SearchPowerOnline Virus

Browser Hijacker
by Violet George
May 14, 2023

SearchPowerOnline

SearchPowerOnline is a program that acts as a rogue browser extension that takes over your main browsing app and floods it with annoying banners, popups and other ads. This is why SearchPowerOnline is categorized as a typical browser hijacker.

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SearchPowerOnline try to make changes in the browser’s default settings

Unlike viruses and malware programs of categories like ransomware, Trojans and spyware, a browser hijacker wouldn’t really try to hide its presence and remain unnoticed in the computer. In fact, it is quite the opposite, as such apps are known for their invasive and irritating behavior. These apps seek to get installed inside Chrome, Opera, Firefox and other popular browsers as they need a browser “host” in order to be able to operate.

Their main goal is to make sure that you interact with as many of their ads and get redirected to as many of the sites of their partners as possible. In order to achieve their goal more effectively, the hijackers try to make changes in the browser’s default settings. In most cases, they would try to set a new homepage address in place of the previous one or alter the search engine service, typically replacing it with some custom search engine that is set to favor in its search sites and pages that the hijacker is programmed to advertise.

The SearchPowerOnline Malware

Needless to say, having an app like the SearchPowerOnline malware on your computer can be a rather unpleasant and even a frustrating experience. The SearchPowerOnline malware is one example of a browser hijacker and the reason we are focusing on it is because it’s currently one of the more widespread hijackers out there.

SUMMARY:

NameSearchPowerOnline
TypeBrowser Hijacker
Danger LevelMedium (nowhere near threats like Ransomware, but still a security risk)
Detection Tool

Please follow all the steps below in order to remove SearchPowerOnline!

How to remove SearchPowerOnline

  1. First, click the Start Menu on your Windows PC.
  2. Type Programs and Settings in the Start Menu, click the first item, and find SearchPowerOnline in the programs list that would show up.
  3. Select SearchPowerOnline from the list and click on Uninstall.
  4. Follow the steps in the removal wizard.

If you have a Mac virus, please use our How to remove Ads on Mac guide.

If you have an Android virus, please use our Android Malware Removal guide.

If you have an iPhone virus, please use our iPhone Virus Removal guide.

What we suggest you do first is, check the list of programs that are presently installed on the infected device and uninstall any rogue software that you find there:

  • From the Start Menu, navigate to Control Panel ->>> Programs and Features ->>> Uninstall a Program.
  • Next, carefully search for unfamiliar programs or programs that have been installed recently and could be related to SearchPowerOnline.
  • If you find any of the programs suspicious then uninstall them if they turn out to be linked to SearchPowerOnline.
  • If a notification appears on your screen when you try to uninstall a specific questionable program prompting you to just alter it or repair it, make sure you choose NO and complete the steps from the removal wizard.

Remove SearchPowerOnline from Chrome

  1. Click on the three dots in the right upper corner
  2. Go to more tools
  3. Now select extensions
  4. Remove the SearchPowerOnline extension
  • Once you open Chrome, click on the three-dots icon to open the browser’s menu, go to More Tools/ More Options, and then to Extensions.
  • Again, find the items on that page that could be linked to SearchPowerOnline and/or that might be causing problems in the browser and delete them.
  • Afterwards, go to this folder: Computer > C: > Users > *Your User Account* > App Data > Local > Google > Chrome > User Data. In there, you will find a folder named Default – you should change its name to Backup Default and restart the PC.
  • Note that the App Data folder is normally hidden so you’d have to first make the hidden files and folders on your PC visible before you can access it.

How to get rid of SearchPowerOnline on FF/Edge/etc.

  1. Open the browser and select the menu icon.
  2. From the menu, click on the Add-ons button.
  3. Look for the SearchPowerOnline extension
  4. Get rid of SearchPowerOnline by removing it from extensions

If using Firefox:

  • Open Firefox
  • Select the three parallel lines menu and go to Add-ons.
  • Find the unwanted add-on and delete it from the browser – if there is more than one unwanted extension, remove all of them.
  • Go to the browser menu again, select Options, and then click on Home from the sidebar to the left.
  • Check the current addresses for the browser’s homepage and new-tab page and change them if they are currently set to address(es) you don’t know or trust.

