What is Searchbent.com?
Searchbent.com is a new search engine that may show up as your home page in the infected browsers, such as Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Google Chrome. Our malware specialists have found that this potentially unreliable search engine actually belongs to a new family of identical clones, including Detailexplore.com, Discoveranswer.com, and Opinionfind.com. These and a couple more of these clones can be found on the very same web server. However, it seems that none of them function properly. So the first question is: why would you have a search engine in your browsers if it does not even work? And, the second one: what if it starts working? We are here to give you the answers for these important questions so that you can protect your computer from similar malware threats as well. In the end you will also learn how you can remove Searchbent.com as the first step to restore your virtual security.
Where does Searchbent.com come from?
Our malware specialist say that you can install this search engine even without noticing it as it mainly spreads in free software bundles. Although it is also possible that you click on a corrupted link on a search result page manipulated by a browser hijacker, or you click on an unsafe third-party advertisement and you simply and directly set this search engine as your home page unknowingly. However, it is more likely that it does not enter your system all alone. Installing bundles is always a tricky thing. You need to be extra careful mostly when you download such a package from questionable sources. It is possible that a bundle contains a number of malicious software installers beside a legitimate free program. If you happen to drop such a bundle onto your system, it is important that you remain alert during installation. You always need to go for the custom or advanced installation option because the additional components and browser changes may only be visible this way. But even so, many computer users overlook the assigned checkboxes and end up with several adware programs, browser hijackers, fake warnings, and potentially unwanted programs on board.
This is why it is so important for you to know that you can download such malicious bundles by clicking on unreliable third-party advertisements, such as pop-up and banner ads, as well as corrupt links. You can be exposed to such contents when your system is infected with adware programs and browser hijackers. Another option is that you land on a suspicious gaming or file-sharing website that hosts a lot of questionable third-party contents. These can appear to be as normal commercial advertisements but also as misleading warnings and buttons. If you click on any of these, there is a good chance that you download a whole bundle of malware threats. This is why we suggest that you run a reliable malware scanner to identify all the potential infections after you delete Searchbent.com.
How does Searchbent.com work?
This search engine does not show any real function yet. This means that no matter what keywords you enter and send to this search engine, it will come back with a "did not match any results" page. Below the search field you find a separate area for "Top Searches" that contains a few linked keywords divided into categories, such as Arts, Business, Games, and Health. Although none of the search engines of this family actually function, we believe that it is possible that it will start up in the near future and that could put your virtual security at risk. Once functioning, this search engine may start collecting information about your online activities, which can be used to send customized advertisements to your screen through the search results pages. It is possible that this search engine will be able to modify search results even if you might end up on a reputable third-party search results page, such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing. If you click on any content on the results page coming through this search engine, you may drop infections onto your machine or get redirected to malicious websites where you could be scammed in all kinds of ways. If you do not want to lose money and your personally identifiable information, you should not hesitate to remove Searchbent.com from your browsers.
How to delete Searchbent.com
If you do not want to reset all your affected browsers, we suggest that you change the home page setting. If you do not know how to do this, you can use our instructions below as a reference. But as you can see, it is quite easy to infect your computer with all kinds of malicious programs. You can try to manually defend your system if you avoid certain questionable websites and clicking on third-party ads. You should also keep all your drivers and programs up-to-date to prevent cyber criminals from attacking your computer. However, the best solution for you if you want to safeguard your computer automatically is to employ a reliable anti-malware application.
Remove Searchbent.com from your browsers
Mozilla Firefox
- Press Win+E.
- Go to "C:\Users\{user name}\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\{Unique Mozilla ID}" folder.
- Edit prefs.js in a text editor (e.g., Notepad).
- Find "user_pref("browser.startup.homepage", http://searchbent.com")" string and replace "http://searchbent.com" with a URL of your choice.
Google Chrome
- Press Win+E.
- Go to "C:\Users\{user name}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default" folder.
- Bin these files: Preferences, Secure Preferences and Web Data files.
Internet Explorer
- Press Win+Q and enter regedit. Press the Enter key.
- Go to "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\Start Page" registry value name.
- Edit its value data to contain a URL you want as your home page.
- Close the editor.
tested removal of Searchbent.com*
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