If you have ever found your internet browser start page inexplicably modifying to Hoosearch.com web site, or notice that the default search engine in your internet browser has changed, then you could say that your computer has been a victim of the browser hijacker. The developers of browser hijacker do so in order to make revenue via Google, Yahoo or Bing search provider. Thus, in order to force you to use Hoosearch.com search services as often as possible the hijacker may alter your web-browsers settings such as search engine, new tab and home page.
The Hoosearch.com hijacker will modify your web browser’s search provider so that all searches are sent via Hoosearch.com, that redirects to Bing, Yahoo or Google Custom Search engine which displays the search results for your query. The devs behind this browser hijacker infection are utilizing legitimate search engine as they may make money from the ads which are displayed in the search results.
Some hijacker infections also contain adware (also known as ‘ad-supported’ software) that can display annoying advertisements or collect privacy information that can be transferred third party companies. These undesired advertisements can be displayed in the form of pop-unders, pop-ups, in-text ads, video ads, text links or banners or even massive full page advertisements. Most of the adware is created to show advertisements, but certain adware is form of spyware that often used to track users to gather your personal info.
Most often, the Hoosearch.com browser hijacker affects most common web browsers like Mozilla Firefox, IE, Microsoft Edge and Chrome. But such browser hijackers as well can infect other web browsers by changing its shortcuts (adding ‘http://site.address’ into Target field of web-browser’s shortcut). So every time you open the web-browser, it will open Hoosearch.com site. Even if you setup your homepage again, the undesired Hoosearch.com web page will be the first thing which you see when you open the browser.
Therefore it’s very important to free your PC system of browser hijacker infection ASAP. Follow the step-by-step tutorial below to remove Hoosearch.com , as well as other malicious software and ad-supported software, which may be installed onto your personal computer along with it.
How to remove Hoosearch.com from PC
The following step by step instructions will help you to remove Hoosearch.com redirect from the Google Chrome, FF, Internet Explorer and MS Edge. Moreover, the instructions below will help you to remove malicious software like potentially unwanted software, ‘ad supported’ software and toolbars that your PC may be infected. Please do the guide step by step. If you need assist or have any questions, then ask for our assistance or type a comment below. Certain of the steps will require you to reboot your personal computer or exit this page. So, read this guidance carefully, then bookmark or print it for later reference.
To remove Hoosearch.com, follow the steps below:
- How to manually remove Hoosearch.com
- Run free malware removal utilities to completely get rid of Hoosearch.com
- Use AdBlocker to block Hoosearch.com and stay safe online
- Why is my browser redirected to Hoosearch.com?
- To sum up
How to manually remove Hoosearch.com
Steps to get rid of Hoosearch.com hijacker without any applications are presented below. Be sure to carry out the step-by-step guidance completely to fully delete this unwanted Hoosearch.com .
Delete questionable applications using Windows Control Panel
Check out the Microsoft Windows Control Panel (Programs and Features section) to see all installed programs. We recommend to click on the “Date Installed” in order to sort the list of software by the date you installed them. If you see any unknown and dubious programs, they are the ones you need to delete.
Press Windows button , then click Search . Type “Control panel”and press Enter. If you using Windows XP or Windows 7, then press “Start” and select “Control Panel”. It will display the Windows Control Panel as shown in the following example.
Further, press “Uninstall a program”
It will display a list of all applications installed on your personal computer. Scroll through the all list, and remove any questionable and unknown applications.
Clean up the web browsers shortcuts which have been hijacked by Hoosearch.com
The browser hijacker infection responsible for modifying your web browser settings to Hoosearch.com, 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/.
Right click on the internet browser’s shortcut, click Properties option. On the Shortcut tab, locate the Target field. Click inside, you will see a vertical line – arrow pointer, move it (using -> arrow key on your keyboard) to the right as possible. You will see a text “http://site.address” that has been added here. Remove everything after .exe. An example, for Google Chrome you should remove everything after chrome.exe.
To save changes, click OK . You need to clean all browser’s shortcuts. So, repeat this step for the Microsoft Edge, Chrome, Internet Explorer and Firefox.
Delete Hoosearch.com from FF by resetting internet browser settings
If the Firefox browser program is hijacked, then resetting its settings can help. The Reset feature is available on all modern version of Firefox. A reset can fix many issues by restoring Mozilla Firefox settings like homepage, new tab and default search engine to its default state. It will save your personal information like saved passwords, bookmarks, and open tabs.
