folders.
3: After that type the name of the file you are looking for and click on the Search button. This might take some time after which results will appear. If you have found the malicious file, you may copy or open its location by right-clicking on it.
Now you should be able to discover any file on Windows as long as it is on your hard drive and is not concealed via special software.
IMPORTANT! Before starting “Step 4”, please boot back into Normal mode, in case you are currently in Safe Mode. This will enable you to install and use SpyHunter 5 successfully.
Step 4: Scan for Foxsearch.me with SpyHunter Anti-Malware Tool
1. Click on the “Download” button to proceed to SpyHunter’s download page.
It is recommended to run a scan before purchasing the full version of the software to make sure that the current version of the malware can be detected by SpyHunter. Click on the corresponding links to check SpyHunter’s EULA, Privacy Policy and Threat Assessment Criteria.
2. After you have installed SpyHunter, wait for it to update automatically.
3. After the update process has finished, click on the ‘Malware/PC Scan’ tab. A new window will appear. Click on ‘Start Scan’.
4. After SpyHunter has finished scanning your PC for any files of the associated threat and found them, you can try to get them removed automatically and permanently by clicking on the ‘Next’ button.
If any threats have been removed, it is highly recommended to restart your PC.
Gergana has completed a bachelor degree in Marketing from the University of National and World Economy. She has been with the STF team for three years, researching malware and reporting on the latest infections.
Foxsearch.me may remain persistent on your system and may re-infect it. We recommend you to download SpyHunter and run free scan to remove all virus files on your PC. This saves you hours of time and effort compared to doing the removal yourself.
Before starting the actual removal process, we recommend that you do the following preparation steps.
Make sure you have these instructions always open and in front of your eyes.
Be patient as this could take a while.
Step 1: Uninstall Foxsearch.me and related software from Windows
OFFER
Manual Removal Usually Takes Time and You Risk Damaging Your Files If Not Careful!
We Recommend To Scan Your PC with SpyHunter
Keep in mind, that SpyHunter’s scanner is only for malware detection. If SpyHunter detects malware on your PC, you will need to purchase SpyHunter’s malware removal tool to remove the malware threats. Read our SpyHunter 5 review. Click on the corresponding links to check SpyHunter’s EULA, Privacy Policy and Threat Assessment Criteria
Here is a method in few easy steps that should be able to uninstall most programs.No matter if you are using Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista or XP, those steps will get the job done. Dragging the program or its folder to the recycle bin can be a very bad decision. If you do that, bits and pieces of the program are left behind, and that can lead to unstable work of your PC, errors with the file type associations and other unpleasant activities. The proper way to get a program off your computer is to Uninstall it. To do that:
1. Hold the Windows Logo Button and “R” on your keyboard. A Pop-up window will appear.
2. In the field type in “appwiz.cpl” and press ENTER.
3. This will open a window with all the programs installed on the PC. Select the program that you want to remove, and press “Uninstall”
Follow the instructions above and you will successfully uninstall most programs.
Step 2: Clean your Browsers from Foxsearch.me.
Remove an extension from Mozilla FirefoxRemove an extension from Google Chrome Remove an extension from Internet Explorer Remove an extension from Microsoft Edge
1. Start Mozilla Firefox. Open the menu window
2. Select the “Add-ons” icon from the menu.
3. Select the unwanted extension and click “Remove“
4. After the extension is removed, restart Mozilla Firefox by closing it from the red “X” button at the top right corner and start it again.
1. Start Google Chrome and open the drop menu
2. Move the cursor over “Tools” and then from the extended menu choose “Extensions“
3. From the opened “Extensions” menu locate the unwanted extension and click on its “Remove” button.
4. After the extension is removed, restart Google Chrome by closing it from the red “X” button at the top right corner and start it again.
1. Start Internet Explorer: 2. Click on the gear icon labeled ‘Tools’ to open the drop menu and select ‘Manage Add-ons’
3. In the ‘Manage Add-ons’ window.
4. Select the extension you want to remove and then click ‘Disable’. A pop-up window will appear to inform you that you are about to disable the selected extension, and some more add-ons might be disabled as well. Leave all the boxes checked, and click ‘Disable’.
5. After the unwanted extension has been removed, restart Internet Explorer by closing it from the red ‘X’ button located at the top right corner and start it again.
1. Start Edge
2. Open the drop menu by clicking on the icon at the top right corner.
3. From the drop menu select “Extensions”.
4. Choose the suspected malicious extension you want to remove and then click on the gear icon.
5. Remove the malicious extension by scrolling down and then clicking on Uninstall.
Step 3: Clean any registries, created by Foxsearch.me on your computer.
The usually targeted registries of Windows machines are the following:
You can access them by opening the Windows registry editor and deleting any values, created by Foxsearch.me there. This can happen by following the steps underneath:
1. Open the Run Window again, type “regedit” and click OK.
2. When you open it, you can freely navigate to the Run and RunOnce keys, whose locations are shown above.
3. You can remove the value of the virus by right-clicking on it and removing it.
Tip: To find a virus-created value, you can right-click on it and click “Modify” to see which file it is set to run. If this is the virus file location, remove the value.
IMPORTANT! Before starting “Step 4”, please boot back into Normal mode, in case you are currently in Safe Mode. This will enable you to install and use SpyHunter 5 successfully.
Step 4: Scan for Foxsearch.me with SpyHunter Anti-Malware Tool
1. Click on the “Download” button to proceed to SpyHunter’s download page.
It is recommended to run a scan before purchasing the full version of the software to make sure that the current version of the malware can be detected by SpyHunter. Click on the corresponding links to check SpyHunter’s EULA, Privacy Policy and Threat Assessment Criteria.
