How to remove Piesearch.com [Chrome, Firefox, IE, Edge]

The Piesearch.com is a browser hijacker. It’s a type of malicious software. Unlike viruses, it will not delete or infect your files, but its actions will cause some problems with your browser. This is because that it will infect your personal computer, get full access to your internet browsers such as Chrome, FF, Microsoft Internet Explorer and MS Edge and be able to change their settings. Of course, it did not ask you for permission and do it secretly as possible. Once your web-browser settings will be modified, you will be rerouted to unwanted sites completely, some of which can be dangerous or misleading web pages. For this reason, we recommend that you remove browser hijacker as soon as possible and thereby restore your previous start page and search provider.

http://piesearch.com/

In addition, the Piesearch.com hijacker infection can also modify the search provider selected in the web browser. When you try to search on the infected web browser, you will be presented with search results, consisting of advertisements and Google (or Yahoo, or Bing) search results for your query. Among these search results may occur links that lead to unwanted and ad web pages.

Table of contents

What is Piesearch.com
Remove Piesearch.com start page
1. Manual Piesearch.com removal
2. Piesearch.com search automatic removal
Run AdBlocker to block Piesearch.com and stay safe online
How to prevent Piesearch.com browser hijacker from getting inside your PC system
Finish words

Also, adware (sometimes called ‘ad-supported’ software) can be installed on the PC together with Piesearch.com hijacker. It will insert a ton of ads directly to the sites that you view, creating a sense that advertisements has been added by the creators of the web site. Moreover, legal ads can be replaced on fake ads which will offer to download and install various unnecessary and harmful software. Moreover, the Piesearch.com browser hijacker has the ability to collect lots of user info which can be later sold to third parties.

Most often, the Piesearch.com browser hijacker infection affects most common web browsers such as Chrome, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Firefox and MS Edge. But such hijackers as well can infect other web-browsers by changing its shortcuts (adding ‘http://site.address’ into Target field of web browser’s shortcut). So every time you run the web-browser, it will open Piesearch.com site. Even if you setup your home page again, the intrusive Piesearch.com web page will be the first thing which you see when you launch the web-browser.

We strongly suggest that you perform the tutorial below that will allow you to remove Piesearch.com search using the standard features of Windows and some proven free programs.

Remove Piesearch.com start page

There are present several free browser hijacker removal tools. Also it is possible to get rid of Piesearch.com manually. But we recommend to combine all these solutions below into the one removal algorithm. Follow the steps of the instructions. Read this manual carefully, bookmark or print it, because you may need to close your internet browser or reboot your PC.

If you are using an Apple computer running Mac OS, then use the following instructions How to get rid of browser hijacker, pop-ups, ads from Mac

Manual Piesearch.com removal

The step-by-step guidance will help you delete Piesearch.com home page. These Piesearch.com removal steps work for the Mozilla Firefox, Chrome, IE and Microsoft Edge, as well as every version of Microsoft Windows operating system.

Removing the Piesearch.com, check the list of installed applications first

Check out the Microsoft Windows Control Panel (Programs and Features section) to see all installed programs. We suggest to click on the “Date Installed” in order to sort the list of applications by the date you installed them. If you see any unknown and suspicious applications, they are the ones you need to delete.

Windows 8, 8.1, 10

First, click Windows button

, then click Search

. Type ‘Control panel’and press Enter as shown on the screen below.

When the ‘Control Panel’ opens, click the ‘Uninstall a program’ link under Programs category as shown on the image below.

You will see the ‘Uninstall a program’ panel like below.

Very carefully look around the entire list of applications installed on your PC system. Most likely, one or more of them are responsible for the appearance of ads and browser redirect to the annoying Piesearch.com site. If you have many programs installed, you can help simplify the search of harmful programs by sort the list by date of installation. Once you have found a suspicious, unwanted or unused program, right click to it, after that click ‘Uninstall’.

Windows XP, Vista, 7

First, click ‘Start’ button and select ‘Control Panel’ at right panel as shown in the figure below.

Once the Windows ‘Control Panel’ opens, you need to press ‘Uninstall a program’ under ‘Programs’ as on the image below.

