Computer security specialists have confirmed that the Whitesearch.com is a browser hijacker. When downloaded and started onto a PC, this hijacker infection quickly alters the Chrome, FF, Edge and Microsoft Internet Explorer web-browser’s settings like startpage, newtab and search engine by default to its own site without any permission. For this reason, every time you open the affected web browser, it being rerouted to the Whitesearch.com page. Even though you have removed its address from your internet browser’s settings, after restart your internet browser, the unwanted page still appears.
Table of contents
Except that the Whitesearch.com can impose changes to web browser’s startpage and newtab page, it also changes your search engine, which leads to the fact that use of the browser’s search becomes uncomfortable. The reason for this is that the search results will consist of tons of advertisements, links to unwanted and ad sites and only the remaining part is search results for your query from well-known search providers such as Google or Bing.
Also, adware (also known as ‘ad-supported’ software) may be installed on the system together with Whitesearch.com hijacker. It will insert a large amount of ads directly to the web-pages that you view, creating a sense that ads has been added by the developers of the site. Moreover, legal advertisements can be replaced on fake advertisements which will offer to download and install various unnecessary and malicious applications. Moreover, the Whitesearch.com browser hijacker has the ability to collect personal information about you which can be later transferred to third parties.
In addition to that, as was mentioned earlier, some browser hijacker infections such as Whitesearch.com to also modify all internet browsers shortcuts that located on your Desktop or Start menu. So, every infected shortcut will try to redirect your web browser to undesired web sites, some of which might be harmful. It can make the whole PC more vulnerable to hacker attacks.
Therefore it is very important to clean your PC system of browser hijacker infection ASAP. Follow the few simple steps below to get rid of Whitesearch.com search, as well as other malware and adware, which can be installed onto your computer along with it.
Whitesearch.com removal tutorial
The answer is right here on this web-page. We have put together simplicity and efficiency. It will help you easily to clean your machine of hijacker. Moreover, you may choose manual or automatic removal method. If you’re familiar with the PC system then use manual removal, otherwise use the free antimalware utility created specifically to remove hijacker such as Whitesearch.com. Of course, you can combine both methods. Some of the steps will require you to restart your PC or close the web site. So, read this guidance carefully, then bookmark or print it for later reference.
How to remove Whitesearch.com without any software
The following instructions is a step-by-step guide, which will help you manually remove Whitesearch.com from the Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge.
Uninstall Whitesearch.com related programs through the Control Panel of your computer
First method for manual hijacker removal is to go into the MS Windows “Control Panel”, then “Uninstall a program” console. Take a look at the list of software on your computer and see if there are any suspicious and unknown programs. If you see any, you need to uninstall them. Of course, before doing so, you can do an Web search to find details on the program. If it is a potentially unwanted program, ad-supported software or malware, you will likely find information that says so.
Windows 10, 8.1, 8
Click the Windows logo, and then press Search . Type ‘Control panel’and press Enter like below.
Once the ‘Control Panel’ opens, press the ‘Uninstall a program’ link under Programs category as shown in the figure below.
Windows 7, Vista, XP
Open Start menu and select the ‘Control Panel’ at right as on the image below.
Then go to ‘Add/Remove Programs’ or ‘Uninstall a program’ (Windows 7 or Vista) as shown in the figure below.
Carefully browse through the list of installed applications and remove all software which has the name similar to the page which has been set as your Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge new tab, start page and search provider by default. We recommend to click ‘Installed programs’ and even sorts all installed applications by date. Once you have found anything suspicious that may be the browser hijacker, ‘ad supported’ software or PUPs, then choose this program and click ‘Uninstall’ in the upper part of the window. If the suspicious program blocked from removal, then run Revo Uninstaller Freeware to fully remove it from your personal computer.
Clean up the browsers shortcuts that have been hijacked by Whitesearch.com
A hijacker can hijack various Windows shortcuts on your desktop (most often, all web browsers shortcuts), so in this step you need to check and clean them by removing the argument like http://site.address/.
Open the properties of the web browser shortcut. Right click on the shortcut of infected web browser and choose the “Properties” option and it will show the properties of the shortcut. Next, select the “Shortcut” tab and have a look at the Target field as shown below.
Normally, if the last word in the Target field is chrome.exe, iexplore.exe, firefox.exe. Be sure to pay attention to the extension, should be “exe”! All shortcuts that have been altered by browser hijacker like Whitesearch.com usually point to .bat, .cmd or .url files instead of .exe as shown on the screen below
Another variant, an address has been added at the end of the line. In this case the Target field looks like …Application\chrome.exe” http://site.address as shown on the image below.
