How to manually remove Play-bar-search.com (Chrome, Firefox, IE, Edge)

What is Play-bar-search.com

The Play-bar-search.com is a new browser hijacker from the big family of browser hijackers that affects internet browsers and changes its settings such as homepage, new tab page and search engine by default. It is currently very active spreading on the Internet. Many users have problems with cleaning a computer from Play-bar-search.com and restoring the Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer and Edge settings.

The Play-bar-search.com hijacker infection usually affects only the Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge. However, possible situations, when any other web-browsers will be affected too. The infection will perform a scan of the system for web-browser shortcuts and modify them without your permission. When it infects the browser shortcuts, it will add the argument like ‘http://play-bar-search.com’ into Target property. So, each time you start the web-browser, you will see the Play-bar-search.com annoying new tab.

Besides the fact that Play-bar-search.com hijacker infection replaces your homepage, this unwanted site can set yourself as your search engine. But, obviously, it does not give you a good search results, as they will consist of a huge number of ads, links to harmful and misleading web pages and only the remaining part – it’s search results for your query from the major search engines. Of course, the very fact that you encounter with the inability to properly search the Web, is an unpleasant moment. Moreover, the Play-bar-search.com browser hijacker may collect information about you, and in the future to transfer it to third parties. What creates the risk of theft of your personal data.

The Play-bar-search.com infection is not a virus, but the virus behaves similarly. As a rootkit hides in the system, alters browser settings, and blocks them from changing. Also this web-browser browser hijacker can install additional internet browser addons, extensions and modules that will open advertising links and popups. And finally, the Play-bar-search.com hijacker infection can collect a wide variety of personal information such as what web-pages you are opening, what you are looking for the World Wide Web and so on. This information, in the future, may be transferred to third parties. Therefore it is very important to as quickly as possible to clean your personal computer, remove Play-bar-search.com startpage, as well as other malicious and ad-supported software, which could penetrate the system along with it.

How to Play-bar-search.com hijacker infection get installed onto computer

I want to note that the Play-bar-search.com hijacker spreads in the composition together with various free programs. This means that you need to be very careful when installing programs downloaded from the World Wide Web, even from a large proven hosting. Be sure to read the Terms of Use and the Software license, select only the Manual, Advanced or Custom installation mode, switch off all additional modules and programs are offered to install. That negligence when running unknown programs may lead to the fact that the browser settings will be changed to Play-bar-search.com. The very appearance Play-bar-search.com new tab instead of your start page is a sign of necessity to perform cleanup of your personal computer. Moreover, this hijacker infection can lead to slow the internet browser, plus delays when starting and when viewing pages on the Internet. We strongly recommend that you perform the instructions below will allow you to remove Play-bar-search.com using the standard features of Windows and some proven free software.

How to manually remove Play-bar-search.com

The following instructions is a step-by-step guide, which will help you manually uninstall Play-bar-search.com from Chrome, Firefox, IE and MS Edge.

1. Remove Play-bar-search.com associated software by using Windows Control Panel
2. Disinfect the browser’s shortcuts to remove Play-bar-search.com startpage
3. Delete Play-bar-search.com search from Google Chrome
4. Remove Play-bar-search.com search from Firefox
5. Uninstall Play-bar-search.com startpage from Internet Explorer

Remove Play-bar-search.com associated software by using Windows Control Panel

Press Windows key , then click Search . Type “Control panel”and press Enter. If you using Windows XP or Windows 7, then click “Start” and select “Control Panel”. It will open the Windows Control Panel as shown below.

Click “Uninstall a program” It will open a list of all programs. Scroll through the all list, and uninstall any suspicious and unknown programs.

Disinfect the browser’s shortcuts to remove Play-bar-search.com

During the installation, this browser hijacker may also change the browser’s shortcuts, adding “http://play-bar-search.com” into the Target field. Due to this, every time you start the internet browser, it will show this annoying web-site.

To clear the web-browser shortcut, right-click to it and select Properties. On the Shortcut tab, locate the Target field. Click inside, you will see a vertical line – arrow pointer, move it (using -> arrow key on your keyboard) to the right as possible. You will see a text “http://play-bar-search.com” that has been added here. You need to remove it. When the text is removed, press the OK button. You need to clean all shortcuts of all your internet browsers, as they may be infected too.

Delete Play-bar-search.com search from Google Chrome

Open the Chrome menu by clicking on the button in the form of three horizontal stripes (). It opens the drop-down menu. Click to Settings option. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the “Show advanced settings” link. Now scroll down until the Reset settings section is visible, as shown below and click on the Reset settings button. Confirm your action, click on the Reset button.

Remove Play-bar-search.com search from Firefox

If the Firefox settings such as start page, search provider by default have been changed by the browser hijacker infection, then reseting it to the default state can help.