You will see a list of applications installed on your PC system. We recommend to sort the list by date of installation to quickly find the programs that were installed last. Most likely they responsibility for the appearance of pop ups and web-browser redirect. 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 program which you need to remove is found, simply click on its name, and then click ‘Uninstall’ like below.

Clean up the web browsers shortcuts that have been hijacked by Piesearch.com

Now you need to clean up the web browser shortcuts. Check that the shortcut referring to the right exe-file of the web browser, and not on any unknown file.

To clear the internet browser shortcut, right-click to it and select Properties. On the Shortcut tab, locate the Target field. Click inside, you will see a vertical line – arrow pointer, move it (using -> arrow key on your keyboard) to the right as possible. You will see a text similar “http://site.address” that has been added here. You need to delete it.

When the text is removed, click the OK button. You need to clean all shortcuts of all your internet browsers, as they may be infected too.

Delete Piesearch.com from Firefox by resetting browser settings

If your Mozilla Firefox internet browser startpage has replaced to Piesearch.com without your permission or a an unknown search engine opens results for your search, then it may be time to perform the web-browser reset.

Run the Firefox and click the menu button (it looks like three stacked lines) at the top right of the web browser screen. Next, click the question-mark icon at the bottom of the drop-down menu. It will show 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 like below.

Click the “Refresh Firefox” button at the top right of the Troubleshooting Information page. Select “Refresh Firefox” in the confirmation prompt. The Firefox will start a procedure to fix your problems that caused by the Piesearch.com browser hijacker. When, it is done, click the “Finish” button.

Remove Piesearch.com start page from Google Chrome

Use the Reset web-browser tool of the Chrome to reset all its settings like new tab page, startpage and search provider by default to original defaults. This is a very useful utility to use, in the case of internet browser hijacks like Piesearch.com.

First start the Chrome and press Menu button (small button in the form of three horizontal stripes).
It will show the Google Chrome main menu. Select “Settings” option.
You will see the Google Chrome’s settings page. Scroll down and click “Show advanced settings” link.
Scroll down again and click the “Reset settings” button.
The Chrome will show the reset profile settings page as on the image above.
Next click the “Reset” button.
Once this procedure is finished, your web browser’s homepage, new tab and default search provider will be restored to their original defaults.
To learn more, read the post How to reset Google Chrome settings to default.

Delete Piesearch.com redirect from Microsoft Internet Explorer

First, open the Microsoft Internet Explorer. Next, click the button in the form of gear (). It will show the Tools drop-down menu, press the “Internet Options” as shown below.

In the “Internet Options” window click on the Advanced tab, then click the Reset button. The IE will open the “Reset Internet Explorer settings” window as shown on the image below. Select the “Delete personal settings” check box, then click “Reset” button.

You will now need to restart your personal computer for the changes to take effect.

Piesearch.com search automatic removal

Many antivirus companies have designed programs that help detect and delete browser hijacker, and thereby return internet browsers settings. Below is a a few of the free programs you may want to run. Your computer may have lots of potentially unwanted programs, ‘ad supported’ software and browser hijackers installed at the same time, so we suggest, if any unwanted or malicious application returns after rebooting the system, then boot your system into Safe Mode and run the anti-malware utility once again.

Run Zemana Anti-malware to remove hijacker infection

You can remove Piesearch.com automatically with a help of Zemana Anti-malware. We recommend this malicious software removal tool because it can easily delete hijackers, PUPs, ad-supported software and toolbars with all their components such as folders, files and registry entries.

Please download Zemana anti-malware to your desktop from the following link.

Zemana AntiMalware
164032 downloads
Author: Zemana Ltd
Category: Security tools
Update: July 16, 2019
At the download page, click on the Download button. Your web browser will open the “Save as” prompt. Please save it onto your Windows desktop.
Once the downloading process is done, please close all applications and open windows on your machine. Next, run a file named Zemana.AntiMalware.Setup.
This will start the “Setup wizard” of Zemana anti malware onto your computer. Follow the prompts and do not make any changes to default settings.
When the Setup wizard has finished installing, the anti malware will run and open the main window.
Further, click the “Scan” button for checking your system for the browser hijacker infection that cause a redirect to Piesearch.com.
When it has finished scanning, you will be shown the list of all detected threats on your computer.
Make sure all entries have ‘checkmark’ and click the “Next” button to start cleaning your PC system. Once the task is finished, you may be prompted to reboot the PC.
Close the Zemana Anti-Malware and continue with the next step.