In order to fix a shortcut, you need to insert right path to the Target field or remove an address (if it has been added at the end). You can use the following information to fix your shortcuts which have been modified by browser hijacker.
Chrome | C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe |
C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe | |
Firefox | C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe |
Internet Explorer | C:\Program Files (x86)\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe |
C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe | |
Opera | C:\Program Files (x86)\Opera\launcher.exe |
C:\Program Files\Opera\launcher.exe |
Once is done, click OK to save changes. Repeat the step for all internet browsers which are rerouted to the Whitesearch.com annoying web-page.
Delete Whitesearch.com redirect from Firefox
If your Mozilla Firefox web browser home page has modified to Whitesearch.com without your permission or a an unknown search engine displays results for your search, then it may be time to perform the web browser reset.
Press the Menu button (looks like three horizontal lines), and press the blue Help icon located at the bottom of the drop down menu as shown on the image below.
A small menu will appear, click the “Troubleshooting Information”. On this page, click “Refresh Firefox” button like below.
Follow the onscreen procedure to restore your Firefox web-browser settings to its original state.
Remove Whitesearch.com from Chrome
Reset Google Chrome settings is a easy way to get rid of the hijacker infection, harmful and ‘ad-supported’ extensions, as well as to recover the browser’s home page, new tab and search provider by default that have been replaced by Whitesearch.com hijacker.
First run the Google Chrome. Next, click the button in the form of three horizontal stripes (). It will display the main menu. Further, press the option named “Settings”. Another way to display the Chrome’s settings – type chrome://settings in the web-browser adress bar and press Enter.
The browser will show the settings screen. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and press the “Show advanced settings” link. Now scroll down until the “Reset settings” section is visible, as on the image below and press the “Reset settings” button.
The Chrome will open the confirmation prompt. You need to confirm your action, press the “Reset” button. The web browser will run the task of cleaning. Once it’s finished, the browser’s settings including homepage, newtab page and default search provider back to the values that have been when the Google Chrome was first installed on your system.
Get rid of Whitesearch.com search from Internet Explorer
If you find that Internet Explorer web-browser settings such as newtab, start page and search engine by default having been hijacked, then you may restore your settings, via the reset browser process.
First, run the Internet Explorer, then click ‘gear’ icon . It will display the Tools drop-down menu on the right part of the web-browser, then press the “Internet Options” as shown below.
In the “Internet Options” screen, select the “Advanced” tab, then press the “Reset” button. The Internet Explorer will display the “Reset Internet Explorer settings” dialog box. Further, click the “Delete personal settings” check box to select it. Next, click the “Reset” button like below.
After the task is finished, click “Close” button. Close the Microsoft Internet Explorer and reboot your computer for the changes to take effect. This step will help you to restore your browser’s homepage, newtab page and search engine by default to default state.
How to automatically get rid of Whitesearch.com browser hijacker
After completing the manual removal guide above all unwanted programs and web-browser’s extensions which causes browser redirects to the Whitesearch.com page should be removed. If the problem with Whitesearch.com browser hijacker is still remained, then we recommend to scan your computer for any remaining malicious components. Run recommended free browser hijacker removal applications below.
Remove Whitesearch.com with Zemana Anti-malware
Zemana Anti-malware is a tool that can remove adware, potentially unwanted software, hijackers and other malware from your PC system easily and for free. Zemana Anti-malware is compatible with most antivirus software. It works under Windows (10 – XP, 32 and 64 bit) and uses minimum of system resources.
- Download Zemana anti malware (ZAM) by clicking on the link below.
Zemana AntiMalware
164032 downloads
Author: Zemana Ltd
Category: Security tools
Update: July 16, 2019
- When the downloading process is finished, close all applications and windows on your computer. Open a file location. Double-click on the icon that’s named Zemana.AntiMalware.Setup.
- Further, click Next button and follow the prompts.
- Once installation is complete, press the “Scan” button . This will begin scanning the whole PC system to find out Whitesearch.com hijacker and other internet browser’s malicious add ons. A system scan may take anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes, depending on your system.
- Once it has finished scanning, it’ll show a screen that contains a list of malicious software that has been detected. Make sure all items have ‘checkmark’ and click “Next”. Once that process is finished, you may be prompted to reboot your machine.