Click the Menu button (looks like three horizontal lines), and click the blue Help icon located at the bottom of the drop down menu as shown below.
A small menu will appear, click the “Troubleshooting Information”. On this page, press “Refresh Firefox” button as shown on the screen below.
Follow the onscreen procedure to restore your Mozilla Firefox web browser settings to its original state.
Remove Hoosearch.com search from Chrome
Reset Google Chrome settings is a easy way to remove the browser hijacker, harmful and adware extensions, as well as to recover the internet browser’s new tab, search engine by default and start page that have been modified by browser hijacker.
Open the Google Chrome menu by clicking on the button in the form of three horizontal dotes (). It will open the drop-down menu. Choose More Tools, then press Extensions.
Carefully browse through the list of installed addons. If the list has the extension labeled with “Installed by enterprise policy” or “Installed by your administrator”, then complete the following guidance: Remove Google Chrome extensions installed by enterprise policy otherwise, just go to the step below.
Open the Chrome main menu again, click to “Settings” option.
Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the “Advanced” link. Now scroll down until the Reset settings section is visible, as displayed on the image below and click the “Reset settings to their original defaults” button.
Confirm your action, click the “Reset” button.
Delete Hoosearch.com from Internet Explorer
First, run the Internet Explorer, then click ‘gear’ icon . It will display the Tools drop-down menu on the right part of the browser, then press the “Internet Options” as displayed below.
In the “Internet Options” screen, select the “Advanced” tab, then click the “Reset” button. The Microsoft Internet Explorer will show 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 in the following example.
When the procedure is done, click “Close” button. Close the Microsoft Internet Explorer and restart your computer for the changes to take effect. This step will help you to restore your web browser’s newtab page, default search provider and home page to default state.
Run free malware removal utilities to completely get rid of Hoosearch.com
The hijacker can hide its components which are difficult for you to find out and remove completely. This can lead to the fact that after some time, the hijacker again infect your computer and modify current settings of internet browsers to Hoosearch.com. Moreover, I want to note that it’s not always safe to remove browser hijacker manually, if you don’t have much experience in setting up and configuring the MS Windows operating system. The best way to detect and get rid of browser hijackers is to use free malicious software removal software.
How to automatically delete Hoosearch.com with Zemana Free
Zemana AntiMalware is a tool that can remove adware, potentially unwanted programs, hijackers and other malware from your machine easily and for free. Zemana AntiMalware is compatible with most antivirus software. It works under Windows (10 – XP, 32 and 64 bit) and uses minimum of system resources.
- Visit the following page to download Zemana Anti-Malware. Save it on your Desktop.
Zemana AntiMalware
164032 downloads
Author: Zemana Ltd
Category: Security tools
Update: July 16, 2019
- At the download page, click on the Download button. Your browser will show the “Save as” prompt. Please save it onto your Windows desktop.
- When downloading is done, please close all programs and open windows on your computer. Next, launch a file called Zemana.AntiMalware.Setup.
- This will launch the “Setup wizard” of Zemana Anti-Malware onto your system. Follow the prompts and don’t make any changes to default settings.
- When the Setup wizard has finished installing, the Zemana will launch and open the main window.
- Further, click the “Scan” button for scanning your personal computer for the browser hijacker which cause a redirect to Hoosearch.com web-site. This process may take some time, so please be patient. While the Zemana Free tool is checking, you may see number of objects it has identified as being affected by malware.
- After Zemana Anti-Malware has finished scanning your computer, you can check all items detected on your computer.
- All found items will be marked. You can get rid of them all by simply click the “Next” button. The tool will remove hijacker responsible for redirecting user searches to Hoosearch.com. After finished, you may be prompted to reboot the computer.
- Close the Zemana Anti Malware (ZAM) and continue with the next step.
How to automatically get rid of Hoosearch.com with Malwarebytes
You can delete Hoosearch.com start page automatically with a help of Malwarebytes Free. We suggest this free malware removal utility because it can easily remove browser hijacker infections, ‘ad supported’ software, PUPs and toolbars with all their components such as files, folders and registry entries.
Download MalwareBytes Free from the link below. Save it to your Desktop so that you can access the file easily.
