When your PC is infected with Adware, your web browser might display unwanted advertisements within Windows, or the web browser. If your computer is infected with a Browser Hijacker, it might also show advertisement and redirect your default home page and search engine to unwanted web pages.

Learn how to remove Adware and Browser Hijackers manually and protect your computer from further malware infections. We would inform anyone who manually removes Adware; there is a chance your computer might get infected again. Adware leaves traces, such as scheduled tasks, registry entries or batch files. By adding this deceptive malware like techniques, the adware is restarted with every reboot from your PC.

In this instruction, I show you how to detect adware, remove the adware and search for traces to prevent from getting infected again. This guide shows you how to identify adware and remove browser hijackers, remove unwanted browser helper objects, browser extensions and reset your web browser to default settings to undo any unwanted changes.

How to manually remove Adware and Browser Hijackers?

How to remove adware?

Step 1 – Uninstall adware software applications
Step 2 – remove adware scheduled tasks
Step 3 – Remove adware folders and files
Step 4 – Remove startup entries using the registry
Step 5 – Reset web browser proxy server

how to remove a browser hijacker?

Step 1 – Uninstall browser hijacker software
Step 2 – Check for browser hijacker scheduled tasks
Step 3 – Clean the web browser shortcuts
Step 4 – Remove browser helper objects and browser extensions
Step 5 – use Avast Browser Cleanup
Step 6 – Reset Internet Explorer, Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox to default settings
Optional: Prevent another infection with MalwareBytes

Step 1 – Uninstall Adware applications

First, we are going to look for suspicious adware applications in the Windows Applications list. Take a good look and notice suspicious software installations, anything recently installed on your computer.

Choose your Windows version below and follow instructions on how to remove adware from Windows 10, Windows 8 and Windows 7.

Uninstall adware from Windows 10

• Right-click the Start button in the left bottom corner

• Select Control Panel from the menu

• Select Uninstall a program
• Tap or click [any software you don’t know, trust, or need], and then tap or click Uninstall.
• Follow the instructions on the screen. Make sure when you uninstall the malware that there is no extra software is offered during removal and read every pop-up before clicking any button.
   Remove all recently installed software, sort by “Installed on” to easily find recently installed software.

Uninstall adware from Windows 8

• Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, and then tap Search.
  (If you’re using a mouse, point to the upper-right corner of the screen, move the mouse pointer down, and then click Search.)
• Enter control panel in the search box, and then tap or click Control Panel.

• Under View by : select Large Icons, and then tap or click Programs and features.
• Tap or click [any software you don’t know, trust, or need], and then tap or click Uninstall.
• Follow the instructions on the screen. Make sure when you uninstall the malware that there is no extra software is offered during uninstallation and read every pop-up before clicking any button.
   Remove all recently installed software, sort by “Installed on” to easily find recently installed software.

Uninstall adware from Windows 7

• Open Programs and Features by clicking the Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking Programs, and then clicking Programs and Features.

• Select [any software you don’t know, trust, or need], and then click Uninstall.
   Remove all recently installed software, sort by “Installed on” to easily find recently installed software.

Step 2 – Check for adware Scheduled Tasks

• Right click the start button
• select Run
• Enter: Taskschd.msc

• Select Task Scheduler Library
• Search for any unknown scheduled tasks and remove them by right click Delete.

Step 3 – Delete adware installation folders and files

• Open Windows, File Explorer
• Navigate to C:\Program Files\ and C:\Program Files (x86)\ and remove any folder unknown to you.
• Sort the folders by “Date modified” to easily identify newly created folders.** If a process or file is blocking the removal of a folder **
  Goto: Start button, right-click, run, enter: cmd.exe.
  Enter in the command prompt window: taskkill.exe /F /IM name-of-the-exe-file.exe
  try again to remove the folder.

Step 4 – Remove adware registry keys

• Right-click on the start button
• Select Run
• Enter: regedit.exe
• Expand the following path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
• Search for any entries unknown to you. Select the entry, right-click, and select Delete.
• Expand the following path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
• Search for any entries unknown to you. Select the entry, right-click, and select Delete.
• Expand the following path: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
• Search for any entries unknown to you. Select the entry, right-click, and select Delete.
• Expand the following path: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
• Search for any entries unknown to you. Select the entry, right-click, and select Delete.

