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

If you’re reading this post, the chances are, you are doing so via the web-browser that has been affected with something named Searchrogue.com browser hijacker. Searchrogue.com is categorized as hijackware (also known as browser hijacker). In most cases it’s installed without your permission. It takes control of your web browser and alters your newtab page, home page and search provider by default to its own. So, you’ll find a new homepage and search provider installed in the Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer browsers.

The Searchrogue.com hijacker infection will modify your web-browser’s search engine so that all searches are sent via Searchrogue.com, that redirects to Bing, Yahoo or Google Custom Search engine which shows the search results for your query. The devs behind this browser hijacker are utilizing legitimate search provider as they may make revenue from the ads which are shown in the search results.

Often, the machine that has been infected with Searchrogue.com hijacker, will be also affected by adware (also known as ‘ad-supported’ software) which opens lots of various ads. It may be pop-ups, text links in the web pages, banners where they never had. What is more, the adware may replace the legitimate ads with malicious advertisements that will offer to download and install malware and unwanted software or visit the various dangerous and misleading web-pages.

In addition to that, as was mentioned earlier, certain browser hijackers such as Searchrogue.com to also alter all web browsers shortcuts which located on your Desktop or Start menu. So, every affected shortcut will try to redirect your web-browser to unwanted pages, certain of which might be harmful. It can make the whole personal computer more vulnerable to hacker attacks.

We strongly suggest that you perform the steps below that will allow you to get rid of Searchrogue.com using the standard features of Windows and some proven free software.

Remove Searchrogue.com

When a browser hijacker such as the Searchrogue.com gets installed on your computer without your knowledge, it is not easy to uninstall. In many cases, there is no Uninstall application that simply remove the hijacker that cause Searchrogue.com web page to appear from your personal computer. So, we advise using several well-proven free specialized tools like Zemana Anti-Malware (ZAM), MalwareBytes Free or AdwCleaner. But the best method to remove Searchrogue.com redirect will be to perform several manual steps, after that additionally run antimalware utilities.

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

To remove Searchrogue.com, perform the following steps:

How to get rid of Searchrogue.com startpage without any software
How to automatically remove Searchrogue.com browser hijacker
How to stop Searchrogue.com
Tips to prevent Searchrogue.com and other unwanted apps
To sum up

How to get rid of Searchrogue.com startpage without any software

The useful removal instructions for the Searchrogue.com . The detailed procedure can be followed by anyone as it really does take you step-by-step. If you follow this process to remove Searchrogue.com search let us know how you managed by sending us your comments please.

Remove Searchrogue.com related applications through the Control Panel of your PC

First of all, check the list of installed software on your system and uninstall all unknown and recently installed applications. If you see an unknown application with incorrect spelling or varying capital letters, it have most likely been installed by malicious software and you should clean it off first with malicious software removal utility like Zemana Anti-malware.

Press Windows button , then click 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 as displayed on the image below.

Further, press “Uninstall a program”
It will display a list of all applications installed on your personal computer. Scroll through the all list, and delete any suspicious and unknown software.

Fix web-browser shortcuts, changed by Searchrogue.com hijacker

When installed, the hijacker which redirects your web browser to intrusive Searchrogue.com web-site, may add an argument similar to “http://site.address” into the Target property of the desktop shortcut for the Firefox, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge. Due to this, every time you open the internet browser, it will show an intrusive page.

Right click to a desktop shortcut for your affected web browser. Select the “Properties” option. It will show the Properties window. Select the “Shortcut” tab here, after that, look at the “Target” field. The browser hijacker responsible for modifying your web browser settings to Searchrogue.com can change it. If you are seeing something such as “…exe http://site.address” then you need to remove “http…” and leave only, depending on the internet browser you are using:

Google Chrome: chrome.exe
Opera: opera.exe
Firefox: firefox.exe
Internet Explorer: iexplore.exe

Look at the example as on the image below.

Once is done, click the “OK” button to save the changes. Please repeat this step for internet browser shortcuts which redirects to an intrusive web-pages. When you have completed, go to next step.

Remove Searchrogue.com from Firefox by resetting web browser settings

The FF reset will keep your personal information such as bookmarks, passwords, web form auto-fill data and delete unwanted search engine and home page such as Searchrogue.com, modified preferences, extensions and security settings.

First, run the FF and press button. It will open the drop-down menu on the right-part of the internet browser. Further, click the Help button () as displayed below

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 open the “Troubleshooting Information” page as displayed in the following example. In the upper-right corner of this screen, click the “Refresh Firefox” button.

It will open the confirmation prompt. Further, press the “Refresh Firefox” button. The FF will start a procedure to fix your problems that caused by the hijacker responsible for modifying your browser settings to Searchrogue.com. Once, it’s done, press the “Finish” button.

Remove Searchrogue.com home page from Chrome

Like other modern web-browsers, the Google Chrome has the ability to reset the settings to their default values and thereby recover the browser home page, new tab and default search provider that have been modified by the Searchrogue.com browser hijacker.

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

Delete Searchrogue.com from Internet Explorer

If you find that Microsoft Internet Explorer web-browser settings such as home page, new tab page and search engine by default having been hijacked, then you may return your settings, via the reset web-browser process.

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

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

Once the process is finished, press “Close” button. Close the IE and restart your PC system for the changes to take effect. This step will help you to restore your web browser’s newtab page, start page and search engine by default to default state.

How to automatically remove Searchrogue.com browser hijacker

The easiest method to get rid of Searchrogue.com hijacker infection is to use an anti-malware application capable of detecting hijacker infections including Searchrogue.com. We suggest try Zemana Free or another free malicious software remover which listed below. It has excellent detection rate when it comes to ad-supported software, hijackers and other potentially unwanted apps.

