How to remove MovieSearchBox browser hijacker? — Fix Guide

Written by Wilbur Woodham
The MovieSearchBox search hijacker is an illustration of a standard unwanted program; such applications are distributed enormously these days. On this page you will see the complete guidance of “MovieSearchBox” hijacker removal in various ways: using anti-malware programs and also manual removal procedure.
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Removing MovieSearchBox manually may take hours and may damage your PC in the process. I recommend you to download GridinSoft Anti-Malware for threats removal. Allows to complete scan and cure your PC during the trial period.
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MovieSearchBox – What is it?

“MovieSearchBox” search hijacker is a potentially unwanted application (PUA)1, that is distributed as a plugin for your web browser. It is usually spread as an add-on for Chrome or Firefox, that helps to browse some particular info, as an example, about sporting activity events, make your web browser far more secure, enable downloading of any kind of video, et cetera. Also, this app adds the “Managed by your organization” feature (on Chrome browsers).

Nevertheless, the “MovieSearchBox” plugin is fairly pointless since all such functions are already built-in to your browser and/or system. Such advertising and marketing mottos are targeted at low-skilled computer users, such as pensioners or schoolchildren. But occasionally even qualified users are getting caught on such an attraction. In particular situations, this hijacker is distributed together with free programs.

MovieSearchBox hijacker - Moviesearchbox.com

MovieSearchBox Search Hijacker

Here is a short summary for the MovieSearchBox hijacker
NAME MovieSearchBox
Site Moviesearchbox.com
Hosting AS13335 Cloudflare, Inc.
United States, San Francisco
Infection Type Browser Hijacker, Unwanted Application
IP Address 172.67.198.47
Symptoms Changed search engine; search queries redirection
Similar behavior Getgamesearch, Gamesearchit, Direct
Fix Tool
To remove possible virus infections, try to scan your PC

How harmful is MovieSearchBox hijacker?

Besides its impracticality, MovieSearchBox hijacker is also really harmful for web browser usage. It modifies your search engine to its specific – Moviesearchbox.com, and also changes your background, adding its watermark on your wallpaper (or, occasionally, changing it to default with the specified sign).

Aside from seeable alterations done by MovieSearchBox hijacker, you may observe that many of your search queries are redirecting to the suspicious sites, full of web links and advertisements – so-called doorway sites. Such sites can have links for malware downloads. The chance of redirecting rises if you try to open Google search page by force.

However all these actions are much more annoying than truly hazardous. The most important threat, specifically for individuals who have a lot of confidential information in their web browsers, is embedded in data gathering functions. Cookie files, chats, often-visited web pages, as well as various other activities are easily gathered by MovieSearchBox hijacker.

How to remove MovieSearchBox search hijacker?

  • Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware.
  • Open GridinSoft Anti-Malware and perform a “Standard scan“.
  • “Move to quarantine” all items.
  • Open “Tools” tab – Press “Reset Browser Settings“.
  • Select proper browser and options – Click “Reset”.
  • Restart your computer.

Browser hijackers are generally rather very easy to delete. In many cases, they have a separate app that can be found in the list of installed programs. Due to the specific distribution method of MovieSearchBox hijacker, it can be simply tracked and deleted manually. However, if you got MovieSearchBox in the package with a free program, your personal computer can be contaminated with a lot more severe malwaretrojans, spyware or even ransomware. That’s why I’d advise you use anti-malware tools to delete the MovieSearchBox PUA and all other malware.

You can make use of Microsoft Defender2 – it is capable of discovering and removing a wide range of malware, including mentioned hijacker. However, serious malware, that might be present on your computer in the specified situation, can disable the Windows antimalware tool by modifying the Group Policies. To prevent such situations, it is far better to utilize GridinSoft Anti-Malware.

To detect and remove all unwanted applications on your PC with GridinSoft Anti-Malware, it’s better to utilize Standard or Full scan. Quick Scan is not able to find all the malicious programs, because it scans only the most popular registry entries and directories.

Main screen in GridinSoft Anti-Malware

You can observe the detected malware sorted by their possible hazard simultaneously with the scan process. But to perform any actions against the viruses, you need to hold on until the scan is finished, or to stop the scan.

GridinSoft Anti-Malware during the scan

To set the action for every detected malicious or unwanted program, click the arrow in front of the name of the detected virus. By default, all malware will be moved to quarantine.

List of the detected malware after the scan

Reverting browser settings to original ones

To revert your browser settings, you need to use the Reset Browser Settings option. This action is not able to be counteracted by any virus, hence, you will surely see the result. This action can be found in the Tools tab.

Tools tab in GridinSoft Anti-Malware

After pressing the Reset Browser Settings button, the menu will be displayed, where you can specify, which settings will be reverted to the original.

Reset Browser Settings options

Deleteing MovieSearchBox hijacker manually

Besides using anti-malware software for browser restoration, you may choose the “Reset browser settings” function, which is usually embedded in all popular browsers.

To reset Edge, do the following steps :
  1. Open “Settings and more” tab in upper right corner, then find here “Settings” button. In the appeared menu, choose “Reset settings” option :
  2. Reseting the Edge browser

  3. After picking the Reset Settings option, you will see the following menu, stating about the settings which will be reverted to original :
For Mozilla Firefox, do the next actions :
  1. Open Menu tab (three strips in upper right corner) and click the “Help” button. In the appeared menu choose “troubleshooting information” :
  2. The first step to revert Mozilla Firefox

  3. In the next screen, find the “Refresh Firefox” option :
  4. The second step of Firefox restoration
    After choosing this option, you will see the next message :
    The last step for Firefox

If you use Google Chrome
  1. Open Settings tab, find the “Advanced” button. In the extended tab choose the “Reset and clean up” button :
  2. In the appeared list, click on the “Restore settings to their original defaults” :
  3. Finally, you will see the window, where you can see all the settings which will be reset to default :
Opera can be reset in the next way
  1. Open Settings menu by pressing the gear icon in the toolbar (left side of the browser window), then click “Advanced” option, and choose “Browser” button in the drop-down list. Scroll down, to the bottom of the settings menu. Find there “Restore settings to their original defaults” option :
  2. After clicking the “Restore settings…” button, you will see the window, where all settings, which will be reset, are shown :

As an afterword, I want to say that time plays against you and your PC. The activity of browser hijacker must be stopped as soon as possible, because of the possibility of other malware injection. This malware can be downloaded autonomously, or offered for you to download in one of the windows with advertisements, which are shown to you by the hijacker. You need to act as fast as you can.

I need your help to share this guide.

Browser hijackers are among the largest and also disruptive kinds of malware. I published this article to help you, so I wish you will help me to make the computer world completely clean of malware. Please, share this article in the social networks you use – Twitter, Reddit, Facebook – wherever.
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Wilbur Woodham
How to Remove MovieSearchBox?

Name: MovieSearchBox

Description: MovieSearchBox - a lot of users became a victim of browser hijacker. I have a lot of friends who literally bombed me with the questions like “how to remove MovieSearchBox?”. In this article we will show you how to deal with MovieSearchBox (Moviesearchbox.com), which may corrupt your browser’s correct performance, and create a lot of troubles while you are working.

Operating System: Windows

Application Category: Browser Hijacker

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References

  1. More information about PUAs
  2. Detailed review of Microsoft Defender

About the author

Wilbur Woodham

I was a technical writer from early in my career, and consider IT Security one of my foundational skills. I’m sharing my experience here, and I hope you find it useful.

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