How to remove GamesCenter Search [Chrome, Firefox, IE, Edge]

Probably you are one of those people, who are facing GamesCenter Search and its unwanted changes to internet browser settings, may think that there is something wrong with your personal computer. The constant start page and search engine redirects may cause the difficulty of browsing the Web. Your attempts to revert back your previous browser’s new tab, startpage and search engine by default are usually in vain because returning the Chrome, FF, Internet Explorer and MS Edge settings to default states becomes impossible unless you fully delete GamesCenter Search browser hijacker from your computer.

Except that the GamesCenter Search can make changes to browser’s homepage and newtab page, it also rewrites your search provider, which leads to the fact that use of the browser’s search becomes uncomfortable. The reason for this is that the search results will consist of a lot of ads, links to unwanted and ad pages and only the remaining part is search results for your query from well-known search engines such as Google or Bing.

Some browser hijackers also contain ‘ad-supported’ software (also known as adware) that has the ability to display intrusive ads or gather a wide variety of your privacy information that can be sold to third parties. These unwanted advertisements can be shown as pop-unders, pop-ups, in-text advertisements, video ads, text links or banners or even massive full page advertisements. Most of the adware is made to display advertisements, but some ad-supported software is form of spyware that often used to track users to collect lots of privacy data about you.

So, it is very important to free your PC of hijacker as quickly as possible. The tutorial, which is shown below, will help you to remove GamesCenter Search redirect from the Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Edge and Microsoft Internet Explorer and other internet browsers.

Remove GamesCenter Search

There are a few methods which can be used to remove GamesCenter Search. But, not all PUPs such as this hijacker can be completely uninstalled using only manual solutions. In many cases you are not able to uninstall any hijacker utilizing standard Windows options. In order to delete GamesCenter Search you need complete a few manual steps and run reliable removal utilities. Most IT security professionals states that Zemana Anti Malware, MalwareBytes Anti-Malware or AdwCleaner utilities are a right choice. These free applications are able to find and remove GamesCenter Search from your machine and restore your browser settings to defaults.

To remove GamesCenter Search, perform the following steps:

1. Manual GamesCenter Search removal
   • Removing the GamesCenter Search, check the list of installed programs first
   • Remove GamesCenter Search redirect from Firefox
   • Delete GamesCenter Search from Internet Explorer
   • Get rid of GamesCenter Search redirect from Chrome
2. Run free malware removal utilities to completely remove GamesCenter Search redirect
   • Use Zemana Anti Malware (ZAM) to get rid of hijacker infection
   • Automatically remove GamesCenter Search with Malwarebytes
   • Remove GamesCenter Search from browsers with AdwCleaner
3. Run AdBlocker to block GamesCenter Search and stay safe online
4. Do not know how your internet browser has been hijacked by GamesCenter Search hijacker infection?
5. Finish words

Manual GamesCenter Search removal

The few simple steps will help you remove GamesCenter Search redirect. These GamesCenter Search removal steps work for the Google Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge, as well as every version of Microsoft Windows operating system.

Removing the GamesCenter Search, check the list of installed programs first

In order to get rid of PUPs like this hijacker, open the Windows Control Panel and click on “Uninstall a program”. Check the list of installed software. For the ones you do not know, run an Internet search to see if they are ‘ad supported’ software, browser hijacker or potentially unwanted programs. If yes, delete them off. Even if they are just a software that you do not use, then removing them off will increase your PC start up time and speed dramatically.

1. If you are using Windows 8, 8.1 or 10 then click Windows button, next click Search. Type “Control panel”and press Enter.
2. If you are using Windows XP, Vista, 7, then press “Start” button and press “Control Panel”.
3. It will show the Windows Control Panel.
4. Further, click “Uninstall a program” under Programs category.
5. It will show a list of all applications installed on the PC.
6. Scroll through the all list, and remove suspicious and unknown software. To quickly find the latest installed programs, we recommend sort programs by date.

See more details in the video guide below.

Remove GamesCenter Search redirect from Firefox

Resetting your Mozilla Firefox is first troubleshooting step for any issues with your internet browser program, including the redirect to GamesCenter Search page.