Run Malwarebytes to remove Piesearch.com

We suggest using the Malwarebytes Free which are completely clean your PC system of the hijacker. The free tool is an advanced malware removal program designed by (c) Malwarebytes lab. This program uses the world’s most popular antimalware technology. It’s able to help you remove browser hijackers, PUPs, malware, ad supported software, toolbars, ransomware and other security threats from your machine for free.

Download Malwarebytes Free by clicking on the link below.

Malwarebytes Anti-malware
326384 downloads
Author: Malwarebytes
Category: Security tools
Update: April 15, 2020

Once the download is finished, run it and follow the prompts. Once installed, the Malwarebytes will try to update itself and when this process is done, click the “Scan Now” button to perform a system scan for the Piesearch.com hijacker infection and browser’s malicious extensions. This procedure can take quite a while, so please be patient. While the program is checking, you can see how many objects it has identified as threat. Review the scan results and then click “Quarantine Selected” button.

The Malwarebytes is a free application that you can use to delete all detected folders, files, services, registry entries and so on. To learn more about this malware removal tool, we recommend you to read and follow the step by step instructions or the video guide below.

Delete Piesearch.com start page from internet browsers with AdwCleaner

AdwCleaner is a free removal tool which can scan your personal computer for a wide range of security threats like ‘ad supported’ software, browser hijacker infections such as Piesearch.com, potentially unwanted software as well as other malicious software. It will perform a deep {scan} of your PC system including hard drives and MS Windows registry. Once a malicious software is found, it will help you to get rid of all detected threats from your computer with a simple click.

Download AdwCleaner by clicking on the following link.

AdwCleaner download
225261 downloads
Version: 8.4.1
Author: Xplode, MalwareBytes
Category: Security tools
Update: October 5, 2024
Select the folder in which you saved it as Desktop, and then press Save.
Once downloading is done, start the AdwCleaner, double-click the adwcleaner_xxx.exe file.
If the “User Account Control” prompts, press Yes to continue.
Read the “Terms of use”, and click Accept.
In the AdwCleaner window, press the “Scan” to perform a system scan for the Piesearch.com browser hijacker . A scan may take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the number of files on your machine and the speed of your computer. While the program is checking, you can see how many objects it has identified as threat.
Once the scanning is finished, it will open a list of all items detected by this utility. In order to remove all threats, simply click “Clean”. If the AdwCleaner will ask you to reboot your machine, press “OK”.

The step-by-step tutorial shown in detail in the following video.

Run AdBlocker to block Piesearch.com and stay safe online

By installing an ad blocking program like AdbGuard, you’re able to stop Piesearch.com, autoplaying video ads and remove lots of distracting and intrusive ads on sites.

Installing the AdGuard ad blocking program is simple. First you will need to download AdGuard from the following link.

When the download is finished, double-click the downloaded file to start it. The “Setup Wizard” window will show up on the computer screen as shown 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 tutorial as shown on the screen below.

Click “Skip” button to close the window and use the default settings, or click “Get Started” to see an quick tutorial that will help you get to know AdGuard better.

Each time, when you launch your computer, AdGuard will start automatically and stop pop-up ads, sites such Piesearch.com, as well as other harmful or misleading web-pages. 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 can be found on your desktop.

How to prevent Piesearch.com browser hijacker from getting inside your PC system

Many applications used to hijack a PC’s internet browser. So, when you installing freeware, carefully read the disclaimers, select the Custom or Advanced install mode to watch for optional software that are being installed, because some of the applications are adware and potentially unwanted applications.

Finish words

Now your personal computer should be free of the Piesearch.com search. Delete AdwCleaner. We suggest that you keep Malwarebytes (to periodically scan your system for new malicious software, browser hijackers and adware) and AdGuard (to help you stop undesired pop ups and harmful web-sites). Moreover, to prevent browser hijackers, please stay clear of unknown and third party software, make sure that your antivirus program, turn on the option to detect PUPs (potentially unwanted programs).

If you need more help with Piesearch.com redirect related issues, go to our Spyware/Malware removal forum.