How to remove Search.certified-toolbar.com [Chrome, Firefox, IE, Edge]

Are your web-browser’s new tab, home page and search provider by default overridden and when you try to open your home page, you are automatically redirected to the Search.certified-toolbar.com web page? Then it could mean that your web browser has become the victim of the undesired software from the browser hijacker category. It is a type of malicious software that is made to modify internet browsers settings. To remove the hijacker you need to clean your web-browser from any extensions you have recently installed on your system and perform a scan using a trustworthy anti-malware or antivirus program.

In addition, the Search.certified-toolbar.com browser hijacker infection can also change the search engine selected in the web browser. When you try to search on the affected 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.

Although, Search.certified-toolbar.com hijacker infection is not a virus, but it does bad things, and it modifies current settings of installed web-browsers. Moreover, an adware (sometimes named ‘ad-supported’ software) can be additionally installed on to your system with this browser hijacker infection, that will open a lot of ads, or even massive full page ads that blocks surfing the Web. Often such these ads may recommend to install other unknown and unwanted apps or visit harmful web pages.

The browser hijacker such as Search.certified-toolbar.com often modify all internet browser shortcuts which located on your Desktop to force you visit various unwanted web pages and display intrusive ads. As a result, your internet browser can still redirect you to an undesired web page despite your browser is actually clean of hijacker infection.

In order to get rid of hijacker responsible for redirections to Search.certified-toolbar.com from your PC, clean the affected web-browsers and return the Chrome, Internet Explorer, FF and Edge settings to its default state, please use the Search.certified-toolbar.com removal guidance below.

Remove Search.certified-toolbar.com

As with removing ‘ad supported’ software, malware or PUPs, there are few steps you can do. We advise trying them all. If you do only one part of the tutorial, then it should be use malware removal utility, because it should remove browser hijacker and block any further infection. But to completely remove the Search.certified-toolbar.com you will have to at least reset your web-browser settings such as new tab page, home page and search engine by default to default state, disinfect internet browsers shortcuts, uninstall all unwanted and suspicious programs, and delete hijacker by malware removal utilities. Read this manual carefully, bookmark or print it, because you may need to exit your web browser or reboot your PC system.

To remove Search.certified-toolbar.com, use the steps below:

1. How to manually delete Search.certified-toolbar.com
   • Remove potentially unwanted programs using MS Windows Control Panel
   • Remove Search.certified-toolbar.com from Firefox by resetting web-browser settings
   • Remove Search.certified-toolbar.com start page from Internet Explorer
   • Get rid of Search.certified-toolbar.com from Google Chrome
   • Fix web-browser shortcuts, modified by Search.certified-toolbar.com browser hijacker infection
2. Search.certified-toolbar.com redirect automatic removal
   • Remove Search.certified-toolbar.com home page with Zemana
   • Get rid of Search.certified-toolbar.com with Malwarebytes
   • Use AdwCleaner to get rid of Search.certified-toolbar.com search
3. How to stop Search.certified-toolbar.com
4. How to avoid installation of Search.certified-toolbar.com hijacker infection
5. To sum up

How to manually delete Search.certified-toolbar.com

Read this section to know how to manually remove the Search.certified-toolbar.com hijacker. Even if the few simple steps does not work for you, there are several free malware removers below which can easily handle such browser hijacker infections.

Remove potentially unwanted programs using MS Windows Control Panel

Some of PUPs, adware and hijacker infection can be removed using the Add/Remove programs tool that can be found in the MS Windows Control Panel. So, if you are running any version of Microsoft Windows and you have noticed an unwanted program, then first try to get rid of it through Add/Remove programs.

Carefully browse through the list of installed apps and get rid of all dubious and unknown programs. We suggest to click ‘Installed programs’ and even sorts all installed apps by date. After you have found anything dubious that may be the browser hijacker infection that responsible for browser redirect to the unwanted Search.certified-toolbar.com web page or other potentially unwanted application (PUA), then choose this program and press ‘Uninstall’ in the upper part of the window. If the questionable application blocked from removal, then run Revo Uninstaller Freeware to completely remove it from your computer.

Remove Search.certified-toolbar.com from Firefox by resetting web-browser settings

Resetting your Firefox is basic troubleshooting step for any issues with your web-browser program, including the redirect to Search.certified-toolbar.com page.