Automatically remove Searchrogue.com with Zemana Free

We suggest you to use the Zemana that are completely clean your system. Moreover, the utility will allow you to delete PUPs, malware, toolbars and adware that your PC system can be infected too.

Download Zemana Anti-Malware by clicking on the link below. Save it on your Microsoft Windows desktop or in any other place.

Zemana AntiMalware
164032 downloads
Author: Zemana Ltd
Category: Security tools
Update: July 16, 2019
When the download is complete, close all apps 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 install is done, click the “Scan” button for checking your system for the browser hijacker that responsible for internet browser redirect to the intrusive Searchrogue.com web site. When a malware, ad-supported software or potentially unwanted programs are found, the number of the security threats will change accordingly.
When Zemana AntiMalware (ZAM) has completed scanning, Zemana will display a scan report. Review the report and then press “Next”. Once the clean-up is complete, you can be prompted to reboot your machine.

Remove Searchrogue.com search with Malwarebytes

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

Please go to the following link to download the latest version of MalwareBytes Free for Microsoft Windows. Save it to your Desktop so that you can access the file easily.

Malwarebytes Anti-malware
326384 downloads
Author: Malwarebytes
Category: Security tools
Update: April 15, 2020
At the download page, click on the Download button. Your browser will show the “Save as” dialog box. Please save it onto your Windows desktop.
Once the downloading process is done, please close all programs and open windows on your system. Double-click on the icon that’s named mb3-setup.
This will launch the “Setup wizard” of MalwareBytes AntiMalware onto your computer. Follow the prompts and do not make any changes to default settings.
When the Setup wizard has finished installing, the MalwareBytes Anti-Malware will start and display the main window.
Further, click the “Scan Now” button to perform a system scan with this tool for the Searchrogue.com hijacker and other internet browser’s malicious addons. Depending on your PC system, the scan can take anywhere from a few minutes to close to an hour. During the scan MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (MBAM) will look for threats present on your PC.
After MalwareBytes has finished scanning your machine, MalwareBytes will show a screen that contains a list of malicious software that has been found.
Make sure all items have ‘checkmark’ and click the “Quarantine Selected” button. Once disinfection is finished, you may be prompted to reboot the machine.
Close the Anti Malware and continue with the next step.

Video instruction, which reveals in detail the steps above.

Run AdwCleaner to remove Searchrogue.com

AdwCleaner is a portable utility which scans for and deletes unwanted software like browser hijackers, adware, toolbars, other web browser extensions and other malicious software. It scans your computer for hijacker which created to reroute your web-browser to the Searchrogue.com web site and produces a list of threats marked for removal. AdwCleaner will only remove those undesired programs that you wish to be removed.

Visit the page linked below to download the latest version of AdwCleaner for MS Windows. Save it directly to your Microsoft Windows Desktop.

AdwCleaner download
225260 downloads
Version: 8.4.1
Author: Xplode, MalwareBytes
Category: Security tools
Update: October 5, 2024

Once the downloading process is finished, open the directory in which you saved it and double-click the AdwCleaner icon. It will run the AdwCleaner tool and you will see a screen as displayed below. If the User Account Control dialog box will ask you want to launch the program, press Yes button to continue.

Next, click “Scan” . AdwCleaner tool will begin scanning the whole machine to find out browser hijacker which created to redirect your internet browser to the Searchrogue.com web site. While the AdwCleaner application is checking, you can see how many objects it has identified as threat.

When AdwCleaner has finished scanning your machine, you’ll be opened the list of all found items on your machine as displayed in the following example.

Review the scan results and then click “Clean” button. It will display a dialog box. Click “OK” button. The AdwCleaner will start to remove hijacker which redirects your browser to undesired Searchrogue.com page. After finished, the utility may ask you to restart your PC. After reboot, the AdwCleaner will show the log file.

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

How to stop Searchrogue.com

Run ad-blocker program such as AdGuard in order to block advertisements, malvertisements, pop-ups and online trackers, avoid having to install harmful and adware browser plug-ins and add-ons which affect your system performance and impact your PC system security. Browse the Web anonymously and stay safe online!

Installing the AdGuard ad-blocker program is simple. First you will need to download AdGuard by clicking on the link below. Save it on your MS Windows desktop.

After the downloading process is finished, double-click the downloaded file to start it. The “Setup Wizard” window will show up on the computer screen as displayed in the figure 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 shown in the figure below.

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

Each time, when you start your machine, AdGuard will start automatically and block popup ads, web pages such Searchrogue.com, as well as other harmful or misleading web sites. 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.

Tips to prevent Searchrogue.com and other unwanted apps

The hijacker infection is usually gets onto PC system by being attached to freeware and install themselves, with or without your knowledge, on your personal computer. This happens especially when you are installing a free programs. The program installer tricks you into accepting the installation of third party apps, which you do not really want. Moreover, some paid software can also install optional programs that you do not want! Therefore, always download freeware and paid programs from reputable download web-sites. Use ONLY custom or manual installation method and never blindly click Next button.

To sum up

Now your computer should be clean of the browser hijacker infection responsible for redirecting your internet browser to Searchrogue.com web site. Uninstall AdwCleaner. We suggest that you keep Zemana Anti Malware (ZAM) (to periodically scan your machine for new browser hijackers and other malware) and AdGuard (to help you stop intrusive ads and malicious sites). Moreover, to prevent hijacker infections, please stay clear of unknown and third party software, make sure that your antivirus application, turn on the option to detect PUPs (potentially unwanted programs).

If you need more help with Searchrogue.com home page related issues, go to our Spyware/Malware removal forum.