How to remove Searchactiv.com

What is Searchactiv.com

If you spotted that your browser has changed its search engine and the whole homepage to Searchactiv.com, then your PC is infected with a browser hijacker. Browser hijackers are a type of malware, that sneaks into the systems without the user’s consent. After doing so, they modify browser settings and apply a couple of changes. Searchactiv.com assigns a new search engine that allegedly improves browsing. Instead, it displays malicious ads and other banners that can endanger your device. Furthermore, potentially unwanted programs expose browser-related data for cybercriminals. Thereby, such information like passwords, IP-addresses, and geolocations can be misused by third-parties for revenue purposes. Searchactiv.com is a rogue application that needs to be removed from your system in order to prevent unnecessary data leaks.

How Searchactiv.com infected your computer

Potentially Unwanted Applications are spread through multiple channels. One of them is called bundling which means promoting freeware with additional offers. Such repacks and installation kits are usually downloaded from untrustworthy websites that are paid for hosting this content. Unfortunately, most swindlers do not properly disclose the information about bundled software. This means that inexperienced users are not aware of its presence and end up with inadvertent infiltrations as a result. Thus, you should be careful whilst installing something from the web – opt for “Custom” rather than “Quick” set-ups, look if “Advanced” or “Custom” options exist to untick additional offers. In addition, it is advised to avoid clicking on ads since they can contain redirects to potentially dangerous domains. In this article, you will be presented with all the necessary steps to get rid of Searchactiv.com.

Remove Searchactiv.com manually for free

Here is a manual step-by-step tutorial for full Searchactiv.com removal from your computer. This works 99% and was checked with the latest versions of the Searchactiv.com installer on operating systems with the latest updates and browser versions.

Note: Searchactiv.com can be installed as Google Chrome extension as Administrator (you may see Installed by enterprise policy inscription near it), and this will not allow removal. Therefore, before starting removal process, perform these actions:

1. Start the Command Prompt by clicking the Start menu button and typing command prompt (or just searching for “command prompt” in Windows 10 search field). Right click on the Command Prompt result and choose Run as Administrator.



2. Type in and execute the following commands:

   
rd /S /Q "%WinDir%\System32\GroupPolicyUsers"
rd /S /Q "%WinDir%\System32\GroupPolicy"
gpupdate /force

Remove Searchactiv.com from Control Panel

To start removing Searchactiv.com you should uninstall it using Control Panel. It can be present by different names – “SearchActiv” or “Searchactiv.com”. It should uninstall correctly, however, we recommend you to use IObit Uninstaller to clean leftover items after uninstalling. Here are instructions for Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10 or Mac.

Remove Searchactiv.com from Mac:

1. In the Finder sidebar, click Applications.
2. Searchactiv.com might have an Uninstaller.
3. Otherwise, drag Searchactiv.com from the Applications folder to the Trash (located at the end of the Dock).
4. Then choose Finder > Empty Trash.

Remove Searchactiv.com from Windows XP:

1. Click on Start button.
2. Choose Control Panel.
3. Click Add or Remove Programs.
4. Find SearchActiv or other suspicious program.
5. Click Uninstall.

Remove Searchactiv.com from Windows 7:

1. Click Start button.
2. Then go to Control Panel.
3. Click Uninstall a Program.
4. Find SearchActiv or other suspicious program and click Uninstall.

Remove Searchactiv.com from Windows 8:

1. Hover mouse pointer to the bottom-right corner to see Menu.
2. Click Search.
3. After that click Apps.
4. Then Control Panel.
5. Click Uninstall a Program under Programs.
6. Find SearchActiv or other suspicious program, click Uninstall.

Remove Searchactiv.com from Windows 10:

There are 2 ways to uninstall Searchactiv.com from Windows 10

Way one

1. Click on the Start button.
2. In opened menu choose Settings.
3. Click on the System tile.
4. Click Apps & features and locate SearchActiv or other suspicious program in the list.
5. Click on it and then click Uninstall button near it.

Way two (classic)

1. Right-click on the Start button.
2. In opened menu choose Programs and Features.
3. Locate SearchActiv or other suspicious program in the list.
4. Click on it and then click Uninstall button above.

