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

GamesNet Search is a specialized search engine. The platform offers to help people find computer games on the web. With their rise in popularity, this function stands a good chance at acquiring the interest of a significant number of users. If you like games, you may decide to try out the website. We must warn you that this would be a mistake. GamesNet Search is associated to a browser hijacker. The rogue program will interfere with your browser’s settings and expose you to security risks. You should stay away from the platform. If you discover the hijacker in your computer, take immediate actions against it.

The GamesNet Search hijacker could have entered your system without you realizing it. There are several ways for the furtive program to penetrate your machine. The most common propagation vector is bundling. The download client will include the undesired program as an optional bonus. You will have the option to deselect it when conducting the install. To detect unfavorable options, read the terms and conditions of the applications you install to your computer. The possible hosts for the GamesNet Search hijacker include freeware, shareware, and pirated utilities. As a rule of thumb, you should avoid unlicensed programs.

Others way to come in contact with the GamesNet Search hijacker include opening an attachment from a spam email and entering a corrupted website. Fake messages can be convincing. The sender can write on behalf of a reputable organization, like the national post, the local police department, a government branch, an institution, a bank, a social network, or an online shop. He can copy the respective entity’s logo and contacts to make the message seem genuine. To check whether a given letter is reliable, proof the email account it has been sent from. Corrupted websites and compromised links can transfer the GamesNet Search hijacker to your system through a single click. You should be selective of the online sources you trust on the web.

Upon penetrating your computer, the GamesNet Search hijacker will target your web browsers. It can affect all browsing clients you have installed to your machine. The clandestine program tampers with their internal settings in order to get the ability to manipulate the search functionality. It will reset your homepage and default search provider. This will enable it to change your browsing results. Supported websites will be inserted between the pages which genuinely match your queries. The owners of the GamesNet Search hijacker get paid to promote third party platforms. They receive commissions which are calculated according to the number of hits they are able to score. This payment method is called the pay-per-click system.

Since the amount of proceeds they make depends on users’ activity, the developers of the GamesNet Search hijacker have set their program to generate a high number of ads. The intrusive content will be brought in various formats, like pop-ups, pop-unders, in-text links, coupon boxes, freebies, interstitial, floating, contextual, inline, and transitional ads. You will have your screen flooded every time you go online. In an attempt to attract your attention and garner your interest, the furtive program will present bargain shopping deals in the ads. As enticing as the proposed offers may be, keep in mind that their sources are not confirmed to be reliable. The windows could contain redirects to malicious domains.

Apart from the chance of contracting malware, there is also a potential of having sensitive personal details leaked. The GamesNet Search hijacker has the ability to collect various kinds of information from the web browser. This encompasses surfing history, tracking cookies, geographic location, IP address, email, telephone number, area code, physical registration, user names, passwords, and online banking credentials. The insidious program will pack the gathered data into catalogs and sell it on the darkweb. The owners of the GamesNet Search hijacker do not ask people for permission to record and sell their private data.

GamesNet Search Uninstall

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 GamesNet Search from your browser? Please, leave a comment below, describing what steps you performed. I will answer promptly.