Clever Seek is a potentially unwanted application (PUA) from the group of browser hijackers. It changes the search provider, home page and newtab page of your installed browsers such as Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox and IE. When this browser hijacker infection is installed, it’ll modify the web browser’s settings so that they automatically being redirected to the Clever Seek as your start page and use it for World Wide Web searches. So, every time, when your internet browser opens, it will open Clever Seek web site. Furthermore, when you try to search through affected web browser, it will reroute your queries first to Clever Seek, and then on to Bing or Yahoo or Google Custom Search.
The Clever Seek will also change your search engine. You will encounter the fact that the search in the web-browser has become uncomfortable to use, because the search results will consist of lots of advertisements, links to ad and unwanted web sites and a small amount of regular links, which are obtained from a search in the major search engines. Therefore, look for something using Clever Seek web-page would be a waste of time or worse, it may lead to even more infected computer.
Often, the PC system that has been infected with Clever Seek hijacker, will be also infected with ‘ad-supported’ software (also known as adware) that opens a ton of various ads. It may be pop-ups, text links in the websites, banners where they never had. What is more, the adware can replace the legitimate ads with malicious ads which will offer to download and install malicious software and unwanted software or visit the various dangerous and misleading web sites.
In order to remove Clever Seek from your PC, clean the infected internet browsers and revert back the Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox and Edge settings to its default state, please use the Clever Seek removal guide below.
Remove Clever Seek from Chrome, Firefox, IE, Edge
We can assist you remove Clever Seek, without the need to take your computer to a professional. Simply follow the removal guidance below if you currently have the intrusive hijacker on your system and want to remove it. If you’ve any difficulty while trying to delete the hijacker, feel free to ask for our help in the comment section below. Certain of the steps below will require you to close this web site. So, please read the instructions carefully, after that bookmark or print it for later reference.
To remove Clever Seek, perform the steps below:
- How to manually delete Clever Seek
- Scan your PC and delete Clever Seek with free tools
- How to block Clever Seek redirect
- How can you prevent the Clever Seek browser hijacker
- To sum up
How to manually delete Clever Seek
Clever Seek is a browser hijacker infection that can change your web browser search engine by default, start page and newtab and redirect you to the web sites which may contain countless advertisements. Not every antivirus program can detect and get rid of Clever Seek easily from the browser. Follow the step-by-step guidance below and you can delete hijacker by yourself.
Uninstall Clever Seek associated software by using MS Windows Control Panel
Check out the Windows Control Panel (Programs and Features section) to see all installed programs. We advise 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 dubious programs, they are the ones you need to delete.
Make sure you have closed all web-browsers and other applications. Next, uninstall any undesired and suspicious programs from your Control panel.
Windows 10, 8.1, 8
Now, click the Windows button, type “Control panel” in search and press Enter. Select “Programs and Features”, then “Uninstall a program”.
Look around the entire list of programs installed on your computer. Most likely, one of them is the browser hijacker which redirects your browser to undesired Clever Seek web site. Choose the suspicious program or the program that name is not familiar to you and delete it.
Windows Vista, 7
From the “Start” menu in MS Windows, choose “Control Panel”. Under the “Programs” icon, select “Uninstall a program”.
Choose the questionable or any unknown applications, then press “Uninstall/Change” button to delete this undesired application from your computer.
Windows XP
Click the “Start” button, select “Control Panel” option. Click on “Add/Remove Programs”.
Select an unwanted program, then click “Change/Remove” button. Follow the prompts.
Remove Clever Seek search from Chrome
Reset Google Chrome settings will remove Clever Seek from newtab, start page and search engine by default and disable harmful add-ons. It will also clear cached and temporary data (cookies, site data and content). However, your saved passwords and bookmarks will not be changed, deleted or cleared.
- First start the Google Chrome and click Menu button (small button in the form of three dots).
- It will show the Google Chrome main menu. Select More Tools, then press Extensions.