First, open the Firefox and click button. It will show the drop-down menu on the right-part of the web-browser. Further, click the Help button () as on the image below

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In the Help menu, select the “Troubleshooting Information” option. Another way to open the “Troubleshooting Information” screen – type “about:support” in the web-browser adress bar and press Enter. It will display the “Troubleshooting Information” page as shown on the screen below. In the upper-right corner of this screen, click the “Refresh Firefox” button.

It will display the confirmation dialog box. Further, click the “Refresh Firefox” button. The Firefox will begin a procedure to fix your problems that caused by the browser hijacker that responsible for web browser redirect to the undesired Search.certified-toolbar.com site. Once, it’s complete, click the “Finish” button.

Remove Search.certified-toolbar.com start page from Internet Explorer

If you find that IE browser settings such as new tab page, homepage and search engine by default having been hijacked, then you may revert back your settings, via the reset browser procedure.

First, launch the Internet Explorer. Next, click the button in the form of gear (). It will show the Tools drop-down menu, click the “Internet Options” as displayed on the image below.

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

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

Get rid of Search.certified-toolbar.com from Google Chrome

Like other modern web-browsers, the Chrome has the ability to reset the settings to their default values and thereby recover the browser new tab page, home page and search engine by default that have been changed by the Search.certified-toolbar.com browser hijacker.

1. First, run the Google Chrome and click the Menu icon (icon in the form of three dots).
2. It will open the Chrome main menu. Select More Tools, then click Extensions.
3. You will see the list of installed extensions. If the list has the extension labeled with “Installed by enterprise policy” or “Installed by your administrator”, then complete the following guide: Remove Chrome extensions installed by enterprise policy.
4. Now open the Google Chrome menu once again, click the “Settings” menu.
5. Next, click “Advanced” link, which located at the bottom of the Settings page.
6. On the bottom of the “Advanced settings” page, click the “Reset settings to their original defaults” button.
7. The Google Chrome will open the reset settings prompt as on the image above.
8. Confirm the browser’s reset by clicking on the “Reset” button.
9. To learn more, read the blog post How to reset Chrome settings to default.

Fix web-browser shortcuts, modified by Search.certified-toolbar.com browser hijacker infection

The hijacker that developed to redirect your web-browser to the Search.certified-toolbar.com web page, can hijack various Windows shortcut files on your desktop (most often, all internet browsers shortcut files), so in this step you need to check and clean them by removing the argument such as http://site.address/.

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

Select the “Properties” option and it’ll open the shortcut file’s properties. Next, click the “Shortcut” tab and then delete the “http://site.address” string from Target field like below.

Then click OK to save changes. Repeat the step for all browsers which are redirected to the Search.certified-toolbar.com undesired page.

Search.certified-toolbar.com redirect automatic removal

If you are not expert at machine technology, then we suggest to run free removal tools listed below to remove Search.certified-toolbar.com for good. The automatic way is highly recommended. It has less steps and easier to implement than the manual method. Moreover, it lower risk of system damage. So, the automatic Search.certified-toolbar.com removal is a better option.

Remove Search.certified-toolbar.com home page with Zemana

We suggest using the Zemana. You may download and install Zemana Free to search for and delete Search.certified-toolbar.com redirect from your machine. When installed and updated, the malware remover will automatically scan and detect all threats present on the personal computer.

Visit the following page to download Zemana Free. Save it to your Desktop so that you can access the file easily.

When downloading is complete, start it and follow the prompts. Once installed, the Zemana Anti-Malware (ZAM) will try to update itself and when this process is finished, click the “Scan” button to start checking your PC system for the browser hijacker that redirects your web browser to intrusive Search.certified-toolbar.com web page.

This procedure can take quite a while, so please be patient. During the scan Zemana will find out threats present on your computer. You may move threats to Quarantine (all selected by default) by simply click “Next” button.

The Zemana Anti Malware (ZAM) will remove hijacker responsible for redirects to Search.certified-toolbar.com and add items to the Quarantine.

Get rid of Search.certified-toolbar.com with Malwarebytes

Remove Search.certified-toolbar.com hijacker manually is difficult and often the hijacker is not completely removed. Therefore, we suggest you to run the Malwarebytes Free which are completely clean your computer. Moreover, the free program will help you to remove malicious software, PUPs, toolbars and ad-supported software that your PC can be infected too.

