What is Search.searchtxosc.com? And how does it function?
Search.searchtxosc.com is a shady browser extension that’s supposed to work as a search engine. It claims to improve the browsing experience of users by providing them with enhanced search results. This browser extension is developed by the infamous company, Polarity Technologies Ltd. – a company known to spawn dozens of browser hijackers and PUPs and Search.searchtxosc.com is no exception to these categories. Once this shady program is added to your browser, it will quickly replace the default settings in your browser with Search.searchswift.co without your permission.
If installed, you will be granting Search.searchtxosc.com the following permissions to:
- Read and change all your data on the websites you visit
- Replace the page you see when opening a new tab
- Manage your apps, extensions, and themes
Besides giving them the aforementioned permissions, this browser hijacker will also modify the default settings on your browser. As a result, you will constantly see Search.searchtxosc.com every time you open your browser or open a new tab. The changes don’t stop there as you will also notice the increase of sponsored content from the affiliated sites of Search.searchtxosc.com. You might also experience sudden redirects to some websites even when you did not click anything.
This occurrence is common when you have a browser hijacker like this one installed on your computer. Aside from redirects, you will also encounter misleading ads that could redirect you to suspicious websites that might contain harmful content. Moreover, like a typical browser hijacker, Search.searchtxosc.com also monitors all your browsing activities in order to collect browsing information like:
- Search queries and all related search data
- Browser type
- Email address
- Device-specific data (hardware model and operating system)
- Data about crashes, system activity, hardware settings, and browser language
- Date and time of query request and referral URL
- IP address
- Source of traffic acquisition
- Your geographic location
- The domain name of your Internet Search Provider (ISP)
The information that this browser hijacker obtains is used and may even be shared with third parties to generate more sponsored content. As you can see, there is nothing useful about Search.searchtxosc.com and the sooner you delete it from your browser, the better.
How is Search.searchtxosc.com distributed over the web?
Search.searchtxosc.com is distributed using software bundles, just like other PUPs and browser hijackers developed by Polarity Technologies, it is added as one of the extra components in free software bundles. And if you don’t pay much attention during the installation of such a package, you could end up installing browser hijackers, PUPs, and even malicious programs. To prevent that from happening, you have to use the Advanced or Custom setup when installing this kind of software package.
Get rid of Search.searchtxosc.com 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.searchtxosc.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 Search.searchtxosc.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 Search.searchtxosc.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 with 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.
Congratulations, you have just removed Search.searchtxosc.com in Windows 10 all by yourself. If you would like to read more helpful articles and tips about various software and hardware visit fixmypcfree.com daily.
Now that’s how you remove Search.searchtxosc.com in Windows 10 on a computer. On the other hand, if your computer is going through some system-related issues that have to get fixed, there is a one-click solution known as Restoro you could check out to resolve them.
This program is a useful tool that could repair corrupted registries and optimize your PC’s overall performance. Aside from that, it also cleans out your computer for any junk or corrupted files that help you eliminate any unwanted files from your system. This is basically a solution that’s within your grasp with just a click. It’s easy to use as it is user-friendly. For a complete set of instructions in downloading and using it, refer to the steps below
Perform a full system scan using Restoro. To do so, follow the instructions below.
