How to remove Wide Web Searches [Chrome, Firefox, IE, Edge]

Do you got Wide Web Searches on your internet browsers instead of your homepage or search engine? If yes, then you should known that you need to know a browser hijacker infection (sometimes called hijackware) is active on your system causing the unwanted Wide Web Searches site to appear. You should delete this hijacker infection as soon as possible. Here, in this blog post below, you can found the helpful guidance on How to remove Wide Web Searches from your system for free.

The Wide Web Searches browser hijacker takes over your internet browser’s default search provider and controls what will be opened to you whenever you do a searching. Other than the search results, it also provides lots of intrusive advertisements on the search page. Some of these ads created to trick you into buying certain questionable products and programs. Moreover, sometimes, those advertisements could reroute you to misleading or malicious web-pages.

The Wide Web Searches browser hijacker can modify current settings of all your typical web browsers, but often that the unwanted software can also infect all types of web browsers by modifying their desktop shortcuts. Thus forcing the user to see Wide Web Searches unwanted web-page every time launch the web-browser.

It is important, don’t use Wide Web Searches site and do not click on ads placed on it, as they may lead you to a more harmful or misleading web-pages. The best option is to use the step-by-step tutorial posted below to free your PC of hijacker infection, delete the Wide Web Searches , and thereby restore your previous homepage and search engine.

Remove Wide Web Searches

We can assist you delete Wide Web Searches, without the need to take your system to a professional. Simply follow the removal instructions below if you currently have the annoying hijacker on your machine and want to get rid of it. If you have any difficulty while trying to get rid of the browser hijacker, feel free to ask for our assist in the comment section below. Read it once, after doing so, please print this page as you may need to shut down your web-browser or restart your PC.

If you are using an Apple computer running Mac OS, then use the following tutorial How to remove browser hijacker, pop-ups, ads from Mac

To remove Wide Web Searches, perform the steps below:

How to delete Wide Web Searches redirect without any software
Wide Web Searches automatic removal
Run AdBlocker to stop Wide Web Searches and stay safe online
Method of Wide Web Searches browser hijacker infection intrusion into your computer
To sum up

How to delete Wide Web Searches redirect without any software

Read this section to know how to manually remove the Wide Web Searches hijacker. Even if the step-by-step guidance does not work for you, there are several free malicious software removers below which can easily handle such hijackers.

Remove Wide Web Searches associated software by using Microsoft Windows Control Panel

Check out the Microsoft Windows Control Panel (Programs and Features section) to see all installed programs. We suggest to click on the “Date Installed” in order to sort the list of programs by the date you installed them. If you see any unknown and suspicious applications, they are the ones you need to delete.

Windows 8, 8.1, 10

First, press Windows button

, then click Search

. Type ‘Control panel’and press Enter as shown on the screen below.

Once the ‘Control Panel’ opens, click the ‘Uninstall a program’ link under Programs category as displayed on the screen below.

You will see the ‘Uninstall a program’ panel like below.

Very carefully look around the entire list of programs installed on your computer. Most likely, one or more of them are responsible for the appearance of popup ads and web browser redirect to the unwanted Wide Web Searches site. If you have many programs installed, you can help simplify the search of harmful software by sort the list by date of installation. Once you have found a suspicious, unwanted or unused application, right click to it, after that click ‘Uninstall’.

Windows XP, Vista, 7

First, click ‘Start’ button and select ‘Control Panel’ at right panel as shown on the screen below.

Once the Windows ‘Control Panel’ opens, you need to press ‘Uninstall a program’ under ‘Programs’ like below.

You will see a list of applications installed on your computer. We recommend to sort the list by date of installation to quickly find the software that were installed last. Most likely they responsibility for the appearance of ads and browser redirect. If you are in doubt, you can always check the application by doing a search for her name in Google, Yahoo or Bing. Once the application which you need to delete is found, simply press on its name, and then click ‘Uninstall’ as shown below.

Get rid of Wide Web Searches redirect from Chrome

Reset Chrome settings is a easy way to delete the hijacker infection, malicious and adware extensions, as well as to restore the web-browser’s home page, new tab and default search engine that have been replaced by hijacker.

