How to remove Home search [Chrome, Firefox, IE, Edge]

The Home search is an undesired website which can be set as your home page and search provider by a potentially unwanted application (PUA) from the browser hijackers family. Most often, this undesired application installs on the computer in abundle with free software that you downloaded and installed from the Internet. Once it gets inside your internet browser, it’ll modify some browser’s search provider, start page and new tab to Home search. The Home search is designed in order to reroute user’s web browser and display a lot of undesired advertisements and sponsored links from AdSense or another third-party vendors in your search results.

In addition, the Home search browser hijacker may also modify the search provider selected in the web browser. When you try to search on the infected web browser, you’ll be presented with search results, consisting of advertisements and Google (or Yahoo, or Bing) search results for your query. Among these search results can occur links that lead to undesired and ad web-pages.

As well as unwanted internet browser redirects to Home search, the hijacker infection can collect your Internet surfing activity by recording URLs visited, IP addresses, web browser version and type, cookie information, Internet Service Provider (ISP) and websites visited. Such kind of behavior can lead to serious security problems or privacy data theft. This is another reason why the hijacker that reroutes the browser to Home search, is categorized as PUP (potentially unwanted program).

Most often, the Home search hijacker infection affects most common browsers such as Firefox, Google Chrome, IE and Edge. But such hijacker infections as well may infect other browsers by changing its shortcuts (adding ‘http://site.address’ into Target field of web-browser’s shortcut). So every time you run the internet browser, it will open Home search webpage. Even if you setup your startpage again, the intrusive Home search web site will be the first thing which you see when you start the internet browser.

It’s important, do not use Home search web-page and don’t click on advertisements placed on it, as they can lead you to a more malicious or misleading web pages. The best option is to use the step-by-step instructions posted below to free your PC system of hijacker, get rid of the Home search, and thus return your favorite homepage and search engine.

Remove Home search redirect from Google Chrome, Firefox, IE, Edge

There are a few methods which can be used to delete Home search. But, not all potentially unwanted software such as this browser hijacker can be completely uninstalled utilizing only manual ways. Most commonly you’re not able to remove any hijacker utilizing standard MS Windows options. In order to remove Home search you need complete a few manual steps and use reliable removal utilities. Most computer security specialists states that Zemana AntiMalware (ZAM), MalwareBytes Free or Hitman Pro tools are a right choice. These free programs are able to scan for and remove Home search from your PC and restore your internet browser settings to defaults.

To remove Home search, execute the steps below:

1. How to get rid of Home search redirect without any software
   • Delete potentially unwanted applications using Microsoft Windows Control Panel
   • Get rid of Home search startpage from Microsoft Internet Explorer
   • Remove Home search from Mozilla Firefox
   • Get rid of Home search from Google Chrome
   • Clean up the internet browsers shortcuts that have been infected by Home search
2. How to automatically get rid of Home search browser hijacker
   • How to automatically get rid of Home search with Zemana Anti Malware (ZAM)
   • Scan and clean your machine of browser hijacker with HitmanPro
   • Remove Home search with Malwarebytes
3. Block Home search and other intrusive web-sites
4. How to Home search browser hijacker get installed onto personal computer
5. Finish words

How to get rid of Home search redirect without any software

The instructions will help you remove Home search redirect. These Home search removal steps work for the Chrome, Firefox, IE and Edge, as well as every version of Microsoft Windows operating system.

Delete potentially unwanted applications using Microsoft Windows Control Panel

First method for manual browser hijacker removal is to go into the Windows “Control Panel”, then “Uninstall a program” console. Take a look at the list of software on your PC system and see if there are any questionable and unknown programs. If you see any, you need to remove them. Of course, before doing so, you can do an Internet search to find details on the program. If it is a potentially unwanted program, adware or malware, you will likely find information that says so.

It will open the Windows Control Panel as shown on the image below.

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

Get rid of Home search startpage from Microsoft Internet Explorer

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

First, open the Internet Explorer. Next, click the button in the form of gear (). It will show the Tools drop-down menu, click the “Internet Options” as displayed in the figure below.

In the “Internet Options” window click on the Advanced tab, then click the Reset button. The Internet Explorer will display the “Reset Internet Explorer settings” window as displayed below. Select the “Delete personal settings” check box, then press “Reset” button.

You will now need to reboot your PC for the changes to take effect.

