SearchAssist.me Removal Guide

SearchAssist.me is a suspicious application that we are forced to classify as browser hijacker. There are countless of articles about this program online, and some computer security experts consider it an adware application, while others claim it is a redirect virus. Truth to be told, SearchAssist.me is not a redirect virus, because it is not a dangerous computer infection. Users install it onto their systems willingly (albeit unknowingly), so it means that you can remove SearchAssist.me from a PC with ease. The question is though, how this application managed to enter your system if you had no intention of having it.

This application can be found on Chrome Web Store. It is promoted as a browser plug-in that can enhance your search results “by giving you more information about your search keyword.” There are a lot of similar applications out there that promise to improve your web search, but you should know better than to trust SearchAssist.me blindly. Just because it is available on Chrome Web Store, it does not mean that SearchAssist.me cannot affect other browsers. In fact, this browser hijacker is compatible with Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer web browsers as well.

The peculiar thing about this application is that although it should change your default homepage and search engine to SearchAssist.me, it does not happen on a regular basis. Rather than that, SearchAssist.me adds an extension to all main browsers that collects data on your web browsing habits. Collecting such information is not illegal, but you need to keep in mind that the program might share the information collected with unreliable third-parties, consequently exposing you to potentially corrupted content.

You might say that SearchAssist.me is a genuine computer infection, because it entered your system when you did not want that. Such programs seldom spread through official websites. The main distribution method for adware, browser hijackers and similar apps is bundled downloads. It means that the setup file for SearchAssist.me hides within a software package you download at a random third-party file hosting web page. It is very likely that you have downloaded and installed this application on your PC without even realizing it.

SearchAssist.me must have arrived at your computer together with a number of other unwanted applications. Therefore, when you remove SearchAssist.me, you have to terminate all the other potentially undesirable programs as well. If you don’t know which programs that might be, scan your computer with SpyHunter free scanner. When you receive a full list of unwanted programs, uninstall them at once.

Luckily, it is not hard to uninstall SearchAssist.me via Control Panel. Manual removal automatically deletes the extensions from your browser as well. However, you might also want to reset your browser settings to default, just to make sure that all the plug-in’s traces are gone.

How to remove SearchAssist.me

Windows 8

1. Slide mouse cursor to the bottom right of the screen.
2. Wait for Charm bar to appear and then click Settings.
3. Go to Control Panel and click Uninstall a program.
4. Highlight SearchAssist.me and click Uninstall.

Windows Vista & Windows 7

1. Open Start menu and select Control Panel.
2. Go to Uninstall a program and remove SearchAssist.me.

Windows XP

1. Click Start menu button and navigate to Control Panel.
2. Select Add or remove programs and uninstall SearchAssist.me.

How to reset browser settings to default

Internet Explorer

1. Press Alt+T and click Internet options.
2. Open Advanced tab and click Reset.
3. Select Delete personal settings and press Reset.
4. Click Close.

Mozilla Firefox

1. Press Alt+H and click Troubleshooting information.
2. Press Reset Firefox on a new tab.
3. Click Reset Firefox on a pop-up box and press Finish.

Google Chrome

1. Press Alt+F and click Settings.
2. Scroll down and click Show advanced settings.
3. Scroll down again and click Reset browser settings button.
4. Press Reset on a pop-up box.