Such a huge amount of all kinds of software is distributed on the Internet now that sometimes users do not even navigate the purpose of this or that application. But some of these applets may turn out to be completely wrong software that they claim to be. Recently, you can often find some obscure applet called Searcher or Quick Searcher. What kind of program this is, few people can imagine, considering the application the most common accelerated search engine, supposedly with advanced features. In fact, you need to stay away from these kinds of applets.
Searcher: what is this program?
To get started, let's decide what exactly this applet represents. Based on the opinion of most computer security experts, you can immediately form a definite opinion about the Searcher applet. What kind of program is this? Allegedly, this application is one of the varieties of advertising viruses and trojans that can change the settings of the operating system and browsers, flooding them with advertising, replacing search engines or start pages and making it difficult to surf the Internet, constantly redirecting the user to malicious or advertising sites, not to mention already that in the process of the viral applet’s performance is significantly reduced and computer performance.
It seems to be clear what kind of program this is - Searcher. The reviews of users who are faced with the problem of the presence of this virus in their system, also speak of some undocumented properties of the applet, which few people pay attention to. And they should be stopped separately.
Some features of Quick Searcher: what is this extension?
Here is how you think, why when exposed to this particular applet, the maximum decrease in the speed of a computer system is observed? No, the reason for this is by no means advertising or the appearance of a huge number of temporary files clogging the system. The main problem is that this application is a kind of cryptocurrency miner, which uses the PC system resources at full capacity, and the maximum load falls on a discrete graphics adapter (if anyone does not know, the mining speed depends on the performance of the video card).
With all this, the virus application can be installed in the system both as a separate application and as a browser extension, however, the program’s own processes are not advertised in the same “Task Manager” (you simply won’t find them there).
How does the application get to user computers?
What is this extension - Quick Searcher, a little understood. Now it is necessary to say a few words about the methods of virus penetration on user computers. Usually, like most advertising threats, this application is installed as such affiliate software when installing some other software product.
Alas, very often it can be found even when installing some optimizer programs (for example, PC Speed Optimizer or PC Power Speed, which is the same thing). Less often, a virus can be pulled from the Internet when downloading some files or visiting dubious resources, but as user reviews indicate, this happens very rarely. Thus, it becomes quite obvious that the fault of the user himself, who thoughtlessly agrees to install such software, is to blame.
Windows virus removal
Why Searcher is needed and how it penetrates the system is a little understandable. Now it’s worthwhile to dwell on the main methods of removing such a threat. Based on the feedback of some users published on forums on the Internet, getting rid of the virus can be quite simple, despite the fact that some of its processes can resume their effect even after the main application is uninstalled.
To prevent this from happening, first you need to remove the Searcher applet in the program section, calling it via the Control Panel, and then find and remove the residual components in the directory of the same name, which is located in the Roaming subfolder, which is in the AppData directory of the user directory.
Note: if for some reason the files are not deleted (most often the virus blocks its components on its own, seemingly because the user does not have administrator rights), you must uninstall using the Unlocker utility.
It is also advisable to clean the extensions of absolutely all available browsers and check the properties of the shortcuts for the presence of additional posts in the field of the object type after the name of the executable file and its extension.
Narrowly targeted antivirus programs
The method proposed above is far from the most effective. Sometimes you can meet another method of programmatically removing the Searcher virus. What kind of program is this? It is often recommended to use the small UnHackMe utility.
In its settings, immediately after installation, it is necessary to enable protection and detection of crypto miners, then start a system scan and wait for the results. Allegedly, the virus will be found, and the complete removal of itself and residual components will be performed after a system reboot.
Removal using uninstallers
Finally, you can recommend another application for quick removal of Searcher. What kind of program is this? Of course, we are talking about uninstallers like Revo Uninstaller and iObit Uninstaller. In such applications, you need to find the desired applet either in the list of installed programs, or in the section of add-ons and browser panels, and then delete it using automatic search and cleaning of residues. It is noteworthy that such administrator programs do not need any administrator privileges.
Total
That's all that can be said briefly about the Searcher virus. What kind of program it is and how to completely get rid of it, I think, is already clear to everyone. In general, from the foregoing, two main conclusions can be drawn. First: remove the virus when it is detected using special utilities. Second: pay close attention to the proposals for installing additional affiliate programs, and also do not forget about precautions when visiting dubious sites on the Internet, which will very secure your system from threats, even those that could cause more noticeable damage than the described applet.