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

Searchencrypt.com is a search engine with an unusual name. If you are familiar with cryptosystems, you might expect the engine to specialize in encryption. This is not the case. Searchencrypt.com is a general search provider. There is detailed disclosure about the ownership of the domain and the end user license agreement (EULA). The website provides services through software which belongs to a Cayman Islands company called Eightpoint Technologies Ltd. The software is distributed under an exclusive license agreement. The distributor is a company named Search Encrypt Technologies Ltd. with headquarters in Limassol, Cyprus. Despite the transparency, the Searchencrypt.com website is considered unreliable. Security researchers have discovered that the domain is associated to a rogue browser hijacker.

The hijacker behind Searchencrypt.com can penetrate all common web browsers, including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge. The covert program rearranges both the user and the internal settings. Your security protection will be brought down. Your homepage and default search engine will be changed to Searchencrypt.com. This allows the shady tool to alter the search results. Supported websites will be inserted amid the legitimate matches to your queries. While the hijacker will waste your time with irrelevant content, the real problem is the underlying security threat. The sponsored platforms are not confirmed to be reliable. Any of them could be hazardous.

The owners of the Searchencrypt.com hijacker use a couple of monetizing techniques. The main is supported advertising. The clandestine program generates advertisements in different formats. This includes classic pop-ups, pop-unders, banners, coupon boxes, in-text links, transitional, contextual, inline, floating, comparison and interstitial ads. The hijacker lists bargain offerings for high quality goods. This is the focal point of the advertising campaigns. The furtive program attempts to attract people with lower prices than they are used to. The advertisements the Searchencrypt.com hijacker displays may be the best deals you have ever come across. If you are wondering whether to take a chance on random ads from the web, you have a good reason to be asking questions. The ads are of unconfirmed origin. Any of them could lead to an infected website. The risk is not worth it.

The other source of income for the hijacker behind Searchencrypt.com is the information, stored in users’ browsers. The insidious program gathers data from all browsing clients, packs it into catalogs and sells it on darknet markets. The following information can be obtained from your web browser: history, tracking cookies, keystrokes, IP address, geographic location, residency, postal code, email, telephone number, user names and passwords. The people who purchase your private details will be able to access your online accounts. If you use online financial services, you can have your deposits withdrawn. Furthermore, cyber crooks can create accounts under your name, provided that there is enough personal information to register an account.

Knowing how the Searchencrypt.com hijacker is distributed can help you protect your system from penetration. Note that the Searchencrypt.com domain is not a source for the furtive program. It only acts as a vessel. The hijacker uses a couple of propagation vectors. The first method is bundling. An unlicensed program, like freeware or shareware, can contain the setup file of the Searchencrypt.com hijacker in its executable. When running the installation wizard, you should go through the separate steps carefully. The unwanted program will be listed as a bonus somewhere between the lines. Extra software should never be accepted. It is likely to be malicious.

The other way to contact the Searchencrypt.com hijacker is through a spam email campaign. In this case, the program would be secluded behind an attachment. The attached file can be a document, an image, a zipped folder or a compressed archive. Before opening a file from an email, make sure the message is legitimate. Check the sender’s contacts. If he has misrepresented an existing company or entity, you will discover that the email account does not match the organization’s contacts. In many cases, spammers write on behalf of reputable organizations, like legislative organs, banks, national posts, courier firms, social networks and shopping platforms. While this makes the bogus messages seem genuine, it also makes them easy to identify as fake.

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