Do you know what Search.searchfmn.com is?
Search.searchfmn.com is a really questionable search engine that can appear on all the browsers, including Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, and Mozilla Firefox. This search engine looks really useful at first sight. It even allows users to access Google Maps, Yahoo Maps, Bing Maps, Traffic information, and check the weather forecast. Even though this search engine looks really decent, we highly recommend that you delete it and set another one because it is not fully reliable. In fact, we believe that you should never use search engines that act like browser hijackers, i.e. modify users’ preferred settings without permission. We believe that it will not be so easy to get rid of Search.searchfmn.com; however, we are going to help you with its removal in this article.
Search.searchfmn.com usually applies changes to browsers after users click on the Install button available on fastmapsnow.com web page. The version of Chrome is also available at the Chrome Web Store. Users want to download this program because it promises to help them avoid heavy traffic, enable them to search maps and satellite images easily, and it claims to be completely free. Have you downloaded it too? If so, there is no doubt that you have noticed that your homepage and search engine is changed. In addition to this, you will see a bar at the top. Search.searchfmn.com is not very dangerous itself, but it will provide you with the modified Yahoo! search results. These ads and links incorporated among the search results can cause harm to your system really quickly because they can redirect to unreliable web pages run by cyber criminals. Of course, this is not the only reason why we recommend getting rid of Search.searchfmn.com.
Another reason why you should eliminate this software is the fact that it will collect information. We have found out after checking the Privacy Policy that Search.searchfmn.com will store URLs you visit and information about your homepage. On top of that, it will collect and store information about your search activities, e.g. your search queries. As can be seen, you might not only infect your system with malware, but might also experience privacy-related problems if you decide to keep Search.searchfmn.com.
We also want to mention that you have agreed that Search.searchfmn.com will provide other services. To be more specific, it will update itself whenever it wants to, it can provide you with notifications, and it will install cookies on your browsers. In fact, we are not surprised at all that Search.searchfmn.com acts like that because this search engine acts exactly like Yourmapsnow.com, mytelevisionxp.com, and myinterestxp.com. All of the aforementioned search providers, including Search.searchfmn.com are very popular in the USA, so if you live there, you should be cautious all the time. Of course, other users have to be careful too.
Even though Search.searchfmn.com has its official website (fastmapsnow.com) and can be easily installed from there, specialists still say that it is unlikely that users install the Fast Maps Now extension themselves. According to the research they carried out, this software often comes bundled with other applications. The extension responsible for the presence of Search.searchfmn.com and other programs that travel with it are mainly spread through bundled malicious installers. Remember, other unwanted programs might use this way to enter systems too, so you should be very careful and stop downloading programs from unreliable web pages.
If you want to erase Search.searchfmn.com completely and set another homepage and search engine, you have to delete the software via Control Panel (this will remove Search.searchfmn.com only from IE). In order to erase Search.searchfmn.com from Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox, you have to delete the Fast Maps Now extension from these browsers. You can also delete the extension folder which you will find by following this path C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\loacbfmngkflichcfamfmfjcaidijofb. In our opinion, the quickest way to do that is to reset Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome. Less experienced users should go for the automatic Search.searchfmn.com removal. If you have some experience in malware removal, you can also delete Search.searchfmn.com by accessing the registry and restoring the changes (works for IE only). All you have to do is to go to this registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main and then change data in the Start Page Value, i.e. to set another start page. After doing that, it is a must to modify URL, FaviconURLFallback, FaviconURL, and TopResultsURL Values. You will find them in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchScopes\{0633EE93-D776-472f-A0FF-E1416B8B2E3A}.
Delete Search.searchfmn.com
Windows XP
- Click the Start button.
- Select Control Panel.
- Click Add or Remove Programs.
- Select the program and click Remove.
Windows 7/Vista
- Open the Start menu and click Control Panel.
- Click Uninstall a program.
- Right-click on the unwanted program and click Uninstall.
Windows 8/8.1/10
- Launch RUN.
- Enter Control Panel in the box and click OK.
- Click Uninstall a program.
- Select the unwanted application and click Uninstall.
Internet Explorer
- Open your browser and tap Alt+T.
- Select Internet Options.
- Click on the Advanced tab and click Reset.
- Check the Delete personal settings box and click Reset.
Mozilla Firefox
- Open your browser and tap Alt+H.
- Select Troubleshooting information.
- Click Refresh Firefox.
- Click on this button once again.
Google Chrome
- Launch your browser.
- Tap Alt+F.
- Select Settings.
- Click Show advanced settings.
- Click Reset Settings.
- Click Reset.
In non-techie terms:
There are hundreds of suspicious search engines on the web. Therefore, you have to be very careful all the time. In our opinion, it would be best that you install a reputable antimalware tool, e.g. SpyHunter. Keep it enabled and perform system scans periodically.