How to remove Search.hgomaps.co [Chrome, Firefox, IE, Edge]

Besides the fact that Search.hgomaps.co browser hijacker modifies your home page, this undesired web site can set yourself as your search provider. But, obviously, it does not give you a good search results, as they will consist of lots of ads, links to unwanted and ad web-pages and only the remaining part is search results for your query from the major search engines. Of course, the very fact that you encounter with the inability to properly search the Net, is an unpleasant moment. Moreover, the Search.hgomaps.co browser hijacker can gather personal information, and in the future to transfer it to third parties. What creates the risk of theft of your personal data.

It’s not a good idea to have an unwanted program such as Search.hgomaps.co browser hijacker infection on your system. The reason for this is simple, it doing things you don’t know about. The browser hijacker infection can also be used to gather user data that can be later transferred to third parties. You don’t 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 ads on the Search.hgomaps.co site.

A malicious software which makes various changes to settings of web-browsers on Search.hgomaps.co commonly affects only Firefox, Google Chrome, Microsoft Internet Explorer and MS Edge. However, possible situations, when any other web-browsers will be affected too. The Search.hgomaps.co browser hijacker can change the Target property of internet browser’s shortcuts, so every time you run the internet browser, instead of your homepage, you will see a completely different web-page.

The guide below explaining steps to remove Search.hgomaps.co homepage problem. Feel free to use it for removal of the hijacker that may attack Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Internet Explorer and MS Edge and other popular internet browsers. The step-by-step guidance will help you revert back your web-browsers settings that previously modified by browser hijacker.

How to remove Search.hgomaps.co from PC system

As with uninstalling ad-supported software, malware or potentially unwanted software, there are few steps you can do. We suggest trying them all. If you do only one part of the guidance, then it should be use malicious software removal utility, because it should get rid of hijacker infection and stop any further infection. But to completely get rid of the Search.hgomaps.co you will have to at least reset your web browser settings like new tab, home page and search provider by default to default state, disinfect browsers shortcuts, remove all unwanted and suspicious software, and remove hijacker infection with malware removal tools. Certain of the steps will require you to restart your PC system or close the site. So, read this instructions carefully, then bookmark or print it for later reference.

Manual Search.hgomaps.co homepage removal

The following instructions is a step-by-step guide, which will help you manually remove Search.hgomaps.co from the Chrome, FF, Internet Explorer and Edge.

Delete all adware and other PUPs through the Microsoft Windows Control Panel

In order to delete potentially unwanted software like this hijacker, open the Windows Control Panel and click on “Uninstall a program”. Check the list of installed applications. For the ones you do not know, run an Internet search to see if they are ad-supported software, browser hijacker infection or potentially unwanted software. If yes, delete them off. Even if they are just a software that you do not use, then removing them off will increase your personal computer start up time and speed dramatically.

Press Windows button , then press Search . Type “Control panel”and press Enter. If you using Windows XP or Windows 7, then click “Start” and select “Control Panel”. It will open the Windows Control Panel like below.

Further, press “Uninstall a program”
It will show a list of all applications installed on your system. Scroll through the all list, and uninstall any suspicious and unknown applications.

Remove Search.hgomaps.co home page from Mozilla Firefox

The FF reset will keep your personal information like bookmarks, passwords, web form auto-fill data and remove unwanted search provider and start page such as Search.hgomaps.co, modified preferences, extensions and security settings.

Launch the FF and click the menu button (it looks like three stacked lines) at the top right of the internet browser screen. Next, press 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 as shown on the image 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 begin a task to fix your problems that caused by the Search.hgomaps.co hijacker. After, it’s complete, press the “Finish” button.

Remove Search.hgomaps.co homepage from IE

If you find that IE web-browser settings like start page, newtab page and default search engine having been hijacked, then you may revert back your settings, via the reset internet browser process.

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

In the “Internet Options” window click on the Advanced tab, then click the Reset button. The IE will display 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 reboot your PC system for the changes to take effect.

Get rid of Search.hgomaps.co from Google Chrome

Reset Chrome settings is a simple way to remove the browser hijacker infection, harmful and adware extensions, as well as to restore the web-browser’s newtab, start page and search engine by default that have been replaced by hijacker infection.

1. First, start the Google Chrome and click the Menu icon (icon in the form of three horizontal stripes).
2. It will display the Chrome main menu, click the “Settings” menu.
3. Next, click “Show advanced settings” link, which located at the bottom of the Settings page.
4. On the bottom of the “Advanced settings” page, press the “Reset settings” button.
5. The Chrome will open the reset settings dialog box as shown on the screen above.
6. Confirm the internet browser’s reset by clicking on the “Reset” button.
7. To learn more, read the blog post How to reset Google Chrome settings to default.

Search.hgomaps.co automatic removal

The browser hijacker infection can hide its components which are difficult for you to find out and delete completely. This can lead to the fact that after some time, the browser hijacker again infect your system and modify settings of installed internet browsers to Search.hgomaps.co. Moreover, I want to note that it’s not always safe to remove hijacker manually, if you do not have much experience in setting up and configuring the Windows operating system. The best way to find and delete browser hijacker infections is to run free malware removal applications.

