The ChromeSearch.net instead of your homepage is a sign of appearance of PUP (potentially unwanted program) from the browser hijacker family on your personal computer. It can bring a security risk to your personal computer. So, do not ignore it! Of course, the ChromeSearch.net is just a web-site, but the browser hijacker uses it to replace your startpage, new tab and search engine by default, without your permission and desire to see it. The ChromeSearch.net as your home page can be just the beginning, because your computer is affected by a malicious software, that in the future may increase the amount of problems with the Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome and Internet Explorer. Its appearance will prevent you normally browse the World Wide Web, and more, may lead to crash the web-browser.
http://chromesearch.net/
The hijacker infection can also set up the ChromeSearch.net web page as the Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firefox and MS Edge default search provider that cause search redirects via the web page. In this way, makers of the browser hijacker infection have an opportunity to show various advertisements together with the search results for your query. These unwanted ads will be summarized in the redirected web page. This can bring lots of money for makers of the browser hijacker.
Also, adware (sometimes called ‘ad-supported’ software) can be installed on the computer together with ChromeSearch.net hijacker. It will insert a huge number of advertisements directly to the web pages that you view, creating a sense that ads has been added by the creators of the web page. Moreover, legal advertisements can be replaced on fake ads which will offer to download and install various unnecessary and harmful software. Moreover, the ChromeSearch.net hijacker can collect a wide variety of privacy information which can be later transferred third party companies.
The ChromeSearch.net browser hijacker infection can change settings of installed internet browsers, but often that the unwanted software can also infect all types of web-browsers by changing their desktop shortcuts. Thus forcing the user to see ChromeSearch.net annoying site every time run the browser.
We advise you to clean your machine of hijacker immediately. Use the guide below which will assist to remove ChromeSearch.net search and ‘ad-supported’ program, that can be installed onto your system along with it.
Remove ChromeSearch.net from Google Chrome, Firefox, IE, Edge
There are a few solutions that can be used to get rid of ChromeSearch.net. But, not all potentially unwanted apps like this hijacker can be completely uninstalled utilizing only manual solutions. Most often you’re not able to remove any hijacker infection using standard MS Windows options. In order to delete ChromeSearch.net you need complete a few manual steps and use reliable removal utilities. Most IT security professionals states that Zemana AntiMalware (ZAM), MalwareBytes or Hitman Pro utilities are a right choice. These free programs are able to look for and delete ChromeSearch.net from your PC and restore your browser settings to defaults.
To remove ChromeSearch.net, execute the following steps:
- How to remove ChromeSearch.net without any software
- How to remove ChromeSearch.net redirect with free software
- How to stop ChromeSearch.net redirect
- Method of ChromeSearch.net hijacker infection intrusion into your machine
- Finish words
How to remove ChromeSearch.net without any software
Steps to get rid of ChromeSearch.net browser hijacker without any programs are presented below. Be sure to carry out the step-by-step steps completely to fully get rid of this annoying ChromeSearch.net .
Delete PUPs through the MS Windows Control Panel
The best way to start the machine cleanup is to remove unknown and dubious programs. Using the MS Windows Control Panel you can do this quickly and easily. This step, in spite of its simplicity, should not be ignored, because the removing of unneeded programs can clean up the Chrome, Firefox, IE and MS Edge from advertisements hijackers and so on.
- If you are using Windows 8, 8.1 or 10 then press Windows button, next click Search. Type “Control panel”and press Enter.
- If you are using Windows XP, Vista, 7, then press “Start” button and click “Control Panel”.
- It will open the Windows Control Panel.
- Further, click “Uninstall a program” under Programs category.
- It will display a list of all applications installed on the system.
- Scroll through the all list, and delete dubious and unknown programs. To quickly find the latest installed programs, we recommend sort apps by date.
See more details in the video instructions below.
Remove ChromeSearch.net search from IE
The Internet Explorer reset is great if your internet browser is hijacked or you have unwanted plugins or toolbars on your browser, that installed by a malicious software.
First, run the Internet Explorer, then click ‘gear’ icon 
. It will show the Tools drop-down menu on the right part of the internet browser, then click the “Internet Options” as displayed below.
In the “Internet Options” screen, select the “Advanced” tab, then press the “Reset” button. The IE will display the “Reset Internet Explorer settings” dialog box. Further, click the “Delete personal settings” check box to select it. Next, press the “Reset” button as shown in the following example.
After 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 web browser’s newtab, search provider by default and homepage to default state.
Remove ChromeSearch.net from Google Chrome
Like other modern browsers, the Chrome has the ability to reset the settings to their default values and thereby restore the browser search provider by default, newtab page and startpage that have been replaced by the ChromeSearch.net hijacker.
- First start the Chrome and click Menu button (small button in the form of three dots).
- It will display the Google Chrome main menu. Choose More Tools, then click Extensions.
- You will see 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 steps: Remove Chrome extensions installed by enterprise policy.
- Now open the Chrome menu once again, press the “Settings” menu.
- You will see the Chrome’s settings page. Scroll down and click “Advanced” link.
- Scroll down again and click the “Reset” button.
- The Google Chrome will display the reset profile settings page as on the image above.
- Next press the “Reset” button.
- Once this process is complete, your internet browser’s newtab page, default search provider and start page will be restored to their original defaults.
- To learn more, read the article How to reset Google Chrome settings to default.
Remove ChromeSearch.net from Mozilla Firefox
The FF reset will keep your personal information like bookmarks, passwords, web form auto-fill data and delete unwanted search provider and start page like ChromeSearch.net, modified preferences, extensions and security settings.
