What is Search.smacklek.com?
You do not want to find Search.smacklek.com set as the homepage and/or the default search provider on your web browser. At the time of research, this browser hijacker was found to take over Safari, Mozilla Firefox, and Google Chrome browsers. If a different kind of browser was corrupted, and you need help removing Search.smacklek.com, do not hesitate to leave a comment below, and our Anti-Spyware-101.com research team will try to assist you as soon as possible. While analyzing the hijacker, we could not find a specific extension or application to be linked to it, and so it appears that the hijacker stands on its own, which is not very common. That being said, it is unlikely to spread on its own, and it should be attached to more attractive extensions or applications. In that case, deleting these extensions and apps might be necessary in order to get rid of the hijacker itself. Of course, if that is not the case, we have created a guide that shows how to replace unwanted homepage and search provider pages.
How does Search.smacklek.com work?
Before you start reading about Search.smacklek.com, we strongly recommend scanning your operating system and browsers. Doing so manually can be too difficult and time-consuming, which is why a legitimate malware scanner can be extremely useful. Most scanners are free, and so you should not hesitate to install them, but make sure you install tools you can trust. If the scanner detects a bunch of threats that require removal, assess them carefully to see which ones must be deleted from your PC first. This is crucial if you opt to delete them manually, and not using automated anti-malware software. If Search.smacklek.com is the only suspicious thing found on your system, you might choose to keep it around. After all, it does not look malicious, does it? Yes, it is not some aggressive infection that drops malware, deletes files, leaks information, or crashes the system; however, it is not as innocent as you might believe it to be. For one, it is identical to Search.papershorty.com, another well-known hijacker.
Smacklek Software is introduced to users as the creator of Search.smacklek.com via the Privacy Policy document, which you should always read whenever you install new software or start using a new service. According to the document, the hijacker can record, share, and use information for advertising purposes, and that is one of the reasons most users choose to delete Search.smacklek.com. It is also important to note that this hijacker redirects to Yahoo Search, and it does that without permission, which is not a good thing. Even if you trust Yahoo Search, you need to eliminate the hijacker because the results shown to you could be modified by it. Whether you browse the web using Web, Images, Videos, News, or Shopping tools, you will always end up on the same page, and the results delivered could be highly misleading. Keep in mind that even scams and malware could be introduced to you via links shown by the search tool, and if you do not want to take risk, you need to take action now.
How to remove Search.smacklek.com
Even though Search.smacklek.com does not look malicious, it does not offer any beneficial tools or widgets either, and so you should have no reservations about getting rid rid it. At the end of the day, there is NOTHING special about it. Sure, it provides search results by Yahoo Search, but they can be modified, and if you want to use Yahoo Search, set search.yahoo.com as your default search provider or homepage. The instructions below show how to do that, and so before you delete Search.smacklek.com, we suggest picking the homepage and default search provider. If other programs or extension were installed along with the hijacker, you probably need to eliminate them too. If they are threats, you should find removal guides on our website, but manual removal is not your only option. In fact, it is best if you install an anti-malware program that can automatically delete existing threats and also protect your operating system, so that you would not need to figure out how to erase malware in the future.
Removal Guide
Google Chrome
- Open the browser and tap Alt+F keys.
- Select Settings and navigate to Search engine.
- Click Manage search engines.
- Select/add the preferred browser and click Make default.
- Remove the undesirable provider.
- Go back to Settings and go to On startup.
- Select Open a specific page or set of pages and replace the hijacker.
Mozilla Firefox
- Open the browser and tap Alt+T keys.
- In the menu on the left click Home.
- Navigate to the Homepage and new windows menu.
- Replace the hijacker with the preferred page.
- In the menu on the left click Search.
- Under Default Search Engine select the desired default provider.
- Under One-Click Search Engines select the hijacker and click Remove.
Safari
- Open the browser and click the Safari menu button.
- Click Preferences to open the menu.
- Click General and replace the hijacker in Default search engine.
- Replace the hijacker’s URL under Homepage.
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