How to get rid of Search Pulse Browser Hijacker from your system?

Guide to remove Search Pulse Browser Extension

Is your browsing experience getting deteriorated by  tons of annoying ads, spam messages or hyperlinks? Is  your browsing activity being interrupted by appearance of incessant free download links and software installation packages that redirect you to suspicious web locations? There are odds that your browser may have fallen victim to a rouge application Search Pulse deemed as a browser Hijacker.

Search Pulse browser Hijacker is a dreadful system infection that undergoes stealth installation and attempts to:

• Read and change all your data on the websites you visit.
• Replace the page you see when opening a new tab
• Read and Change your Browsing history.
• Communicate with cooperating websites.
• Change your search settings to: search.searchpulse.net
• Manage your apps extension and themes.

The accidental or deliberate installation of Search Pulse browser Hijacker may appear useful at first due to the blend of three popular search engines Yahoo, Google and Bing in one. However it’s a mere trick adopted by its authors to gain user trust. Search Pulse is otherwise a malignant browser extension that aims to extort user and earn easy money by driving web traffic to partner sites, generate pay per click profit and promote websites of affiliate parties.

Template of the new Search engine

The UI of Search Pulse search engine incorporates three popular search engines Yahoo, Bing and Google enabling users to customize it as per their needs.

By default search results are directed to Yahoo search engine.

If the search engine is changed to for instance Google, and the browser window is reopened, search results would be directed to the last selected search engine (in this example www.google.com).

Though the search engines displayed are legitimate, the search results are inappropriate as they promote sponsored web pages. So using Search Pulse as a search engine is not a good idea. Moreover, the redirected web pages may contain malicious codes that may make the system susceptible to other system infections.

Other threats caused to the default browser by Search Pulse browser Hijacker:

Infiltration of Search Pulse browser Hijacker leads to:

• Unauthorized modification of web Browser Settings: This nasty system infection alters user’s browser settings and replaces the default homepage, new tab and search engine with its own.

This ruins user’s online surfing conduct as their search results are redirected to sponsored web pages.

• Impermissible usage of tracking cookies: Based on user browsing interest, relevant ads and links are displayed to lure users to click on it. Users should refrain from clicking on these suspicious ads as these are potentially dangerous and may land their system to unforeseen consequences.

How is Search Pulse browser Hijacker distributed?

Distributors resort to deception to distribute malware. They adopt shady tactics to trick user into installing it. Few of the techniques that they embrace to ensure stealth installation of Search Pulse browser Hijacker in the system are:

1. Software Bundling: Software bundling is the process in which a malicious program is distributed with other free software, to get an unnoticed entry into your computer system. When a user installs a free application, the malicious programs gains a front door entry with the free application, the user has downloaded. Thus, it is a good idea to keep an eye on the installation screens while installing these free applications.
2. Infected Storage Devices: Your system can also get infected by using removable media such as USB hard drives and jump drives without scanning them with an anti-virus.
3. Spam Emails – Spamming is the most economic and common method used for the distribution of such malware. The targeted users get genuine looking emails which contain .doc, .txt, and other similar attachments. These attachments can be named as anything which can grab the user’s attention and triggers him/her to open the attachment. As soon as the user opens this attachment, the malware infects the user’s computer system.
4. Malicious Websites or Malevolent Advertisements: The malicious websites are the ones which are created just for promoting the malware infections. Such websites include but are not limited to porn sites, torrent sites and other free downloading platforms. By visiting such websites, the adware infects the user’s computer without permission. Fake advertisements and updates like Flash player and windows updates which ask the user to update to the latest version are a few examples. When the users click on such links, their computer system gets infected. That is why, it is highly recommended to resist clicking on such links. Also avoid clicking on advertisements offering free stuff such as Win an iPhones, cars or free overseas trips etc.
5. This deceptive app is also distributed via its official website. The heinous web page claims to empower your browser by providing multiple search providers that are under user control. This may appear useful and time saving as all the basic search providers are consolidated at one convenient place. Users are however recommended not to fall in the trap and get the pernicious browser extension removed from your browser as soon as is detected.

Threat Summary

Name: Search Pulse 

Browsers Affected: Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Firefox, Safari, Opera

Targeted Operating System: Windows and MAC

Category: Browser Hijacker

Symptoms: 

• Homepage, new tab and search engine are replaced.
• Appearance of sponsored ads and pop-ups
• Unnatural network activities,
• Occasional sluggishness of the infected device.

How to Remove Search Pulse Browser Hijacker  from your computer system?

Note: Before we begin, try to remember how the extension got downloaded  on your computer system. Generally, these programs come bundled with free applications that we download off the internet. It is a good practice to locate and uninstall such programs while removing Search Pulse browser Hijacker/ Extensions.

Step A: Remove Search Pulse Browser Hijacker from Control Panel

Windows XP

1. Click on the “Start” button on the bottom left corner of your screen. A Start menu will be displayed as shown below. From this menu select the option that reads “Control Panel”.
2. In the window that will be displayed, click the option “Switch to classic view”.
3. This will display all the options/icons available to you. From the displayed icons, click on the icon that reads “Add or Remove Programs”.
4. Select the “Uninstall a program” option from the “Programs” category. A list will populate on the screen displaying all the programs.
5. Select the programs related to Search Pulse browser Hijacker and click on the Uninstall button.

