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

If you are reading this article, the chances are, you are doing so via the browser that has been hijacked by something called Boxedsearch.com browser hijacker. Boxedsearch.com is a PUP (potentially unwanted program) from the category of browser hijackers. Most often it is installed without your permission. It takes control of your web browser and changes your startpage, new tab page and search provider by default to its own. So, you will find a new homepage and search provider installed in the Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firefox and Edge web-browsers.

Being infected by Boxedsearch.com browser hijacker infection you will be forced to use its own search engine. It could seem not to be dangerous, but you still should be very careful, since it may show annoying and harmful ads designed to mislead you into buying certain questionable programs or products, provide search results which may redirect your web browser to some deceptive, misleading or harmful web pages. We suggest that you use only the reliable search engine like Google, Yahoo or Bing.

Some hijackers also contain adware (sometimes named ‘ad-supported’ software) which be able to display intrusive advertisements or collect lots of your user data that can be used for marketing purposes. These unwanted advertisements can be shown in the form of pop-unders, pop-ups, in-text ads, video advertisements, text links or banners or even massive full page advertisements. Most of the ad supported software is created to open advertisements, but some ad-supported software is form of spyware that often used to track users to collect lots of personal information about you.

The Boxedsearch.com browser hijacker commonly affects only the Google Chrome, Firefox, IE and Microsoft Edge. However, possible situations, when any other internet browsers will be affected too. The browser hijacker infection will perform a scan of the computer for internet browser shortcuts and change them without your permission. When it infects the browser shortcuts, it’ll add the argument such as ‘http://site.address’ into Target property. So, each time you run the web browser, you will see the Boxedsearch.com annoying page.

Therefore it’s very important to free your machine of browser hijacker as quickly as possible. Follow the tutorial below to remove Boxedsearch.com home page, as well as other malicious software and adware, which may be installed onto your PC system along with it.

Remove Boxedsearch.com

We can assist you get rid of Boxedsearch.com, without the need to take your PC system to a professional. Simply follow the removal guidance below if you currently have the intrusive browser hijacker on your PC and want to get rid of it. If you have any difficulty while trying to remove the browser hijacker, feel free to ask for our help in the comment section below. Certain of the steps will require you to restart your system or close this site. So, read this instructions carefully, then bookmark or print it for later reference.

To remove Boxedsearch.com, use the steps below:

1. Manual Boxedsearch.com removal
   • Remove potentially unwanted software using MS Windows Control Panel
   • Fix web browser shortcuts, altered by Boxedsearch.com hijacker infection
   • Remove Boxedsearch.com redirect from Firefox
   • Get rid of Boxedsearch.com search from Chrome
   • Remove Boxedsearch.com from Internet Explorer
2. How to remove Boxedsearch.com startpage with free programs
   • Scan and clean your computer of Boxedsearch.com with Zemana AntiMalware
   • Automatically delete Boxedsearch.com homepage with Malwarebytes
   • Remove Boxedsearch.com hijacker and malicious extensions with AdwCleaner
3. Block Boxedsearch.com and other intrusive sites
4. How did you get infected with Boxedsearch.com browser hijacker infection
5. Finish words

Manual Boxedsearch.com removal

The following instructions is a step-by-step guide, which will help you manually get rid of Boxedsearch.com from the Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer and Edge.

Remove potentially unwanted software using MS Windows Control Panel

First method for manual browser hijacker removal is to go into the MS Windows “Control Panel”, then “Uninstall a program” console. Take a look at the list of programs on your machine and see if there are any suspicious and unknown programs. If you see any, you need to delete them. Of course, before doing so, you can do an Internet search to find details on the program. If it is a potentially unwanted application, ‘ad supported’ software or malware, you will likely find information that says so.

Carefully browse through the list of installed applications and delete all software which has the name similar to “Boxedsearch.com”. We recommend to click ‘Installed programs’ and even sorts all installed programs by date. After you have found anything suspicious that may be the hijacker, adware or PUPs, then choose this program and click ‘Uninstall’ in the upper part of the window. If the suspicious application blocked from removal, then run Revo Uninstaller Freeware to fully delete it from your computer.