- You’ll see the list of installed addons. If the list has the plugin 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 Chrome menu once again, click the “Settings” menu.
- You will see the Chrome’s settings page. Scroll down and click “Advanced” link.
- Scroll down again and press the “Reset” button.
- The Chrome will show the reset profile settings page as on the image above.
- Next click the “Reset” button.
- Once this procedure is done, your browser’s home page, default search engine and newtab will be restored to their original defaults.
- To learn more, read the post How to reset Chrome settings to default.
Remove Clever Seek homepage from Firefox
Resetting Firefox browser will reset all the settings to their default state and will remove Clever Seek, malicious add-ons and extensions. It’ll keep your personal information like browsing history, bookmarks, passwords and web form auto-fill data.
Run the Mozilla Firefox and press the menu button (it looks like three stacked lines) at the top right of the web browser screen. Next, press 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 shown 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 procedure to fix your problems that caused by the Clever Seek hijacker. Once, it’s done, press the “Finish” button.
Delete Clever Seek home page from Microsoft Internet Explorer
By resetting IE web browser you return your internet browser settings to its default state. This is basic when troubleshooting problems that might have been caused by hijacker infection such as Clever Seek.
First, launch the IE, click 
) button. Next, press “Internet Options” as shown on the screen below.
In the “Internet Options” screen select the Advanced tab. Next, click Reset button. The IE will open the Reset Internet Explorer settings dialog box. Select the “Delete personal settings” check box and click Reset button.
You will now need to restart your computer for the changes to take effect. It will delete browser hijacker that responsible for internet browser reroute to the undesired Clever Seek web page, disable malicious and ad-supported web-browser’s extensions and restore the Internet Explorer’s settings such as home page, new tab and search engine to default state.
Scan your PC and delete Clever Seek with free tools
It’s not enough to delete Clever Seek from your internet browser by following the manual steps above to solve all problems. Some Clever Seek hijacker related files may remain on your system and they will restore the browser hijacker even after you get rid of it. For that reason we recommend to use free anti malware utility such as Zemana Anti-Malware, MalwareBytes AntiMalware (MBAM) and HitmanPro. Either of those applications should can be used to search for and get rid of hijacker responsible for redirecting user searches to Clever Seek.
Automatically remove Clever Seek homepage with Zemana Anti-Malware
Download Zemana to get rid of Clever Seek automatically from all of your web-browsers. This is a freeware tool specially developed for malware removal. This tool can remove adware, hijacker from Internet Explorer, Firefox, Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome and Microsoft Windows registry automatically.
Now you can set up and use Zemana to get rid of Clever Seek redirect from your web browser by following the steps below:
Please go to the link below to download Zemana Anti-Malware installer called Zemana.AntiMalware.Setup on your machine. Save it directly to your Microsoft Windows Desktop.
164113 downloads
Author: Zemana Ltd
Category: Security tools
Update: July 16, 2019
Launch the install package after it has been downloaded successfully and then follow the prompts to install this tool on your PC.
During install you can change some settings, but we advise you do not make any changes to default settings.
When install is finished, this malicious software removal utility will automatically run and update itself. You will see its main window as displayed below.
Now click the “Scan” button to perform a system scan with this utility for the hijacker infection responsible for Clever Seek search. A system scan may take anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes, depending on your personal computer. While the Zemana Anti Malware (ZAM) application is scanning, you can see how many objects it has identified as threat.
When Zemana Anti-Malware (ZAM) has finished scanning your computer, Zemana will display a list of all threats found by the scan. 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 click “Next” button.
The Zemana will remove hijacker related to Clever Seek homepage and move items to the program’s quarantine. After finished, you can be prompted to reboot your computer to make the change take effect.
Remove Clever Seek start page from internet browsers with HitmanPro
Hitman Pro is a free portable application that scans your system for adware, PUPs and hijackers such as Clever Seek and allows remove them easily. Moreover, it’ll also help you remove any harmful web-browser extensions and add-ons.
