According to computer security specialists, ByteFence Secure Browsing is a potentially unwanted program (PUP) that belongs to the category of browser hijackers. Once the PUP is installed, it takes over your web browser. ByteFence Secure Browsing alters the browser settings such as new tab URL, search provider and homepage, and installs unwanted browser extension deep inside the computer.
Most often, PUPs and browser hijackers promote fake search engines by setting their address as the default search engine. In this case, ByteFence Secure Browsing installs securedserch.com as a search engine. This means that users whose browser is hijacked with the hijacker are forced to visit securedserch.com each time they search in the Internet. And since ByteFence Secure Browsing is not a real search provider and does not have the ability to find the information users need, this webpage redirects the user’s web-browser to the Yahoo search engine. The devs behind ByteFence Secure Browsing are most probably doing this to make advertisement profit from the ads displayed in the search results.
And finally, ByteFence Secure Browsing has the ability to collect lots of your user info like what web pages you’re opening, what you’re looking for the World Wide Web and so on. This information, in the future, can be transferred third party companies.
Threat Summary
Name | ByteFence Secure Browsing |
Type | browser hijacker, search provider hijacker, homepage hijacker, toolbar, unwanted new tab, redirect virus |
Symptoms |
|
Removal | ByteFence Secure Browsing removal guide |
How can a browser hijacker get on your computer
The majority of PUPs and browser hijackers such as ByteFence Secure Browsing gets on your PC along with free applications or even paid software which Internet users can easily download online. The setup packages of such programs, most commonly, clearly indicate that they will install bundled apps. The option is given to users to stop the installation of any bundled apps. So, in order to avoid the installation of any hijackers: read all disclaimers and install screens very carefully, select only Custom or Advanced installation type and disable all optional applications in which you are unsure.
So, if you happen to encounter ByteFence Secure Browsing, then be quick and take effort to get rid of browser hijacker which changes internet browser settings to replace your default search provider, new tab page and homepage sooner. Follow the step-by-step guidance below to remove ByteFence Secure Browsing. Let us know how you managed by sending us your comments please.
How to remove ByteFence Secure Browsing
Fortunately, it is not hard to remove the ByteFence Secure Browsing browser hijacker infection. In the following guidance, we will provide two solutions to free your machine of this browser hijacker. One is the manual removal method and the other is automatic removal method. You can select the solution that best fits you. Please follow the removal steps below to delete ByteFence Secure Browsing right now!
To remove ByteFence Secure Browsing, use the following steps:
- Remove ByteFence Secure Browsing without any utilities
- Automatic Removal of ByteFence Secure Browsing
- Run AdBlocker to block ByteFence Secure Browsing and stay safe online
- To sum up
Remove ByteFence Secure Browsing homepage without any utilities
Manually removing the ByteFence Secure Browsing is also possible, although this approach takes time and technical prowess. You can sometimes locate hijacker in your computer’s list of installed programs and uninstall it as you would any other unwanted program.
Remove ByteFence Secure Browsing related apps through the Control Panel of your computer
The main cause of startpage or search engine hijacking could be PUPs, adware or other unwanted programs that you may have unintentionally added on the system. You need to find and delete all questionable software.
Windows 8, 8.1, 10
First, click Windows button , then press Search . Type ‘Control panel’and press Enter as displayed in the following example.
Once the ‘Control Panel’ opens, press the ‘Uninstall a program’ link under Programs category as displayed on the image below.
You will see the ‘Uninstall a program’ panel as shown in the figure below.
Very carefully look around the entire list of software installed on your PC. Most probably, one of them is the browser hijacker that made to redirect your web browser to the ByteFence Secure Browsing web page. If you have many software installed, you can help simplify the search of malicious programs by sort the list by date of installation. Once you’ve found a questionable, unwanted or unused program, right click to it, after that click ‘Uninstall’.
Windows XP, Vista, 7
First, press ‘Start’ button and select ‘Control Panel’ at right panel like below.
After the Windows ‘Control Panel’ opens, you need to click ‘Uninstall a program’ under ‘Programs’ as on the image below.
You will see a list of apps installed on your personal computer. We recommend to sort the list by date of installation to quickly find the software that were installed last. Most probably, it is the browser hijacker that causes internet browsers to open the ByteFence Secure Browsing web site. If you are in doubt, you can always check the program by doing a search for her name in Google, Yahoo or Bing. Once the program which you need to delete is found, simply click on its name, and then click ‘Uninstall’ as shown on the image below.
