What is Pico-search.com?
Pico-search.com is a browser hijacker which is able to take over the most popular web browsers like Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox as well as Google Chrome and Safari. This is just an unreliable search engine that does nothing but delivers ads. It will not provide you any reliable search results related to your queries. Instead, the only thing you can get from the fake search engine is sponsored ads and deceitful information. It looks like a friendly website, with its bright colors and welcoming-looking search box. But don’t be taken in by the juvenile tactics. Once installed, it changes your homepage and your default search engine without your permission and you will be redirected to other pages again and again. And it will corrupt the local DNS (or Domain Name System) entries to accomplish their hijackers – therefore, these problems will remain embedded in your operating system even if you uninstall and re-install all of your web browsers.
Once this infection invades computer, it keeps redirecting user’s Internet search results to non-beneficial web pages which comes bundled with random popups and freeware download resources. It can result in slow system performance and poor network connection. The pop ups it shows are fake and may be bundled with malware or other unwanted programs. Do not be cheated by it. This redirect virus is specifically made for the purpose of redirecting your search results while at the same time exposing you to other damaging viruses that will harm your computer. If you are searching something in any of the search engines like Ask, Bing, Yahoo or Google, the search might look normal but the problem comes when you click on the link you wish to go, and you will be redirected to a page that is totally unrelated to your search topic. And the page is made up of malicious coding that might install spyware into your system without your knowledge.
How to fix your web browser that won’t load pages.
Where Pico-search.com Comes From?
Similar to any other computer threats, Pico-search.com could attack any computers via varieties of unfair means listed as below:
1) It may be offered with some hacked web sites, or social networks.
2) It may be brought with other computer threats like Trojan on the computer.
3) It may be bundled with some spam emails.
4) It may come all of a sudden with some free application downloads.
5) It may install automatically if you share some corrupt files with others via 2P2 network.
Threats of Pico-search.com
1. It is distributed via various means.
2. It could infect any computers and web browsers all of a sudden and may bring with other computer threats.
3. It could redirect your search results to unrelated web sites.
4. It could keep displaying lots of irritating pop ups.
5. It slows down system performance.
6. It is really difficult to be removed completely.
7. It is capable of monitoring your online habits.
8. It may help cyber hackers to steal personal information stored on the computer.
Pico-search.com removal Instructions
Automatic Removal (Using SpyHunter)(Download Tools Now)
Please be aware that manual removal is a rather risky and complex process that requires a high level of computer troubleshooting skills. So it is only recommended to advanced PC users. If you are an average PC user, we sincerely recommend you to download SpyHunter on your computer and use it to remove Pico-search.com. It is a professional and powerful removal tool which has the ability to detect and remove all types of unwanted programs and threats from your computer without causing any side effect. It can deeply scan your computer to find out and delete the browser hijacker automatically within a few minutes. Please follow the below steps to download it on your computer.
Step 1: Download SpyHunter on your computer by clicking on the below button.
Step 2: Install it on your computer by following the installation wizard. When you finish the installation, launch the removal tool to perform a full system scan to find out the threat.
Step 3: When the scan finishes, check the scan result and then click the Remove button to delete all the detected threats from your computer.
Video Show:How to remove spyware with spyhunter
Method 2. Manually remove Pico-search.com from your computer.
Sometimes, you can restore the browser settings which are set by potentially unwanted programs back to the previous state you wish manually. Uninstalling the relevant programs and disable additional browser toolbars or extensions, changing the homepage and search engine can often fix browser hijacking issues. Follow the guide below and you will be able to get rid of the hijacker.
Uninstall Mindspark products or relevant programs via Control Panel
Windows 8/8.1
In the Programs and Features window, make sure that program you wish to remove is selected and then click Uninstall button.
Windows 7/Vista
Click on Start button, click on Control Panel and then click on Uninstall a Program under Programs.
Search for and click on the Mindspark application or relevant program and click on Uninstall button.