Remove Search.hgomaps.co with Zemana Anti-malware

We suggest using the Zemana Anti-malware that are completely clean your PC of the browser hijacker infection. The tool is an advanced malicious software removal program developed by (c) Zemana lab. It is able to help you get rid of potentially unwanted applications, browser hijacker infections, ‘ad supported’ software, malicious software, toolbars, ransomware and other security threats from your machine for free.

Download Zemana AntiMalware from the link below.

Once the download is done, close all software and windows on your personal computer. Open a directory in which you saved it. Double-click on the icon that’s called Zemana.AntiMalware.Setup as shown below.

When the setup starts, you will see the “Setup wizard” which will help you install Zemana Anti-Malware on your computer.

Once installation is done, you will see window as shown in the figure below.

Now click the “Scan” button It’ll scan through the whole PC for the hijacker that alters web-browser settings to replace your homepage, newtab page and default search engine with Search.hgomaps.co web site. This procedure can take quite a while, so please be patient. While the tool is checking, you can see how many objects and files has already scanned.

Once finished, it will display you the results. Review the scan results and then click “Next” button.

The Zemana Anti-malware will remove hijacker infection that created to reroute your web-browser to the Search.hgomaps.co page.

How to automatically remove Search.hgomaps.co with Malwarebytes

Manual Search.hgomaps.co start page removal requires some computer skills. Some files and registry entries that created by the hijacker can be not completely removed. We suggest that run the Malwarebytes Free that are completely free your machine of browser hijacker. Moreover, the free application will help you to remove malware, potentially unwanted programs, ad-supported software and toolbars that your PC may be infected too.

Download Malwarebytes on your system by clicking on the link below. Save it on your Windows desktop or in any other place.

Once the downloading process is complete, close all programs and windows on your computer. Double-click the set up file named mb3-setup. If the “User Account Control” dialog box pops up like below, click the “Yes” button.

It will open the “Setup wizard” that will help you install Malwarebytes on your computer. Follow the prompts and don’t make any changes to default settings.

Once install is complete successfully, press Finish button. Malwarebytes will automatically start and you can see its main screen as shown on the image below.

Now press the “Scan Now” button . This will start scanning the whole personal computer to find out Search.hgomaps.co hijacker and other web browser’s malicious extensions. Depending on your machine, the scan can take anywhere from a few minutes to close to an hour. During the scan it’ll detect all threats present on your personal computer.

After the scan is done, the results are displayed in the scan report. All detected items will be marked. You can remove them all by simply click “Quarantine Selected” button. The Malwarebytes will delete Search.hgomaps.co hijacker and other internet browser’s malicious add-ons. After the process is complete, you may be prompted to restart the PC.

We recommend you look at the following video, which completely explains the procedure of using the Malwarebytes to remove adware, hijacker and other malicious software.

Scan your PC system and remove Search.hgomaps.co with AdwCleaner

AdwCleaner is a free portable program that scans your system for adware, PUPs and browser hijacker infections such as Search.hgomaps.co and helps remove them easily. Moreover, it will also help you remove any malicious browser extensions and add-ons.

Download AdwCleaner utility from the link below. Save it to your Desktop so that you can access the file easily.

After the downloading process is complete, open the file location and double-click the AdwCleaner icon. It will launch the AdwCleaner tool and you will see a screen as shown in the figure below. If the User Account Control dialog box will ask you want to show the program, click Yes button to continue.

Next, click “Scan” to perform a system scan for the Search.hgomaps.co browser hijacker infection related files, folders and registry keys. This task can take quite a while, so please be patient.

After it has completed scanning is finished, you will be opened the list of all detected threats on your PC system as shown in the figure below.

Next, you need to press “Clean” button. It will show a prompt. Click “OK” button. The AdwCleaner will remove Search.hgomaps.co browser hijacker related files, folders and registry keys and add items to the Quarantine. When the procedure is complete, the tool may ask you to restart your personal computer. After reboot, the AdwCleaner will show the log file.

All the above steps are shown in detail in the following video instructions.

Use AdBlocker to block Search.hgomaps.co and stay safe online

If you surf the Net, you can’t avoid malvertising. But you can protect your web-browser against it. Download and use an ad blocking program. AdGuard is an ad blocker which can filter out lots of of the malvertising, stoping dynamic scripts from loading malicious content.

Installing the AdGuard ad-blocker application is simple. First you’ll 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 guide as on the image below.

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

Each time, when you start your machine, AdGuard will start automatically and block pop ups, sites such Search.hgomaps.co, as well as other malicious 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, which is located on your desktop.

How to avoid installation of Search.hgomaps.co hijacker infection

The hijacker infection come bundled with certain free software. So always read carefully the installation screens, disclaimers, ‘Terms of Use’ and ‘Software license’ appearing during the install process. Additionally pay attention for additional programs which are being installed along with the main program. Ensure that you unchecked all of them! Also, use an ad blocking program that will help to block malicious, misleading, illegitimate or untrustworthy web sites.

To sum up

Now your computer should be clean of the Search.hgomaps.co search. Delete AdwCleaner. We suggest that you keep Malwarebytes (to periodically scan your PC for new malware, browser hijackers and ad-supported software) and AdGuard (to help you stop undesired pop-up advertisements and malicious pages). Moreover, to prevent browser hijackers, please stay clear of unknown and third party programs, make sure that your antivirus program, turn on the option to find PUPs (potentially unwanted programs).

If you need more help with Search.hgomaps.co related issues, go to our Spyware/Malware removal forum.