I wrote this article to help you remove BoxedSearch.com. This BoxedSearch.com removal guide works for Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer.

BoxedSearch.com is an alternative search provider. The website is supposed to optimize your search results. Instead, it will degrade them. Security researchers have discovered that BoxedSearch.com is associated to a browser hijacker. The malicious program can penetrate popular clients, such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Apple Safari, and Opera. Upon gaining entry, the hijacker will start exploiting your system. The rogue tool has an agenda and it will not hesitate to expose users to security risks, if this will help it achieves its goals. Take this as a warning. The intruder can cause various security problems for both you and your machine.

The first task on the list of the hijacker is to render the web browser’s internal settings. It will change your homepage and default search engine to BoxedSearch.com. This gives the covert program certain privileges. It can manipulate your search results by inserting supported websites amid the legitimate matches to your queries. Not only will the sponsored results be irrelevant to what you are looking for, but they can also be dangerous. A routine activity like browsing the web in search of information will become unsafe when the hijacker settles in your system. The worst part is that the nefarious program does not allow users to revert back to their preferred settings. It will keep on resetting your browser every time you attempt to.

The BoxedSearch.com hijacker is ad-supported. It promotes third party platforms in exchange for a certain compensation. The owners of the furtive tool raise proceeds by employing the pay-per-click mechanism. The number of hits accumulates commissions. The more supported pages you enter, the higher the profit for the hijacker’s developers will be. For this reason, the shady program launches an influx of ads toward the user every time he opens his web browser. The pop-up windows appear in a variety of formats, like pop-ups, pop-unders, banners, freebies, coupon boxes, in-text links, floating, transitional, inline, contextual, interstitial, and comparison ads.

The BoxedSearch.com hijacker chooses the advertising content with a purpose. It promotes bargain shopping deals for a wide variety of commodities, such as clothes, accessories, furniture, decorative elements, technological devices, gardening equipment, sports gear, toys, games, and others. Some of the offers may intrigue you. People who like shopping online may consider this a legitimate service. This is exactly what the hijacker’s creators want you to believe. Do not fall for the false presentation. The BoxedSearch.com website does not work for your benefit. It is a pawn of the hijacker. The risk stems from the lack of security checks. Any of the supported websites could turn out to be infected. Apart from the malware threat, your personal security will also be in jeopardy. The sinister program collects statistical and personal information from the web browser and sells it darknet markets.

If you are wondering how you were infected, we can provide an explanation. The BoxedSearch.com hijacker is distributed via dark patterns. The predominant technique is bundling. The setup file of the secluded tool travels in a merged executable with unlicensed programs, like freeware, shareware, and pirated utilities. The download client includes the hijacker in its terms and conditions as a supposed bonus. The wizard is set to process the installation per default. If you do not change the settings, the unwanted program will be given access to your computer. Always take the time to read the end user agreement (EULA) of the applications you add to your system. Avoid unlicensed software vendors.

Another common distribution method is spam email campaigns. The BoxedSearch.com hijacker can lurk behind an attachment to the letter. The sender will state that the file is a piece of documentation regarding an important subject. To make the message seem genuine, he can misrepresent an existing company or organization, like the national post, the local police department, a courier firm, a bank, a government branch, an institution, or a social network. To check whether a given email is legitimate, proof the available contacts. You should also be careful with the websites you visit and the links you follow because this is another way to get infected. Entering a corrupted website can result in a virus getting automatically transferred to your system. This process is called a drive-by installation.

BoxedSearch.com Removal

Before starting the real removal process, you must reboot in Safe Mode. If you are familiar with this task, skip the instructions below and proceed to Step 2. If you do not know how to do it, here is how to reboot in Safe mode:

For Windows 98, XP, Millenium and 7:
Reboot your computer. When the first screen of information appears, start repeatedly pressing F8 key. Then choose Safe Mode With Networking from the options.

For Windows 8/8.1
Click the Start button, next click Control Panel —> System and Security —> Administrative Tools —> System Configuration.‌

Check the Safe Boot option and click OK. Click Restart when asked.
For Windows 10
Open the Start menu and click or tap on the Power button.

While keeping the Shift key pressed, click or tap on Restart.

Here are the steps you must follow to permanently remove from the browser:

Remove From Mozilla Firefox:

Open Firefox, click on top-right corner , click Add-ons, hit Extensions next.

Look for suspicious or unknown extensions, remove them all.

Remove From Chrome:

Open Chrome, click chrome menu icon at the top-right corner —>More Tools —> Extensions. There, identify the malware and select chrome-trash-icon(Remove).

Remove From Internet Explorer:
Open IE, then click IE gear icon on the top-right corner —> Manage Add-ons.

Find the malicious add-on. Remove it by pressing Disable.

Right click on the browser’s shortcut, then click Properties. Remove everything after the .exe” in the Target box.

Open Control Panel by holding the Win Key and R together. Write appwiz.cpl in the field, then click OK.

Here, find any program you had no intention to install and uninstall it.

Run the Task Manager by right clicking on the Taskbar and choosing Start Task Manager.

Look carefully at the file names and descriptions of the running processes. If you find any suspicious one, search on Google for its name, or contact me directly to identify it. If you find a malware process, right-click on it and choose End task.

Open MS Config by holding the Win Key and R together. Type msconfig and hit Enter.

Go in the Startup tab and Uncheck entries that have “Unknown” as Manufacturer.

Still can not remove BoxedSearch.com from your browser? Please, leave a comment below, describing what steps you performed. I will answer promptly.