1. Download MalwareBytes from the following link. Save it on your Microsoft Windows desktop or in any other place.
   
   

   Malwarebytes Anti-malware
   326387 downloads
   Author: Malwarebytes
   Category: Security tools
   Update: April 15, 2020
   
2. At the download page, click on the Download button. Your web browser will open the “Save as” dialog box. Please save it onto your Windows desktop.
3. When the download is done, please close all programs and open windows on your computer. Double-click on the icon that’s called mb3-setup.
4. This will run the “Setup wizard” of MalwareBytes Anti Malware onto your PC system. Follow the prompts and don’t make any changes to default settings.
5. When the Setup wizard has finished installing, the MalwareBytes Anti Malware (MBAM) will start and display the main window.
6. Further, click the “Scan Now” button to perform a system scan with this utility for the browser hijacker which developed to reroute your browser to the Search.certified-toolbar.com web page. Depending on your personal computer, the scan may take anywhere from a few minutes to close to an hour. When a threat is found, the number of the security threats will change accordingly.
7. After MalwareBytes Free has finished scanning your computer, MalwareBytes Free will show you the results.
8. You may move items to Quarantine (all selected by default) by simply click the “Quarantine Selected” button. When finished, you may be prompted to restart the system.
9. Close the AntiMalware and continue with the next step.

Video instruction, which reveals in detail the steps above.

Use AdwCleaner to get rid of Search.certified-toolbar.com search

AdwCleaner will help delete hijacker infection which reroutes your browser to undesired Search.certified-toolbar.com web site that slow down your machine. The hijackers, ‘ad supported’ software and other PUPs slow your internet browser down and try to mislead you into clicking on suspicious advertisements and links. AdwCleaner removes the browser hijacker infection and lets you enjoy your personal computer without Search.certified-toolbar.com homepage.

1. Visit the following page to download the latest version of AdwCleaner for MS Windows. Save it on your Microsoft Windows desktop.
   
   

   AdwCleaner download
   225263 downloads
   Version: 8.4.1
   Author: Xplode, MalwareBytes
   Category: Security tools
   Update: October 5, 2024
   
2. Once the downloading process is complete, double click the AdwCleaner icon. Once this utility is started, press “Scan” button . AdwCleaner utility will begin scanning the whole computer to find out browser hijacker responsible for Search.certified-toolbar.com redirect. A system scan can take anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes, depending on your machine. While the AdwCleaner utility is checking, you can see how many objects it has identified as being affected by malware.
3. When AdwCleaner has finished scanning your machine, AdwCleaner will show a list of found items. When you’re ready, press “Clean” button. It will show a prompt, press “OK”.

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

How to stop Search.certified-toolbar.com

Use an adblocker tool like AdGuard will protect you from harmful ads and content. Moreover, you can find that the AdGuard have an option to protect your privacy and block phishing and spam pages. Additionally, ad blocking software will help you to avoid unwanted pop ups and unverified links that also a good way to stay safe online.

1. Download AdGuard program on your Windows Desktop by clicking on the following link.
   

   Adguard download
   26627 downloads
   Version: 6.4
   Author: © Adguard
   Category: Security tools
   Update: November 15, 2018
   
2. When the downloading process is complete, run the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” program window. Follow the prompts.
3. After the setup is done, press “Skip” to close the installation program and use the default settings, or click “Get Started” to see an quick tutorial that will allow you get to know AdGuard better.
4. In most cases, the default settings are enough and you don’t need to change anything. Each time, when you launch your PC system, AdGuard will start automatically and block ads, web-sites such Search.certified-toolbar.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 icon named AdGuard, which can be found on your desktop.

How to avoid installation of Search.certified-toolbar.com hijacker infection

The hijacker is usually is bundled within free programs and install themselves, with or without your knowledge, on your personal computer. This happens especially when you are installing a free software. The program setup package tricks you into accepting the installation of third party programs, which you don’t really want. Moreover, some paid programs may also install third-party programs which you do not want! Therefore, always download free programs and paid programs from reputable download sites. Use ONLY custom or manual installation option and never blindly press Next button.

To sum up

Now your PC system should be clean of the hijacker responsible for redirecting user searches to Search.certified-toolbar.com. Remove AdwCleaner. We suggest that you keep AdGuard (to help you block unwanted advertisements and annoying harmful web-pages) and Zemana (to periodically scan your machine for new browser hijackers and other malware). Probably you are running an older version of Java or Adobe Flash Player. This can be a security risk, so download and install the latest version right now.

If you are still having problems while trying to remove Search.certified-toolbar.com redirect from the Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, IE and MS Edge, then ask for help in our Spyware/Malware removal forum.