Cannot uninstall Searchactiv.com

In some cases, Searchactiv.com won’t uninstall and gives you the message, that “You do not have sufficient access to uninstall Searchactiv.com. Please, contact your system administrator” when you try to remove it from Control Panel or “Access denied” error when removing the Searchactiv.com folder and files. This happens because the process or service does not allow you to do it. In this case, I will recommend you to use SpyHunter 5 or Malwarebytes or uninstall Searchactiv.com in Safe Mode. To boot in Safe Mode do the following:

1. Reboot your computer.
2. While it starts booting press F8 button.
3. This will open Advanced Boot Options menu.
4. Choose Safe Mode and wait until Windows loads.
5. Go to Control Panel > Uninstall a program and remove SearchActiv or other suspicious program

>> See detailed instructions and video tutorial on how to boot in Safe Mode

and for Mac:

If you can’t uninstall Searchactiv.com using instructions above, or it keeps coming back, you can use free AppCleaner for Mac to remove all residual data and libraries of Searchactiv.com. Follow instructions below:

1. Download free AppCleaner.
2. Drag SearchActiv from Applications folder to AppCleaner window.
3. Choose files and folders you want to remove along with Searchactiv.com.
4. Click Delete button.

Remove malicious add-ons from your browsers

Uninstalling Searchactiv.com from Control Panel often does not bring the desired effect. It sometimes has browser extension and it may still be active in Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. Here are instructions on how to remove Searchactiv.com related extension from your browsers manually.

Safari:

1. Start Safari on your Mac, click Safari to open drop-down menu and choose Preferences
2. Click Extensions tab.
3. Find SearchActiv extensions.
4. Click Uninstall button to remove it.

Google Chrome:

1. Start Google Chrome browser
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) chrome://extensions.
3. Find SearchActiv or other suspicious extensions.
4. Click the trash can icon to remove them.
5. Also remove other suspicious extensions from the list.

Mozilla Firefox:

1. Start Mozilla Firefox browser.
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) about:addons.
3. Choose SearchActiv or other suspicious extensions.
4. Click Disable or Remove button.
5. Remove all suspicious extensions from the list.

Internet Explorer (9, 10, 11):

Note: There is no feature to remove browser extensions from browser in latest version of Internet Explorer. To remove Searchactiv.com from Internet Explorer, please, perform instructions for uninstalling program from Control Panel. To disable Searchactiv.com, please, do the following:

1. Open Internet Explorer.
2. Click on gear/asterisk icon in the top-right corner.
3. In opened menu Manage Add-ons.
4. Select Toolbars and Extensions.
5. Click Disable SearchActiv or other suspicious extensions.
6. Also disable other suspicious extensions from the list.

Opera Browser:

Generally, Searchactiv.com does not install in Opera browser however you can always double check. Do the following:

1. Start Opera browser.
2. Go to Tools > Extensions > Manage Extensions.
3. Find SearchActiv or other suspicious extensions.
4. Click Uninstall button.
5. Also remove other suspicious extensions from the list.

Reset browsers settings (homepage, default search)

Searchactiv.com installs a search engine that hijacks your browsers. Here is the instruction to reset your browser’s homepage, new tab, and search engine to default values.

Reset Safari:

1. Start Safari on your Mac, click Safari to open drop-down menu and choose Preferences
2. Go to the Privacy section of Safari’s preferences.
3. Click Remove All Website Data button.
4. In opened window click Remove Now button to remove data stored by websites in Safari.
5. Go to the Advanced section of Safari’s preferences.
6. Click the Show Develop menu in menu bar option.
7. In the menu click Develop and select Empty Caches from this menu.
8. Again, go to Safari menu and choose Clear History….
9. Choose to clear all history and click Clear History button.

Google Chrome:

1. Start Google Chrome browser
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) chrome://settings.
3. Scroll down and find Show advanced settings link.
4. Click on it and scroll down to the bottom again.
5. Click Reset browser settings button and click Reset to confirm.

Mozilla Firefox:

1. Start Mozilla Firefox browser.
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) about:support.
3. Click Reset Firefox… button.
4. Click Reset Firefox to confirm.

Internet Explorer (9, 10, 11):

1. Start Internet Explorer.
2. Click on gear/asterisk icon in the top-right corner.
3. In opened menu choose Internet options.
4. Click Advanced tab.
5. Click Reset button.
6. Choose Delete personal settings and click Reset.

Opera Browser:

1. Close Opera and open command prompt from the start menu.
2. Type following command del %AppData%\Opera\Opera\operaprefs.ini
3. Start Opera.

Alternative way to remove adware browser extensions and reset browser settings

For safe and effective browser extension removal use avast! Browser Cleanup utility. Run it with administrator privileges and remove all extensions with bad rating including related to Searchactiv.com. You can also reset your browser settings for each of your browsers: Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox.