What is Search.searchtpo.com?
Search.searchtpo.com is a questionable search engine that can show up in your major browsers as your new home page, even if you do not recall installing it. This search website tries to look useful for the fans of online gaming by displaying a fake toolbar that hosts a number of quick links leading to related websites. As a matter of fact, our malware specialists at anti-spyware-101.com has labeled this infection as a browser hijacker due to its capability to modify your browser settings. Although most of the time it is actually you who lets these changes happen, you may still not remember it or realize it because the installers may use confusing and misleading methods to make sure that you overlook this. Since this browser hijacker may expose you to unreliable third-party content through its features, including its search engine, we believe that it can pose a threat to your system security. And, we have not even mentioned yet that it can sneak onto your system alongside other malware threats. If you are a security-minded user, we advise you to act right now and remove Search.searchtpo.com from your computer.
Where does Search.searchtpo.com come from?
This browser hijacker comes from a notorious and constantly growing family that also includes Search.searchicc.com, Search.searchlff.com, and Search.directionsandmap.com. This family contains very similar as well as completely identical clones. Obviously, the main goal of these search websites is to promote affiliates in order to generate easy income for the creators. This is also why these infections only spread via questionable channels, such as freeware bundles. Software packages used to be trustworthy since they only contained legitimate free software and additional third-party applications that can be called decent ad-supported programs whose main goal was to support software developers so that they can go on doing their job for free. Unfortunately, over the years schemers saw a great potential in this and started to use bundles to deliver potentially unwanted programs as well as malware programs to infect unsuspecting computer users.
This is why when you download a malicious bundle you can infect your system with a bunch of adware programs, browser hijackers, fake warnings, keyloggers, and more. And, this is also why it is important for you to understand that you can easily drop such a malware bomb onto your machine with a single click on the wrong content. There are a number of ways for you to be exposed to such content. First, your computer could hide malware infections, such as adware apps and browser hijackers that can both display unreliable third-party ads and links on your screen. Second, you may choose to download free programs, files, or updates from questionable sources, including torrent and freeware websites. These pages usually promote third-party installers that could pack a couple of malware threats instead of providing you with an authentic standalone file. Finally, certain unreliable websites, including the aforementioned file-sharing type, can host several third-party advertisements that can easily mislead inexperienced users. Again, one click and you could download a bad bundle in no time. If you want to figure out how your malware situation stands, we suggest that you run a malware scanner you can trust right after you delete Search.searchtpo.com from your browsers.
How does Search.searchtpo.com work?
This search website does not offer you anything new since we remember at least two or three practically identical hijackers with the very same features. In any case this search page provides you with the usual fake toolbar that hosts a search box on the left, a local weather widget link, and a couple of quick link buttons leading to questionable third-party pages. For example, the Free Games link takes you to terraarcade.com, an online gaming page that displays potentially harmful third-party advertisements that you should not ever engage with if you do not want more infections on board or be taken to malicious websites and cause more security and privacy-related issues.
Apart from this toolbar, you can also find a main search field in the middle of the page as well as a panel below that shows a number of thumbnail links leading to popular websites, such as Amazon, Gmail, and Yahoo. You can either hide or show this panel if you click on the respective link in its top-right corner. The main issue here is obviously the search engine itself. This browser hijacker forwards all your search keywords to a search.yahoo.com search results page that could be modified by this infection. The reason behind is quite clear; this hijacker promotes affiliates this way. In other words, you may be exposed to questionable third-party advertisements and sponsored links when presented with the results. This is why we recommend that you do not engage with any content coming from or through this browser hijacker. The threat is real and is just a click away if you are that unlucky. You need to know that if you click on an ad or a link that happens to come from a cyber criminal, you could drop more serious infections onto your system or open new tabs or windows and load malicious websites. This could lead to online scams and your money could be stolen from your bank accounts. Of course, this is one of the worst case scenarios; yet, it is a possibility. We suggest that you do not hesitate and remove Search.searchtpo.com right away.
How can I delete Search.searchtpo.com?
This family of browser hijackers seems to only affect the home page setting of your infected browsers, including Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Google Chrome. Therefore, it should be enough for you to restore your home page settings. If you have never done this before, please follow our instructions below. This should not take more than a few minutes altogether. If such an infection managed to infiltrate your system, it means that you let your guards down and you do not have proper automated protection either that could defend your PC from malicious attacks. So you either stop visiting questionable websites and refrain from clicking on third-party ads or any other suspicious content, or you consider installing a decent anti-malware program (e.g., SpyHunter) that can automatically weed out all possible malware threats.
How to remove Search.searchtpo.com from browsers
Mozilla Firefox
- Press Alt+T and go to Options.
- Select General on the left.
- Press Restore to Default.
Google Chrome
- Press Alt+F and pick Settings.
- Click Open a specific page or set of pages in the On Startup section.
- Click Set pages and add a new home page URL you prefer.
- Delete the unwanted URL.
- Press OK.
Internet Explorer
- Press Alt+T and navigate to Internet options.
- Select the General tab and press the Use default button.
- Click OK.
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