Do you know what Search.searchfzlm.com is?
After you install free software or click on the wrong third-party ad, it is possible that you will notice Search.searchfzlm.com in your browsers as your home page. Although usually you are informed about such a change taking place, it could be done in a confusing manner so it is quite likely that you do not even recall installing this search engine page. Our researchers say that you need to be careful with this one because it is actually a browser hijacker that can expose you to questionable third-party web content and thus pose a threat to your system. What is even worse, this browser hijacker may infiltrate your system along with other malicious programs. Therefore, it is not only this hijacker that you need to take care of. We recommend that you do not waste more time and remove Search.searchfzlm.com right away so that you can focus on the rest of the possible threats.
What you may not know is that it is quite easy to infect your system with a browser hijacker like this. It is enough to click on a corrupt link or a third-party ad to install this infection even directly. For example, you may be offered a third-party pop-up ad on a website that claims that you need to update you Flash driver. You may believe this pop-up and click the Install button. However, instead of a working update you may install an infected one that may also install this browser hijacker. Also, when you use a browser hijacker or questionable search engine to search the web and you click on a link or an ad on the results page, you could be redirected to malicious pages or directly install threats like this one. If this could have happened to you, we suggest that you delete Search.searchfzlm.com from your affected browsers ASAP.
What is worse, this browser hijacker can also be found in freeware bundles. This means that when you install a malicious bundle, you could infect your system with several threats, such as adware programs, Trojans, keyloggers, backdoors, fake warnings, and browser hijackers. Such a package could seriously increase your system’s vulnerability to malicious attacks. This is why we advise you to stay away from shady websites (torrent, freeware, gaming, and porn) that host an annoying number of questionable third-party advertisements that can also be disguised and you would not even realize they are ads until it is already too late. This is how lots of unsuspecting computer users infect their system with a bunch of malware threats in one single go. You may not even realize that you click on a fake download button, a fake notification, or simply you click in a search field to search for a free program or other file but a new tab opens that may drop a bundle or expose you to malicious content. It is important that you try to avoid clicking on third-party content; even more so when your system is probably infected with adware or a browser hijacker. Right now we suggest that you delete Search.searchfzlm.com. After you are done with this, you should find an online malware scanner you can trust and identify all possible threat sources on your computer.
Search.searchfzlm.com screenshot
Scroll down for full removal instructions
This browser hijacker is a newcomer from Polarity Technologies Ltd that is responsible for a great number of similar and identical clones, including Search.superspeedtester.com and Search2.searchgst.com. Sometimes only the domain name is different but the search engine pages and their features could be the very same. If there is any difference, it is usually the theme or the quick links provided on the fake toolbar. In this case, you are offered pages associated with Internet speed as well as a testing tool at the bottom of the page, which, by the way, can be hidden or shown. There is also a bar below the main search box that you can hide if you want. This bar contains a couple of thumbnail links to major sites (e.g., Facebook, Gmail, and Yahoo) as well as the promoted pages you can reach from the toolbar.
The biggest issue with this search website is the unreliability of the search engine, the main “attraction.” This browser hijacker may collect information about you and your browsing habits so that customized content can be displayed on your screen. However, this can be used to modify the search results even if you end up on a Yahoo search results page. Unfortunately, crooks may exploit this hijacker to promote their fake and malicious pages through third-party ads and links on the search results pages. If you happen to click on such an ad or link, you may be redirected to questionable websites or drop infections onto your system. If you do not want to experience online scams first hand, you should not think twice before you remove Search.searchfzlm.com from your computer.
Let us tell you now what you can do to eliminate this annoying browser hijacker. This infection mainly affects your major browsers, including Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Internet Explorer. You can use your browsers’ menu to change the home page settings to get rid of this hijacker or you can use manual removal based on our guide below this article. Remember that you need to clean all the threats from your system if you want to feel safe in your virtual world. We recommend that you start using a trustworthy anti-malware application, such as SpyHunter.
Remove Search.searchfzlm.com from browsers
Google Chrome
- Press Win+E and locate the “%LocalAppData%\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default” folder.
- Delete these files: Preferences, Secure Preferences, and Web Data
- Empty the Recycle Bin.
Internet Explorer
- Press Win+Q and enter regedit. Press the Enter key.
- Modify the “http://search.searchfzlm.com” value data in the following registry keys:
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\Start Page (64-bit!)
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\Start Page
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\Start Page - Modify the value data in the following value names in “HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchScopes\{0633EE93-D776-472f-A0FF-E1416B8B2E3A}” registry key:
FaviconURL (value data: “http://search.searchfzlm.com/favicon.ico”)
FaviconURLFallback (value data: “http://search.searchfzlm.com/favicon.ico”)
TopResultURL (value data: “http://search.searchfzlm.com”)
URL (value data: “http://search.searchfzlm.com”) - Close the editor.
Mozilla Firefox
- Press Win+E and locate the “%AppData%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\[Unique Mozilla user ID]” folder.
- Open prefs.js in a text editor (Notepad).
- Modify the user_pref("browser.startup.homepage", "http://search.searchfzlm.com/") string with a URL you want as your home page.
In non-techie terms:
Search.searchfzlm.com is a new browser hijacker that tries to show up as a beneficial tool with its features to learn about Internet speed and its speed testing tool. However, this search website can expose you to potentially unsafe third-party web content through its linked pages and the modified search results it may display to you. It is also important to mention that this hijacker usually enters your system along with other malware threats, such as adware programs and fake alerts. This clearly means multiple virtual security issues for your computer. This is why we advise you to act now and remove Search.searchfzlm.com from your browsers as well as all other related and non-related threat sources from your system. If you cannot protect your PC manually, we suggest that you install a reliable malware removal application as soon as possible.