Remove Watch Movies Live from a browser and computer
Written by Tomas Meskauskas on
Watch Movies Live browser hijacker removal instructions
What is Watch Movies Live?
Watch Movies Live is a potentially unwanted application (PUA) which belongs to a category of browser hijackers. This app supposed to provide access to movie streaming websites, however, it is designed to promote an address of a fake search engine (search.watchmovieslivetab.com) by changing browser's settings and gather various browsing-related data. It is worth mentioning that most people download and install browser hijackers and other PUAs unintentionally. Also, Watch Movies Live gets installed together with other PUA called Hide My Searches.
As a rule, browser hijackers are designed to promote fake search engines by changing settings such as default address of a default search engine, homepage and new tab. Also, most of them do not allow their users to change any of those settings by reassigning them after any attempt to undo or modify them. Watch Movies Live sets the aforementioned settings to search.watchmovieslivetab.com, it means that its users are forced to visit this address when they open a browser, new tab or enter search queries into URL bar. The only way to remove this address from those settings is to uninstall Watch Movies Live. It is worth mentioning that search.watchmovieslivetab.com does not generate any unique search results. Once a search query is entered, it redirects users to search.yahoo.com, in other words, it provides results generated by Yahoo. Search engines of this type are completely useless. Besides, most fake search engines and browser hijacker that promote them are designed to record information related to user's browsing habits. They collect browsing data such as entered search queries, addresses of visited websites, geolocations, IP addresses, and so on. Also, many apps of this type are designed to record personal (sensitive) information as well. Either way, people behind them usually share all collected data with third parties. In most cases both parties misuse that data to generate revenue, there is always a possibility that some of them might be cyber criminals. In order to avoid becoming victims of identity theft, experience problems related to browsing safety, privacy, and other issues we recommend to uninstall any installed browser hijacker as soon as possible.
| Name | Watch Movies Live |
| Threat Type | Browser Hijacker, Redirect, Search Hijacker, Toolbar, Unwanted New Tab |
| Detection Names | Avast (Win32:Adware-gen [Adw]), AVG (Win32:Adware-gen [Adw]), ESET-NOD32 (A Variant Of Win32/WinWrapper.V Potentially Unwanted), Microsoft (PUA:Win32/WinWrapper), Full List Of Detections (VirusTotal) |
| Browser Extension(s) | Watch Movies Live |
| Supposed Functionality | This browser hijacker supposed to provide access to movie streaming websites. |
| Promoted URL | search.watchmovieslivetab.com |
| Affected Browser Settings | Homepage, new tab URL, default search engine |
| Symptoms | Manipulated Internet browser settings (homepage, default Internet search engine, new tab settings). Users are forced to visit the hijacker's website and search the Internet using their search engines. |
| Additional Information | Watch Movies Live is distributed with another browser hijacker called Hide My Searches. |
| Distribution methods | Deceptive pop-up ads, free software installers (bundling), fake Flash Player installers. |
| Damage | Internet browser tracking (potential privacy issues), display of unwanted ads, redirects to dubious websites. |
| Removal |
To eliminate search.watchmovieslivetab.com redirect our malware researchers recommend scanning your computer with Spyhunter. |
Watch Movies Live operates like many other apps of this type, some examples are Track Packages Quick, Watch Television Online and Express Package Finder Tab. What most browser hijackers have in common is that they are designed to promote fake search engines and gather various information. Typically, they are useless (do not operate as they are advertised) and cause only problems. There is no reason why anyone should have an app of this type installed on a browser and/or operating system.
How did Watch Movies Live install on my computer?
Watch Movies Live and some other apps of this type can be downloaded from their websites, however, not many people download and/or install them on purpose. More often they do it unintentionally: by clicking deceptive, intrusive advertisements or together with some other, usually free software. To trick people into downloading and/or installing PUAs with other software developers use a deceptive marketing method called "bundling". Simply said, they include PUAs in setups of other programs and hide information about it their settings like "Custom", "Advanced". People who do not check and change those settings allow for PUAs to be downloaded and/or installed through a setup of a desired program.
How to avoid installation of potentially unwanted applications?
