Uninstall SearchAssist.me Redirect Completely (Manual Removal Guide)

SearchAssist.me is a malicious browser hijacker that replaces the home page without asking for user’s permission. Due to its malicious features, SearchAssist.me is also known as a potentially unwanted program, adware, or redirect malware. SearchAssist.me attacks browsers such as Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Safari. Affected browser’s home page or new tab will be locked as SearchAssist.me on start-up.
Normal way to spread SearchAssist.me is via third-party application. Due to the marketing technique used by malware authors, many victims are enticed to download freeware bundled with SearchAssist.me hijacker. It gets installed into the computer as an add-on/extension. Once configured properly, it changes the default home page and search engine. SearchAssist.me mimics known search uses random search engine. In short, the home page was designed only to promote a product or web site. Its aggressive control over your home page is a severe issue that acts different as the normal search engine. Considering the safety of your PC, it’s necessary to quickly remove SearchAssist.me hijacker from the computer to avoid any further damage. 

Disadvantages and risks of SearchAssist.me

■It may alter & corrupt default settings of browsers
■Changes default homepage and shows unwanted pop-ups advertisements
■Causes numerous web redirects to unwanted websites, hijacks search engine settings and leads to unexpected webpages
■Keeps track of browsing activities and interests
■Collects Personal data which may include sensitive financial data such as logins, usernames, passwords
■It may bring further infections are direct the user to infectious sites
■Makes the browser run slow, uses a large amount of system resources

Explicit manual steps on how to remove SearchAssist.me

Step 1: Boot up the infected computer and get into "Safe Mode with Networking".

Win xp/vista/win 7: Reboot the PC and keep pressing F8 key on the keyboard upon PC startup but before logging in. Hit the arrow keys to choose "Safe Mode with Networking" option, and then tap Enter key to enter Safe Mode with Networking.

Win 8:

•Start and login the infected computer until you see the desktop.

•Press the Ctrl+ Alt+ Del combination key, the Switch User interface will pop-up.

•Always hold down the “Shift” key on the keyboard and at the same tine click on “Shut down” button once on the bottom right corner of the page.

•You will get three options there: Sleep, Shut down and Restart. Click on Restart option.

•The next window says ‘Choose an Option’ screen,” then you need select “Troubleshoot.”

•On the troubleshoot page click on ‘Advanced Options’. In the following window choose ‘startup settings

•Choose ‘restart,’ and then wait for a minute. Windows will automatically display Safe mode options. At last press F5/5 key to highlight Safe Mode with Networking option, hit enter key as well. Later after that, Windows 8 Operating system will be booted up with safe mode with networking.

Step 2: Stop SearchAssist.me running processes in Windows Task Manager.

(Methods to open Task Manager: Press CTRL+ALT+DEL or CTRL+SHIFT+ESC or Press the Start button->click on the Run option->Type in taskmgr and press OK.)

Step 3: Click on the “Start” menu and then click on the “Search programs and files” box, Search for and delete these files created by SearchAssist.me:

%AppData%Local[random].exe
C:\Documents and Settings\LocalService\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\*.exe

Step 4: Search the following registry entries in your Registry Editor and then remove all of them.

(Click Start button> click "Run" > Input "regedit" into the Run box and click ok)

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\random HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\AppID\ SearchAssist.me.DLL HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\AppID\ SearchAssist.me.EXE HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\”Shell” =

Step 5: Clear all the cookies of your affected web browsers.

Internet Explorer:

Open Internet explorer window

Click the "Tools" button

Point to "safety" and then click "delete browsing history"

Tick the "cookies" box and then click “delete”

Mozilla Firefox:

Click on Tools, then Options, select Privacy

Click "Remove individual cookies"

In the Cookies panel, click on "Show Cookies"

To remove a single cookie click on the entry in the list and click on the "Remove Cookie button"

To remove all cookies click on the "Remove All Cookies button"

Google Chrome:

Click on the "Tools" menu and select "Options".

Click the "Under the Bonnet" tab, locate the "Privacy" section and Click the "Clear browsing data" button.

Select "Delete cookies and other site data" and clean up all cookies from the list.

Get rid of SearchAssist.me with SpyHunter removal tool

SpyHunter is a powerful, real-time anti-spyware application that designed to assist the average computer user in protecting their PC from malicious threats like worms, Trojans, rootkits, rogues, dialers, spyware, etc. It is important to notice that SpyHunter removal tool works well and should run alongside existing security programs without any conflicts.

Step 1. Click the Download icon to install SpyHunter in your PC.


Step 2. After the installation, run SpyHunter and click “Malware Scan” button to have a full or quick scan on your PC.


Step 3. Choose Select all>Remove to get rid of all the threats on your PC.

Attention: If you haven’t sufficient computer expertise in dealing with the above manual removal, to uninstall the SearchAssist.me infection safely and completely, click here to download Spyhunter to help you now. Hurry up to drag it away from your computer forever!