Run Malwarebytes to get rid of Whitesearch.com
Get rid of Whitesearch.com hijacker manually is difficult and often the hijacker infection is not completely removed. Therefore, we recommend you to use the Malwarebytes Free that are completely clean your computer. Moreover, the free application will help you to get rid of malicious software, potentially unwanted programs, toolbars and ‘ad supported’ software that your machine can be infected too.
Download Malwarebytes Free on your PC system by clicking on the link below. Save it on your desktop.
326385 downloads
Author: Malwarebytes
Category: Security tools
Update: April 15, 2020
After downloading is complete, close all windows on your machine. Further, launch the file named mb3-setup. If the “User Account Control” prompt pops up as shown below, click the “Yes” button.
It will show the “Setup wizard” which will allow you install Malwarebytes on the machine. Follow the prompts and do not make any changes to default settings.
Once install is finished successfully, press Finish button. Then Malwarebytes will automatically run and you can see its main window as shown in the figure below.
Next, click the “Scan Now” button to begin scanning your PC for the Whitesearch.com browser hijacker and other security threats. A scan can take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the count of files on your PC system and the speed of your computer. While the application is scanning, you can see number of objects it has identified as threat.
When the scan get finished, it’ll display a scan report. Review the report and then click “Quarantine Selected” button.
The Malwarebytes will delete browser hijacker infection which made to redirect your browser to the Whitesearch.com web-site and add items to the Quarantine. When the clean-up is done, you can be prompted to reboot your machine. We recommend you look at the following video, which completely explains the procedure of using the Malwarebytes to remove browser hijackers, ad-supported software and other malicious software.
Scan and free your system of hijacker with AdwCleaner
AdwCleaner is a free removal tool that can be downloaded and run to remove hijackers, ad-supported software, malicious software, PUPs, toolbars and other threats from your PC system. You can use this utility to scan for threats even if you have an antivirus or any other security program.
Download AdwCleaner utility by clicking on the link below. Save it to your Desktop so that you can access the file easily.
225261 downloads
Version: 8.4.1
Author: Xplode, MalwareBytes
Category: Security tools
Update: October 5, 2024
When downloading is finished, open the file location and double-click the AdwCleaner icon. It will start the AdwCleaner utility and you will see a screen like below. If the User Account Control dialog box will ask you want to open the program, click Yes button to continue.
Next, click “Scan” to begin scanning your system for the Whitesearch.com hijacker and other security threats. A scan can take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the count of files on your personal computer and the speed of your personal computer. While the tool is scanning, you can see number of objects it has identified either as being malware.
When the scan get completed is finished, it’ll open a screen which contains a list of malware that has been detected as shown on the image below.
All found threats will be marked. You can remove them all by simply press “Clean” button. It will show a prompt. Click “OK” button. The AdwCleaner will get rid of browser hijacker infection which designed to redirect your web-browser to the Whitesearch.com site. Once finished, the tool may ask you to reboot your PC system. After restart, the AdwCleaner will show the log file.
All the above steps are shown in detail in the following video instructions.
How to stop Whitesearch.com redirect
Using an adblocker application such as AdGuard is an effective way to alleviate the risks. Additionally, ad-blocking applications will also protect you from harmful advertisements and web sites, and, of course, stop redirection chain to Whitesearch.com and similar web-sites.
- Download AdGuard program by clicking on the following link.
Adguard download
26627 downloads
Version: 6.4
Author: © Adguard
Category: Security tools
Update: November 15, 2018
- After the download is done, run the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” program window. Follow the prompts.
- When the installation is complete, click “Skip” to close the installation program and use the default settings, or click “Get Started” to see an quick tutorial which will help 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 run your PC, AdGuard will launch automatically and block popup advertisements, web sites such Whitesearch.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 icon named AdGuard, which is located on your desktop.
How does your PC get infected with Whitesearch.com browser hijacker
Many applications used to hijack a computer’s browser. So, when you installing free applications, carefully read the disclaimers, select the Custom or Advanced installation method to watch for additional programs that are being installed, because some of the software are ‘ad supported’ software and potentially unwanted applications.
Finish words
After completing the step by step instructions above, your computer should be clean from hijackers, adware and malware. The Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, IE and Microsoft Edge will no longer display Whitesearch.com annoying home page on startup. Unfortunately, if the steps does not help you, then you have caught a new browser hijacker, and then the best way – ask for help in our Spyware/Malware removal forum.