Windows 7/Vista

1. Right click on the “Start” button located at the lower left corner of the screen. From the Start menu, click on “Control Panel”.
2. The “Control Panel” Window will be displayed on the screen. Click on “Uninstall a Program” option from the “Programs” category.
3. The “Programs and Features” window will be displayed on the screen. A list will populate on the screen displaying all the programs.
4. Scroll though the list of programs and select the programs related to Search Pulse browser Hijacker and then click on the “Uninstall” button.

Windows 8/10

1. Right click on the “Windows logo” on the lower left side of the computer screen. From the drop down menu, select and click on “Control Panel”.
2. The “Control Panel” window will be displayed. From this window select “Uninstall a program” option form the “Programs” category.
3. A list will populate on the screen displaying all the programs.
4. Select the programs related to Search Pulse browser Hijacker and click on the “Uninstall” button.
5. In the confirmation box, click on the box that reads “OK” to save changes.

Step B: Remove malicious extensions from your browser

Google Chrome

1. Open Google Chrome and click on the three vertical dots ( ) i.e.Menu option which are located at the upper right corner of the Chrome Window.
2. Find and click on More tools from the drop down menu that is displayed & select Extensions or you can open a Chrome window and type “chrome://extensions” in the address bar.
3. Check the developer mode option which is located opposite to extensions heading on the top of the Chrome window. By enabling the developer mode, additional details and option related to all the installed extensions will be displayed. One of the details that will be displayed is the ID. ID is the folder name created by the extension at the location “C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions”.
4. Locate the extension you want to uninstall or delete. Copy and paste the folder name opposite to the ID Tag of that extension into a notepad file. In this case the folder name is “iifkpdclgffdnbijholnpbojbgpblhil”
5. Now, uncheck the enabled option next to the extension in question. Make sure you also click the trash icon to delete the extension from the browser. It is important to note that even after uninstalling and deleting the extensions from the browser, the extension might not uninstall properly. Thus, it is a good practice to make sure that we have deleted the folder as mentioned in step 3.
6. Make sure that you have made the hidden files and folders visible.
7. Open My Computer and go to “C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions”. Now, look for folder with the name as specified in Step 4 i.e.  “iifkpdclgffdnbijholnpbojbgpblhil”.  Delete the folder if present.
8. Close and reopen the browser. It is also advisable to restart your computer once done.

Mozilla Firefox

1. Open Mozilla Firefox, click on three horizontal lines ( ) at the top right corner of the Firefox Window and select the Add-ons option. ) at the top right corner of the Firefox Window and select the Add-ons option.
2. On the Add-ons manger page, select and click on the Extensions tab as shown below.
3. Find the extensions related to Search Pulse browser Hijacker and click on the remove button.
4. In addition, try to remember how the extension got downloaded on your computer system. If this extension was bundled with some other software, then make sure to delete that as well.

Internet Explorer

1. Open Internet Explorer, Click on the Gear icon ( ) which is at the top right corner of the Internet Explorer Window.
2. From the newly appeared dropdown menu, click on the option that reads Manage Add-ons.
3. A new window will appear on the screen. On this window choose the option that reads Toolbar and Extensions. Under the Show option, select the option that reads “All add-ons”. This option will allow you to see all the browser extensions.
4. Select the Extension related to Search Pulse browser Hijacker and click on the Disable button which is at the bottom right of the computer screen.

Apple’s Safari

1. On your Mac Desktop, click on the option that reads “Safari”.
2. A drop down menu will appear as shown below. From this menu chose the option that reads “Preferences”.
3. The Preferences window will appear on the screen, where the list of all your safari extensions will be shown.
4. On the list displayed at the left side of the screen, select the Extension you want to uninstall.
5. Click on the Uninstall button to get rid of the extension.

Step C: Show hidden Files and Folders

Windows 7

1. Left click on the Organize button on the Windows Explorer. A drop down menu will appear.
   
2. On this menu left click on the option that reads “Folder and search options” as shown above. A folder options dialogue box will appear.
3. On the View tab under the Advanced settings, Check the option that reads “Show hidden files, folders, and drives” and uncheck the option that reads “Hide protected operating system files“.
   
4. Click on the “OK” button to save your changes. This will make all the hidden files and folders visible to you.

Windows 8 and 10

1. On the file explorer toolbar, click on the View
   
2. In the Show/hide section, Click on the “Hidden items” checkbox.
3. Click on the options button.
4. Under folder options, click on the “View” tab.
   
5. Uncheck the “Hide protected operating system files” option.
6. Click the “OK” button to save your changes.

Step D: Restore the browser settings.

Google Chrome

1. Open Google chrome and click on the three vertical dots () located on the top right corner of the Chrome Window.) located on the top right corner of the Chrome Window.
2. From the Drop down menu that appears, click on the “Settings”. A new browser tab will open up, displaying all the settings.
3. Now, we will make changes to the appearance section. Under the “Appearances” section, we will enable the “Show Home Button” option. You can select New Tab page or can add Google or any of your preferred browsers under the “Show Home Button” option.
4. After this, we will go to the “Search Engine “section.
5. Here, make Google or any of your preferred browsers as your default browser in the drop-down menu under the option “Search engine used in the address bar”.
6. After this click on Manage Search Engines. Now you can remove Other Search Engines that were added by the browser hijacker. Simply click the three vertical dots () and select the option “Remove from list”. ) and select the option “Remove from list”. 
7. You can make Google or any other preferred browser as your Default Search Engine by clicking the three vertical dots () and clicking on the “Make default” option.
   
8. At the end, we will go to the section “On Startup”. You can select the “Open the New Tab page” or can “Continue where you left off”.  If you want to open a specific page or set of pages, select the option “Open a specific page or set of pages”  and remove any pages added by the browser hijacker by clicking on the three vertical dots () and selecting “Remove”.) and selecting “Remove”.
9. Then, add Google or any of your desired URL in “Add a new page” option under the “Open a specific page or set of pages”.
10. This is a very important step and we would like you to pay very close attention here. This step has to be repeated with all the shortcuts to the browser that you can locate; like your desktop, start menu and the shortcut pinned to your taskbar. Right click on the shortcut and a context menu will appear. On this menu select the last option that reads Properties.
    
11. A Google Chrome Properties Dialogue box will appear as below. Replace whatever is there in the text box next to the label Target with the following: Make sure that inverted commas are included.“C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe”
    
12. Click OK at the end to save the changes.

Mozilla Firefox

1. Open Mozilla Firefox and click on the three horizontal lines () i.e. Open Menu located on the top right corner of the Firefox Window.
2. From the drop down menu that is displayed, we have to right click on the () Options to open the window.) Options to open the window.
3. Now, we will click Search, under the given options that are displayed in the left corner of the screen.
4. You can choose Google or any of your preferred browsers as your default search engine to use in the address bar and search bar.
5. Then, you have to go to the () General and under “startup” section to make sure that Firefox is your default browser.
6. At the end, we have to add Google or your preferred URL in the box given under Home Page.
7. After this, you have to right click on the browser shortcuts that you can locate like your desktop, start menu and taskbar to which the application is pinned. A context menu will appear. On this menu select the last option that reads Properties.
   
8. A Firefox Properties Dialogue box will appear as below. Replace whatever is there in the text box next to the label Target with the following: Make sure that inverted commas are included.“C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe”
   
9. Click OK at the end to save the changes.

Internet Explorer

1. Open Internet Explorer and click on the gear icon ()which is at the top right corner of the Internet Explorer Window.)which is at the top right corner of the Internet Explorer Window.
2. From the Drop down menu that appears, click on the “Manage add-ons” A new browser tab will open up, displaying all the add-on types.
3. Now, we will click on the “Search Providers” option from the list of options displayed on the left hand side of the screen. Then we will click “Find more search providers” option given at the lower left corner of the Manage add-ons
4. This will open an Internet Explorer Gallery; from here you can add Google search or any of your preferred add-ons as your default browser.
5. Next, you are required to go to the “Manage add-ons” window and click on the “Search Providers” option under the Add-on Types.
6. Here, you can enable Google Search or any of your preferred browsers as your default browser in the list of search providers.
7. At the end, we will click on the gear icon ()which is at the top right corner of the screen and select “Internet Options” from the drop-down menu.)which is at the top right corner of the screen and select “Internet Options” from the drop-down menu.
8. A new window will open displaying the Internet options. In the “Internet Options” window, add Google or any of your desired URL under the Create Home Page option and click OK.
9. After this, you have to right click on the browser shortcuts that you can locate like your desktop, start menu and taskbar to which the application is pinned.  A context menu will appear. On this menu select the last option that reads Properties.
   
10. An Internet Explorer Properties Dialogue box will appear as below. Replace whatever is there in the text box next to the label Target with the following: Make sure that inverted commas are included.“C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe”
11. Click OK at the end to save the changes.

Tips to prevent your computer system from getting infected –

1. Keeping the Operating System Updated- In order to remain protected and avoid such infections, it is recommended to keep your Operating System updated by enabling the automatic update on your system. The systems with outdated or older versions of Operating System become an easy target for the attackers.
2. Resist clicking on spam emails – One of the major techniques used for malware distribution is forwarding spam emails to the user. The system gets infected as soon as the user clicks on the attachment. These mails appear to be genuine, so be aware and resist falling for these tricks.
3. Keep an eye on third party installations- It is quite important that you take due care while installing any third party applications for they are major source of such infections. Such malware programs come bundled with the free applications thereby requiring the user to remain cautious.
4. Regular periodical backup- In order to keep your data and files safe, it is recommended to take regular back up of all your data and files either on an external drive or cloud.
5. Use Anti-Virus Protection- We strongly recommend the use of antivirus protection/internet security in your PC like Sophos and Kaspersky Labs Inc so that it remains safe.
6. Enable the Ad Blocker/Popup Blocker in your browser- Enabling the popup blocker/ ad blocker in your chosen browser will help you to stay protected from annoying adware.