Get rid of ByteFence Secure Browsing from Internet Explorer
By resetting Microsoft Internet Explorer web-browser you restore your web browser settings to its default state. This is basic when troubleshooting problems that might have been caused by ByteFence Secure Browsing.
First, launch the Internet Explorer, then press ‘gear’ icon . It will display the Tools drop-down menu on the right part of the internet browser, then click the “Internet Options” as shown on the screen below.
In the “Internet Options” screen, select the “Advanced” tab, then click the “Reset” button. The Internet Explorer will open the “Reset Internet Explorer settings” dialog box. Further, press the “Delete personal settings” check box to select it. Next, click the “Reset” button like the one below.
After the procedure is finished, click “Close” button. Close the Microsoft Internet Explorer and reboot your personal computer for the changes to take effect. This step will help you to restore your internet browser’s default search engine, home page and new tab to default state.
Remove ByteFence Secure Browsing from Firefox
Resetting Mozilla Firefox web browser will reset all the settings to their default values and will remove ByteFence Secure Browsing, malicious add-ons and extensions. Your saved bookmarks, form auto-fill information and passwords won’t be cleared or changed.
First, launch the Firefox and click button. It will show the drop-down menu on the right-part of the internet browser. Further, press the Help button () as displayed on the image below.
In the Help menu, select the “Troubleshooting Information” option. Another way to open the “Troubleshooting Information” screen – type “about:support” in the web-browser adress bar and press Enter. It will open the “Troubleshooting Information” page similar to the one below. In the upper-right corner of this screen, click the “Refresh Firefox” button.
It will show the confirmation prompt. Further, press the “Refresh Firefox” button. The Firefox will start a procedure to fix your problems that caused by the ByteFence Secure Browsing PUP. Once, it is done, click the “Finish” button.
Remove ByteFence Secure Browsing from Google Chrome
If you have browser hijacker infection, popup advertisements problems or Google Chrome is running slow, then reset Chrome can help you. In this guidance we’ll show you the way to reset your Chrome settings and data to default values without reinstall.
- First, start the Google Chrome and press the Menu icon (icon in the form of three dots).
- It will display the Chrome main menu. Select More Tools, then press Extensions.
- You will see the list of installed addons. If the list has the extension labeled with “Installed by enterprise policy” or “Installed by your administrator”, then complete the following guide: Remove Chrome extensions installed by enterprise policy.
- Now open the Google Chrome menu once again, press the “Settings” menu.
- Next, press “Advanced” link, which 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 show the reset settings dialog box as shown on the screen above.
- Confirm the internet browser’s reset by clicking on the “Reset” button.
- To learn more, read the post How to reset Google Chrome settings to default.
Automatic Removal of ByteFence Secure Browsing
It is not enough to remove ByteFence Secure Browsing from your web-browser by completing the manual steps above to solve all problems. Some ByteFence Secure Browsing related files may remain on your machine and they will recover the browser hijacker even after you get rid of it. For that reason we recommend to run free anti-malware tool like Zemana Free, MalwareBytes Anti-Malware and Hitman Pro. Either of those programs should has the ability to scan for and remove browser hijackers related to ByteFence Secure Browsing.
Delete ByteFence Secure Browsing with Zemana Anti-Malware
Thinking about get rid of ByteFence Secure Browsing redirect from your web browser? Then pay attention to Zemana. This is a well-known tool, originally created just to detect and remove malware, adware and PUPs. But by now it has seriously changed and can not only rid you of malware, but also protect your system from malware and adware software, as well as find and remove common viruses and trojans.
Zemana can be downloaded from the following link. Save it directly to your MS Windows Desktop.
164113 downloads
Author: Zemana Ltd
Category: Security tools
Update: July 16, 2019
Once the downloading process is finished, close all apps and windows on your PC. Double-click the install file called Zemana.AntiMalware.Setup. If the “User Account Control” dialog box pops up such as the one below, click the “Yes” button.
It will open the “Setup wizard” that will help you setup Zemana on your personal computer. Follow the prompts and do not make any changes to default settings.
Once installation is complete successfully, Zemana Free will automatically start and you can see its main screen as on the image below.
