What is Control-Search?
The security professionals have determined that Control-Search is a potentially unwanted program (PUP) belonging to the family of Browser hijackers. The aim of browser hijackers is to generate advertising profit. For example, a browser hijacker redirects the user’s homepage to the browser hijacker’s page that contains advertisements or sponsored links; a browser hijacker redirects the user web searches to a link the browser hijacker wants the user to see, rather than to legitimate search engine results. When the user clicks on ads in the search results, authors of browser hijackers gets paid. The browser hijackers makers can collect sensitive information such as user browsing habits as well as browsing history and sell this information to third parties for marketing purposes.
When you perform a search through Control-Search, in addition to search results from the Bing Search which provide links to web pages, news articles, images or videos you will also be shown a large amount of advertisements. The devs behind Control-Search doing this to generate advertising money from these advertisements.
Control-Search redirects user seaches to Bing
In addition to the above, it can be used to collect a wide variety of your confidential data which can be later transferred third party companies. You do not know if your home address, account names and passwords are safe. And of course you completely do not know what will happen when you click on any advertisements on the Control-Search web page.
In order to get rid of browser hijacker from your PC, clean the affected web-browsers and restore the Microsoft Edge, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Chrome settings to its default state, please use the Control-Search removal tutorial below.
How can a browser hijacker get on your computer
PUPs and browser hijackers such as Control-Search can get added to your web-browser or device when you visit a web site and click an Install button, or when you download and run a suspicious application, or when you install freeware that includes a potentially unwanted application (PUA). Be very attentive when installing any software and make sure you deselect any options for third-party programs that you do not want.
Threat Summary
| Name | Control-Search |
| Type | PUP, browser hijacker, search provider hijacker, redirect virus, start page hijacker |
| Related web-domains | control-search.xyz |
| Affected Browser Settings | new tab page URL, search engine, startpage |
| Distribution | suspicious pop up advertisements, free applications installers, fake software updaters |
| Symptoms | You experience a large number of of unexpected advertisements. Your web-browser is re-directed to websites you did not want. Unexpected program installed without your consent. New icons in your web browser. Your web-browser startpage or search engine keeps changing or is not set to Google anymor. |
| Removal | Control-Search removal guide |
How to remove Control-Search browser hijacker
In order to remove Control-Search browser hijacker, start by closing any programs and popups that are open. If a pop-up won’t close, then close your web-browser (Microsoft Edge, Chrome, Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox). If a program won’t close then please reboot your PC. Next, follow the steps below.
To remove Control-Search, perform the following steps:
- How to manually remove Control-Search
- Automatic Removal of Control-Search
- How to stop Control-Search redirect
How to manually remove Control-Search
The following instructions is a step-by-step guide, which will help you manually delete Control-Search hijacker from the Mozilla Firefox, IE, Google Chrome and Edge.
Delete potentially unwanted programs using Microsoft Windows Control Panel
Some PUPs, browser hijacking software and adware software can be removed by uninstalling the free programs they came with. If this way does not succeed, then looking them up in the list of installed software in Windows Control Panel. Use the “Uninstall” command in order to delete them.
Windows 8, 8.1, 10
First, click 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 shown in the figure below.
You will see the ‘Uninstall a program’ panel as displayed in the figure below.
Very carefully look around the entire list of programs installed on your PC system. Most likely, one of them is the Control-Search browser hijacker. If you have many programs installed, you can help simplify the search of malicious programs by sort the list by date of installation. Once you’ve found a suspicious, unwanted or unused program, right click to it, after that press ‘Uninstall’.
Windows XP, Vista, 7
First, press ‘Start’ button and select ‘Control Panel’ at right panel as displayed in the figure below.
Once the Windows ‘Control Panel’ opens, you need to click ‘Uninstall a program’ under ‘Programs’ as displayed in the following example.
You will see a list of software installed on your device. We recommend to sort the list by date of installation to quickly find the programs that were installed last. Most likely, it is the Control-Search browser hijacker. If you are in doubt, you can always check the program by doing a search for her name in Google, Yahoo or Bing. After the program which you need to remove is found, simply click on its name, and then press ‘Uninstall’ as shown in the following example.
Remove Control-Search hijacker from web-browsers
If you have ‘Control-Search hijacker’ removal problem, then remove unwanted extensions can help you. In the steps below we’ll show you the method to delete malicious add-ons without reinstall. This will also help to delete Control-Search browser hijacker from your web browser.
 Google Chrome |
 Mozilla Firefox |
|---|---|
You can also try to remove Control-Search hijacker by reset Chrome settings. |
If you are still experiencing issues with Control-Search browser hijacker removal, you need to reset Firefox browser. |
 Internet Explorer |
 Safari |
Another solution to remove Control-Search hijacker from IE is reset IE settings. |
|
Automatic Removal of Control-Search
Manual removal is not always as effective as you might think. Often, even the most experienced users can not fully delete browser hijacker from the infected computer. So, we advise to scan your PC for any remaining malicious components with free hijacker removal apps below.
