Do you know what Search.searchyffff.com is?
Search.searchyffff.com is not a beneficial search tool that provides you with access to a bunch of reliable sites and useful IRS forms. Although the latter might be true – it does provide links to legitimate sites and forms – it is not a beneficial search tool at all. In fact, our research team identifies it as a browser hijacker that might leak personal information, as well as expose you to the content of unknown parties. What if you just ignore the risks and continue using the hijacker? Well, you might face no threats or risks at all, but it is also possible that you might jeopardize your own virtual security, and that is too big of a risk to take. Notably, the users of Search.searchgstt.com, Searchvzcc.com, Search.searchbrs.com, and many other similar hijackers are facing the same issues, and we recommend deleting them for the same reasons. That is not surprising, considering that all of them were created by the same company, Polarity Technologies Ltd. Of course, in this report, we focus on the removal of Search.searchyffff.com.
It is unlikely that you would face Search.searchyffff.com as a standalone offer, primarily because it is not an attractive tool that users would choose to install themselves. On the other hand, it is unlikely to be installed without permission either. That leaves software bundles, and it is most likely that you will install the hijacker along with an extension that goes by the name “Online Free Forms.” Since this extension, at the moment, does not have an official installer, it is most likely to be spread via software bundles as well. Do you know many legitimate installers that would offer suspicious add-ons and hijackers? Well, unfortunately, the extension and hijacker are most likely to be represented via unreliable installers by unreliable software distributors. In fact, most users are likely not to realize that they are installing a hijacker because their main focus should be on the extension. Well, the truth is that the only purpose of the suspicious Online Free Forms is to install Search.searchyffff.com.
Search.searchyffff.com screenshot
Scroll down for full removal instructions
At first sight, Search.searchyffff.com does not look that dangerous. In fact, many users might think that it is quite useful because it displays links to many irs.gov forms, along with a weather forecast, and a suspicious search tool. Besides that, it also displays links to Amazon, Gmail, Yahoo, and YouTube, which, of course, are very popular sites. In the middle of Search.searchyffff.com, you also see a search dialog box, and this is the first thing that should make you suspicious about the hijacker, and that is because it redirects to Yahoo Search. Although we cannot say anything bad about this popular search engine, we have to warn you that, in this case, it is partially controlled by the infection, and it can use it to showcase third-party content. We strongly recommend deleting the hijacker because it can showcase sponsored content that could be malicious. Another reason to remove this threat is its ability to share and, potentially, disclose personally-identifiable information.
The question is not whether or not you should delete Search.searchyffff.com, but whether or not you can delete it yourself, and we are sure that you can. Of course, there is one more question to think about: Can you delete all infections from your PC yourself? Considering that the suspicious hijacker is most likely to come bundled with third-party software, you might be dealing with quite a few infections. If this is the case, is it not better to utilize an anti-malware tool that can automatically erase all threats at once? When it comes to the hijacker, you might be able to get rid of it by removing the Online Free Forms extension (or application if you are on Internet Explorer). If an extension is not involved, you can follow the guide below.
Remove Search.searchyffff.com
Internet Explorer
- Launch RUN by tapping Win+R keys.
- Enter regedit.exe and click OK.
- Move to HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main.
- Double-click Start Page and overwrite the hijacker’s URL.
- Move to HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchScopes\{0633EE93-D776-472f-A0FF-E1416B8B2E3A}.
- Open the values named FaviconURL, FaviconURLFallback, TopResultURL, and URL and overwrite the hijacker’s URL within them.
Mozilla Firefox
- Launch Explorer by tapping Win+E keys.
- Enter %AppData%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\ into the bar at the top.
- Open the {profile name} folder and then open the file called prefs.js.
- Overwrite the hijacker’s URL and then save the file before closing it.
Google Chrome
- Launch Explorer by tapping Win+E keys.
- Enter %LocalAppData%\Google\Chrome\User Data\ into the bar at the top.
- Open the Default folder or {profile name} folder.
- Open the files named Preferences, Secure Preferences, and Web Data and overwrite the hijacker’s URL represented via them. Do not forget to save the files before closing them.
In non-techie terms:
The interface of Search.searchyffff.com can be quite deceiving because it suggests that a hijacker that can potentially leak information and showcase malicious links is completely harmless. Although it can provide you with IRS forms and access to some popular websites, these services are not worth the risk you might face if you decide to continue using the hijacker. The instructions above show how to delete Search.searchyffff.com manually, but you also should consider installing anti-malware software, especially if other infections have slithered into your PC as well. If you think you can erase all threats manually, start by deleting Search.searchyffff.com, which you can do using the guide above.