Run the Firefox and press button to display the Tools menu. It displays the drop-down menu on the right-part of the internet browser. Click on the Help button (). In the Help menu, select the “Troubleshooting Information” option. Another way to open the “Troubleshooting Information” screen – type about:support in the internet browser adress bar and press Enter. It will open the “Troubleshooting Information” page. In the upper-right corner of this screen, press the “Refresh Firefox” button. It will display the confirmation dialog box. Click on the “Refresh Firefox” button. The Mozilla Firefox will start a task to fix your problems that caused by the Play-bar-search.com infection. Once, it’s done, press the “Finish” button

Uninstall Play-bar-search.com startpage from Internet Explorer

Run Internet Explorer, press ). Click “Internet Options” as shown below. In the “Internet Options” screen select the Advanced tab. Next press Reset button. The Internet Explorer will open the Reset Internet Explorer settings prompt. Select the “Delete personal settings” check box and press Reset button. You will now need to restart your computer for the changes to take effect. It will remove Play-bar-search.com hijacker infection, disable malicious and ad-supported browser’s extensions and restore the Microsoft Internet Explorer’s startpage to default state.

Remove Play-bar-search.com with MalwareBytes Anti-malware.

Remove Play-bar-search.com browser hijacker infection manually is difficult and often infection is not completely removed. Therefore, we recommend you to use the MalwareBytes Anti-malware Free that are completely clean your system. Moreover, the free software will help you to remove adware and toolbars that your system may be infected too.

Download MalwareBytes Anti-malware (MBAM) from the link below.

Once downloaded, close all programs and windows on your PC. Open a directory in which you saved it. Double-click on the icon that named mbam-setup like below.

When the installation begins, you will see the “Setup wizard” that will help you install MalwareBytes Anti-malware on your system.

Once installation is complete, you will see window similar to the one below.

Now click on the “Scan Now” button to start scanning your computer for the browser hijacker infection that cause a redirect to Play-bar-search.com. This procedure can take some time, so please be patient.

When the scan is finished, make sure all entries have “checkmark” and click “Remove Selected” button. The MalwareBytes Anti-malware will start to remove Play-bar-search.com browser hijacker infection related files, folders, registry keys. Once disinfection is completed, you may be prompted to Restart.

Block Play-bar-search.com and other similar malicious sites

To increase your security and protect your PC system against new unwanted advertising and malicious sites, you need to use an application that blocks access to dangerous advertising links and web-pages. Moreover, the software can block the display of intrusive advertising, which also leads to faster loading of sites and reduce the consumption of web traffic.

Download AdGuard program using the following link.

After the download is complete, run the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” screen as shown below.

Follow the prompts. After installation is complete, you will see a window as shown in the figure below.

You can click “Skip” to close the installation program and use the default settings, or press “Get Started” button to see an quick tutorial that will help you get to know AdGuard better.
In most cases, the default settings are enough and you do not need to change anything. Each time, when you start your personal computer, AdGuard will run automatically and block pop-up ads, web-sites such Play-bar-search.com, as well as other malicious or misleading web pages. For an overview of all the features of the program, or to change its settings you can simply double-click on the icon AdGuard, which is located on your desktop.

If the problem with Play-bar-search.com is still remained

If MalwareBytes Anti-malware cannot remove this browser hijacker infection, then we suggests to use the AdwCleaner. AdwCleaner is a free removal tool for browser hijackers, adware, PUPs, toolbars. Also you can ask for help our Myantispyware team below.

1. Download AdwCleaner from the link below.
   

   AdwCleaner download
   225298 downloads
   Version: 8.4.1
   Author: Xplode, MalwareBytes
   Category: Security tools
   Update: October 5, 2024
   
2. Double click the AdwCleaner icon. Once this tool is started, press “Scan” button to perform a system scan for Play-bar-search.com.
3. Once AdwCleaner has finished, it will open a scan report. Review the report and then click “Cleaning” button. It will display a prompt. Click “OK”.

How to ask for help the Myantispyware team

If you are seeking a help for Play-bar-search.com removal then follow these steps.

1. Download HijackThis from the link below and save it to your Desktop.
   

   HijackThis download
   4711 downloads
   Version: 2.0.5
   Author: OpenSource
   Category: Security tools
   Update: November 7, 2015
   
2. Double-click on the HijackThis icon, and click the button labeled “Do a system scan only”.
3. Once the scan is complete, the scan button will read “Save log”, click it. Save this log to your desktop

Create a Myantispyware account here. Once you’ve registered, check your e-mail for a confirmation link, and confirm your account. After that, login.

4. Copy and paste the contents of the HijackThis log into your post. If you are posting for the first time, please start a new thread by using the “New Topic” button in the Spyware Removal forum. When posting your HJT log, try to give us some details about your problems, so we can try to help you more accurately.
5. Wait for one of our trained “Security Team” or Site Administrator to provide you with knowledgeable assistance tailored to your problem with Play-bar-search.com removal.