Fix web browser shortcuts, altered by Boxedsearch.com hijacker infection

After the hijacker is started, it can also modify the web browser’s shortcuts, adding an argument like “http://site.address” into the Target field. Due to this, every time you run the web-browser, it will display an unwanted page.

Right click on the shortcut of infected web browser as shown on the screen below.

Select the “Properties” option and it will display a shortcut’s properties. Next, press the “Shortcut” tab and then delete the “http://site.address” string from Target field as shown below.

Then press OK to save changes. Repeat the step for all internet browsers which are redirected to the Boxedsearch.com unwanted web site.

Remove Boxedsearch.com redirect from Firefox

If the Mozilla Firefox settings such as homepage, newtab page and default search engine have been modified by the hijacker infection, then resetting it to the default state can help.

Click the Menu button (looks like three horizontal lines), and click the blue Help icon located at the bottom of the drop down menu like below.

A small menu will appear, press the “Troubleshooting Information”. On this page, click “Refresh Firefox” button as displayed on the image below.

Follow the onscreen procedure to return your FF browser settings to its original state.

Get rid of Boxedsearch.com search from Chrome

In order to be sure that there is nothing left behind, we advise you to reset Chrome web browser. It’ll restore Chrome settings including start page, newtab page and default search provider to defaults.

1. First, start the Google Chrome and press the Menu icon (icon in the form of three horizontal stripes).
2. It will display the Chrome main menu, press the “Settings” menu.
3. Next, click “Show advanced settings” link, that located at the bottom of the Settings page.
4. On the bottom of the “Advanced settings” page, click the “Reset settings” button.
5. The Google Chrome will open the reset settings dialog box as shown on the screen above.
6. Confirm the web 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.

Remove Boxedsearch.com from Internet Explorer

The IE reset is great if your browser is hijacked or you have unwanted extensions or toolbars on your browser, which installed by a malware.

First, run the IE, then click ‘gear’ icon . It will open the Tools drop-down menu on the right part of the browser, then click the “Internet Options” as shown below.

In the “Internet Options” screen, select the “Advanced” tab, then click the “Reset” button. The IE will display the “Reset Internet Explorer settings” prompt. Further, press the “Delete personal settings” check box to select it. Next, press the “Reset” button as displayed on the image below.

Once the process is finished, click “Close” button. Close the Internet Explorer and reboot your computer for the changes to take effect. This step will help you to restore your internet browser’s startpage, new tab and default search engine to default state.

How to remove Boxedsearch.com startpage with free programs

Run malware removal tools to get rid of Boxedsearch.com automatically. The freeware tools specially developed for hijacker infection, adware and other potentially unwanted software removal. These tools can get rid of most of browser hijacker from Google Chrome, FF, Internet Explorer and Edge. Moreover, it can remove all components of Boxedsearch.com from Windows registry and system drives.

Scan and clean your computer of Boxedsearch.com with Zemana AntiMalware

We recommend using the Zemana Free which are completely clean your system of the browser hijacker. The utility is an advanced malicious software removal application created by (c) Zemana lab. It is able to help you remove PUPs, hijacker infections, adware, malware, toolbars, ransomware and other security threats from your machine for free.

Download Zemana Anti-Malware (ZAM) from the following link. Save it on your Microsoft Windows desktop or in any other place.

After the download is finished, close all software and windows on your system. Open a directory in which you saved it. Double-click on the icon that’s named Zemana.AntiMalware.Setup as displayed on the image below.

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

Once install is finished, you will see window as shown below.

Now click the “Scan” button to start checking your computer for the browser hijacker which modifies web browser settings to replace your start page, new tab and default search engine with Boxedsearch.com web-page. Depending on your computer, the scan can take anywhere from a few minutes to close to an hour. During the scan Zemana Anti-Malware (ZAM) will detect all threats exist on your machine.