HitmanPro can be downloaded from the following link. Save it to your Desktop so that you can access the file easily.
Download and run HitmanPro on your personal computer. Once started, click “Next” button to perform a system scan with this utility for the browser hijacker that causes web-browsers to show intrusive Clever Seek site. This task can take some time, so please be patient. When a malware, adware or PUPs are found, the count of the security threats will change accordingly. .
Once finished, a list of all items detected is created.
In order to remove all items, simply click Next button.
It will open a dialog box, click the “Activate free license” button to start the free 30 days trial to get rid of all malicious software found.
Scan and free your computer of browser hijacker infection with MalwareBytes Free
Delete Clever Seek hijacker manually is difficult and often the browser hijacker infection is not completely removed. Therefore, we suggest you to run the MalwareBytes Anti-Malware that are completely clean your machine. Moreover, this free program will help you to remove malicious software, PUPs, toolbars and ad-supported software that your computer may be infected too.
Download MalwareBytes AntiMalware (MBAM) on your system from the link below.
326464 downloads
Author: Malwarebytes
Category: Security tools
Update: April 15, 2020
Once the downloading process is finished, close all windows on your PC system. Further, launch the file named mb3-setup. If the “User Account Control” prompt pops up like below, press the “Yes” button.
It will open the “Setup wizard” that will allow you set up MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (MBAM) on the PC. Follow the prompts and don’t make any changes to default settings.
Once setup is finished successfully, click Finish button. Then MalwareBytes Free will automatically start and you can see its main window as displayed in the figure below.
Next, press the “Scan Now” button for scanning your PC system for the browser hijacker related to Clever Seek . A system scan can take anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes, depending on your computer. While the MalwareBytes Free is scanning, you can see how many objects it has identified either as being malicious software.
Once MalwareBytes has finished scanning, MalwareBytes Free will show a scan report. Review the scan results and then press “Quarantine Selected” button.
The MalwareBytes Free will remove hijacker responsible for redirecting user searches to Clever Seek and add threats to the Quarantine. Once the clean-up is done, you can be prompted to restart your PC system. We suggest you look at the following video, which completely explains the process of using the MalwareBytes Anti Malware (MBAM) to remove hijackers, ad-supported software and other malicious software.
How to block Clever Seek redirect
In order to increase your security and protect your PC against new intrusive advertisements and malicious websites, you need to run ad blocking program that stops an access to harmful advertisements and web-sites. Moreover, the program can block the open of intrusive advertising, that also leads to faster loading of webpages and reduce the consumption of web traffic.
- Download AdGuard by clicking on the following link.
Adguard download
26659 downloads
Version: 6.4
Author: © Adguard
Category: Security tools
Update: November 15, 2018
- Once the download is finished, run the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” program window. Follow the prompts.
- Once the install is finished, press “Skip” to close the install application and use the default settings, or click “Get Started” to see an quick tutorial that will assist 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 launch your PC, AdGuard will start automatically and stop pop-up ads, Clever Seek redirect, as well as other harmful or misleading websites. For an overview of all the features of the program, or to change its settings you can simply double-click on the icon named AdGuard, which can be found on your desktop.
How can you prevent the Clever Seek browser hijacker
The hijacker come bundled with many freeware and commercial software. This PUP can be installed in background without user consent, but usually it is introduced to a user when a downloaded program are installed. So, read term of use and user agreement very carefully before installing any software or otherwise you can end up with another hijacker on your system, such as this browser hijacker that cause a reroute to Clever Seek website.
To sum up
After completing the tutorial shown above, your personal computer should be clean from this browser hijacker and other malicious software. The Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox and MS Edge will no longer open annoying Clever Seek web-site on startup. Unfortunately, if the few simple steps does not help you, then you have caught a new hijacker infection, and then the best way – ask for help.
Please create a new question by using the “Ask Question” button in the Questions and Answers. 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 intrusive Clever Seek redirect.
