The GamesMuze Start is classified as browser hijacker (sometimes called hijackware). It rewrites your Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firefox and Microsoft Edge’s homepage, newtab and default search engine and can reroute your browser to certain intrusive pages. Of course, it is not a malicious software or virus in the “general meaning” of this word. It will not delete or damage your files, but it can alter some system’s settings. So, you’d better to get rid of GamesMuze Start using the step-by-step instructions below and thereby restore your favorite startpage and search engine.
As mentioned above, the GamesMuze Start addon also changes the web-browser’s search engine. So, your web browser, when searching something, will open a hodgepodge of advertisements, links to unwanted and ad sites and search results from the big search providers like Google or Bing. As a result, actual use of a web-browser’s search becomes uncomfortable.
It is not a good idea to have an unwanted application like GamesMuze Start extension on your machine. The reason for this is simple, it doing things you do not know about. The extension can also be used to gather lots of personal data which can be later used for marketing purposes. You don’t know if your home address, account names and passwords are safe. And of course you completely do not know what will happen when you click on any advertisements on the GamesMuze Start web page.
In addition to that, as was mentioned earlier, some addons such as GamesMuze Start to also change all web browsers shortcuts that located on your Desktop or Start menu. So, every infected shortcut will try to redirect your browser to undesired web pages, certain of which might be harmful. It can make the whole computer more vulnerable to hacker attacks.
Therefore it’s very important to clean your PC of addon ASAP. Follow the tutorial below to delete GamesMuze Start plugin, as well as other malware and ad supported software, which may be installed onto your computer along with it.
Remove GamesMuze Start extension
In the step-by-step instructions below, we’ll try to cover the Firefox, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer and Edge and provide general advice to remove GamesMuze Start extension. You may find some minor differences in your Microsoft Windows install. No matter, you should be okay if you follow the steps outlined below: uninstall all suspicious and unknown applications, reset internet browsers settings, fix web browsers shortcuts, use free malware removal utilities. Read it once, after doing so, please print this page as you may need to exit your web browser or reboot your PC.
How to remove GamesMuze Start extension without any software
Most common hijackers may be removed without any antivirus applications. The manual extension removal is instructions that will teach you how to remove the GamesMuze Start addon.
Delete potentially unwanted programs through the MS Windows Control Panel
We advise that you begin the computer cleaning process by checking the list of installed software and uninstall all unknown or suspicious programs. This is a very important step, as mentioned above, very often the harmful software such as adware and browser hijacker infections may be bundled with freeware. Uninstall the unwanted programs can remove the intrusive ads or browser redirect.
Windows 8, 8.1, 10
First, click the Windows button , then click Search . Type “Control panel”and press Enter.
Windows XP, Vista, 7
First, click “Start” and select “Control Panel”.
It will show the Windows Control Panel as displayed in the following example.
Next, click “Uninstall a program”
It will show a list of all applications installed on your PC. Scroll through the all list, and uninstall any suspicious and unknown applications. To quickly find the latest installed software, we recommend sort programs by date in the Control panel.
Fix infected web-browsers shortcuts
When installed, a browser hijacker may add an argument similar to “http://site.address” into the Target property of the desktop shortcut for the Chrome, Firefox, Edge and IE. Due to this, every time you launch the browser, it will display the unwanted startpage.
Click the right mouse button to a desktop shortcut which you use to start your internet browser. Next, select the “Properties” option. Important: necessary to click on the desktop shortcut for the web-browser that is rerouted to the GamesMuze Start or other unwanted web-page.
Further, necessary to look at the text that is written in the “Target” field. The extension can rewrite the contents of this field, which describes the file to be launch when you start your internet browser. Depending on the browser you are using, there should be:
- Google Chrome: chrome.exe
- Opera: opera.exe
- Firefox: firefox.exe
- Internet Explorer: iexplore.exe
If you are seeing an unknown text such as “http://site.addres” which has been added here, then you should remove it, like below.
Next, click the “OK” button to save the changes. Now, when you open the web browser from this desktop shortcut, it does not occur automatically reroute on an unknown start page or any other unwanted sites. Once the step is finished, we recommend to go to the next step.
