Remove Search.geniusmediatabsearch.com Redirect

Can’t Remove Search.geniusmediatabsearch.com hijacker virus? This page includes detailed Search.geniusmediatabsearch.com Removal instructions!

The Search.geniusmediatabsearch.com website appears to be useful. It has buttons for fast access to your favorite websites, a search bar, and a live player. What else would one wish for? Well, for privacy, of course! The Search.geniusmediatabsearch.com website is the face of a nasty browser hijacker. This infection has caused a lot of changes to your web browser. It has replaced your homepage and default search engine. It has also turned your browser into a spying device. Everything you do online is now monitored. The furtive app collects information about you and sells the data to third parties. Meanwhile, it will flood you with commercials. The hijacker is programmed to inject adverts on all opened websites. Every page you visit will be covered in ad banners. Random website text will be turned into hyperlinks. Pop-up windows will force you to watch videos. There is no ad-blocking tool powerful enough to stop the commercials. On top of that, your PC will also slow down. The Search.geniusmediatabsearch.com hijacker is a real app. It runs on your CPU and uses a lot of RAM. The more adverts you see, the slower your machine will become. Some older devices may even experience crashes. You may lose important data. Luckily, you are stuck with one relatively easy to tackle type of parasite. If you take immediate action, you can remove the hijacker with ease. Don’t hesitate to remove it. This tool can never be beneficial to you. Its removal, on the other hand, can benefit your computer, it will run much smoother once the hijacker is gone. So, don’t waste time. Delete the Search.geniusmediatabsearch.com hijacker now!

remove Search.geniusmediatabsearch.com

How did I get infected with?

There are many techniques hijackers use to travel the Internet. Torrents, spam emails, and fake software updates are just the most commonly used ones. Yet, all these methods have something in common. They rely on your carelessness and negligence. The Search.geniusmediatabsearch.com hijacker needs your approval to operate. And you provided it! Do you remember allowing it to make changes to your browsers? No, you don’t! This is to be expected. You were never asked openly. The hijacker used trickery. It might have arrived as an extra program to some freeware you downloaded off the web. This method is called bundling. It is quite common nowadays. Developers would attach extra programs to the installation files of many free apps. This is all they do. Everything else is up to you. Be careful. When installing a program, opt for advanced setup option. This method is not complicated. Under it, you will be presented with a list of all extra programs that are about to be installed. More often than not, these third party tools are malicious. Deselect them. You don’t need so many programs. If you did, you would have downloaded them by yourself. A little extra caution can spare you tons of problems. This is your PC. You are the one who is responsible for its security. Always do your due diligence.

Why is this dangerous?

The Search.geniusmediatabsearch.com hijacker brings troubles. It is jeopardizing your security. As we mentioned, the app spies on you and sells your data to third parties. You may think that this is insane. That no one will be interested in buying such information. You are wrong! There are many potential buyers. They range from marketing agents to dangerous hackers. Yes, that is right. Hackers are interested in your data. You will not be so surprised once we tell you that the hijacker can steal your usernames, passwords and email addresses. If you use your PC to pay the bills or to make an online purchase, the furtive app will record your billing address and credit card details. Can you imagine the consequences if a hacker buys that information? Keeping the hijacker on board is not worth the risk. Your best course of action is its removal. If you decide to neglect the problem, however, you must know one more thing about this tool. Hackers often use it to spread corrupted ads. One click is all it takes for a virus to be downloaded on your device. There is no way to tell which ads are corrupted and which are not. The hijacker injects adverts among the search results too. No matter the search provider, the furtive app can inject entries among the displayed search results. These entries will not be marked as sponsored. You won’t be able to make an objective online research. Thus, the hijacker is turning you into an easy target. Don’t allow this. Remove this parasite before it is too late!

How to Remove Search.geniusmediatabsearch.com virus

The Search.geniusmediatabsearch.com infection is specifically designed to make money to its creators one way or another. The specialists from various antivirus companies like Bitdefender, Kaspersky, Norton, Avast, ESET, etc. advise that there is no harmless virus.

If you perform exactly the steps below you should be able to remove the Search.geniusmediatabsearch.com infection. Please, follow the procedures in the exact order. Please, consider to print this guide or have another computer at your disposal. You will NOT need any USB sticks or CDs.

WARNING! Stopping the wrong file or deleting the wrong registry key may damage your system irreversibly.
If you are feeling not technical enough just use Spyhunter Professional Malware Removal Tool to deal with the problem!
>>Download SpyHunter – a Professional Remover.

