Findwide.com

Findwide.com is a search site that's promoted by browser hijackers and other threats to your PC that include browser-modifying components. Findwide.com lacks any unsafe content, but may track its visitors actions through cookies or display additional advertisements, and unprotected content with Findwide.com is ill-advised. When your browser does redirect to Findwide.com, remember that the presence of such a browser hijacker is a security consideration worth treating with good anti-malware tools or the help of a PC security professional.

Just How Easy It is to Find Findwide.com without Looking for It

While Findwide.com was registered many years ago, only recently, in 2013, have malware researchers found evidence of recurring browser issues involving this search site. Early reports began as long ago as March, with recent events ongoing in October, with limited but persistent distribution. Although Findwide.com appears to borrow its results from other search sites and doesn't offer any unique benefits for using Findwide.com, Findwide.com also isn't classified as threatening and doesn't seem a likely candidate for attacking your browser. However, this seemingly clean slate reputation hasn't stopped Findwide.com from being the beneficiary of browser hijacks.

Findwide.com hijackers currently are concentrating their modifications on the Internet Explorer browser, with other Windows browsers unaffected, so far. Updated versions of Internet Explorer were found to be just as vulnerable to Findwide.com hijacks as most outdated versions. Findwide.com hijackers preferentially modify IE's homepage, but, counter-intuitively, usually don't change your browser's default search engine. Even with just their homepages modified, most PC users found the presence of a Findwide.com browser hijacker to be sufficiently troublesome to be worth removing immediately.

Retrieving Your Homepage from the Site that Took It from You

Findwide.com hijacks aren't always associated with individual browser add-ons and may be installed without visible components, such as toolbar controls. Even when a Findwide.com hijacker is installed like a normal browser add-on, most victims who attempt to uninstall Findwide.com report being unable to resolve the settings changes that lock their homepage to Findwide.com. The latter issue, in particular, is what causes malware experts to recommend anti-malware software for deleting Findwide.com hijackers, although using such software whenever a PUP is found usually is a good security habit to have.

Firefox, Chrome, Opera and Safari users may cheer at being safe from Findwide.com homepage hijacks, but they shouldn't cheer too loudly; malware experts often see browser hijackers designed for all of these programs. A less-frequently-targeted browser never should be considered tantamount to immunity to browser hijackers, adware and other browser-based pests. Browser hijackers for Findwide.com searches also may be used to promote other sites with unsafe content, like Thecdn.04stream.com (an adware-promoted domain that distributes threats through fake Flash updates).