We recommend to download all programs from official and trustworthy websites. Other sources like third party downloaders, torrent clients, eMule or other Peer-to-Peer networks, unofficial websites, etc., are often used to promote unwanted apps. Third party installers should not be used too. Also, we advise to always check "Advanced", "Custom" and other similar settings of any download or installation setup and opt out additionally included (unwanted) apps. Avoid clicking on various intrusive ads, they might cause redirects to untrustworthy websites such as gambling, pornography, adult dating and other unreliable pages. If intrusive ads are a common problem (or redirects to questionable pages happen often), then we recommend to check the default web browser and see if there are any unwanted/suspicious extensions, add-ons or plug-ins installed on it. Check the list installed programs on your computer as well and uninstall all unwanted or suspicious apps/programs as soon as possible. If your computer is already infected with Watch Movies Live, we recommend running a scan with Spyhunter for Windows to automatically eliminate this browser hijacker.
Website promoting Watch Movies Live browser hijacker:
Watch Movies Live browser hijacker installer set-up:
Watch Movies Live wants to read and change data on various websites:
Instant automatic removal of search.watchmovieslivetab.com redirect:
Manual threat removal might be a lengthy and complicated process that requires advanced computer skills. Spyhunter is a professional automatic malware removal tool that is recommended to get rid of search.watchmovieslivetab.com redirect. Download it by clicking the button below:
▼ DOWNLOAD Spyhunter
By downloading any software listed on this website you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. Free scanner checks if your computer is infected. To remove malware, you have to purchase the full version of Spyhunter.
Quick menu:
- What is Watch Movies Live?
- STEP 1. Uninstall Watch Movies Live application using Control Panel.
- STEP 2. Remove search.watchmovieslivetab.com redirect from Internet Explorer.
- STEP 3. Remove Watch Movies Live browser hijacker from Google Chrome.
- STEP 4. Remove search.watchmovieslivetab.com homepage and default search engine from Mozilla Firefox.
- STEP 5. Remove search.watchmovieslivetab.com redirect from Safari.
- STEP 6. Remove rogue plug-ins from Microsoft Edge.
Watch Movies Live browser hijacker removal:
Windows 7 users:
Click Start (Windows Logo at the bottom left corner of your desktop), choose Control Panel. Locate Programs and click Uninstall a program.
Windows XP users:
Click Start, choose Settings and click Control Panel. Locate and click Add or Remove Programs.
Windows 10 and Windows 8 users:
Right-click in the lower left corner of the screen, in the Quick Access Menu select Control Panel. In the opened window choose Programs and Features.
Mac OSX users:
Click Finder, in the opened screen select Applications. Drag the app from the Applications folder to the Trash (located in your Dock), then right click the Trash icon and select Empty Trash.
In the uninstall programs window: look for any recently installed suspicious applications (for example, "Watch Movies Live"), select these entries and click "Uninstall" or "Remove".
After uninstalling the potentially unwanted applications (which cause browser redirects to the search.watchmovieslivetab.com website), scan your computer for any remaining unwanted components. To scan your computer, use recommended malware removal software.
Watch Movies Live browser hijacker removal from Internet browsers:
Video showing how to remove browser redirects:
Remove malicious add-ons from Internet Explorer:
Click the "gear" icon 
(at the top right corner of Internet Explorer), select "Manage Add-ons". Look for any recently installed suspicious extensions, select these entries and click "Remove".
Change your homepage:
Click the "gear" icon (at the top right corner of Internet Explorer), select "Internet Options", in the opened window remove hxxp://search.watchmovieslivetab.com and enter your preferred domain, which will open each time you launch Internet Explorer. You can also enter about: blank to open a blank page when you start Internet Explorer.
Change your default search engine:
Click the "gear" icon (at the top right corner of Internet Explorer), select "Manage Add-ons". In the opened window, select "Search Providers", set "Google", "Bing", or any other preferred search engine as your default and then remove "Watch Movies Live".
Optional method:
If you continue to have problems with removal of the search.watchmovieslivetab.com redirect, reset your Internet Explorer settings to default.
Windows XP users: Click Start, click Run, in the opened window type inetcpl.cpl In the opened window click the Advanced tab, then click Reset.
Windows Vista and Windows 7 users: Click the Windows logo, in the start search box type inetcpl.cpl and click enter. In the opened window click the Advanced tab, then click Reset.
Windows 8 users: Open Internet Explorer and click the gear icon. Select Internet Options.
In the opened window, select the Advanced tab.
Click the Reset button.
Confirm that you wish to reset Internet Explorer settings to default by clicking the Reset button.
Remove malicious extensions from Google Chrome:
Click the Chrome menu icon 
(at the top right corner of Google Chrome), select "More tools" and click "Extensions". Locate "Watch Movies Live" and other recently-installed suspicious browser add-ons (e.g., "Hide My Searches"), and remove them.