2. After you have installed SpyHunter, wait for it to update automatically.
3. After the update process has finished, click on the ‘Malware/PC Scan’ tab. A new window will appear. Click on ‘Start Scan’.
4. After SpyHunter has finished scanning your PC for any files of the associated threat and found them, you can try to get them removed automatically and permanently by clicking on the ‘Next’ button.
If any threats have been removed, it is highly recommended to restart your PC.
Gergana has completed a bachelor degree in Marketing from the University of National and World Economy. She has been with the STF team for three years, researching malware and reporting on the latest infections.
Foxsearch.me may remain persistent on your system and may re-infect it. We recommend you to download Combo Cleaner and run free scan to remove all virus files on your Mac. This saves you hours of time and effort compared to doing the removal yourself.
Combo Cleaner’s scanner is free but the paid version is needed to remove the malware threats. Read Combo Cleaner’s EULA and Privacy Policy
Preparation Phase:
Before starting to follow the steps below, be advised that you should first do the following preparations:
Backup your files in case the worst happens.
Make sure to have a device with these instructions on standy.
Arm yourself with patience.
Step 1: Uninstall Foxsearch.me and remove related files and objects
OFFER
Manual Removal Usually Takes Time and You Risk Damaging Your Files If Not Careful!
We Recommend To Scan Your Mac with Combo Cleaner
Keep in mind, that Combo Cleaner needs to purchased to remove the malware threats. Click on the corresponding links to check Combo Cleaner’s EULA and Privacy Policy
1. Hit the ⇧+⌘+U keys to open Utilities. Another way is to click on “Go” and then click “Utilities”, like the image below shows:
2. Find Activity Monitor and double-click it:
3. In the Activity Monitor look for any suspicious processes, belonging or related to Foxsearch.me:
Tip: To quit a process completely, choose the “Force Quit” option.
4. Click on the “Go” button again, but this time select Applications. Another way is with the ⇧+⌘+A buttons.
5. In the Applications menu, look for any suspicious app or an app with a name, similar or identical to Foxsearch.me. If you find it, right-click on the app and select “Move to Trash”.
6. Select Accounts, after which click on the Login Items preference. Your Mac will then show you a list of items that start automatically when you log in. Look for any suspicious apps identical or similar to Foxsearch.me. Check the app you want to stop from running automatically and then select on the Minus (“–“) icon to hide it.
7. Remove any left-over files that might be related to this threat manually by following the sub-steps below:
Go to Finder.
In the search bar type the name of the app that you want to remove.
Above the search bar change the two drop down menus to “System Files” and “Are Included” so that you can see all of the files associated with the application you want to remove. Bear in mind that some of the files may not be related to the app so be very careful which files you delete.
If all of the files are related, hold the ⌘+A buttons to select them and then drive them to “Trash”.
In case you cannot remove Foxsearch.me via Step 1 above:
In case you cannot find the virus files and objects in your Applications or other places we have shown above, you can manually look for them in the Libraries of your Mac. But before doing this, please read the disclaimer below:
Disclaimer! If you are about to tamper with Library files on Mac, be sure to know the name of the virus file, because if you delete the wrong file, it may cause irreversible damage to your MacOS. Continue on your own responsibility!
1. Click on “Go” and Then “Go to Folder” as shown underneath:
2. Type in “/Library/LauchAgents/” and click Ok:
3. Delete all of the virus files that have similar or the same name as Foxsearch.me. If you believe there is no such file, do not delete anything.
You can repeat the same procedure with the following other Library directories:
→ ~/Library/LaunchAgents /Library/LaunchDaemons
Tip: ~ is there on purpose, because it leads to more LaunchAgents.
Step 2: Remove Foxsearch.me – related extensions from Safari / Chrome / Firefox
Remove an extension from Safari and reset it.Remove a toolbar from Google Chrome Remove a toolbar from Mozilla Firefox
1. Start Safari
2. After hovering your mouse cursor to the top of the screen, click on the Safari text to open its drop down menu.
3. From the menu, click on “Preferences“
4. After that, select the ‘Extensions’ Tab
5. Click once on the extension you want to remove.
6. Click ‘Uninstall’
A pop-up window will appear asking for confirmation to uninstall the extension. Select ‘Uninstall’ again, and the Foxsearch.me will be removed.
How to Reset Safari
IMPORTANT: Before resetting Safari make sure you back up all your saved passwords within the browser in case you forget them.
Start Safari and then click on the gear leaver icon.
Click the Reset Safari button and you will reset the browser.
1. Start Google Chrome and open the drop menu
2. Move the cursor over “Tools” and then from the extended menu choose “Extensions“
3. From the opened “Extensions” menu locate the add-on and click on the garbage bin icon on the right of it.
4. After the extension is removed, restart Google Chrome by closing it from the red “X” in the top right corner and start it again.
1. Start Mozilla Firefox. Open the menu window
2. Select the “Add-ons” icon from the menu.
3. Select the Extension and click “Remove“
4. After the extension is removed, restart Mozilla Firefox by closing it from the red “X” in the top right corner and start it again.
Step 3: Scan for and remove Foxsearch.me files from your Mac
When you are facing problems on your Mac as a result of unwanted scripts and programs such as Foxsearch.me, the recommended way of eliminating the threat is by using an anti-malware program. Combo Cleaner offers advanced security features along with other modules that will improve your Mac’s security and protect it in the future.
Gergana has completed a bachelor degree in Marketing from the University of National and World Economy. She has been with the STF team for three years, researching malware and reporting on the latest infections.
For Windows 8, 8.1 and 10.
For Windows XP, Vista, and 7.
Remove an extension from Mozilla Firefox
Remove an extension from Google Chrome
Remove an extension from Internet Explorer
Remove an extension from Microsoft Edge
Remove an extension from Safari and reset it.