Get rid of Control-Search browser hijacker with Zemana Anti Malware (ZAM)
If you need a free utility that can easily locate and remove Control-Search hijacker, then use Zemana Anti-Malware (ZAM). This is a very handy program, which is primarily developed to quickly detect and get rid of adware and malware infecting internet browsers and changing their settings.
Visit the following page to download Zemana Free. Save it on your Desktop.
164903 downloads
Author: Zemana Ltd
Category: Security tools
Update: July 16, 2019
After the downloading process is finished, run it and follow the prompts. Once installed, the Zemana AntiMalware (ZAM) will try to update itself and when this procedure is finished, click the “Scan” button for checking your PC system for the Control-Search browser hijacker.
This task can take some time, so please be patient. During the scan Zemana AntiMalware (ZAM) will scan for threats present on your personal computer. When you’re ready, press “Next” button.
The Zemana Free will remove Control-Search browser hijacker and move the selected threats to the program’s quarantine.
Get rid of Control-Search browser hijacker from web-browsers with Hitman Pro
HitmanPro is a portable utility which searches for and removes unwanted programs like browser hijackers, adware software, toolbars, other internet browser addons and other malware. It scans your PC for Control-Search hijacker and creates a list of threats marked for removal. HitmanPro will only uninstall those undesired apps that you wish to be removed.
Download Hitman Pro on your Windows Desktop by clicking on the following link.
Once the downloading process is complete, open the file location and double-click the HitmanPro icon. It will launch the HitmanPro utility. If the User Account Control prompt will ask you want to run the program, press Yes button to continue.
Next, click “Next” . Hitman Pro application will scan through the whole PC system for the Control-Search hijacker. This procedure can take some time, so please be patient. When a malware, adware or PUPs are detected, the number of the security threats will change accordingly.
When finished, it will show the Scan Results as shown below.
All detected threats will be marked. You can remove them all by simply press “Next” button. It will show a dialog box, press the “Activate free license” button. The Hitman Pro will remove Control-Search browser hijacker. Once finished, the utility may ask you to reboot your device.
Get rid of Control-Search hijacker with MalwareBytes Anti Malware (MBAM)
If you are still having problems with the Control-Search hijacker — or just wish to scan your PC system occasionally for browser hijacker and other malware — download MalwareBytes. It’s free for home use, and finds and removes various unwanted software that attacks your device or degrades computer performance. MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (MBAM) can delete adware software, PUPs as well as malware, including ransomware and trojans.
- First, visit the following page, then press the ‘Download’ button in order to download the latest version of MalwareBytes.
Malwarebytes Anti-malware
327155 downloads
Author: Malwarebytes
Category: Security tools
Update: April 15, 2020
- At the download page, click on the Download button. Your web browser will display the “Save as” dialog box. Please save it onto your Windows desktop.
- Once the downloading process is complete, please close all programs and open windows on your device. Double-click on the icon that’s named MBSetup.
- This will launch the Setup wizard of MalwareBytes AntiMalware onto your personal computer. Follow the prompts and do not make any changes to default settings.
- When the Setup wizard has finished installing, the MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (MBAM) will open and display the main window.
- Further, click the “Scan” button to search for Control-Search browser hijacker. While the MalwareBytes Anti-Malware program is checking, you can see how many objects it has identified as threat.
- When MalwareBytes Free is complete scanning your computer, you can check all items found on your personal computer.
- Review the scan results and then press the “Quarantine” button. After the procedure is finished, you may be prompted to reboot the PC.
- Close the AntiMalware and continue with the next step.
Video instruction, which reveals in detail the steps above.
How to stop Control-Search redirect
The AdGuard is a very good ad blocker program for the Firefox, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Microsoft Internet Explorer, with active user support. It does a great job by removing certain types of unwanted advertisements, popunders, popups, unwanted new tabs, and even full page ads and webpage overlay layers. Of course, the AdGuard can block the Control-Search redirect automatically or by using a custom filter rule.
Installing the AdGuard is simple. First you will need to download AdGuard by clicking on the following link.
26864 downloads
Version: 6.4
Author: © Adguard
Category: Security tools
Update: November 15, 2018
After downloading it, start the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” screen as displayed on the screen below.
Follow the prompts. After the installation is done, you will see a window as shown on the screen below.
You can click “Skip” to close the setup program and use the default settings, or click “Get Started” button to see an quick tutorial that will allow 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 personal computer, AdGuard will launch automatically and stop undesired ads, block Control-Search, as well as other harmful 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, that is located on your desktop.
Finish words
Once you have removed the browser hijacker using this guidance, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and MS Edge will no longer display the Control-Search web-site on startup. Unfortunately, if the few simple steps does not help you, then you have caught a new hijacker, and then the best way – ask for help here.
