Bing Search Engine is a legitimate search engine created by Microsoft. Currently, it is one of the most popular in the world. Of course, Bing Search is not directly related to a sudden change in user browser settings, when it forcibly replace the home page and search engine selected by the user earlier. The reason for the sudden appearance of Bing Search in the browser is the attackers who want to make money in this way.
Most likely you are faced with a problem, the essence of which is that Bing Search Engine has replaced your home page and search engine without your permission. That is, in other words, every time you start a web-browser or look for something on the Internet, the browser opens Bing Search, instead of your home page or search engine. Most often, the reason for this is a program or a browser extension, which secretly without your direct permission has changed your browser settings to Bing Search. Such software is promoted as useful, allowing users to extend the capabilities of the browser. In reality this software is useless. The only thing it does is change the browser settings to Bing or to a web-site that redirects to Bing search engine. The devs behind this software are most probably doing this to generate advertisement money from the advertisements displayed in the search results.
Another reason why you need to remove the Bing Search related software is its online data-tracking activity. It can collect personal info, including:
- IP addresses;
- URLs visited;
- search queries/terms;
- clicks on links and advertisements;
- internet browser version information.
Threat Summary
| Name | Bing Search Engine redirect, Bing Search redirect virus |
| Type | browser hijacker, search engine hijacker, home page hijacker, toolbar, unwanted new tab, redirect virus |
| Symptoms |
|
| Damage | unwanted and intrusive ads, collecting user information, identity theft, redirects to dangerous sites |
| Distribution | misleading ads, fake browser updates, fake flash player updates, suspicious browser extensions |
| Removal | Bing Search Engine removal guide |
Potentially unwanted programs, browser hijackers, adware can get added to your web browser or PC system when you visit a web-site and press an Install button, or when you download and run a dubious program, or when you install freeware that includes potentially unwanted software. Be very attentive when installing any programs and make sure you deselect any options for third-party programs that you do not want.
How to remove Bing Search Engine (Redirect virus removal guide)
In order to remove Bing Search redirect, you need to reset browser settings. Additionally, you should look up for other dubious entries, such as files, programs, web-browser extensions and shortcuts. However, if you want to remove redirect virus, adware, browser hijackers easily, you should run reputable anti malware utility and let it do the job for you.
To remove Bing Search Engine, use the following steps:
- Uninstall Bing Search Engine related programs
- Remove Bing Search from Chrome
- Remove Bing Search Engine from Firefox
- Automatic Removal of Bing Search Engine
- How to stay safe online
Uninstall Bing Search Engine related programs
The first way to remove the Bing Search Engine manually is to find and remove the associated software. To do this, go to the control panel and open the list of installed programs. Look carefully at the list of installed programs, you need to find suspicious and unknown programs. If you see such, then delete them. Of course, before doing so, you can do an Internet search to find details on the program. If it is a PUP (potentially unwanted program), browser hijacker, adware or malicious software, you will likely find information that says so.
Windows 8, 8.1, 10
First, press Windows button
, then click Search 
. Type ‘Control panel’and press Enter as displayed in the following example.
When the ‘Control Panel’ opens, press the ‘Uninstall a program’ link under Programs category as displayed in the following example.
You will see the ‘Uninstall a program’ panel as on the image below.
Very carefully look around the entire list of applications installed on your personal computer. Most probably, one of them is the New Tab Explorer — Explore the Web on New Tab adware. If you’ve many apps installed, you can help simplify the search of malicious software by sort the list by date of installation. Once you have found a dubious, unwanted or unused application, right click to it, after that click ‘Uninstall’.
Windows XP, Vista, 7
First, press ‘Start’ button and select ‘Control Panel’ at right panel as shown below.
Once the Windows ‘Control Panel’ opens, you need to press ‘Uninstall a program’ under ‘Programs’ as shown in the figure below.
You will see a list of applications installed on your PC. We recommend to sort the list by date of installation to quickly find the software that were installed last. Most likely, it’s the New Tab Explorer — Explore the Web on New Tab . If you are in doubt, you can always check the program by doing a search for her name in Google, Yahoo or Bing. When the application which you need to remove is found, simply click on its name, and then press ‘Uninstall’ as displayed on the image below.
See more details in the video guidance below.
Remove Bing Search from Chrome
If the Google Chrome browser is redirected to Bing Search, even if you haven’t set it as your home page and search engine, resetting your browser settings might help. Resetting the settings will not affect your personal settings, passwords and bookmarks will be saved.
First launch Chrome. Next, press the button in the form of three horizontal stripes (
). It will open the main menu. Further, click the option named “Settings”. Another way to open the Google Chrome’s settings – type chrome://settings in the web-browser adress bar and press Enter.
The web browser will show the settings screen. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the “Show advanced settings” link. Now scroll down until the “Reset settings” section is visible, as shown below and click the “Reset settings” button.
The Google Chrome will open the confirmation dialog box. You need to confirm your action, click the “Reset” button. The browser will start the process of cleaning. Once it is finished, the web browser’s settings including home page, newtab page and search provider by default back to the values that have been when Chrome was first installed on your personal computer.
Remove Bing Search Engine from Firefox
If your Firefox home page or search engine suddenly changes to Bing Search without your consent, you can restore normal browser settings by performing a Firefox reset. Your passwords, bookmarks, and other personal settings will not be deleted.