Please, keep in mind that SpyHunter’s scanner tool is free. To remove the Search.geniusmediatabsearch.com infection, you need to purchase its full version.

STEP 1: Track down Search.geniusmediatabsearch.com related processes in the computer memory

STEP 2: Locate Search.geniusmediatabsearch.com startup location

STEP 3: Delete Search.geniusmediatabsearch.com traces from Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer

STEP 4: Undo the damage done by the virus

STEP 1: Track down Search.geniusmediatabsearch.com related processes in the computer memory

  • Open your Task Manager by pressing CTRL+SHIFT+ESC keys simultaneously
  • Carefully review all processes and stop the suspicious ones.

end-malicious-process

  • Write down the file location for later reference.

Step 2: Locate Search.geniusmediatabsearch.com startup location

Reveal Hidden Files

  • Open any folder
  • Click on “Organize” button
  • Choose “Folder and Search Options”
  • Select the “View” tab
  • Select “Show hidden files and folders” option
  • Uncheck “Hide protected operating system files”
  • Click “Apply” and “OK” button

Clean Search.geniusmediatabsearch.com virus from the windows registry

  • Once the operating system loads press simultaneously the Windows Logo Button and the R key.

win-plus-r

  • A dialog box should open. Type “Regedit”

regedit

Depending on your OS (x86 or x64) navigate to:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run] or
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run] or
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run]

  • and delete the display Name: [RANDOM]

delete backgroundcontainer

  • Then open your explorer and navigate to: %appdata% folder and delete the malicious executable.

Clean your HOSTS file to avoid unwanted browser redirection

Navigate to %windir%/system32/Drivers/etc/host

If you are hacked, there will be foreign IPs addresses connected to you at the bottom. Take a look below:

hosts-redirect-virus

STEP 3 : Clean Search.geniusmediatabsearch.com traces from Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer

  • Open Google Chrome

  • In the Main Menu, select Tools then Extensions
  • Remove the Search.geniusmediatabsearch.com by clicking on the little recycle bin
  • Reset Google Chrome by Deleting the current user to make sure nothing is left behind

disable Search.geniusmediatabsearch.com from chrome

  • Open Mozilla Firefox

  • Press simultaneously Ctrl+Shift+A
  • Disable the unwanted Extension
  • Go to Help
  • Then Troubleshoot information
  • Click on Reset Firefox

remove Search.geniusmediatabsearch.com from firefox

  • Open Internet Explorer

  • On the Upper Right Corner Click on the Gear Icon
  • Click on Internet options
  • go to Toolbars and Extensions and disable the unknown extensions
  • Select the Advanced tab and click on Reset

remove Search.geniusmediatabsearch.com from ie

  • Restart Internet Explorer

Step 4: Undo the damage done by Search.geniusmediatabsearch.com

This particular Virus may alter your DNS settings.

Attention! this can break your internet connection. Before you change your DNS settings to use Google Public DNS for Search.geniusmediatabsearch.com, be sure to write down the current server addresses on a piece of paper.

To fix the damage done by the virus you need to do the following.

  • Click the Windows Start button to open the Start Menu, type control panel in the search box and select Control Panel in the results displayed above.
  • go to Network and Internet
  • then Network and Sharing Center
  • then Change Adapter Settings
  • Right-click on your active internet connection and click properties. Under the Networking tab, find Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4). Left click on it and then click on properties. Both options should be automatic! By default it should be set to “Obtain an IP address automatically” and the second one to “Obtain DNS server address automatically!” If they are not just change them, however if you are part of a domain network you should contact your Domain Administrator to set these settings, otherwise the internet connection will break!!!

You must clean all your browser shortcuts as well. To do that you need to

  • Right click on the shortcut of your favorite browser and then select properties.

safebrowsing-biz-shortcut-removal

  • in the target field remove Search.geniusmediatabsearch.com argument and then apply the changes.
  • Repeat that with the shortcuts of your other browsers.
  • Check your scheduled tasks to make sure the virus will not download itself again.

How to Permanently Remove Search.geniusmediatabsearch.com Virus (automatic) Removal Guide

Please, have in mind that once you are infected with a single virus, it compromises your whole system or network and let all doors wide open for many other infections. To make sure manual removal is successful, we recommend to use a free scanner of any professional antimalware program to identify possible registry leftovers or temporary files.

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