Erasing Search.hprimesports.co (Browser Hijacker/PUP)

What is Search.hprimesports.co? And how does it function?

Search.hprimesports.co, also known as Watch All Sports, is a browser extension that offers users information about all kinds of sports such as basketball, football, baseball and many more. It provides users with the latest news and updates about sports. Aside from that, it also provides local weather updates and quick links to popular websites like Amazon, Gmail, Facebook, etc. Search.hprimesports.co will quickly make adjustments on your browsers’ settings once it is installed in the system. These adjustments involve changing the default homepage, search provider and new tab page into the domain of Search.hprimesports.co. If you give it a thought, this kind of ability is common on browser hijackers. It also doesn’t help that it is created by Polarity Technologies Ltd. which is known for developing tons of unwanted programs and browser hijackers and clearly, Search.hprimesports.co belongs on both categories.
Due to the changes made by this browser hijacker, you will be forced to use Search.hprimesports.co every time you browse the web. And as a result, your browsing activities will be monitored by this browser hijacker in order to gather information including your search queries, browsing history, websites you visit frequently and more. The information it has collected will be used by the developers of this browser hijacker to create more sponsored content in the form of pop-ups, banners, in-text links, and so on. Keep in mind that some of these advertisements could redirect you to suspicious websites which might trick you into answering some online survey or download a malicious program. So obviously, even if Search.hprimesports.co is not considered to be malicious, it still poses a threat both to your privacy and computer’s security. Thus, you must not delay its removal.
How is Search.hprimesports.co distributed online?
Search.hprimesports.co is distributed on free sharing sites as a part of software bundles where it is added as one of the optional add-ons in the package. If you’re not careful enough, you could end up installing these add-ons along with the other programs in the bundle. To prevent that from happening, you must always opt for the Advanced or Custom setup instead of the quick one. This way, you’ll have the option to remove these add-ons and only install the main program in the free software package.
Erase Search.hprimesports.co from your browser and your computer by using the instructions given below as a reference.
Step 1: You have to flush the DNS cache of your computer first. To do so, right click on the Start button and click on Command Prompt (administrator). From there, type the “ipconfig /flushdns” command and tap Enter to flush the DNS.
Step 2: After that, restart your computer and then open all the browsers infected by Search.hprimesports.co. Reset all the affected browsers to default to their default state.
Google Chrome

Open Google Chrome, then tap the Alt + F keys.
After that, click on Settings.
Next, scroll down until you see the Advanced option, once you see it, click on it.
After clicking the Advanced option, go to the “Restore and clean up option and click on the “Restore settings to their original defaults” option to reset Google Chrome.
Now restart Google Chrome.

Mozilla Firefox

Open Mozilla Firefox and tap Ctrl + Shift + A to access the Add-ons Manager.
In the Extensions menu Remove the unwanted extension.
Restart the browser and tap keys Alt + T.
Select Options and then move to the General menu.
Overwrite the URL in the Home Page section and then restart the browser.

Internet Explorer

Launch Internet Explorer.
Next, click the wrench icon for Settings.
Then click Internet Options.
After that, go to the Advanced tab.
From there, click the Reset button. This will reset Internet Explorer’s settings to their default condition.
Now click OK to save the changes made.
Restart your computer.

Step 3: Next, tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box and type “appwiz.cpl” in the field and press Enter to open the Programs and Features in Control Panel.

Step 4: From the list of programs installed, look for Search.hprimesports.co or any unfamiliar program that could be related to it under the list of installed programs and once you’ve found it, uninstall it.
Step 5: Edit your Hosts File.

Tap the Win + R keys to open then type in %WinDir% and then click OK.
Go to System32/drivers/etc.
Open the hosts file using Notepad.
Delete all the entries that contain Search.hprimesports.co.
After that, save the changes you’ve made and close the file.

Step 6: Hold down Windows + E keys simultaneously to open File Explorer.
Step 7: Navigate to the following directories and look for suspicious files associated to the browser hijacker such as the software bundle it came with and delete it/them.

%USERPROFILE%\Downloads
%USERPROFILE%\Desktop
%TEMP%

Step 8: Close the File Explorer.
Step 9: Empty the contents of Recycle Bin.
Refer to the advanced instructions given below to ensure the removal of this browser hijacker from your computer as well as all the file residues it left behind.
Perform a full system scan using [product-code]. To do so, follow these steps:

Turn on your computer. If it’s already on, you have to reboot it.
After that, the BIOS screen will be displayed, but if Windows pops up instead, reboot your computer and try again. Once you’re on the BIOS screen, repeat pressing F8, by doing so the Advanced Option shows up.

To navigate the Advanced Option use the arrow keys and select Safe Mode with Networking then hit
Windows will now load the Safe Mode with Networking.
Press and hold both R key and Windows key.

If done correctly, the Windows Run Box will show up.
Type in the URL address, [product-url] in the Run dialog box and then tap Enter or click OK.
After that, it will download the program. Wait for the download to finish and then open the launcher to install the program.
Once the installation process is completed, run [product-code] to perform a full system scan.