Do you know what Search.searchtnl.com is?
Search.searchtnl.com may look like any other search engine, but according to our researchers who tested it in our internal lab, the application is nothing more than another browser hijacker from an unreliable developer called Polarity, LTD. If you ever encountered threats like Search.futuremediatabsearch.com, Search.ourmediatabsearch.com, Search.yourinterestscenter.com, you should realize what you could expect from Search.searchtnl.com as it is almost identical to these search tools. In such case, we advise you not to waste any time and slide below where you can find our removal guide and eliminate this threat. For users who do not know much about browser hijackers, we recommend reading the article first. From the rest of the text, you can learn how these questionable search tools might be distributed and find out more about the way they may affect the user’s browsing.
We believe it is best to start with telling our readers how this application may manage to enter their system. The researchers believe Search.searchtnl.com could be distributed with bundled installation files that could be downloaded from torrent or other untrustworthy file-sharing web pages. As soon as you open a setup file, you should look for advanced or custom installation settings option since this way you might have an opportunity to deselect all unwanted additional program suggestions. Unfortunately, not all setup files provide such option and in such case, we advise you to carefully review End User License Agreement or any other information provided by the configuration wizard. Probably, an easier option to protect the system would be to download a reputable antimalware tool, but being cautious will not do any harm either.
After the application appears on the system, it may hijack the user’s browser by changing the default homepage with Search.searchtnl.com. If the user starts using it for browsing the Internet, the search tool could begin gathering information related to his browsing habits, e.g. visited web pages, bought goods, clicked ads, and more. According to this collected information, the browser hijacker might show you targeted third-party advertisements, such as pop-up ads, banners, etc. Interaction with this content could be dangerous both to the computer’s safety and your privacy, because if the ads appear to be from unreliable or even malicious web pages, clicking them could expose the system to various threats or lead you to scam websites (sites asking to participate in fake surveys, lotteries, and so on.).
Search.searchtnl.com screenshot
Scroll down for full removal instructions
What might seem confusing is that these advertisements might be displayed by search.yahoo.com. Our researchers say it should be a modified version, which means the application could be able to inject third-party advertising content of its own. In other words, the advertisements you could encounter probably would not show up while using the original Yahoo search engine. Naturally, because of the possible suspicious advertising content among the search results, we would recommend switching to a more reliable search engine, e.g. google.com, a non-modified version of yahoo.com, etc. To remove Search.searchtnl.com from your homepage, you should erase the browser hijacker.
One of the ways to eliminate the threat is to fix the files belonging to the hijacked browser that the application may have modified to set itself as your default homepage site. This process is explained in the removal guide placed below this text, so if you do not know where to begin, you can simply take a look and follow the available steps. The second option is to get a reputable antimalware tool, set it to perform a full system scan and then wait till it detects Search.searchtnl.com or other possible threats. Lastly, the user should click the deletion button, and all of the detections would be erased immediately.
Get rid of Search.searchtnl.com
Internet Explorer
- Press Win+R.
- Type Regedit into the provided box.
- Tap Enter OK and get to this directory: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main
- Right-click a value name called Start Page.
- Select Modify and replace http://search.searchtnl.com with a reliable website.
- Press OK and locate this directory: HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchScopes\{0633EE93-D776-472f-A0FF-E1416B8B2E3A}
- Look for the listed value names:
FaviconURL
FaviconURLFallback
FaviconURLFallback
URL - Right-click them separately and press Modify.
- Replace their value data with trustworthy links and click OK.
- Close the Registry Editor.
Mozilla Firefox
- Press Win+E.
- Find the particular location: %APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\{user profile}
- Select a file called prefs.js and open it with Notepad.
- Search for a line with the hijacker’s link: user_pref(“browser.startup.homepage”, “http://search.searchtnl.com”).
- Replace http://search.searchtnl.com with a reliable site and press Ctrl+S.
- Close the file.
Google Chrome
- Tap Win+E.
- Locate the provided path: %LocalAppData%\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default
- Find files named as Preferences, Secure Preferences, and Web Data.
- Then right-click them separately and choose Delete.
In non-techie terms:
Search.searchtnl.com is a treat that seeks to replace your homepage in hope you will use the provided search tool for surfing the Internet. However, instead of doing so, we advise you to get rid of it as soon as possible. Our researchers say the application may use a modified Yahoo search engine to bring you annoying advertising content. To make matters worse, there is a chance some of it might not necessarily be reliable, e.g. part of the ads could come from sites distributing threats like the browser hijacker, malicious applications such as Trojans, viruses, etc., or other potentially dangerous content. Users who do not wish to take such risks can delete the suspicious search tool with the removal guide located above or a reputable antimalware tool.