First, launch the Google Chrome and click the Menu icon (icon in the form of three dots).
It will display the Chrome main menu. Select More Tools, then click Extensions.
You’ll see the list of installed extensions. If the list has the extension labeled with “Installed by enterprise policy” or “Installed by your administrator”, then complete the following steps: Remove Chrome extensions installed by enterprise policy.
Now open the Google Chrome menu once again, click the “Settings” menu.
Next, press “Advanced” link, that located at the bottom of the Settings page.
On the bottom of the “Advanced settings” page, click the “Reset settings to their original defaults” button.
The Google Chrome will open the reset settings prompt as shown on the screen above.
Confirm the web-browser’s reset by clicking on the “Reset” button.
To learn more, read the post How to reset Chrome settings to default.

Delete Wide Web Searches from Internet Explorer

The Microsoft Internet Explorer reset is great if your internet browser is hijacked or you have unwanted plugins or toolbars on your internet browser, which installed by a malware.

First, run the Internet Explorer, then click ‘gear’ icon . It will open the Tools drop-down menu on the right part of the web browser, then click the “Internet Options” as displayed on the image below.

In the “Internet Options” screen, select the “Advanced” tab, then press the “Reset” button. The Internet Explorer will open the “Reset Internet Explorer settings” dialog box. Further, click the “Delete personal settings” check box to select it. Next, click the “Reset” button as displayed in the following example.

When the procedure is finished, click “Close” button. Close the Internet Explorer and reboot your computer for the changes to take effect. This step will help you to restore your browser’s home page, newtab page and default search provider to default state.

Remove Wide Web Searches search from FF

If the Firefox browser application is hijacked, then resetting its settings can help. The Reset feature is available on all modern version of Firefox. A reset can fix many issues by restoring FF settings such as new tab page, start page and search provider by default to its default state. It will save your personal information like saved passwords, bookmarks, and open tabs.

First, open the Firefox and press button. It will open the drop-down menu on the right-part of the internet browser. Further, press the Help button () as displayed below

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 display the “Troubleshooting Information” page like below. In the upper-right corner of this screen, click the “Refresh Firefox” button.

It will show the confirmation dialog box. Further, click the “Refresh Firefox” button. The Firefox will begin a task to fix your problems that caused by the browser hijacker that designed to reroute your web-browser to the Wide Web Searches web page. Once, it is complete, press the “Finish” button.

Clean up the internet browsers shortcuts that have been affected by Wide Web Searches

Once installed, the browser hijacker that cause Wide Web Searches web-site to appear, may add an argument similar to “http://site.address” into the Target property of the desktop shortcut for the FF, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer and Edge. Due to this, every time you launch the web browser, it will display an intrusive page.

Right click on the shortcut of affected browser as displayed in the following example.

Select the “Properties” option and it’ll open the shortcut file’s properties. Next, press the “Shortcut” tab and then delete the “http://site.address” string from Target field as displayed in the following example.

Then press OK to save changes. Repeat the step for all internet browsers that are redirected to the Wide Web Searches annoying web-site.

Wide Web Searches automatic removal

Many antivirus companies have created programs that help detect and delete hijacker, and thereby return all your typical web-browsers settings. Below is a a few of the free applications you may want to run. Your computer may have a large count of PUPs, adware and hijackers installed at the same time, so we advise, if any unwanted or harmful program returns after rebooting the PC system, then boot your computer into Safe Mode and run the anti-malware utility once again.

Use Zemana Free to delete hijacker

We recommend using the Zemana Anti Malware (ZAM). You can download and install Zemana to find and remove Wide Web Searches search from your system. When installed and updated, the malware remover will automatically scan and detect all threats present on the PC.

Please go to the link below to download the latest version of Zemana Anti Malware for Windows. Save it to your Desktop.

Zemana AntiMalware
164107 downloads
Author: Zemana Ltd
Category: Security tools
Update: July 16, 2019

Once downloading is done, run it and follow the prompts. Once installed, the Zemana Free will try to update itself and when this process is finished, click the “Scan” button . Zemana Anti-Malware utility will begin scanning the whole PC to find out hijacker infection that cause a redirect to Wide Web Searches web site.

A system scan can take anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes, depending on your system. While the tool is scanning, you may see number of objects and files has already scanned. Next, you need to click “Next” button.

The Zemana Free will remove hijacker that causes internet browsers to open intrusive Wide Web Searches web-page and add threats to the Quarantine.

Delete Wide Web Searches search with Malwarebytes

We suggest using the Malwarebytes Free. You can download and install Malwarebytes to detect and remove Wide Web Searches from your computer. When installed and updated, the free malicious software remover will automatically scan and detect all threats present on the machine.