Windows XP
Click on Start button, go to Control Panel and then double click on Add/Remove Programs. From the list of all programs installed on your system, select the program associated with the hijacker and click on Uninstall/Change button.
Remove Pico-search.com from Internet Explorer
Step1. Remove the MyWay New Tab extension from IE
Click on the gear icon in the top right corner of the IE browser or click on Tools and then click on Manage add-ons.
Click on Toolbars and Extensions on the left and search for the add-on you want to delete and click Remove button.
(Please note that the extensions are not listed under the MyWay brand and they could be under the brand name of the extension, such as Filmfanatic, FromDocToPDF and Weatherblink, that is installed on your computer. This applies to Firefox add-ons and Chrome extension which you need to remove as mentioned below.)
Step2. Remove MyWay homepage from IE
Click on the gear button/Tools and then click on Internet Options.
In the General tab, delete Pico-search.com from the Home page section and then type the address of the site you prefer, such as www.google.com into the box.
Click Apply button and save the changes and then click on OK button.
Step3. Disable the unwanted search engine in IE
Click on the gear icon/Tools and click on Manage add-ons, click on Search Provides under Add-on Types in the left, select the provider you don’t want and click Remove. If you want to set Google as your default search engine, highlight it and then click on Set as default button.
Delete Pico-search.com from Google Chrome
Step1. Remove MyWay New tab from Chrome browser
Click on the Customize and Control Google Chrome button at the top right corner, click on More tools and then click on Extensions.
From the list of installed extensions, search for the extension you wish to remove and click on the trashcan icon to delete it.
Step2. Delete Pico-search.com homepage from Chrome
Click on the Customize and Control Google Chrome button and then click on Settings from the drop-down menu.
In the Chrome Settings page, check Open a specified page or set of pages under Startup section and then click Set pages.
Delete the unwanted item and type the address of the site you want in the editable field and click OK.
Under Appearance section, check Show Home button and then click on Change.
Type the address of the site you’d like in the editable filed next to Open this page and then click OK.
Step3. Remove the search engine you don’t want from Chrome.
In the Chrome settings menu, locate to Search section and click on Manage search engines… button.
In the pop-up Search engines screen, highlight the search engine you want and click on Make Default. Locate the unwanted search engine and click X button to remove it then click Done button.
Clean up Pico-search.com from Mozilla Firefox
Step1. Remove MyWay New tab from Firefox browser
Click on button or click on Tools and then click on Add-ons from the drop-down menu.
In the Extensions tab, search for the add-on you wish to remove and click Disable or Remove button.
Sometimes, you are allowed to check the option that remove the MyWay home page and restore to your previous settings when the extension uninstall confirmation dialog appears. This will easily restore your homepage without letting you to manually delete the MyWay homepage from the browser. If this option doesn’t occur, follow the step below to continue.
Step2. Delete the unwanted homepage from Firefox.
Click on button or click on Tools and then click on Options in the drop-down menu.
In the Firefox Options page, make sure you select General tab on the left, then delete Pico-search.com and type the address of the desired site in the Home Page editable filed.
Alternatively, you can open the website you prefer then click on Use Current Pages button to set that page as your homepage.
Step3. Remove the unwanted search engine from Firefox.
In the Firefox Options page, click on Search tab on the left and then select a desired search engine such as Google under Default Search Engine section.
To remove the unwanted search engine, search for it under Once-click Search Engines section and select it then click Remove button to clean up it.
How to Prevent Browser Hijacks – Tutorial
In Conclusion:
Pico-search.com hijacker is a harmful redirect infection to the computer. It changes the homepage and search engine totally and prevents online users from changing back, redirects them to its URL or other malicious websites, steals their personal data and displays endless pop-ups on the screen to prevent them from getting online normally and smoothly. Don’t think this redirect infection is not as harmful as those stubborn viruses like Trojan horse, ransomware, worms, since this Pico-search.com redirect can also bring those harmful viruses to infect the computer, which will greatly slow down PC and make it run as a snail and further harm to mess up system files and damage system severely.