When that process is finished, Zemana will show a screen that contains a list of malware that has been found. Review the scan results and then click “Next” button.

The Zemana Free will get rid of hijacker that cause Boxedsearch.com page to appear and add items to the Quarantine.

Automatically delete Boxedsearch.com homepage with Malwarebytes

We recommend using the Malwarebytes Free. You can download and install Malwarebytes to detect and delete Boxedsearch.com home page from your PC system. When installed and updated, the free malware remover will automatically scan and detect all threats present on the personal computer.

Download MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (MBAM) by clicking on the link below. Save it to your Desktop so that you can access the file easily.

After downloading is finished, run it and follow the prompts. Once installed, the MalwareBytes Free will try to update itself and when this task is finished, click the “Scan Now” button to perform a system scan for the browser hijacker infection that causes internet browsers to display undesired Boxedsearch.com site. This process can take some time, so please be patient. During the scan MalwareBytes will detect all threats exist on your computer. Make sure all items have ‘checkmark’ and click “Quarantine Selected” button.

The MalwareBytes Anti Malware is a free program that you can use to remove all detected folders, files, services, registry entries and so on. To learn more about this malicious software removal utility, we advise you to read and follow the steps or the video guide below.

Remove Boxedsearch.com hijacker and malicious extensions with AdwCleaner

AdwCleaner is a free removal utility that can check your system for a wide range of security threats such as adware, malware, PUPs as well as Boxedsearch.com hijacker infection and other browser’s harmful addons. It will perform a deep scan of your system including hard drives and MS Windows registry. After a malware is found, it will help you to get rid of all found threats from your PC by a simple click.

1. Download AdwCleaner by clicking on the following link. Save it on your Microsoft Windows desktop.
   
   

   AdwCleaner download
   225256 downloads
   Version: 8.4.1
   Author: Xplode, MalwareBytes
   Category: Security tools
   Update: October 5, 2024
   
2. When the downloading process is finished, double click the AdwCleaner icon. Once this tool is started, click “Scan” button to perform a system scan for the hijacker that causes browsers to open undesired Boxedsearch.com site. This procedure can take some time, so please be patient. When a malware, adware or potentially unwanted software are detected, the number of the security threats will change accordingly.
3. When finished, a list of all threats found is produced. All detected threats will be marked. You can remove them all by simply click “Clean” button. It will display a prompt, click “OK”.

These few simple steps are shown in detail in the following video guide.

Block Boxedsearch.com and other intrusive sites

Use ad blocking application like AdGuard in order to stop ads, malvertisements, pop-ups and online trackers, avoid having to install harmful and adware browser plug-ins and add-ons which affect your PC system performance and impact your computer security. Browse the Internet anonymously and stay safe online!

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

Once the downloading process is done, launch the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” screen as shown in the following example.

Follow the prompts. Once the setup is finished, you will see a window as displayed on the screen below.

You can press “Skip” to close the install program and use the default settings, or click “Get Started” button to see an quick tutorial which 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 launch your personal computer, AdGuard will start automatically and block advertisements, web-sites such Boxedsearch.com, as well as other harmful or misleading 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 did you get infected with Boxedsearch.com browser hijacker infection

The Boxedsearch.com hijacker usually come bundled with some free software that you download off of the Net. Once started, it will infect your system and change internet browser’s settings like new tab page, start page and search engine by default without your permission. To avoid infection, in the Setup wizard, you should be be proactive and carefully read the ‘Terms of use’, the ‘license agreement’ and other installation screens, as well as to always select the ‘Manual’ or ‘Advanced’ installation mode, when installing anything downloaded from the World Wide Web.

Finish words

After completing the step by step instructions shown above, your system should be free from browser hijacker infection which designed to reroute your browser to the Boxedsearch.com page and other malicious software. The Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firefox and MS Edge will no longer open intrusive Boxedsearch.com homepage on startup. Unfortunately, if the step-by-step guide 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.