Do you know what Search.volfind.com is?
Do not trust blindly websites that look exactly like decent search engines because they are not necessarily trustworthy. Search.volfind.com is an example illustrating this. It looks and acts like legitimate search tools do, but it cannot be called reliable by any means. Instead, researchers have categorized it as a browser hijacker. It has received this name because it often appears on browsers without permission. In most cases, it changes homepages on all browsers. This is done to make sure that users use Search.volfind.com to search for the information on the web. The more people use it, the bigger is the possibility that they will click on the provided sponsored search results and, consequently, help the author of this website earn the pay-per-click revenue. Unfortunately, Search.volfind.com does not do anything really good to users even though it pretends to be a powerful search engine. Since its drawbacks outweigh the benefits completely, our experienced security specialists who deal with dangerous search tools every day suggest getting rid of Search.volfind.com as soon as possible. They say that it would be a sin to keep a website that only pretends to be a reputable search provider when really good tools for searching the web are out there waiting for you.
Search.volfind.com makes several modifications to set itself on browsers. First, more attentive users who visit the system registry from time to time might find a modified data of the Start Page Value located in HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main. Second, users might notice lines containing information about the preferred search tool inside the prefs.js file (it is one of Mozilla Firefox browsers) replaced with Search.volfind.com. Finally, in order to appear on Google Chrome, this browser hijacker makes changes inside three files of Google Chrome: Preferences, Web Data, and Secure Preferences. Once all these modifications are applied, Search.volfind.com becomes visible when browsers are opened. At first glance, Search.volfind.com might really seem to be a reputable search provider, but our advice would be not to use it by any means and replace it with a reputable search tool as soon as possible. Users who do not do anything to get rid of this bad search tool risk encountering malicious software. Search.volfind.com will not download malicious applications on the computer automatically, but it might display sponsored search results which redirect to third-party websites. According to our security experts, redirections to untrustworthy pages might happen too. These pages might contain bad applications and install them on users’ computers as soon as they enter them. It is, actually, not the only problem linked to these pages. They might also be threats to users’ privacy too, specialists say, because they might collect the information about users as well. Search.volfind.com might act this way too, as information in its Privacy Policy document says. Luckily, it promises to record only non-personally identifiable details, including IP address, screen resolution, websites visited, etc. for optimization purposes and statistical analysis. These details cannot identify users personally, so privacy-related issues should not arise, but, of course, there are other reasons (they are all listed in this paragraph) why Search.volfind.com should be fully removed.
Search.volfind.com screenshot
Scroll down for full removal instructions
Most probably, Search.volfind.com is spread in software bundles because our specialists have not managed to find a single user who has set Search.volfind.com voluntarily. Users report that they find Snap.do malware installed on their PCs too, so it is very likely that they are spread together in the same software package. Browser hijackers and other untrustworthy applications are often spread using the bundling method, so users should not only be cautious, but also install reputable security applications if their PCs are connected to the web.
Instructions which will lead users through the manual Search.volfind.com removal process are provided below this article, but it is, of course, possible to get rid of this search engine in a different way too, for example, to scan the computer with SpyHunter – an automatic malware remover. The most important thing is not which removal method to choose, but to get rid of an undesirable website.
Delete Search.volfind.com
Internet Explorer
- Launch Run by pressing Win+R.
- Type regedit in the box and click OK.
- Move to HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main and find the Start Page Value there.
- Right-click on it and select Modify.
- Delete whatever is written in the Value data field and click OK.
Mozilla Firefox
- Press Win+E and type in the URL bar %AppData%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\.
- Find the profile folder having random symbols and open it.
- Locate the prefs.js file there.
- Open it with Notepad and delete user_pref("browser.startup.homepage", "http://Search.volfind.com"); .
- Save the changes.
Google Chrome
- Press Win+E.
- Open %LocalAppData%\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default.
- Locate Preferences, Web Data, and Secure Preferences (files).
- Open them one by one with Notepad and replace all instances of Search.volfind.com with a reputable search engine.
- Save the changes.
In non-techie terms:
Browser hijackers tend to travel with other applications in software bundles. Not all of them are harmless. In the case of Search.volfind.com, it is known that it comes with Snap.do malware, so you will need to delete it separately. Unfortunately, other bad programs, depending on the users’ location, might have entered the system with this browser hijacker too, so scanning the system with a reputable scanner after the Search.volfind.com removal is a must. Do this only if you have erased this website manually.