Step 5 – Reset web browser proxy configuration

• On Windows XP, click Start, or on Windows Vista or Windows 7, click, and then click Run. On Windows 8 or Windows 10, to access the Run command, press the Windows logo key + R. Or, swipe in from the right edge of the screen, and then tap Search (or if you are using a mouse, point to the upper-right corner of the screen, move the mouse pointer down, and then click Search).  Type Run in the search box and then tap or click Run.
• In the Run text box, copy (CTRL+C) and paste (CTRL+V) or type the following:
  reg add “HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings” /v ProxyEnable /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f
• Click OK.
• On Windows XP, click Start, or on Windows Vista or Windows 7, click Start button, and then click Run.
  On Windows 8 or Windows 8.1, to access the Run command, press the Windows logo key  + R. Or, swipe in from the right edge of the screen, and then tap Search (or if you are using a mouse, point to the upper-right corner of the screen, move the mouse pointer down, and then click Search).  Type Run in the search box and then tap or click Run.
• In the Run text box, copy (CTRL+C) and paste (CTRL+V) or type the following:
  reg delete “HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings” /v ProxyServer /f
• Click OK.

Step 1 – Uninstall browser hijacker software

First, we are going to look for suspicious entries in the Windows, Control Panel. Take a good look and notice suspicious entries and anything recently installed on your computer.

Choose your Windows version below and follow instructions on how to remove adware from Windows, Control Panel.

Uninstall a browser hijacker from Windows 10

• Right-click the Start button in the left bottom corner

• Select Control Panel from the menu

• Select Uninstall a program
• Tap or click [any software you don’t know, trust, or need], and then tap or click Uninstall.
• Follow the instructions on the screen. Make sure when you uninstall the malware that there is no extra software is offered during removal and read every pop-up before clicking any button.
   Remove all recently installed software, sort by “Installed on” to easily find recently installed software.

Uninstall a browser hijacker from Windows 8

• Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, and then tap Search.
  (If you’re using a mouse, point to the upper-right corner of the screen, move the mouse pointer down, and then click Search.)
• Enter the control panel in the search box, and then tap or click Control Panel.

• Under View by select Large Icons, and then tap or click Programs and features.
• Tap or click [any software you don’t know, trust, or need], and then tap or click Uninstall.
• Follow the instructions on the screen. Make sure when you uninstall the malware that there is no extra software is offered during uninstallation and read every pop-up before clicking any button.
   Remove all recently installed software, sort by “Installed on” to easily find recently installed software.

Uninstall a browser hijacker from Windows 7

• Open Programs and Features by clicking the Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking Programs, and then clicking Programs and Features.

• Select [any software you don’t know, trust, or need], and then click Uninstall.
   Remove all recently installed software, sort by “Installed on” to easily find recently installed software.

Step 2 – Remove browser hijacker scheduled tasks

• Right click the start button
• select Run
• Enter: Taskschd.msc

• Select Task Scheduler Library
• Search for any unknown scheduled tasks and remove them by right click Delete.

Step 3 – Cleanup web browser shortcuts

Browser Hijackers are known to change the browser shortcuts on your desktop or in your Windows Taskbar. Check and clean them before resetting your browser to default settings in the next step.

• Select any shortcut you have on your Windows Desktop or in your Windows Taskbar.
• Right-click, select Properties
• Go to tab “Shortcut”.
• Remove any entry after the executable, see our example. Remove “http://www.yeadesktop.com” (this is an example, there are many others).
• Do this action for any browser installed.

Step 4 – Remove Browser Helper Objects and Browser Extensions from your browser

 Internet Explorer - Browser Helper Objects

1. Start Internet Explorer
2. On the Tools menu, tap or click Manage add ons. If you don't see the Tools menu, press Alt.
3. In the menu select Toolbars and Extensions
4. Change Currently loaded add-ons under Show: to All add-ons
5. Select the Browser Helper Object you would like to remove by double clicking it.
6. Select Remove. If the Remove button is greyed out, reset Internet Explorer to default settings (see below).

 Google Chrome - Browser Extensions

1. Start Google Chrome
2. In the top-right corner of Google Chrome select the menu  
3. Select Settings
4. On the left side select Extensions
5. Review all Google Chrome extensions installed, remove any unknown or unwanted Browser Extension using the trashcan icon on the right next to the Browser Extensions name. If a Browser Extensions cannot be removed, reset Google Chrome (see below).

