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

If you have ever seen the Search Incognito site appear in your web browser, then you need to know that your internet browser has been hijacked by potentially unwanted program (PUP) from the browser hijacker family. The browser hijacker problem is, no doubt, a quite annoying issue for you and other active Internet users last days. The hijacker is made to change your internet browser new tab, home page and search provider by default, set up the Search Incognito web page as the home page and default search provider and cause redirections via the web-page.

Except that the Search Incognito makes changes to internet browser’s startpage and new tab, it also modifies 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 large amount of advertisements, links to unwanted and ad sites and only the remaining part is search results for your query from well-known search engines such as Google, Yahoo or Bing.

Also, ‘ad-supported’ software (also known as adware) can be installed on the system together with Search Incognito hijacker. It will insert lots of advertisements directly to the web-sites that you view, creating a sense that advertisements has been added by the creators of the page. Moreover, legal ads can be replaced on fake advertisements which will offer to download and install various unnecessary and malicious programs. Moreover, the Search Incognito browser hijacker can be used to collect lots of confidential data about you that can be later used for marketing purposes.

We recommend you to clean your system of browser hijacker as soon as possible. Use the step-by-step guide below that will help to delete Search Incognito and ‘ad-supported’ software, which can be installed onto your PC system along with it.

How to remove Search Incognito from Chrome, Firefox, IE, Edge

The following step-by-step instructions will help you to remove Search Incognito from the Mozilla Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer and Edge. Moreover, the instructions below will allow you to remove malware such as potentially unwanted programs, adware and toolbars that your computer may be infected. Please do the tutorial step by step. If you need assist or have any questions, then ask for our assistance or type a comment below. Certain of the steps will require you to restart your system or close this web-site. So, read this guidance carefully, then bookmark or print it for later reference.

To remove Search Incognito, complete the steps below:

1. Manual Search Incognito start page removal
   • Deleting the Search Incognito, check the list of installed apps first
   • Delete Search Incognito from Firefox
   • Remove Search Incognito from Chrome
   • Delete Search Incognito home page from Internet Explorer
2. Search Incognito automatic removal
   • Remove Search Incognito with Zemana
   • Use Malwarebytes to remove Search Incognito
   • If the problem with Search Incognito is still remained
3. Stop Search Incognito redirect and other undesired sites
4. How did Search Incognito hijacker get on your PC
5. To sum up

Manual Search Incognito start page removal

Steps to delete Search Incognito browser hijacker without any applications are presented below. Be sure to carry out the step-by-step guidance completely to fully get rid of this undesired Search Incognito.

Deleting the Search Incognito, check the list of installed apps first

It is of primary importance to first identify and get rid of all PUPs, adware apps and hijackers through ‘Add/Remove Programs’ (Windows XP) or ‘Uninstall a program’ (Windows 10, 8, 7) section of your MS Windows Control Panel.

It will show the Windows Control Panel as shown on the screen below.

Next, click “Uninstall a program”
It will open a list of all applications installed on your computer. Scroll through the all list, and uninstall any suspicious and unknown software. To quickly find the latest installed software, we recommend sort programs by date in the Control panel.

Delete Search Incognito from FF

Resetting your FF is first troubleshooting step for any issues with your web-browser program, including the redirect to Search Incognito web site.

Press the Menu button (looks like three horizontal lines), and click the blue Help icon located at the bottom of the drop down menu as displayed on the screen below.

A small menu will appear, click the “Troubleshooting Information”. On this page, click “Refresh Firefox” button as shown in the figure below.

Follow the onscreen procedure to return your Firefox browser settings to its original state.

Remove Search Incognito from Chrome

If your Chrome browser is re-directed to undesired Search Incognito page, it may be necessary to completely reset your web-browser program to its default settings.

1. First, start the Google Chrome and click the Menu icon (icon in the form of three dots).
2. It will display the Chrome main menu. Select More Tools, then click Extensions.
3. 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 instructions: Remove Chrome extensions installed by enterprise policy.
4. Now open the Google Chrome menu once again, click the “Settings” menu.
5. Next, click “Advanced” link, that located at the bottom of the Settings page.
6. On the bottom of the “Advanced settings” page, click the “Reset settings to their original defaults” button.
7. The Chrome will show the reset settings prompt as on the image above.
8. Confirm the web-browser’s reset by clicking on the “Reset” button.
9. To learn more, read the blog post How to reset Google Chrome settings to default.

Delete Search Incognito home page from Internet Explorer

The Internet Explorer reset is great if your browser is hijacked or you’ve unwanted add-ons or toolbars on your browser, which installed by a malicious software.

First, open the Microsoft Internet Explorer, then press ‘gear’ icon . It will open the Tools drop-down menu on the right part of the browser, then press the “Internet Options” as displayed in the following example.

In the “Internet Options” screen, select the “Advanced” tab, then press the “Reset” button. The Internet Explorer will display the “Reset Internet Explorer settings” dialog box. Further, click the “Delete personal settings” check box to select it. Next, click the “Reset” button as on the image below.

After the process is complete, press “Close” button. Close the Microsoft Internet Explorer and restart your machine for the changes to take effect. This step will help you to restore your web-browser’s homepage, newtab and default search engine to default state.

Search Incognito automatic removal

There are not many good free antimalware applications with high detection ratio. The effectiveness of malware removal utilities depends on various factors, mostly on how often their virus/malware signatures DB are updated in order to effectively detect modern malware, adware, browser hijacker infections and other PUPs. We suggest to use several applications, not just one. These programs which listed below will help you remove all components of the hijacker from your disk and Windows registry and thereby delete Search Incognito homepage.