Start the Firefox and click the menu button (it looks like three stacked lines) at the top right of the browser screen. Next, click the question-mark icon at the bottom of the drop-down menu. It will open the slide-out menu.

Select the “Troubleshooting information”. If you’re unable to access the Help menu, then type “about:support” in your address bar and press Enter. It bring up the “Troubleshooting Information” page as shown in the following example.

Click the “Refresh Firefox” button at the top right of the Troubleshooting Information page. Select “Refresh Firefox” in the confirmation prompt. The Firefox will start a process to fix your problems that caused by the GamesCenter Search browser hijacker and other web-browser’s malicious addons. After, it’s finished, click the “Finish” button.

Delete GamesCenter Search from Internet Explorer

First, start the IE, press ) button. Next, press “Internet Options” as shown below.

In the “Internet Options” screen select the Advanced tab. Next, click Reset button. The Microsoft Internet Explorer will display the Reset Internet Explorer settings dialog box. Select the “Delete personal settings” check box and click Reset button.

You will now need to reboot your machine for the changes to take effect. It will delete hijacker infection which changes browser settings to replace your newtab page, startpage and search provider by default with GamesCenter Search web-page, disable malicious and ad-supported internet browser’s extensions and restore the Microsoft Internet Explorer’s settings like newtab page, startpage and search provider by default to default state.

Get rid of GamesCenter Search redirect from Chrome

In order to be sure that there is nothing left behind, we recommend you to reset Chrome web-browser. It’ll restore Chrome settings including start page, newtab and default search provider to defaults.

Open the Chrome menu by clicking on the button in the form of three horizontal stripes (). It will open the drop-down menu. Next, 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 displayed in the following example and click the “Reset settings” button.

Confirm your action, click the “Reset” button.

Run free malware removal utilities to completely remove GamesCenter Search redirect

Manual removal steps does not always help to completely remove the hijacker, as it’s not easy to identify and remove components of hijacker and all malicious files from hard disk. Therefore, it is recommended that you use malicious software removal tool to completely delete GamesCenter Search off your machine. Several free malicious software removal tools are currently available that can be used against the browser hijacker. The optimum solution would be to use Zemana Anti-Malware, Malwarebytes Free and AdwCleaner.

Use Zemana Anti Malware (ZAM) to get rid of hijacker infection

You can remove GamesCenter Search homepage automatically with a help of Zemana Free. We suggest this malware removal utility because it can easily get rid of hijackers, PUPs, ad-supported software and toolbars with all their components such as folders, files and registry entries.

Download Zemana Anti Malware (ZAM) by clicking on the following link and save it to your Desktop.

When the downloading process is finished, close all software and windows on your system. Open a directory in which you saved it. Double-click on the icon that’s named Zemana.AntiMalware.Setup like below.

When the install begins, you will see the “Setup wizard” which will allow you set up Zemana AntiMalware on your system.

Once install is complete, you will see window as on the image below.

Now click the “Scan” button to begin checking your PC system for the hijacker that modifies browser settings to replace your newtab page, start page and search engine by default with GamesCenter Search web-site. Depending on your computer, the scan can take anywhere from a few minutes to close to an hour. When a threat is found, the number of the security threats will change accordingly.

After that process is finished, Zemana Free will display a screen that contains a list of malicious software that has been found. When you are ready, click “Next” button.

The Zemana Anti Malware (ZAM) will remove browser hijacker which reroutes your web-browser to intrusive GamesCenter Search site and add items to the Quarantine.

Automatically remove GamesCenter Search with Malwarebytes

We suggest using the Malwarebytes Free which are completely clean your computer of the hijacker. The free utility is an advanced malware removal program designed by (c) Malwarebytes lab. This application uses the world’s most popular anti-malware technology. It is able to help you remove browser hijackers, potentially unwanted programs, malware, ad supported software, toolbars, ransomware and other security threats from your system for free.

