What is Search4musix.com? And how does it function?
Search4musix.com is a browser extension that supposedly functions as a search tool. Aside from that, it also allows users to “find and listen to music artist, songs and albums”. Although it may seem like an interesting search tool that allows you access to music, don’t let its seemingly interesting features fool you as security experts classify this extension as a browser hijacker that can manipulate your internet browsing once you install it.
If you install this dubious program, you will see a dialog box which contains the following content:
- Access your data for sites in the blpsearch.com
- Access your data for sites in the search4musix.com domain
- Access your data for service.prsstobe.com
- Access your data for www.aztmusic.com
As you can see, if you ended up installing Search4musix.com, you grant it access to your browsing-related data such as your browsing history, search queries, websites you often visit, ads you’ve clicked and many more. Moreover it can also:
- Read and change your data on a number of websites
- Communicate with cooperating websites
- Change your search settings to blpsearch.com
As you can see, Search4musix.com will modify the default search engine and new tab page of your browser, with or without your permission. This is one of the typical behaviors of browser hijackers and clearly poses a threat to your privacy. Aside from that, you might also experience redirects to unknown and suspicious websites affiliated with Search4musix.com. You will also see an increasing number of sponsored contents like pop-ups, banners, in-text links and many more. All things considered, there is no point in keeping this browser hijacker installed in your computer when there are other music platform you can check out that are proven safe to use.
How is Search4musix.com disseminated over the internet?
Search4musix.com is disseminated on its official website at https://elp.search4musix.com as well as in the Chrome Web Store. In addition, it can also be found lurking on free sharing sites as a part of software bundles. It is added as one of the extra programs in a free software package along with other unknown programs. So if you often install this kind of software package, you must always use the Advanced or Custom setup instead of the quick one to avoid installing unwanted programs like Search4musix.com.
Refer to the removal guide laid out below to get rid of Search4musix.com from your computer successfully.
Step 1: The first thing you have to do is flush the DNS. To do so, right click on the Start button and click on Command Prompt (administrator). From there, type the “ipconfig /flushdns” command and hit Enter to flush the DNS.
Step 2: After that, restart your computer and then open all the browsers infected by Search4musix.com. 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 Search4musix.com 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 Search4musix.com.
- 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 Search4musix.com 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.
- After the scan is completed click the “Fix, Clean & Optimize Now” button.