Change your homepage:
Click the Chrome menu icon (at the top right corner of Google Chrome), select "Settings". In the "On startup" section, disable "Watch Movies Live" or "Hide My Searches", look for a browser hijacker URL (hxxp://search.watchmovieslivetab.com or hxxps://hidemysearches.com) below the “Open a specific or set of pages” option. If present click on the three vertical dots icon and select “Remove”.
Change your default search engine:
To change your default search engine in Google Chrome: Click the Chrome menu icon (at the top right corner of Google Chrome), select "Settings", in the "Search engine" section, click "Manage search engines...", in the opened list look for "hxxp://search.watchmovieslivetab.com" and "hxxp://hidemysearches.com, when located click the three vertical dots near this URL and select "Remove from list".
Optional method:
If you continue to have problems with removal of the search.watchmovieslivetab.com redirect, reset your Google Chrome browser settings. Click the Chrome menu icon (at the top right corner of Google Chrome) and select Settings. Scroll down to the bottom of the screen. Click the Advanced… link.
After scrolling to the bottom of the screen, click the Reset (Restore settings to their original defaults) button.
In the opened window, confirm that you wish to reset Google Chrome settings to default by clicking the Reset button.
Remove malicious plugins from Mozilla Firefox:
Click the Firefox menu 
(at the top right corner of the main window), select "Add-ons". Click on "Extensions" and remove "Watch Movies Live", as well as all other recently installed browser plug-ins (e.g., "Hide My Searches").
Change your homepage:
To reset your homepage, click the Firefox menu (at the top right corner of the main window), then select "Options", in the opened window disable "Watch Movies Live" or "Hide My Searches", remove hxxp://search.watchmovieslivetab.com or hxxp://hidemysearches.com and enter your preferred domain, which will open each time you start Mozilla Firefox.
Change your default search engine:
In the URL address bar, type about:config and press Enter.
Click "I'll be careful, I promise!".
In the search filter at the top, type: "watchmovieslivetab"
Right-click on the found preferences and select "Reset" to restore default values.
Optional method:
Computer users who have problems with search.watchmovieslivetab.com redirect removal can reset their Mozilla Firefox settings.
Open Mozilla Firefox, at the top right corner of the main window, click the Firefox menu, in the opened menu, click Help.
Select Troubleshooting Information.
In the opened window, click the Refresh Firefox button.
In the opened window, confirm that you wish to reset Mozilla Firefox settings to default by clicking the Refresh Firefox button.
Remove malicious extensions from Safari:
Make sure your Safari browser is active and click Safari menu, then select Preferences...
In the preferences window select the Extensions tab. Look for any recently installed suspicious extensions and uninstall them.
In the preferences window select General tab and make sure that your homepage is set to a preferred URL, if its altered by a browser hijacker - change it.
In the preferences window select Search tab and make sure that your preferred Internet search engine is selected.
Optional method:
Make sure your Safari browser is active and click on Safari menu. From the drop down menu select Clear History and Website Data...
In the opened window select all history and click the Clear History button.
Remove malicious add-ons from Microsoft Edge:
Click the three horizontal dots icon 
(at the top right corner of Microsoft Edge), select "Extensions". Look for any recently-installed suspicious extensions, right click your mouse on these entries and click "Uninstall".
Change your homepage:
Click the three horizontal dots icon (at the top right corner of Microsoft Edge), select "Settings", in the opened tab, click the "+ Add new page" link, after entering your preferred URL, remove the link of browser hijackers by clicking the "X" button next to the associated URL.
Change your default search engine:
Click the three horizontal dots icon (at the top right corner of Microsoft Edge), select "Settings". Click the "View advanced settings" button and select "Change search engine". In the opened tab, select your preferred Internet search engine and click "Set as default".
Optional method:
Click the three horizontal dots icon (at the top right corner of Microsoft Edge), and select Settings.
In the opened tab, click the "Choose what to clear" button.
Click Show more and select everything, and then click the "Clear" button.
- If this did not help, follow these alternative instructions explaining how to reset the Microsoft Edge browser.
Summary:
A browser hijacker is a type of adware infection that modifies Internet browser settings by assigning the homepage and default Internet search engine settings to some other (unwanted) website URL. Commonly, this type of adware infiltrates operating systems through free software downloads. If your download is managed by a download client, ensure that you decline offers to install advertised toolbars or applications that seek to change your homepage and default Internet search engine settings.
Removal assistance:
If you are experiencing problems while trying to remove search.watchmovieslivetab.com redirect from your Internet browsers, please ask for assistance in our malware support forum.
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Outstanding!