Remove Home search from Mozilla Firefox

If your Mozilla Firefox web browser homepage has modified to Home search without your permission or an unknown search provider shows results for your search, then it may be time to perform the web browser reset. It’ll save your personal information such as saved passwords, bookmarks, auto-fill data and open tabs.

Start the Mozilla Firefox and press 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 display 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 displayed on the image below.

Click the “Refresh Firefox” button at the top right of the Troubleshooting Information page. Select “Refresh Firefox” in the confirmation dialog box. The Firefox will start a process to fix your problems that caused by the hijacker related to Home search redirect. Once, it is done, press the “Finish” button.

Get rid of Home search from Google Chrome

If Chrome startpage, newtab page and default search provider were hijacked by Home search then ‘Reset Chrome’ is a solution {which} helps to revert back the browser to its factory state. To reset Chrome to the original defaults, follow the steps below.

First run the Google Chrome. Next, press the button in the form of three horizontal dots ().

It will show the Chrome menu. Choose More Tools, then click Extensions. Carefully browse through the list of installed extensions. If the list has the addon signed with “Installed by enterprise policy” or “Installed by your administrator”, then complete the following instructions: Remove Chrome extensions installed by enterprise policy.

Open the Google Chrome menu once again. Further, press the option called “Settings”.

The browser will display the settings screen. Another solution to open the Google Chrome’s settings – type chrome://settings in the internet browser adress bar and press Enter

Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the “Advanced” link. Now scroll down until the “Reset” section is visible, as shown on the image below and click the “Reset settings to their original defaults” button.

The Google Chrome will open the confirmation dialog box as on the image below.

You need to confirm your action, press the “Reset” button. The internet browser will run the procedure of cleaning. Once it’s complete, the web browser’s settings including default search engine, start page and new tab page back to the values which have been when the Google Chrome was first installed on your system.

Clean up the internet browsers shortcuts that have been infected by Home search

Unfortunately, the Home search browser hijacker infection and other browser’s harmful extensions, can also hijack Windows shortcuts (mostly, your internet browsers shortcuts), so that the Home search will be opened when you run the Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome or another browser.

Right click to a desktop shortcut file for your hijacked web browser. Choose the “Properties” option. It will show the Properties window. Select the “Shortcut” tab here, after that, look at the “Target” field. The hijacker responsible for redirecting user searches to Home search can replace it. If you are seeing something similar to “…exe http://site.address” then you need to remove “http…” and leave only, depending on the internet browser you are using:

• Google Chrome: chrome.exe
• Opera: opera.exe
• Firefox: firefox.exe
• Internet Explorer: iexplore.exe

Look at the example like below.

Once is complete, click the “OK” button to save the changes. Please repeat this step for web-browser shortcuts which reroutes to an unwanted sites. When you have finished, go to next step.

How to automatically get rid of Home search browser hijacker

If your computer is still infected with the Home search hijacker infection, then the best way of detection and removal is to use an antimalware scan on the system. Download free malicious software removal tools below and start a full system scan. It will help you remove all components of the browser hijacker infection from hardisk and Windows registry.

How to automatically get rid of Home search with Zemana Anti Malware (ZAM)

You can download and use the Zemana for free. This antimalware utility will scan all the Microsoft Windows registry items and files in your PC system along with the system settings and web browser extensions. If it finds any malicious software, adware or malicious add-on that is changing your browser settings to the Home search then the Zemana Free will remove them from your PC completely.

Zemana Anti Malware (ZAM) can be downloaded from the following link. Save it directly to your Microsoft Windows Desktop.

Once the downloading process is complete, close all software and windows on your personal computer. Double-click the install file named Zemana.AntiMalware.Setup. If the “User Account Control” dialog box pops up as on the image below, click the “Yes” button.

It will open the “Setup wizard” that will help you set up Zemana AntiMalware on your personal computer. Follow the prompts and don’t make any changes to default settings.

Once installation is complete successfully, Zemana Anti Malware will automatically start and you can see its main screen as displayed on the image below.

Now click the “Scan” button to start checking your computer for the browser hijacker infection responsible for redirecting your browser to Home search web page. While the utility is checking, you can see number of objects and files has already scanned.

When the scan is finished, you can check all items detected on your computer. Next, you need to click “Next” button. The Zemana Free will get rid of hijacker responsible for changing your browser settings to Home search and add threats to the Quarantine. When that process is complete, you may be prompted to reboot the computer.