326384 downloads
Author: Malwarebytes
Category: Security tools
Update: April 15, 2020
Once downloading is done, close all windows on your computer. Further, run the file called mb3-setup. If the “User Account Control” prompt pops up as displayed below, click the “Yes” button.
It will open the “Setup wizard” which will help you set up MalwareBytes Anti-Malware on the system. Follow the prompts and don’t make any changes to default settings.
Once setup is done successfully, click Finish button. Then MalwareBytes Free will automatically run and you can see its main window like below.
Next, click the “Scan Now” button to perform a system scan for the browser hijacker that cause Hoosearch.com page to appear. Depending on your personal computer, the scan can take anywhere from a few minutes to close to an hour. While the MalwareBytes tool is scanning, you may see how many objects it has identified as being affected by malicious software.
When MalwareBytes AntiMalware has finished scanning your machine, you’ll be opened the list of all found items on your personal computer. Review the results once the tool has complete the system scan. If you think an entry should not be quarantined, then uncheck it. Otherwise, simply press “Quarantine Selected” button.
The MalwareBytes will get rid of browser hijacker responsible for Hoosearch.com search. After that process is done, you can be prompted to restart your machine. We recommend you look at the following video, which completely explains the procedure of using the MalwareBytes to remove browser hijacker infections, ad-supported software and other malware.
Scan your PC and get rid of Hoosearch.com search with AdwCleaner
AdwCleaner is a free removal tool which can scan your computer for a wide range of security threats like ‘ad supported’ software, malicious software, potentially unwanted apps as well as browser hijacker that responsible for internet browser redirect to the undesired Hoosearch.com page. It will perform a deep scan of your PC including hard drives and MS Windows registry. Once a malicious software is detected, it will help you to delete all detected threats from your computer with a simple click.
- Please go to the following link to download the latest version of AdwCleaner for Windows. Save it on your Windows desktop or in any other place.
AdwCleaner download
225260 downloads
Version: 8.4.1
Author: Xplode, MalwareBytes
Category: Security tools
Update: October 5, 2024
- Once the download is finished, double click the AdwCleaner icon. Once this utility is started, click “Scan” button to search for browser hijacker related to Hoosearch.com .
- As the scanning ends, AdwCleaner will prepare a list of unwanted and ad-supported software applications. You may move threats to Quarantine (all selected by default) by simply press “Clean” button. It will open a prompt, click “OK”.
These few simple steps are shown in detail in the following video guide.
Use AdBlocker to block Hoosearch.com and stay safe online
It’s important to run adblocker apps such as AdGuard to protect your PC system from harmful web-sites. Most security experts says that it’s okay to stop advertisements. You should do so just to stay safe! And, of course, the AdGuard can to block Hoosearch.com and other unwanted web-pages.
- Download AdGuard program from the link below.
Adguard download
26627 downloads
Version: 6.4
Author: © Adguard
Category: Security tools
Update: November 15, 2018
- Once the download is finished, launch the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” program window. Follow the prompts.
- Once the setup is complete, click “Skip” to close the install program and use the default settings, or click “Get Started” to see an quick tutorial which will allow you get to know AdGuard better.
- In most cases, the default settings are enough and you do not need to change anything. Each time, when you launch your system, AdGuard will start automatically and block pop-up ads, web-sites such as Hoosearch.com, as well as other harmful or misleading web sites. For an overview of all the features of the application, or to change its settings you can simply double-click on the icon called AdGuard, which is located on your desktop.
Why is my browser redirected to Hoosearch.com?
The majority of hijackers like Hoosearch.com gets on your system as a part of free programs or even paid programs that Net users can easily download online. The setup files of such programs, most commonly, clearly indicate that they will install additional software. The option is given to users to block the install of any bundled apps. So, in order to avoid the setup of any hijacker infections: read all disclaimers and install screens very carefully, select only Custom or Advanced install option and disable all third-party applications in which you are unsure.
To sum up
Now your personal computer should be free of the hijacker responsible for Hoosearch.com . Delete AdwCleaner. We suggest that you keep AdGuard (to help you block unwanted advertisements and undesired harmful web sites) and Zemana AntiMalware (to periodically scan your personal computer for new malware, browser hijackers and adware). Make sure that you have all the Critical Updates recommended for Windows OS. Without regular updates you WILL NOT be protected when new hijackers, harmful apps and adware are released.
If you are still having problems while trying to remove Hoosearch.com home page from your browser, then ask for help in our Spyware/Malware removal forum.