How to remove Live Searching

A pretentious homepage called Searchinglive.net is a malicious homepage hijacker that originates from adware program Live Searching. As you can see, it appears like a normal search engine and in fact, it claims that its presence in the browser is helpful in enhancing the user’s online search experience. The problem with this is, it can appear on Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Edge without authority from users. Because of this persistent behavior of Live Searching, computer security experts rank it as a potentially unwanted application (PUA).

How Live Searching spreads?

With regards to distribution method used by the creators, we observed a similar pattern as how most adware utilizes freeware bundles masking as appealing application like utility, media manager, download helper, and software update. Live Searching may be part of the hundreds of freeware now circulating the internet and a large fraction of it are hosted on unreliable websites.

When freeware enters the computer freely at user’s discretion, the entire app in the package including Live Searching also loads, hence this one benefits from discrete installation procedure. As a matter of fact, it is secretly integrated in the browser as an extension that partly controls various sections as homepage, new tab, and search tool. As such, Live Searching is all over the place, taking vital spot of the internet program.

Screenshot of Live Searching

Risks of installing Live Searching extension

The takeover proceedings by Live Searching will not only allow the adware to monitor every online search activity of victims, it can also identify geographical location and logs their IP address. This is valuable for adware’s objective of generating online profit by displaying targeted advertisements on the victim’s internet program. To lift up its revenue even further, Live Searching continues to collect vital data and stores them for future use.

With presented risks to your online privacy and security, it is very considerable to remove Live Searching as soon as possible. Complete guide to accomplish this task is presented below.

Live Searching Removal Procedure

Below is a systematic instruction that is very useful in getting rid of unwanted programs from compromised Windows computers. Aside from removing the malicious browser extension, this guide is also helpful in deleting browser hijackers and pop-ups. In order to totally eliminate the threat, it is vital to follow the process exactly.

Quick Fix - Scan the PC with Combo Cleaner for Windows

Combo Cleaner is a trusted PC security and optimization tool equipped with powerful virus and malware detection engine. This program can get rid of browser hijacker like Live Searching through this procedure.

1. Download the application from the following page:

2. Save the file to your preferred location.

3. Double-click the downloaded file CCSetup.exe and install with the default settings.

CC for Windows Installation

4. At the end of the setup process, click Finish to run Combo Cleaner.

5. The tool will update the signature file, please wait for this process to complete.

6. To begin checking for threats like Live Searching, click on the Start Scan button. Wait for this scan to finish.

CC for Windows Start Scan

7. At the end of the scan process, click on Remove all threats to delete Live Searching hijacker including all malicious objects from the computer.

Free features of Combo Cleaner for Windows includes Disk Cleaner, Big Files finder, Duplicate files finder, and Uninstaller. To use antivirus, privacy scanner, and to delete identified threats, users have to upgrade to a premium version.

Please continue with the succeeding removal procedures if your are comfortable to manually get rid of the threat and malicious items linked with it.

Step 1 : Delete Live Searching Browser Extension

Most adware and unwanted programs use an application called a "browser extension" to be able to take over the settings of internet applications. Therefore, we highly recommend checking and removing the extension that is closely related to Live Searching. If it is not present, look for and delete any suspicious browser extension.

Remove the Live Searching Extension from Google Chrome

1. Open your Google Chrome browser.

2. Type chrome://extensions/ in the address bar and press Enter on the keyboard.

Chrome URL

3. Find Live Searching or any relevant entry and remove it from the Google Chrome browser.

Uninstall the Live Searching Extension from Mozilla Firefox

1. Open the Mozilla Firefox browser.

2. Type about:addons in the address bar and press Enter on the keyboard.

Firefox URL

3. Choose Extensions from the sidebar menu.

4. Look for an object that pertains to Live Searching and remove it from the browser.

After deleting the malicious browser extension, it is expected that pop-ups and other troubles will be gone from the internet browser.

Remove Live Searching from Microsoft Windows and Edge Browser

1. On your keyboard, press Windows Key + R and then, type the appwiz.cpl command.

2. The Program and Features window will open. Arrange the list in a chronological manner, with recently installed applications on top. To do this, click on the 'Installed On' column.

Add-Remove Malware

3. Select Live Searching or a recently installed unwanted entry. Then, click on Uninstall to remove it from the Windows system.

If Live Searching is still present on the browser and there are still homepage and pop-ups, another option is to remove the browser hijacker from the browser settings.

4. Open the Microsoft Edge program.

5. Input edge://extensions/ in the URL bar and press Enter on the keyboard.

6. Look for and Remove or Disable entries for Live Searching from the Installed Extensions area. Additionally, delete the same object from the Search Providers section by executing the Hijacker Removal Procedure for Edge.

