Search.searchbrs.com

What is Search.searchbrs.com?

Whether Search.searchbrs.com has hijacked your homepage or your New Tab page – or both – you cannot ignore this browser hijacker. In most cases, users acquire this suspicious hijacker by installing an extension that goes by the name “Speed Tester BRS.” Both the hijacker and the extension were created by Polarity Technologies Ltd. Have you downloaded the extension from an official website or the Chrome web store (if you are a Google Chrome user)? If you have, we would appreciate it if you shared information about this source in the comments section because, at the time of research, official installers did not exist. Of course, it does not mean that the hijacker is not spreading if an official installer does not exist. In fact, even if it existed, it is much more likely that users would use third-party sources. If you have downloaded the extension/hijacker using a third-party installer, it is very possible that other infections exist, and if they do, you must remove them immediately. Hopefully, that is not something you have to worry about because deleting Search.searchbrs.com is important as well.

How does Search.searchbrs.com work?

According to Anti-Spyware-101.com research team, Search.searchbrs.com might be spread via unreliable file-sharing websites, including descargar.es, filewon.com, or malavida.es. That is exactly how other hijackers created by Polarity Technologies Ltd. are spread also. Although most of these hijackers are unique, and they are spread using unique extensions, it was found that Search.searchbrs.com is identical to Search.internetspeedpilot.com, Search.searcheasysta.com, and Search.myspeedtestxp.com. Of course, these hijackers are linked to unique add-ons (Internet Speed Pilot Extension, Easy Speed Test Access, and My Speed Test XP, respectively). They all promote the same links to news.mynewswire.co, fcc.gov, and broadbandchoices.co.uk, and they all represent the same Internet speed tester tool. Can you trust it? We suggest looking for a more reliable and reputable tool that is not linked to a browser hijacker. Naturally, all of these hijackers follow the same Privacy Policy, and, unfortunately, it looks like they can collect and leak personally-identifiable information, which is why you must remove them ASAP. Another thing all of these hijackers have in common is the search tool.

If you trust Search.searchbrs.com to help you browse the web, you have the wrong idea about this hijacker. Although it looks like a search engine, in reality, it cannot provide you with search services. If you enter keywords into the box displayed in the center of its home page, you will be immediately routed to search.yahoo.com. Well, what is wrong with that? Unfortunately, it is possible that the creator of the hijacker is redirecting to Yahoo Search just so that you would think that the results displayed are reliable. Are they not? Sponsored content might be displayed, and interacting with it could be dangerous. For all you know, malicious third-party advertisers could be using Search.searchbrs.com to expose you to their links, and by interacting with them, you could land on malicious pages representing fake offers (e.g., surveys or prize giveaways), as well as potentially malicious installers. Needless to say, you have to take this into consideration if you are still not sure whether or not you need to delete the hijacker.

How to delete Search.searchbrs.com

If you do not remove Search.searchbrs.com, you might end up interacting with corrupted content. Also, the creator of this hijacker, as well as the affiliated parties could end up recording sensitive information about you and your virtual behavior. All in all, we are sure that you have no reservations about the removal of this hijacker because it does not offer any useful services. If you want to test Internet speeds, go ahead and find a more reputable one. If you want a good search tool, install one you could trust. First, you need to eliminate the hijacker, and since it might be running along with other threats, using anti-malware software is the best idea. If you believe that you can clean your operating system all by yourself, and if you do not want to install software that could keep it malware-free in the future, you have to figure out how to delete threats manually. The instructions below should help you get rid of the hijacker, but remember that you might be dealing with other infections that also require removal.

Removal Instructions

Mozilla Firefox:

1. Launch Explorer (tap Win+E) and enter %AppData%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\ into the bar at the top.
2. Open the {unique name} folder that represents your Firefox profile.
3. Right-click the file named prefs.js file and choose to open it with a text reader (e.g., Notepad).
4. Find the string user_pref("browser.startup.homepage", "http://Search.searchbrs.com"); and overwrite the URL of the hijacker.

Google Chrome:

1. Launch Explorer (tap Win+E) and enter %LocalAppData%\Google\Chrome\User Data\ into the bar at the top. Windows XP users, enter UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\User Data\.
2. Open the Default folder or open the {unique name} folder that represents your Chrome profile.
3. Right-click the file named Preferences and open it using a text reader.
4. Overwrite the hijacker’s URL.
5. Overwrite the hijacker’s URL in the files named Secure Preferences and Web Data as well.

Internet Explorer:

1. Launch RUN (tap Win+R) and enter regedit.exe to launch Registry Editor.
2. Move to HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main.
3. Right-click the value named Start Page and select Modify.
4. Overwrite the hijacker’s URL with the preferred one and click OK.
5. Move to HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchScopes\{0633EE93-D776-472f-A0FF-E1416B8B2E3A}.
6. Modify the values called FaviconURL, FaviconURLFallback, TopResultURL, and URL using step 4. Download Removal Tool100% FREE spyware scan and
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