How to Remove Search.protectedio.com From the System Completely?

“My computer may have been infected by Search.protectedio.com browser hijacker. My Google Chrome has been compromised by it for several days. When I wanted to visit some websites in my favorites, I was redirected to other unwanted websites. Unfortunately, my Internet speed has been influenced and becomes very slow, now I want to get rid of this browser hijack redirect so that none of its pop ups disturb my work anymore. How can I fix the browser problem successfully?” You can folllow the removal instrution of the article to handle the problem. 

About Search.protectedio.com Browser Hijacker 

Search.protectedio.com is a hazardous browser hijacker which is promoted by cyber hackers with the purpose of posing threat to user’s private information exposed to the cyber world through browser. Many unwary users have been cheated by the appearance of this browser hijacker with its licensed search engine. To appear more convincing, it provides users with useful features like news, images, maps and videos browsing functions. However, after using this fake search engine, you will find it hard to visit the websites you want; instead, you are frequently redirected to the site: http://Search.protectedio.com or some other unknown websites. When you open a new web page or watch a video, there will be a lot of pop-ups that ask you to purchase some products, install or update some software or click on some clicks there. When you try to reset your default homepage and search engine, you would find it fail, because the browser hijacker won’t allow you to do so. In this situation, you need to delete the pesky computer threat from your PC without hesitation. 

The same as other browser hijacker, Search.protectedio.com not only has the ability to ruin the browser like Internet Explorer, Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox but also can totally disrupt the system by performing a list of destructive tasks on the computer. The hijacker infection even degrades your system speed and modifies system files and registry entries to make system vulnerable to other additional computer threats. Actually, this browser hijacker infection may lead to other infections like adware infection, spyware infection, and Trojan infection, etc. As time goes by, there are more problems caused by this browser hijacker, such as system freezing, system crash and blue screen of death and so forth. And one problem may result in other problems. Also, the redirect causes malfunction of your security application to make it unable to delete any computer virus effectively. Thus, manual removal will be highly appreciated. 

Search.protectedio.com browser hijacker is so vicious that it stealthily allows the remote hackers to gain access to your compromised system, so that they can capture your sensitive information like usernames and passwords for malicious purposes. Sometimes, you may find that your Yahoo email, Facebook and online bank account cannot be logined because the web browser has been messed up by the redirect virus. Never set the browser to be your default search engine and homepage because it will put your computer into risk. Prompt removal of this hijacker infection is needed, so that you can enjoy a clean computer soon.

Search.protectedio.com needs to be removed in order to keep your computer and data safe. If you are not computer savvy and have no idea on how to remove Search.protectedio.comhijacker, you can follow the removal guide below. 

Warning signs of Infection: 

1. It can not only get on browsers without permissions, but reset default structures of affected browsers without letting you change them back;

2. It delivers constant pop-up ads or sponsored links to your infected computer;

3. Those pop-ups and sponsored links may redirect you to insecure websites which contain malware; 4. This browser hijacker drastically slows down your computer speed by consuming lots of system resources.

5. Users’ usernames, passwords and other confidential data are exposed to cyber criminals.

Manual Removal Instruction for the Undesirable Browser Hijacker 

Since the advanced anti-virus software can’t do a complete removal of the browser hijacker, the manual removal can be one way worth trying. Frankly speaking, manual removal is complicated and difficult so that it is not suggested those computer beginners choose this solution. If you are confident that you can handle it, follow the step-by-step guide below to get rid of Search.protectedio.com: (Be careful when deleting the files and registry entries in different systems).

Step 1: Remove all web browser cookies.

Internet Explorer:

Open your web browser.

Click on Tools and select Internet Options. Click General tab. If you are using IE6, or IE7, you can directly find the “Delete the Cookies” button.

Choose or select Delete Browsing History tab. Click Cookies and Delete.

Mozilla Firefox:

Open your web browser.

Click on Tools and navigate to Options.

Press Privacy and then then select Remove Individual Cookies button.

Remove corresponding cookies in the cookies showing box.

Google Chrome:

Open your web browser.

Click on Tools and select Options.

Click Privacy tab “Under the Bonnet”.

Click on Clear browsing data button and Select Delete cookies and other site data.

Step 2: Remove Search.protectedio.com from computer.

1) Stop all processes of this program.

Open Windows Task Manager by pressing CTRL+ALT+DELETE.

In the Task Manager window, search for and end up all related processes.

2) Remove all registry files of Search.protectedio.com.

Open Registry Editor by navigating to Start button and select Run, and type “regedit” in the search box.

When the Registry Editor opens, search for and delete all registry entries of this virus:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\[RANDOM CHARACTERS].exe

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Random

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\Explorer\run\Random.exeo’

3)Remove all leftover and files of Search.protectedio.com.

%AppData%Local[random].exe

C:\Documents and Settings\LocalService\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\*.exe

C:\Documents and Settings\LocalService\Local Settings\*.*

Conclusion 

Search.protectedio.com browser hijacker is really pesky and harmful for PC users, so it needs to be deleted from the infected computer quickly before it brings much damage to the system. The redirect virus will naturally slow down your system performance and block functions of your executable programs. When you launch your browsers or click on the search results, you will always be redirected to some unwanted websites. Many pesky ads will pop up on your screen, luring you into download freeware and even purchase some unwanted products. Even though the interface of the browser hijacker seems legitimate, it is actually a computer virus instead of a licensed search engine which provides you with trusted content. When you see the browser hijacker appears on your computer out of nowhere, please remove it as quickly as you can. The redirect manual removal is risky and you should find a professional redirect remover to enable you to delete the redirect virus effectively.