 Mozilla Firefox - Browser Extensions

1. Start Mozilla Firefox
2. Click the menu button
3. Select Add-ons from the menu
4. On the left side select Extensions
5. Review all Mozilla Firefox extensions installed, remove any unknown or unwanted Browser Extension using the remove button on the right next to the Browser Extensions name. If a Browser Extensions cannot be removed, reset Mozilla Firefox.

Step 5 – Clean your browser with Avast Browser Cleanup

 Download AVAST Browser Cleanup

• Open Avast Browser Cleanup
• Review the browser extensions with a poor reputation, found by Avast Browser Cleanup. You can remove them separately or select the Remove all add-ons button in the top right corner (recommended).

• Select your default Search Provider, either Yahoo or Bing, choose one.

• All extensions are now successfully removed from your browser(s). If you would like to reset or remove other extensions from your browser, use the Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome button on the left menu in Avast Browser Cleanup.

• To Reset your browser, select Reset Settings
• Select Exclude add-ons with a good rating to review possible other extensions that might cause ads.
• Select Remove to remove an extension
• Repeat this step for either Firefox and Google Chrome using the left menu.

Step 6 – Reset your web browser to default settings

Reset Internet Explorer, Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox

Using these instructions you can reset Internet Explorer, Chrome and Firefox to their default configuration.

 Reset Internet Explorer to default settings

Follow instructions

• Note: If you are running Windows 8.1 or Windows 8, start Internet Explorer from the desktop. Changing your settings will affect both Internet Explorer and Internet Explorer that you start from the desktop.
  1. Start Internet Explorer
  2. On the Tools menu, tap or click Internet options. If you don't see the Tools menu, press Alt.
  3. In the Internet Options window, tap or click the Advanced tab
  4. Tap or click Reset. If you're using Windows Internet Explorer 6, click Restore Default
  5. In the Reset Internet Explorer Settings dialog box, tap or click Reset
     Note: Select the Delete personal settings check box if you also want to remove browsing history, search providers, Accelerators, home pages, Tracking Protection, and ActiveX Filtering data (recommended!).
  6. When Internet Explorer finishes applying the default settings, tap or click Close, and then tap or click OK.
  7. Exit Internet Explorer and again, start Internet Explorer to see the results.

 Reset Google Chrome to default settings

1. In the top-right corner of the browser window, click the Chrome menu
2. Select Settings.
3. At the bottom, click Show advanced settings.
4. Under the section "Reset settings,” click Reset settings.
5. In the dialog that appears, click Reset.
   Note: When the "Help make Google Chrome better by reporting the current settings" checkbox is selected you are anonymously sending Google your Chrome settings. Reporting these settings allows Google to analyze trends and work to prevent future unwanted settings changes.

Settings that change

• Default search engine and saved search engines will be reset and to their original defaults.
• Homepage button will be hidden and the URL that you previously set will be removed.
• Default startup tabs will be cleared. The browser will show a new tab when you start up or continue where you left off if you're on a Chromebook.
• New Tab page will be empty unless you have a version of Chrome with an extension that controls it. In that case, your page may be preserved.
• Pinned tabs will be unpinned.
• Content settings will be cleared and reset to their installation defaults.
• Cookies and site data will be cleared.
• Extensions and themes will be disabled.

 Reset Mozilla Firefox to default settings

Remove adware & browser hijackers with Malwarebytes

Get rid of annoying adware with Malwarebytes. Malwarebytes is free to use, detect and remove the pop-up ads and deceptive homepage from the Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge web browser.

Run the Malwarebytes program installation file. Click here for Malwarebytes installation instructions.
Click Scan Now to start searching for the adware responsible for the Go.searchgenieo.com search engine in the web browser.

Malwarebytes will start scanning for malware, please wait for Malwarebytes to finish the malware scan.
Malwarebytes usually takes between 2 to 5 minutes to complete.

Once the malware scan is completed, Malwarebytes will present the results of the adware scan.
Remove the adware found by Malwarebytes using the Quarantine Selected button.

Wait for Malwarebytes to move all adware to quarantine.

Malwarebytes needs to perform a system reboot to finish the adware removal process.
Save and close any working documents or open web pages and click Yes to reboot your PC.

After the system reboot, your web browser is free from adware & browser hijackers. Stay protected with Malwarebytes against future browser hijacker and other types of malware. Malwarebytes stops adware, browser hijackers, potentially unwanted programs, malicious web pages, suspicious downloads, viruses, spyware and ransomware from infecting your web browser.