Now click the “Scan” button to scan for ByteFence Secure Browsing. While the Zemana Anti Malware is scanning, you may see how many objects it has identified either as being malicious software.
Once Zemana Anti-Malware completes the scan, Zemana Anti-Malware will display a list of all threats found by the scan. Once you’ve selected what you want to delete from your computer press “Next” button. The Zemana will remove ByteFence Secure Browsing and other PUPs. Once finished, you may be prompted to reboot the personal computer.
Use HitmanPro to remove ByteFence Secure Browsing from the PC system
If Zemana Free cannot get rid of this browser hijacker, then we recommends to run the Hitman Pro. The HitmanPro is a free powerful, professional removal tool for malware, adware software, potentially unwanted apps, toolbars as well as browser hijackers. It completely removes all traces and remnants of the infection.
Download HitmanPro from the following link. Save it to your Desktop.
Download and run Hitman Pro on your PC. Once started, click “Next” button to perform a system scan with this utility for ByteFence Secure Browsing. A system scan can take anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes, depending on your PC. While the Hitman Pro tool is checking, you can see number of objects it has identified as being infected by malicious software..
Once finished, Hitman Pro will prepare a list of unwanted apps and browser hijacker.
When you’re ready, click Next button.
It will display a prompt, click the “Activate free license” button to begin the free 30 days trial to delete all malware found.
Use MalwareBytes AntiMalware to remove ByteFence Secure Browsing
If you’re still having problems with ByteFence Secure Browsing — or just wish to scan your PC system occasionally for browser hijacker and other malware — download MalwareBytes. It is free for home use, and identifies and removes various unwanted programs that attacks your PC system or degrades system performance. MalwareBytes AntiMalware (MBAM) can delete adware software, PUPs as well as malicious software, including ransomware and trojans.
First, visit the page linked below, then click the ‘Download’ button in order to download the latest version of MalwareBytes.
326465 downloads
Author: Malwarebytes
Category: Security tools
Update: April 15, 2020
Once downloading is finished, close all windows on your PC. Further, launch the file named mb3-setup. If the “User Account Control” prompt pops up as displayed on the screen below, click the “Yes” button.
It will display the “Setup wizard” that will help you install MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (MBAM) on the PC. Follow the prompts and don’t make any changes to default settings.
Once installation is done successfully, click Finish button. Then MalwareBytes Free will automatically start and you can see its main window like below.
Next, click the “Scan Now” button . MalwareBytes AntiMalware (MBAM) program will scan through the whole personal computer for ByteFence Secure Browsing and other unwanted software. This task may take quite a while, so please be patient.
When that process is finished, MalwareBytes AntiMalware will show a screen that contains a list of malicious software that has been detected. Make sure to check mark the threats which are unsafe and then press “Quarantine Selected” button.
The MalwareBytes will start to remove hijacker that related to ByteFence Secure Browsing. Once the clean-up is complete, you can be prompted to restart your machine. We suggest you look at the following video, which completely explains the procedure of using the MalwareBytes Anti Malware to remove browser hijackers, adware and other malware.
Run AdBlocker to block ByteFence Secure Browsing and stay safe online
The AdGuard is a very good adblocker application for the IE, Microsoft Edge, Firefox and Chrome, with active user support. It does a great job by removing certain types of unwanted advertisements, popunders, popups, undesired new tab pages, and even full page ads and web page overlay layers. Of course, the AdGuard can stop the ByteFence Secure Browsing redirect automatically or by using a custom filter rule.
- Visit the following page to download the latest version of AdGuard for Windows. Save it on your Windows desktop.
Adguard download
26660 downloads
Version: 6.4
Author: © Adguard
Category: Security tools
Update: November 15, 2018
- After downloading is done, start the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” program window. Follow the prompts.
- When the installation is finished, click “Skip” to close the setup program 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 start your computer, AdGuard will run automatically and stop unwanted ads, block ByteFence Secure Browsing, 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 icon called AdGuard, which can be found on your desktop.
To sum up
Once you’ve finished the guide shown above, your machine should be clean from ByteFence Secure Browsing and other unwanted software. The Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, IE and Firefox will no longer display the ByteFence Secure Browsing web page on startup. Unfortunately, if the few simple steps does not help you, then you have caught a new browser hijacker, and then the best way – ask for help here.