Searchgol.com Still Appears, How to Prevent www.Searchgol.com from Hijacking?

stop Searchgol.com from hijacking

OUTLINE

• Where do I get www.searchgol.com?
• Is www.searchgol.com virus?
• What does searchgol.com do and is it dangerous?
• Why Searchgol.com keeps popping up?
• Learn the way to stop searchgol.com from hijacking
• Other related posts

The Way Searchgol.com Adopts to Propagate

To push Searchgol.com into the online market quickly, creators have been found to employ drive-download method. As a web application, Searchgol.com would be bundled with other web applications including PUP, adware and toolbar. It also bundles with freeware/shareware, this is why it is always highly recommended to choose “custom install” over “recommended install” when installing a third-party program.

Is Searchgol.com Virus?

Searchgol.com is actually a web application adopting BHO and JS technique. It comes in as a search engine to replace the default homepage and even search providers. Regardless the arbitrary behaviors, Searchgol.com is categorized by security company as PUP and should be grouped into “browser hijacker”.

What Searchgol.com Does?

1. Change default homepage, search engine.
2. Take up new tabs.
3. Load additional adware and offer search results in its way.
4. Both page-loading speed and PC performance are slower than before.

Any Danger that We Should Know?

There’s no direct danger from www.searchgol.com. Yet we should be aware of some potential dangers. As the browser hijacker bundles with other applications for propagation, to return the favor, searchgol.com will load down the related items. As a result, the limited resource will be taken up and the full play by some build-in critical parts will be hindered.

As we all know that Internet and web pages have become the major items for virus to help with rapid propagation, the random cooperation with online operators without filtering out the loosely written web sites could result in virus attack. If it is the case, the JS, computing technique, will be capitalized to record any in-put information online, including log-in credentials, bank card information and so on, which will not be neither detected nor stopped by security defense.

The Purpose of Searchgol.com?

What Searchgol.com aims is money. By frequently hijacking homepage, the browser hijacker manages to intercept traffic and thus help with better page rank and higher exposure rate. More business will come thereafter.

If one takes a closer look at its surface, one would notice the random ads. Any click from innocent PC user will help generate PPC revenue for Searchgol.com.

It has now been an open secret that program creators record PC users data and online whereabouts to exchange for extra money. With the online marketing gets fierce, reselling such information can gain profitable income. And we have to eradicate this possibility by removing Searchgol.com upon its appearance. Since searchgol.com is not technically a virus, manual method should be adopted.

Follow Manual Method to Stop www.searchgol.com from Hijacking

A. Reset browsers.


Internet Explorer: Tools menu > Internet Options > Advanced tab > Restore Defaults button > OK.



Mozilla Firefox:  Firefox button > Help > Troubleshooting information > ‘Reset Firefox’ button.


Google Chrome:‘Customize and Control Google Chrome’ menu > ‘Options’ > ‘Under the Hood’ > ‘Reset to Defaults’ button.

 
Opera: Show hidden files and folders (see Step C) > navigate to "C:\Users\user_name\AppData\Roaming\Opera\Opera\" > remove Operapref.ini.


Safari: Safari menu > ‘Reset Safari’ > tick all given options > ‘Reset’ button.




B. Access Task Manager to remove the items with the path directing to searchgol.com.

Windows
Ctrl+Alt+Del/Ctrl+Shift+Esc > access Task Manager > View >　select columns > tick "PID" and "Path name" > go to open up System Information > end the process with path name directing to searchgol.com's path or the path that doesn't belong to system.



select Colunms to tick PID and Path Name to find out the services and processes related to
searchgol.com

Mac OS X
Applications > Utilities > Activity Monitor > click open the suspected processes > "Open ports and files" > end the process with path name directing to searchgol.com's path.


search for and open up Activity Monitor on Mac to stop the ads by searchgol.com from popping up

C. Show hidden files and folders to remove Temp file and the ones related to searchgol.com.





Windows 7/XP/Vista
‘Control Panel’ > 'user accounts and family safety' > 'Folder Options’ > View tab > tick ‘Show hidden files and folders' and non-tick 'Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)’ > ‘OK’.

Windows 8
Start screen > Windows Explorer > View tab > tick ‘File name extensions’ and ‘Hidden items’ options > OK button.

a.when done, remove the given items:

C:\Users\[user name]\AppData\Local\Temp\
C:\WINDOWS\Temp
C:\Documents and Settings\[user name]\Local Settings\Temp
C:\Documents and Settings\[user name]\Local Settings\Temporary Internet File

b. navigate to the following directories and remove the items generated on and after the date when searchgol.com was firstly detected:

C:\Windows
%SystemDriver%\
C:\Program Files\
C:\windows\system32\
C:\users\user\appdata\local\
C:\Users\[your username]\Documents\
c:\users\[username]\appdata\locallow\

Mac OS X
Finder > Utilities folder > Terminal > copy and paste "defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles YES" > return key > copy and paste the "killall Finder" > return key.

a. remove temp files and folders:

Finder > Utilities folder > terminal:

1. type

   cd ~/Library/Logs
   sudo rm -rf ~/Library/Logs/*

   and press Return button.
2. type

   rm -rf ~/Library/Safari/Downloads.plist
   cd ~/Library/Caches
   sudo rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/*

   and press Return button.

b. access the following locations to remove the items generated on and after the date when searchgol.com was firstly detected:

Library/Internet Plug-Ins/ 
Home folder/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/ 
Applications
Dock
Display

D. Modify Hosts file.


Windows
Win+R key combination > type CMD > hit Enter key > type "ping www.searchgol.com " > Enter key > note down the IP address > navigate to C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc > click open Hosts file > paste the IP address to the last line > save file.



Mac OS X
Finder launchpad icon > Utilities > Terminal > type "ping www.searchgol.com" > Enter/Return key > note down the IP address > shift+command+g key combination > type “etc” (/private/etc/hosts) > Enter/Return key > click open Hosts file > paste the IP address to the last line > save it to modify host file.

Be noted that what offered above is a removal thread. One should be at least equipped with certain level of computer knowledge and skills to carry out the steps as instructed. Any careless omission would lead to searchgol.com’s re-image. One should know that it is impossible to list out everything related to the browser hijacker in a post due to the various OS installed and the name of the dropped down file can be varied. Besides, one should remove the drive-by download application, which is random, altogether to effectively stop searchgol.com from coming back. 

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