What is searchtab.win virus? (Removal Guide)

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When a program like searchtab.win virus gets installed on your system, your default browser (be it Chrome, Firefox, Explorer or other) usually starts to behave strangely. Sudden page redirects, modifications in its homepage or search engine may take place without your approval and as a result, a flow of aggressively popping ads, banners and promotional messages may cover up your entire screen. This is a typical browser hijacking activity and in the next lines, we are going to tell you how exactly to deal with it. For that, we have prepared a special removal guide with exact instructions on how to uninstall searchtab.win virus and remove its changes. First, however, we would advise you to read the information that follows below, because it will give you a good idea about the typical behavioral traits of the software that you are facing and the potential issues it may cause you if you keep it on your system.

What kind of program is searchtab.win virus?

searchtab.win virus is often mistaken for a virus or some other type of a nasty online infection, similar to Trojans and Ransomware. However, we have some good news. This program has no malicious capabilities and is not among the cyber infections that can cause many problems for their victims. Judging by its behavior, this is a typical browser hijacker, which can easily hijack your Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Explorer or some other web browser. But apart from that, this software cannot cause you any major system harm, corrupt your files, steal your passwords or involve you some type of a cyber crime. These harmful activities are specialties of the real viruses and a threat from the Trojan or the Ransomware type will definitely not spare you from them.

The browser hijacker, on the other hand, is only seen as a potentially unwanted program, which is related to common browsing disturbance and some indirect risks. It is not fatal if you have software like searchtab.win virus on your system, but there are also a number of reasons why you may want to uninstall it. The most obvious could be the constant redirect to unwanted web pages. In most of the cases, such a technique is used to help these pages increase their rank or sales, so it is not surprising that they are full of commercial ads, links, banners, and similar content. It is not advisable to open them because you can never be sure how safe they are and some ads may eventually mislead you or trick you into installing some other potentially unwanted programs or even dangerous viruses on your computer. After the hijacker becomes part of the system, it may change some of the browser settings such as a cover page, a default search engine, and so on. After changing the browser configuration, this threat may begin to track the victim’s browsing habits and may collect information about the most frequently visited web pages and the data that is entered when visiting these pages. Although this activity is not considered dangerous, it could still be seen as a privacy violation and a good reason for this software to be uninstalled. 

How did searchtab.win virus manage to hijack my computer?

A browser hijacker may appear in your browser after downloading free software. In most of the cases, the programs used to distribute such software are free installers, download managers, torrents, spam email attachments, PDF creation programs, and other similar applications that are available for free. Keep in mind that you should monitor the installation process of each of these programs because they may contain different components. Usually, the presence of additionally bundled applications like searchtab.win virus is indicated somewhere in the installer with a small print, so you must always choose Custom or Advanced settings to install free software and uncheck the pre-loaded bookmarks. You should know that the browser creators usually have nothing to do with this issue. In fact, the browser hijacker is hiding on your computer. To remove it, use the instructions below.

How do I remove searchtab.win virus?

First of all, you should know that removing a browser hijacker requires certain knowledge about computers and their systems. That’s why, if you are not really confident in detecting and deleting searchtab.win virus manually, it’s better to think about automatically removing the unwanted program with the help of a specialized removal tool like the one suggested below. Still, if you think you can handle manual removal of the program, here’s the guide to follow.

searchtab.win virus Removal

I – Safe mode and revealing hidden files

1. Boot your PC into Safe Mode /link/
2. Reveal hidden files and folders /link/

II – Uninstallation

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1. Use the Winkey+R keyboard combination, write Control Panel in the search field and hit enter.
   
2. Go to Uninstall a program under Programs.
   
3. Seek the unwanted software, select it and then click on Uninstall

If you are unable to spot searchtab.win virus, search for any unrecognized programs that you do not remember installing on your PC – the unwanted software might disguise itself by going under a different name.

III – Cleaning all your browsers

1. Go to your browser’s icon, right-click on it and select Properties.
   
2. Go to the Shortcut tab and in the Target make sure to delete anything written after “.exe”.
   
3. Now, open your browser and follow the instructions below depending on whether you are using Chrome, Mozilla or IE.

• Chrome users:

1. Go to your browser’s main menu located in the top-right corner of the screen and select Settings.
   
2. Scroll down, click on Show Advanced Settings and then select Clear browsing data. Just to be sure, tick everything and clear the data.
   
3. Now, in the left pane, go to Extensions and look through all extensions that are integrated within your browser. If you notice any suspicious add-on, disable it and then remove it.
   

• Firefox users:

1. Similarly to Chrome, go to the main menu and select Add-ons and then Extensions.
2. Remove any suspicious browser extensions that you may have even if they do not have the name searchtab.win virus on them.

• IE users:

1. Go to Tools and select Manage add-ons.
   
2. Click on all add-on types from the left pane and check if there is anything suspicious in the right panel. In case you find anything shade, make sure to remove it.

IV – Removing Shady processes

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1. Go to your start menu, type Task Manager in the search field and from the results open View running processes with Task Manager.
   
2. Thoroughly look through all processes. The name searchtab.win virus might not be there, but if you notice any shady looking process that consumes high amounts of memory it might be ran by the unwanted program.
3. If you spot the process ran by searchtab.win virus, right-click on it, open its file location and delete everything in there. Then go back to the Task Manager and end the process.
   

V – DNS check

1. In the start menu search box write View Network Connections and open the first result.
   
2. Right-click on the network connection you are using and go to Properties.
   
3. Select Internet Protocol Version (TCP/IPv4) and click on Properties.
   
4. If Obtain DNS server addresses automatically is not checked, check it.
   
5. Go to Advanced and select the DNS If there is anything in the DNS server addresses field, remove it and click OK.
   
6. Click OK on the rest of the opened windows.