Scan and clean your machine of browser hijacker with HitmanPro

HitmanPro is a free removal tool. It removes PUPs, ‘ad supported’ software, browser hijackers and unwanted browser addons. It will detect and remove hijacker responsible for redirecting user searches to Home search. Hitman Pro uses very small personal computer resources and is a portable application. Moreover, HitmanPro does add another layer of malware protection.

1. Download HitmanPro from the link below.
   
   

   HitmanPro
   12076 downloads
   Author: Sophos
   Category: Security tools
   Update: June 28, 2018
   
2. When the download is done, double click the HitmanPro icon. Once this utility is started, press “Next” button to scan for hijacker that responsible for browser redirect to the annoying Home search web site. A system scan can take anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes, depending on your system. When a malicious software, adware or potentially unwanted applications are detected, the number of the security threats will change accordingly.
3. Once Hitman Pro completes the scan, the results are displayed in the scan report. When you are ready, click “Next” button. Now click the “Activate free license” button to begin the free 30 days trial to delete all malware found.

Remove Home search with Malwarebytes

Remove Home search hijacker manually is difficult and often the browser hijacker is not completely removed. Therefore, we suggest you to run the Malwarebytes Free that are completely clean your machine. Moreover, the free program will help you to remove malware, PUPs, toolbars and adware that your computer can be infected too.

1. Download MalwareBytes Free on your Microsoft Windows Desktop by clicking on the link below.
   
   

   Malwarebytes Anti-malware
   326458 downloads
   Author: Malwarebytes
   Category: Security tools
   Update: April 15, 2020
   
2. At the download page, click on the Download button. Your browser will display the “Save as” prompt. Please save it onto your Windows desktop.
3. Once the download is complete, please close all apps and open windows on your computer. Double-click on the icon that’s named mb3-setup.
4. This will open the “Setup wizard” of MalwareBytes onto your system. Follow the prompts and do not make any changes to default settings.
5. When the Setup wizard has finished installing, the MalwareBytes Free will open and show the main window.
6. Further, click the “Scan Now” button to perform a system scan for the Home search hijacker and other web browser’s malicious addons. A scan can take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the number of files on your computer and the speed of your system. During the scan MalwareBytes Anti Malware (MBAM) will scan for threats exist on your computer.
7. After the checking is done, MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (MBAM) will prepare a list of undesired and adware.
8. Review the scan results and then press the “Quarantine Selected” button. Once that process is complete, you may be prompted to reboot the PC system.
9. Close the Anti Malware and continue with the next step.

Video instruction, which reveals in detail the steps above.

Block Home search and other intrusive web-sites

We suggest to install an adblocker program which can stop Home search and other intrusive web-pages. The ad-blocking utility like AdGuard is a program that basically removes advertising from the Internet and blocks access to malicious web pages. Moreover, security experts says that using adblocker applications is necessary to stay safe when surfing the World Wide Web.

AdGuard can be downloaded from the following link. Save it on your MS Windows desktop or in any other place.

When downloading is finished, double-click the downloaded file to start it. The “Setup Wizard” window will show up on the computer screen as shown in the following example.

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 tutorial as displayed on the image below.

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

Each time, when you launch your machine, AdGuard will run automatically and block pop-up advertisements, Home search redirect, as well as other malicious or misleading webpages. For an overview of all the features of the program, or to change its settings you can simply double-click on the AdGuard icon, which is located on your desktop.

How to Home search browser hijacker get installed onto personal computer

These days certain free applications creators bundle optional apps which could be PUPs such as the Home search hijacker infection, with a view to making some money. These are not freeware as install an unwanted applications on to your Microsoft Windows personal computer. So whenever you install a new free application that downloaded from the Internet, be very careful during installation. Carefully read the EULA (a text with I ACCEPT/I DECLINE button), select custom or manual installation mode, disable all additional programs.

Finish words

Now your machine should be free of the browser hijacker which cause a redirect to Home search page. We suggest that you keep Zemana Free (to periodically scan your PC system for new hijacker infections and other malicious software) and AdGuard (to help you stop unwanted popups and harmful web-pages). Moreover, to prevent any browser hijacker, please stay clear of unknown and third party applications, make sure that your antivirus program, turn on the option to search for potentially unwanted apps.

If you need more help with Home search startpage related issues, go to our Spyware/Malware removal forum.