1. Download MalwareBytes AntiMalware from the link below and save it directly to your Windows Desktop.
   
   

   Malwarebytes Anti-malware
   317639 downloads
   Author: Malwarebytes
   Category: Security tools
   Update: April 15, 2020
   
2. After the downloading process is finished, close all programs and windows on your PC system. Open a folder in which you saved it. Double-click on the icon that’s named mb3-setup.
3. Further, click Next button and follow the prompts.
4. Once install is finished, click the “Scan Now” button .MalwareBytes Free application will scan through the whole computer for the browser hijacker infection that reroutes your web-browser to unwanted GamesCenter Search web page. While the MalwareBytes Anti-Malware tool is checking, you can see number of objects it has identified as being infected by malware.
5. Once the scan get finished, a list of all threats detected is produced. When you are ready, press “Quarantine Selected”. After that process is complete, you may be prompted to restart your computer.

The following video offers a step-by-step tutorial on how to delete browser hijackers, adware and other malicious software with MalwareBytes Anti Malware (MBAM).

Remove GamesCenter Search from browsers with AdwCleaner

AdwCleaner is a free portable application that scans your PC system for ‘ad supported’ software, potentially unwanted applications and browser hijackers such as GamesCenter Search and allows delete them easily. Moreover, it will also allow you delete any harmful web-browser extensions and add-ons.

Download AdwCleaner by clicking on the following link. Save it on your Windows desktop or in any other place.

When the download is done, 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 opened, you will see a screen as displayed in the following example.

Further, press “Scan” button for checking your computer for the hijacker infection that causes internet browsers to open unwanted GamesCenter Search web-site. A scan may take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the number of files on your system and the speed of your machine. Once that process is complete, AdwCleaner will open a scan report as shown on the screen below.

Review the results once the utility has complete the system scan. If you think an entry should not be quarantined, then uncheck it. Otherwise, simply click “Clean” button. It will open a prompt like below.

You need to click “OK”. When the task is done, the AdwCleaner may ask you to restart your machine. When your PC system is started, you will see an AdwCleaner log.

These steps are shown in detail in the following video guide.

Run AdBlocker to block GamesCenter Search and stay safe online

In order to increase your security and protect your computer against new annoying ads and malicious web-sites, you need to use ad blocking program that blocks an access to malicious ads and web-pages. Moreover, the application may stop the show of intrusive advertising, which also leads to faster loading of web-sites and reduce the consumption of web traffic.

Download AdGuard program from the link below. Save it to your Desktop so that you can access the file easily.

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

Follow the prompts. After the install is finished, you will see a window as displayed in the following example.

You can press “Skip” to close the install program and use the default settings, or click “Get Started” button to see an quick tutorial which will help you get to know AdGuard better.

In most cases, the default settings are enough and you don’t need to change anything. Each time, when you start your machine, AdGuard will start automatically and stop pop up advertisements, web-pages such GamesCenter Search, as well as other harmful 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 AdGuard icon, which can be found on your desktop.

Do not know how your internet browser has been hijacked by GamesCenter Search hijacker infection?

Most commonly GamesCenter Search browser hijacker gets on your system together with various freeware, as a bonus. Therefore it’s very important at the stage of installing software downloaded from the World Wide Web carefully review the Terms of use and the License agreement, as well as to always select the Advanced, Custom or Manual installation mode. In this method, you can turn off all unwanted add-ons, including the GamesCenter Search hijacker, which will be installed along with the desired program. Of course, if you uninstall the free applications from your personal computer, your favorite browser’s settings will not be restored. So, to revert back the Google Chrome, Firefox, IE and Edge’s startpage, new tab page and default search engine you need to follow the tutorial above.

Finish words

Now your PC should be clean of the hijacker that cause a reroute to GamesCenter Search web site. Remove AdwCleaner. We suggest that you keep Zemana Free (to periodically scan your personal computer for new hijacker infections and other malware) and AdGuard (to help you stop annoying ads and malicious pages). Moreover, to prevent hijackers, please stay clear of unknown and third party programs, make sure that your antivirus program, turn on the option to scan for PUPs (potentially unwanted programs).

If you need more help with GamesCenter Search related issues, go to our Spyware/Malware removal forum.