Community Chat

[Sue98]

I just noticed something different on my computer when I go to do a google search.  The search engine appears to be something called "Search Encrypt" rather than Google.  Can anyone tell me what this is and how it got on my computer?  Is it safe or do I possibly have a virus.  Thanks!

[SilleeMee]

That is what they call a 'hijacker'. It's a type of malware. You might be able to remove it if you run your virus cleaning software and re-boot.

eta - These types of malware usually ride invisibly on the backs of other software that you might have downloaded on your system. In this case they are called 'trojans' and are also not a good thing.

Please let us know if you got rid of it @Sue98

[Sue98]

Oh no!!  That's what I was afraid of.  The only anti virus software I have is Windows Defender that comes with Windows 10.  I started a full scan using Windows Defender this morning.  That was over 8 hours ago, and there has been VERY little progress as far as scanning goes.  I would say it is no more than 2% or 3% completed.

Is there anything else I can do to remove Search Encrypt?

[stevieb]

@Sue98 If your antivirus has been running for 8 hours, I'd assume something is wrong. If you can still search, find 'Malwarebytes', download it, install it and run it. Select the free version and I'd personally decline the free trial of the advanced version for now. You can decide later if you want to try it. It's a very effective removal tool. I'd post a link for you but they'd probably delete it. You might also consider something in addition to Windows Defender going foward.