Get rid of GamesMuze Start add-on from Firefox
If your Firefox internet browser start page has changed to GamesMuze Start without your permission or an unknown search provider shows results for your search, then it may be time to perform the web-browser reset.
First, launch the Mozilla Firefox. Next, click the button in the form of three horizontal stripes (). It will open the drop-down menu. Next, click the Help button ().
In the Help menu click the “Troubleshooting Information”. In the upper-right corner of the “Troubleshooting Information” page click on “Refresh Firefox” button as displayed on the screen below.
Confirm your action, press the “Refresh Firefox”.
Remove GamesMuze Start addon from Google Chrome
In order to be sure that there is nothing left behind, we recommend you to reset Chrome web browser. It’ll revert back Chrome settings including homepage, newtab page and default search provider to defaults.
- First launch the Google Chrome and click Menu button (small button in the form of three horizontal stripes).
- It will open the Google Chrome main menu. Select “Settings” option.
- You will see the Google Chrome’s settings page. Scroll down and press “Show advanced settings” link.
- Scroll down again and click the “Reset settings” button.
- The Chrome will show the reset profile settings page as on the image above.
- Next click the “Reset” button.
- Once this process is finished, your browser’s startpage, new tab and search provider by default will be restored to their original defaults.
- To learn more, read the blog post How to reset Chrome settings to default.
Delete GamesMuze Start extension from IE
By resetting Internet Explorer web browser you return your web-browser settings to its default state. This is first when troubleshooting problems that might have been caused by add-on such as GamesMuze Start.
First, start the Internet Explorer, click ) button. Next, press “Internet Options” as shown in the figure below.
In the “Internet Options” screen select the Advanced tab. Next, click Reset button. The Microsoft Internet Explorer will show the Reset Internet Explorer settings prompt. Select the “Delete personal settings” check box and click Reset button.
You will now need to restart your machine for the changes to take effect. It will get rid of GamesMuze Start plugin and other internet browser’s harmful addons, disable malicious and ad-supported browser’s extensions and restore the IE’s settings like newtab, homepage and search provider by default to default state.
GamesMuze Start add-on automatic removal
The addon can hide its components which are difficult for you to find out and delete completely. This may lead to the fact that after some time, the add-on once again infect your computer and alter certain settings of installed internet browsers to GamesMuze Start. Moreover, I want to note that it’s not always safe to remove addon manually, if you do not have much experience in setting up and configuring the MS Windows operating system. The best solution to detect and get rid of plugins is to run free malware removal applications.
Automatically remove GamesMuze Start addon with Zemana AntiMalware (ZAM)
We recommend using the Zemana Anti Malware (ZAM). You can download and install Zemana AntiMalware (ZAM) to detect and remove GamesMuze Start addon from your system. When installed and updated, the malware remover will automatically scan and detect all threats exist on the computer.
- Please download Zemana Anti-Malware on your PC system by clicking on the following link.
Zemana AntiMalware
164112 downloads
Author: Zemana Ltd
Category: Security tools
Update: July 16, 2019
- At the download page, click on the Download button. Your web-browser will open the “Save as” prompt. Please save it onto your Windows desktop.
- After the download is finished, please close all applications and open windows on your personal computer. Next, start a file named Zemana.AntiMalware.Setup.
- This will launch the “Setup wizard” of Zemana onto your computer. Follow the prompts and do not make any changes to default settings.
- When the Setup wizard has finished installing, the Zemana Free will open and display the main window.
- Further, click the “Scan” button to perform a system scan with this tool for the GamesMuze Start add-on which modifies your start page and search engine. This process can take some time, so please be patient. While the utility is scanning, you can see how many objects and files has already scanned.
- After the system scan is done, Zemana Free will open a list of all threats found by the scan.
- When you are ready, click the “Next” button. The utility will remove GamesMuze Start plugin which cause an unwanted web-page to appear and move items to the program’s quarantine. Once the task is finished, you may be prompted to reboot the machine.
- Close the Zemana and continue with the next step.
Remove GamesMuze Start extension with Malwarebytes
You can remove GamesMuze Start add-on automatically with a help of Malwarebytes Free. We suggest this free malicious software removal utility because it can easily delete add-ons, ad-supported software, potentially unwanted applications and toolbars with all their components such as files, folders and registry entries.