Remove Search Incognito with Zemana

We recommend you to use the Zemana Anti-Malware that are completely clean your computer. Moreover, the tool will help you to delete PUPs, malware, toolbars and adware that your personal computer can be infected too.

Please go to the link below to download Zemana Anti Malware (ZAM). Save it on your MS Windows desktop.

After downloading is finished, close all windows on your personal computer. Further, launch the install file named Zemana.AntiMalware.Setup. If the “User Account Control” prompt pops up as shown on the image below, click the “Yes” button.

It will display the “Setup wizard” that will assist you install Zemana on the computer. Follow the prompts and do not make any changes to default settings.

Once install is done successfully, Zemana will automatically run and you can see its main window as displayed in the following example.

Next, press the “Scan” button for scanning your system for the hijacker infection responsible for redirecting your browser to Search Incognito web page. Depending on your system, the scan may take anywhere from a few minutes to close to an hour. While the Zemana Free is scanning, you can see count of objects it has identified either as being malicious software.

When the system scan is finished, the results are displayed in the scan report. You may move threats to Quarantine (all selected by default) by simply click “Next” button.

The Zemana AntiMalware will get rid of hijacker infection responsible for redirecting user searches to Search Incognito. Once the task is finished, you can be prompted to reboot your computer.

Use Malwarebytes to remove Search Incognito

We advise using the Malwarebytes Free that are completely clean your PC system of the browser hijacker. The free tool is an advanced malware removal program developed by (c) Malwarebytes lab. This program uses the world’s most popular anti malware technology. It is able to help you delete browser hijackers, potentially unwanted applications, malware, adware, toolbars, ransomware and other security threats from your PC system for free.

Visit the page linked below to download MalwareBytes AntiMalware. Save it directly to your MS Windows Desktop.

After the downloading process is complete, close all software and windows on your PC system. Open a directory in which you saved it. Double-click on the icon that’s called mb3-setup as shown on the image below.

When the installation starts, you will see the “Setup wizard” that will help you install Malwarebytes on your machine.

Once setup is done, you’ll see window as shown in the following example.

Now click the “Scan Now” button to start checking your personal computer for the hijacker that responsible for internet browser reroute to the undesired Search Incognito page. A system scan can take anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes, depending on your PC. When a threat is detected, the number of the security threats will change accordingly. Wait until the the checking is finished.

When the scan is done, MalwareBytes will show you the results. Review the results once the tool has finished the system scan. If you think an entry should not be quarantined, then uncheck it. Otherwise, simply press “Quarantine Selected” button.

The Malwarebytes will now remove hijacker infection which cause a redirect to Search Incognito web page. After that process is finished, you may be prompted to reboot your PC.

The following video explains few simple steps on how to remove browser hijacker, ad-supported software and other malicious software with MalwareBytes Free.

If the problem with Search Incognito is still remained

AdwCleaner is a free application which created to delete malware, PUPs, ‘ad supported’ software and hijackers from your machine running Windows 10, 8, 7, XP (32-bit and 64-bit). It’ll help to detect and get rid of hijacker that responsible for browser redirect to the unwanted Search Incognito web-page, including its files, folders and registry keys.

1. Download AdwCleaner by clicking on the following link.
   
   

   AdwCleaner download
   225559 downloads
   Version: 8.4.1
   Author: Xplode, MalwareBytes
   Category: Security tools
   Update: October 5, 2024
   
2. Select the file location as Desktop, and then click Save.
3. Once downloading is done, run the AdwCleaner, double-click the adwcleaner_xxx.exe file.
4. If the “User Account Control” prompts, click Yes to continue.
5. Read the “Terms of use”, and press Accept.
6. In the AdwCleaner window, press the “Scan” to perform a system scan for the hijacker responsible for redirects to Search Incognito. Depending on your machine, the scan can take anywhere from a few minutes to close to an hour.
7. After that process is complete, AdwCleaner will prepare a list of undesired and adware programs. Review the report and then press “Clean”. If the AdwCleaner will ask you to reboot your personal computer, press “OK”.

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

Stop Search Incognito and other undesired sites

Use an ad blocking tool like AdGuard will protect you from malicious ads and content. Moreover, you can find that the AdGuard have an option to protect your privacy and stop phishing and spam web-pages. Additionally, ad-blocking apps will allow you to avoid unwanted advertisements and unverified links that also a good way to stay safe online.

1. Download AdGuard application from the following link. Save it to your Desktop.
   

   Adguard download
   26854 downloads
   Version: 6.4
   Author: © Adguard
   Category: Security tools
   Update: November 15, 2018
   
2. After the downloading process is finished, start the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” program window. Follow the prompts.
3. Once the setup is finished, click “Skip” to close the installation program and use the default settings, or press “Get Started” to see an quick tutorial that will allow you get to know AdGuard better.
4. In most cases, the default settings are enough and you do not need to change anything. Each time, when you run your personal computer, AdGuard will start automatically and block advertisements, as well as other harmful or misleading 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 is located on your desktop.

How did Search Incognito hijacker get on your PC

The Search Incognito browser hijacker usually spreads bundled with some free programs that you download off of the Internet. Once started, it will infect your PC and change internet browser’s settings such as start page, new tab page and search engine by default without your permission. To avoid infection, in the Setup wizard, you should be be proactive and carefully read the ‘Terms of use’, the ‘license agreement’ and other installation screens, as well as to always choose the ‘Manual’ or ‘Advanced’ installation option, when installing anything downloaded from the Internet.

To sum up

Now your personal computer should be free of the hijacker responsible for redirecting user searches to Search Incognito. Delete AdwCleaner. We suggest that you keep Zemana Free (to periodically scan your PC system for new browser hijackers and other malware) and AdGuard (to help you block unwanted popup advertisements 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 detect PUPs (potentially unwanted programs).

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