7. Close the window and restart Microsoft Edge.

Step 2 : Scan the computer with Sophos Antivirus

To remove Live Searching automatically, scanning the computer with this powerful anti-virus tool is recommended. This scanner does not just uncover known threats like viruses or malware, it is also effective in discovering browser hijacker like Live Searching that slows down online browsing activities.

1. Download Sophos Virus Removal Tool from the link below. Save the file on your computer where you can easily access it.

2. Once the download completes, browse the location of the file. Double-click to run the program and begin the install process.

3. On first windows of installation wizard, click Next to continue. Then, it will display the program’s License Agreement. You need to Accept the terms in order to proceed. If Windows prompts for User Account Control, please click Yes to proceed.

Screenshot of Sophos EULA Page

4. On succeeding windows, click Next or Continue to carry on with the installation. After completing the installation process, Launch Sophos Virus Removal Tool.

5. Internet connection is required when running this scanner in order to download important updates. Make sure that everything is up-to-date to effectively remove malicious program like Live Searching.

6. Click the  button to  carry out the Scan. This will check the system for presence of malicious objects, malware, and viruses. The tool reveals items that were found linked to Live Searching and other suspicious entities. Be sure to remove all identified threats.

Screenshot of Sophos Virus Scan

The above procedures should have totally eliminated the Live Searching browser hijacker. However, if you found that there are still remnants of the threat, please proceed to manual removal of associated objects as outlined below.

Step 3 : Scan and Delete Adware with AdwCleaner

In addition to the procedure, we suggest scanning the computer with AdwCleaner tool. Possibly, there are some traces of Live Searching on the browser that was not deleted during the preceding steps. This tool will scan the computer and check for presence of malicious applications as well as invalid browser entries that produces hijacking, redirects, and pop-ups.

1. Follow the link below to download the tool called AdwCleaner.

2. When the download has completed, please close all running programs on the computer especially browsers affected by Live Searching.

3. Browse the location of the downloaded file and double-click on adwcleaner_Ver.exe to start running the tool. Then, click on Scan button.

Image of AdwCleaner Dashboard

4. AdwCleaner searches the computer for malicious programs, extensions, plug-ins, adware, and any items that may be associated to Live Searching. It will also check for suspicious entries on browser settings that is associated with the hijacker.

5. Clean or Remove all suspicious and harmful items identified after the thorough scan.

6. After the cleanup procedure, rebooting the computer is required to finalize the removal of detected threats.

Check if your internet browser application is no longer being bothered by Live Searching. If the browser hijacker still persists, please continue with the steps below to reset internet programs to default settings.

Optional : Reset Internet Browser Program

Cleaning your internet browser from clutter and unwanted add-on/extension is a must when dealing with Live Searching. The procedure below discusses on resetting various browsers to their default state.

Restore Google Chrome to Default Settings

Resetting Google Chrome to its default settings is helpful in deleting hard-to-remove extensions, such as Live Searching. This method is highly advisable to perform if you have difficulty removing unwanted extensions.

1. Open the Google Chrome internet browser.
2. On the address bar, type chrome://settings/reset and press the Enter key.
3. Click on Reset Settings on the sidebar and choose Restore settings to their original defaults.
4. On the confirmation window, click the Reset settings button to clear all entries for Live Searching.
5. Close the existing tab and restart Google Chrome. That should have removed the Live Searching extension and associated objects.

Reset Mozilla Firefox to Default

This section describes how to remove unwanted extensions from Firefox that may be related to Live Searching. This process can fix many browser issues by restoring Firefox to factory settings without affecting your essential information (bookmarks, browsing history, passwords, and Internet cookies) on the browser. If you desire to remove only a specific extension, please see the manual removal of add-ons from Firefox.

1. Input the string about:support on the Firefox web address and press Enter on the keyboard.
2. You will now see the Troubleshooting Information page of Mozilla Firefox.
3. You will notice a section in the upper-right corner of the screen stating, Give Firefox a tune-up. Click the Refresh Firefox button.
4. If a confirmation window appears, click Refresh Firefox to continue.
5. Firefox browser will close and start the resetting process. When done, it will display a list of restored data. Live Searching should be gone by now. Click Finish to open a fresh version of Firefox.

Restore Microsoft Edge to Default Settings

1. Open the Microsoft Edge browser.
2. On the address bar, please input edge://settings/reset and press Enter on the keyboard.
3. Once you are on the Reset Settings page, click on Restore settings to their default values.
4. A confirmation window will appear; click on the Reset button to continue.

Your data, like favorites, bookmarks, and history, will remain in the browser. However, this process will delete add-ons by Live Searching and other unknown objects.

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