Download MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (MBAM) on your MS Windows Desktop by clicking on the following link.
326462 downloads
Author: Malwarebytes
Category: Security tools
Update: April 15, 2020
After downloading is complete, run it and follow the prompts. Once installed, the MalwareBytes Free will try to update itself and when this process is complete, click the “Scan Now” button for scanning your PC system for the GamesMuze Start addon which alters web-browser settings to replace your new tab page, start page and search provider by default. This process can take quite a while, so please be patient. During the scan MalwareBytes AntiMalware will detect all threats exist on your PC system. Next, you need to click “Quarantine Selected” button.
The MalwareBytes Anti Malware (MBAM) is a free application that you can use to remove all detected folders, files, services, registry entries and so on. To learn more about this malicious software removal utility, we recommend you to read and follow the steps or the video guide below.
Scan your PC system and get rid of GamesMuze Start addon with AdwCleaner
AdwCleaner is a free removal utility that can scan your machine for a wide range of security threats like ad-supported software, extensions such as GamesMuze Start, potentially unwanted software as well as other malware. It will perform a deep scan of your computer including hard drives and Windows registry. Once a malware is detected, it will help you to remove all detected threats from your PC system with a simple click.
Download AdwCleaner from the following link. Save it on your MS Windows desktop.
225300 downloads
Version: 8.4.1
Author: Xplode, MalwareBytes
Category: Security tools
Update: October 5, 2024
When the download is finished, open the directory in which you saved it. You will see an icon like below.
Double click the AdwCleaner desktop icon. Once the tool is launched, you will see a screen as shown below.
Further, click “Scan” button for scanning your machine for the GamesMuze Start add-on and other web browser’s malicious add-ons. Once finished, you can check all threats detected on your PC like below.
Make sure all threats have ‘checkmark’ and press “Clean” button. It will show a prompt as shown on the screen below.
You need to click “OK”. After finished, the AdwCleaner may ask you to restart your computer. When your system is started, you will see an AdwCleaner log.
These steps are shown in detail in the following video guide.
How to stay safe online
We recommend to install an ad blocking program that can block unwanted ads and other undesired web-pages. The ad blocking utility such as AdGuard is a application that basically removes advertising from the Internet and stops access to malicious sites. Moreover, security experts says that using ad blocker programs is necessary to stay safe when surfing the Net.
- Download AdGuard program by clicking on the link below. Save it on your Microsoft Windows desktop.
Adguard download
26658 downloads
Version: 6.4
Author: © Adguard
Category: Security tools
Update: November 15, 2018
- When the download is complete, run the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” program window. Follow the prompts.
- When the setup is finished, click “Skip” to close the installation application and use the default settings, or press “Get Started” to see an quick tutorial which will allow 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 launch your machine, AdGuard will launch automatically and stop pop-up advertisements, as well as other malicious or misleading web pages. For an overview of all the features of the application, or to change its settings you can simply double-click on the icon named AdGuard, which can be found on your desktop.
Prevent GamesMuze Start addon from installing
The GamesMuze Start addon gets on your PC as a part of various free software, as a supplement, which is installed automatically. This is certainly not an honest way to get installed onto your machine. To avoid infecting of your computer and side effects in the form of changing your internet browser settings to GamesMuze Start start page, you should always carefully read the Terms of Use and the Software license. Additionally, always select Manual, Custom or Advanced setup mode. This allows you to disable the setup of unnecessary and often harmful programs. Even if you uninstall the free programs from your PC, your internet browser’s settings will not be restored. This means that you should manually remove GamesMuze Start extension from the Google Chrome, FF, MS Edge and Microsoft Internet Explorer by follow the steps above.
To sum up
Now your PC should be clean of the GamesMuze Start plugin which cause an undesired web site to appear. Uninstall AdwCleaner. We suggest that you keep Zemana Anti-Malware (ZAM) (to periodically scan your computer for new add-ons and other malware) and AdGuard (to help you block undesired advertisements and harmful pages). Moreover, to prevent add-ons, please stay clear of unknown and third party applications, make sure that your antivirus program, turn on the option to scan for PUPs (potentially unwanted programs).
If you need more help with GamesMuze Start add-on related issues, go to our Spyware/Malware removal forum.