If using MS Edge/IE:

  • Start Edge
  • Select the browser menu and go to Extensions.
  • Find and uninstall any Edge extensions that look undesirable and unwanted.
  • Select Settings from the browser menu and click on Appearance.
  • Check the new-tab page address of the browser and if it has been modified by “SearchPowerOnline” or another unwanted app, change it to an address that you’d want to be the browser’s new-tab page.

How to Delete SearchPowerOnline

  1. Open task manager
  2. Look for the SearchPowerOnline process
  3. Select it and click on End task
  4. Open the file location to delete SearchPowerOnline
  • Access the Task Manager by pressing together the Ctrl + Alt + Del keys and then selecting Task Manager.
  • Open Processes and there try to find a process with the name of the unwanted software. If you find it, select it with the right button of the mouse and click on the Open File Location option.
  • If you don’t see a “SearchPowerOnline” process in the Task Manager, look for another suspicious process with an unusual name. It is likely that the unwanted process would be using lots of RAM and CPU so pay attention to the number of resources each process is using.
  • Tip: If you think you have singled out the unwanted process but are not sure, it’s always a good idea to search for information about it on the Internet – this should give you a general idea if the process is a legitimate one from a regular program or from your OS or if it is indeed likely linked to the adware.
  • If you find another suspicious process, open its File Location too.
  • Once in the File Location folder for the suspicious process, start testing all of the files that are stored there by dragging them to our free online scanner available below.
  • Each file will be scanned with up to 64 antivirus programs to ensure maximum accuracy
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    • If the scanner finds malware in any of the files, return to the Processes tab in the Task Manager, select the suspected process, and then select the End Process option to quit it.
    • Go back to the folder where the files of that process are located and delete all of the files that you are allowed to delete. If all files get deleted normally, exit the folder and delete that folder too. If one or more of the files showed an error message when you tried to delete them, leave them for now and return to try to delete them again once you’ve completed the rest of the guide.

    How to Uninstall SearchPowerOnline

    1. Click on the home button
    2. Search for Startup Apps
    3. Look for SearchPowerOnline in there
    4. Uninstall SearchPowerOnline from Startup Apps by turning it off
    • Now you need to carefully search for and uninstall any SearchPowerOnline-related entries from the Registry. The easiest way to do this is to open the Registry Editor app (type Regedit in the windows search field and press Enter) and then open a Find dialog (CTRL+F key combination) where you have to type the name of the threat. 
    • Perform a search by clicking on the Find Next button and delete any detected results. Do this as many times as needed until no more results are found. 
    • After that, to ensure that there are no remaining entries lined to SearchPowerOnline in the Registry, go manually to the following directories and delete them:
    • HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Random Directory. 
    • HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Run/Random
    • HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Internet Explorer/Main/Random

    What is SearchPowerOnline?

    If you are on this page because of the presence of SearchPowerOnline inside your computer, know that we can help you with the invasive software and show you how you can restore your browsing program to its normal state. To do that, you will need to follow the steps presented in our removal guide for SearchPowerOnline that you will find further down this article. Before you get to the uninstallation section of this post, however, we advise you to first read a bit more about SearchPowerOnline so as to learn how to avoid such apps in the future and why it’s important for the safety of your system that your browser stays hijacker-free.


    Is SearchPowerOnline a virus?

    Aside from well known distribution techniques like spam and malvertising that are used to spread potentially unwanted apps like SearchPowerOnline, Appyrinceaskeda com and PDFPower.exe adware, there is one other even more effective technique to distribute such apps and that technique is file bundling. With it, the unwanted software is included in some installation wizard that normally carries another program which is the installer’s main one. The hijacker is only there as an optional bonus component.
    However, it is normally under an opt-out clause meaning that you will need to manually deselect it in the installer if you don’t want it to get installed alongside the main program. Many users forget to do that, especially since oftentimes the opt-out setting is under the Advanced setup menu. You, however, should always make sure to carefully check the installers for any new programs you want in your computer for added hijackers as you must not allow such unwanted software in your computer again. A hijacker, though not particularly dangerous on its own, could still potentially lead to redirects to sketchy sites and pages that are used to spread ransomware, spyware and malicious Trojans around the Internet.


    About the author

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    Violet George

    Violet is an active writer with a passion for all things cyber security. She enjoys helping victims of computer virus infections remove them and successfully deal with the aftermath of the attacks. But most importantly, Violet makes it her priority to spend time educating people on privacy issues and maintaining the safety of their computers. It is her firm belief that by spreading this information, she can empower web users to effectively protect their personal data and their devices from hackers and cybercriminals.

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