Click the Menu button (looks like three horizontal lines), and click the blue Help icon located at the bottom of the drop down menu like below.
A small menu will appear, press the “Troubleshooting Information”. On this page, press “Refresh Firefox” button like below.
Follow the onscreen procedure to revert back your Firefox web browser settings to its original state.
Automatic Removal of Bing Search Engine
Removing the Bing Search Engine manually is not always effective, some components of the associated software may not be removed. Even very experienced users cannot always remove browser hijackers, malware, adware from an infected computer. Therefore, we recommend that you scan your computer with one of the free removal utilities listed below.
Use Zemana Anti-malware to remove Bing Search Engine
Zemana Anti-malware is a tool that can remove adware, PUPs, browser hijackers and other malicious software from your computer easily and for free. Zemana is compatible with most antivirus software. It works under Windows (10 – XP, 32 and 64 bit) and uses minimum of machine resources.
Download Zemana AntiMalware on your computer by clicking on the link below. Save it on your Windows desktop or in any other place.
159555 downloads
Author: Zemana Ltd
Category: Security tools
Update: July 16, 2019
Once the downloading process is done, close all software and windows on your PC system. Double-click the setup file called Zemana.AntiMalware.Setup. If the “User Account Control” dialog box pops up as shown on the screen below, click the “Yes” button.
It will open the “Setup wizard” that will help you install Zemana Anti Malware on your personal computer. Follow the prompts and do not make any changes to default settings.
Once installation is done successfully, Zemana Anti-Malware will automatically start and you can see its main screen as shown on the screen below.
Now click the “Scan” button. Zemana will scan your entire computer looking for Bing Search – related software as well as adware, browser hijackers and other unwanted programs. A system scan may take anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes, depending on your PC. While the program is scanning, you can see how many objects it has identified as a security threat.
After it completes the scan, the results are displayed in the scan report. In order to remove all threats, simply click “Next” button. The Zemana Anti-Malware will uninstall software that changed browser settings to Bing. When disinfection is finished, you may be prompted to restart the personal computer.
Double-check for malware with Malwarebytes
For an additional check to make sure that there is no malware left on the computer, we recommend scanning the computer using Malwarebytes. This program is able to find and remove browser hijackers, potentially unwanted programs, adware, browser toolbars and other malware.
Visit the following page to download MalwareBytes Anti-Malware. Save it on your Desktop.
317689 downloads
Author: Malwarebytes
Category: Security tools
Update: April 15, 2020
When the downloading process is finished, close all apps and windows on your computer. Double-click the setup file named MBSetup. 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 install MalwareBytes on your PC. Follow the prompts and do not make any changes to default settings.
Once install is finished successfully, click “Get Started” button. MalwareBytes AntiMalware will automatically start and you can see its main screen as shown in the figure below.
Now click the “Scan” button to perform a system scan for the Bing Search related software. A system scan may take anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes, depending on your personal computer. While the MalwareBytes utility is scanning, you can see number of objects it has identified as being affected by malware.
When MalwareBytes is finished scanning your personal computer, you will be shown the list of found threats. Once you’ve selected what you want to remove from your computer press “Quarantine” button. The MalwareBytes Free will remove unwanted software and move the selected threats to the Quarantine. After the cleaning procedure is finished, you may be prompted to restart the PC system.
We suggest you look at the following video, which completely explains the process of using the MalwareBytes AntiMalware to remove adware, browser hijacker and other malware.
How to stay safe online
It is important to use ad-blocking applications such as AdGuard to protect your computer from malicious web-sites. Most security experts says that it’s okay to stop unwanted ads. You should do so just to stay safe! And, of course, the AdGuard may to stop misleading and other scam web sites.
Installing the AdGuard adblocker application is simple. First you will need to download AdGuard by clicking on the following link.
25674 downloads
Version: 6.4
Author: © Adguard
Category: Security tools
Update: November 15, 2018
Once the downloading process is done, double-click the downloaded file to run it. The “Setup Wizard” window will show up on the computer screen as shown on the screen 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 instructions as shown below.
Click “Skip” button to close the window and use the default settings, or click “Get Started” to see an quick guide which will allow you get to know AdGuard better.
Each time, when you start your machine, AdGuard will start automatically and stop unwanted advertisements, as well as block harmful and 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.
Finish words
We hope this guide helped you remove Bing Search and restore your homepage and search engine. If you are still having problems while trying to remove Bing Search from Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox, then ask for help here here.
This lengthy procedure was (alone) not effective on my Windows 8.1 System.
However, after entry “about:config” in the address-box of Firefox, ignoring the warranty warning – as usual – I did a search for “bing” and reset all entries where “bing” was mentionned as a searchengine or home screen. This did the job.
Went through the manual process and all 4 tools — none removed anything, all said my computer was clean. EDGE is still polluted with BING, same as before I started
Change EDGE browser search engine:
1. In Edge , go to the website of the search engine you want, http://www.google.com, for example.
2. Click “…” button, then Settings, then Advanced.
3. Scroll down to “Address bar search”, select “Change search provider”.
4. Select your preferred search engine, then select “Set as default”.