Visit the page linked below to download the latest version of MalwareBytes for Microsoft Windows. Save it directly to your Windows Desktop.

Malwarebytes Anti-malware
326460 downloads
Author: Malwarebytes
Category: Security tools
Update: April 15, 2020
After downloading is complete, close all applications and windows on your PC system. Open a file location. Double-click on the icon that’s named mb3-setup.
Further, click Next button and follow the prompts.
Once installation is complete, click the “Scan Now” button to perform a system scan for the browser hijacker that causes browsers to display intrusive Wide Web Searches site. During the scan MalwareBytes will detect all threats present on your computer.
Once that process is finished, the results are displayed in the scan report. Review the scan results and then click “Quarantine Selected”. After disinfection is done, you may be prompted to restart your machine.

The following video offers a guidance on how to delete hijacker infections, adware and other malicious software with MalwareBytes.

Delete Wide Web Searches hijacker infection and malicious extensions with AdwCleaner

AdwCleaner is a free portable application that scans your personal computer for adware, potentially unwanted software and browser hijackers such as Wide Web Searches and helps remove them easily. Moreover, it’ll also help you delete any malicious web-browser extensions and add-ons.

Download AdwCleaner from the following link. Save it to your Desktop so that you can access the file easily.

AdwCleaner download
225298 downloads
Version: 8.4.1
Author: Xplode, MalwareBytes
Category: Security tools
Update: October 5, 2024
Select the directory in which you saved it as Desktop, and then click Save.
When the downloading process is finished, start the AdwCleaner, double-click the adwcleaner_xxx.exe file.
If the “User Account Control” prompts, click Yes to continue.
Read the “Terms of use”, and click Accept.
In the AdwCleaner window, click the “Scan” for checking your machine for the browser hijacker responsible for redirecting your web-browser to Wide Web Searches site. A scan can take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the number of files on your system and the speed of your PC. When a malware, adware or potentially unwanted software are found, the count of the security threats will change accordingly. Wait until the the scanning is finished.
Once the checking is finished, the results are displayed in the scan report. When you’re ready, click “Clean”. If the AdwCleaner will ask you to reboot your system, click “OK”.

The step by step guidance shown in detail in the following video.

Run AdBlocker to stop Wide Web Searches and stay safe online

If you browse the Web, you cannot avoid malvertising. But you can protect your browser against it. Download and use an ad-blocking program. AdGuard is an ad-blocker which can filter out tons of of the malvertising, blocking dynamic scripts from loading harmful content.

Installing the AdGuard ad blocking application is simple. First you will need to download AdGuard by clicking on the following link. Save it on your Microsoft Windows desktop.

After the download is finished, double-click the downloaded file to launch it. The “Setup Wizard” window will show up on the computer screen as displayed on the image below.

Follow the prompts. AdGuard will then be installed and an icon will be placed on your desktop. A window will show up asking you to confirm that you want to see a quick guide like below.

Click “Skip” button to close the window and use the default settings, or click “Get Started” to see an quick guide that will help you get to know AdGuard better.

Each time, when you start your PC, AdGuard will run automatically and stop popups, web-sites such Wide Web Searches, as well as other harmful or misleading sites. For an overview of all the features of the application, or to change its settings you can simply double-click on the AdGuard icon, that is located on your desktop.

Method of Wide Web Searches browser hijacker infection intrusion into your computer

A hijacker infections may be spread through the use of trojan horses and other forms of malicious software, but most often, the browser hijacker such as Wide Web Searches gets on your computer in the composition, together with some free software. Many makers of free programs include bundled applications in their installer. Sometimes it is possible to avoid the setup of any hijacker infections such as Wide Web Searches: carefully read the Terms of Use and the Software license, choose only Manual, Custom or Advanced installation option, unset all checkboxes before clicking Install or Next button while installing new free applications.

To sum up

After completing the few simple steps outlined above, your system should be clean from this browser hijacker infection and other malicious software. The FF, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge will no longer display annoying Wide Web Searches home page on startup. Unfortunately, if the guide does not help you, then you have caught a new hijacker infection, and then the best way – ask for help.

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. Wait for one of our trained “Security Team” or Site Administrator to provide you with knowledgeable assistance tailored to your problem with the unwanted Wide Web Searches start page.