What is Searchby.net?
Searchby.net is a questionable search engine page that may show up in your Internet Explorer browser after you install a potentially unwanted program. Since this search engine can change your homepage and new tab settings, our malware experts at anti-spyware-101.com have categorized it as a browser hijacker. This, of course, does not mean that the hijacking always takes place without your consent or knowledge even if you may not remember installing it. In fact, in most cases users are notified about the browser setting changes but such information may be concealed or misleading a lot of times. This browser hijacker can present to you potentially unreliable third-party ads and sponsored links that may lead to malicious pages or drop infections onto your system. One click on the wrong content and you could increase the vulnerability of your system. Our experts say that this malware infection may also infiltrate your system along with other malicious threats; therefore, its presence may be a signal for multiple system security threats. This is why we suggest that you remove Searchby.net as soon as possible.
Where does Searchby.net come from?
We have found that this browser hijacker may enter your system when you install a questionable free program like Ultimate Popup Killer (ultimatepopupkiller.com). When you install free programs that you download from suspicious P2P websites like filewin.com, malavida.es, and descargar.es, there is always a risk that your bundled free software contains some unfortunate surprises as well. Such a bundle may carry potentially unwanted programs, browser hijackers, Trojans, keyloggers, adware programs, and fake alerts as well. Any of these programs may expose you to harmful third-party content or even collect sensitive information from your system. Imagine when you let a bunch of them on board.
Apart from downloading free software from questionable sources, you may also click on corrupt third-party ads to drop such a malicious bundle. This is why it is essential that you avoid suspicious file-sharing, online gaming, gambling, and pornographic pages because these are infamous for hosting unsafe third-party contents of all kinds (fake buttons, fake notifications, misleading banner and pop-up ads). Another possibility is that you infected your computer previously with adware and that infection generated the corrupt third-party ad that you clicked on to further infect your system with this browser hijacker and god knows what else. This is why we believe that it is important that you run a reliable malware scanner after you delete Searchby.net from your browser.
How does Searchby.net work?
This browser hijacker basically looks like any other; a simple search page without any extra features. This is why some users may not even realize the changes that this infection may have made. We do not advise you to use this search engine to search the web because it may show you modified results. In fact, this malware redirects your queries to startpage.com/do/search, which claims to be the "world's most private search engine." This questionable search engine seems to show you its own results but they look more like Google based results extended with promoted affiliates' ads and links. Unfortunately, whatever content this hijacker may insert in the search results could be potentially unreliable. This means that your clicks on this page may cost you dearly. You may open malicious pages on new tabs, for example, that may drop further infections or convince you to install them yourself. You may also get scammed by crooks if you land on a fake website after clicking on a corrupt link. All in all, we believe that is best for you to remove Searchby.net as soon as possible.
How can I delete Searchby.net?
If you only want to eliminate this browser hijacker, it may be enough for you to change your homepage setting in your Internet Explorer browser. However, since this hijacker sneaks onto your computer with a useless and potentially unwanted program, it may be a better idea to reset your browser to remove all possible browser-related threats. We have included our instructions below this article if you need assistance with resetting your browser. Since there can be a number of threats on your system, we advise you to go on hunting them down until your PC is entirely clean. Otherwise, it will not be safe for you to even switch it back on again. If you would like to feel secure in your virtual world, we recommend that you install a powerful up-to-date anti-malware program like SpyHunter.
Remove Searchby.net from your browser
Internet Explorer
- Press Alt+T and go to Internet Options.
- Click on the Advanced tab and press Reset.
- Tick the Delete personal settings checkbox.
- Click Reset and press Close.
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