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 on the screen below.
A small menu will appear, press the “Troubleshooting Information”. On this page, press “Refresh Firefox” button as displayed in the figure below.
Follow the onscreen procedure to revert back your FF web browser settings to its original state.
Fix web-browser shortcuts, altered by ChromeSearch.net hijacker
Now you need to clean up the browser shortcut files. Check that the shortcut file referring to the right exe-file of the internet browser, and not on any unknown file.
Open the properties of the web-browser shortcut file. Right click on the shortcut file of affected browser and choose the “Properties” option and it’ll show the properties of the shortcut file. Next, choose the “Shortcut” tab and have a look at the Target field like below.
Normally, if the last word in the Target field is chrome.exe, iexplore.exe, firefox.exe. Be sure to pay attention to the extension, should be “exe”! All shortcuts which have been changed by browser hijacker infection responsible for redirecting user searches to ChromeSearch.net, usually point to .bat, .cmd or .url files instead of .exe like below
Another variant, an address has been added at the end of the line. In this case the Target field looks like …Application\chrome.exe” http://site.address as shown below.
In order to fix the affected shortcut file, you need to insert right path to the Target field or remove an address (if it has been added at the end). You can use the following information to fix your shortcut files which have been modified by ChromeSearch.net hijacker infection and other browser’s harmful extensions.
| Chrome | C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe |
| C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe | |
| FF | C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe |
| IE | C:\Program Files (x86)\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe |
| C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe | |
| Opera | C:\Program Files (x86)\Opera\launcher.exe |
| C:\Program Files\Opera\launcher.exe |
Once is finished, click OK to save changes. Repeat the step for all internet browsers which are redirected to the ChromeSearch.net undesired web-page.
How to remove ChromeSearch.net redirect with free software
If you are not expert at computer technology, then all your attempts to get rid of ChromeSearch.net browser hijacker infection by following the manual steps above might result in failure. To find and remove all of the ChromeSearch.net related files and registry entries that keep this hijacker on your personal computer, run free antimalware software like Zemana Free, MalwareBytes and HitmanPro from our list below.
Remove ChromeSearch.net with Zemana Free
We recommend you to use the Zemana Free that are completely clean your computer. Moreover, the utility will allow you to delete potentially unwanted applications, malware, toolbars and adware that your PC can be infected too.
- Click the link below to download Zemana Anti Malware (ZAM). Save it directly to your MS Windows 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 web-browser will display the “Save as” prompt. Please save it onto your Windows desktop.
- Once downloading is done, please close all apps and open windows on your PC system. Next, launch a file called Zemana.AntiMalware.Setup.
- This will open the “Setup wizard” of Zemana onto your PC system. Follow the prompts and don’t make any changes to default settings.
- When the Setup wizard has finished installing, the Zemana AntiMalware (ZAM) will start and display the main window.
- Further, click the “Scan” button to perform a system scan for the browser hijacker infection responsible for redirections to ChromeSearch.net. Depending on your computer, the scan can take anywhere from a few minutes to close to an hour. During the scan Zemana AntiMalware will find threats exist on your system.
- Once Zemana Anti Malware (ZAM) completes the scan, Zemana Anti-Malware (ZAM) will display a screen that contains a list of malicious software that has been found.
- You may remove threats (move to Quarantine) by simply click the “Next” button. The utility will remove browser hijacker infection which changes browser settings to replace your home page, search provider by default and new tab page with ChromeSearch.net web-site and move threats to the program’s quarantine. Once that process is finished, you may be prompted to restart the PC system.
- Close the Zemana and continue with the next step.
Scan your personal computer and delete ChromeSearch.net home page with HitmanPro
Hitman Pro is a free tool which can identify browser hijacker infection which made to reroute your web-browser to the ChromeSearch.net site. It is not always easy to locate all the undesired programs that your personal computer might have picked up on the World Wide Web. Hitman Pro will search for the adware, hijackers and other malicious software you need to remove.
Click the link below to download the latest version of Hitman Pro for MS Windows. Save it to your Desktop.
Download and use HitmanPro on your PC. Once started, press “Next” button . Hitman Pro program will scan through the whole PC for the hijacker infection which cause a reroute to ChromeSearch.net web-site. This process can take some time, so please be patient. When a malware, ad supported software or potentially unwanted software are detected, the count of the security threats will change accordingly. .
When the system scan is finished, you will be shown the list of all detected items on your computer.
Next, you need to click Next button.
It will show a prompt, click the “Activate free license” button to start the free 30 days trial to remove all malicious software found.
How to automatically get rid of ChromeSearch.net with Malwarebytes
Manual ChromeSearch.net search removal requires some computer skills. Some files and registry entries that created by the browser hijacker infection may be not completely removed. We recommend that run the Malwarebytes Free that are completely clean your computer of hijacker infection. Moreover, the free program will help you to remove malware, PUPs, ‘ad supported’ software and toolbars that your machine can be infected too.
Visit the page linked below to download MalwareBytes AntiMalware. Save it to your Desktop.
326385 downloads
Author: Malwarebytes
Category: Security tools
Update: April 15, 2020
After the download is done, close all applications and windows on your PC. Open a directory in which you saved it. Double-click on the icon that’s named mb3-setup as displayed on the image below.
When the installation begins, you will see the “Setup wizard” that will help you install Malwarebytes on your PC.
Once install is finished, you’ll see window as shown on the image below.
Now click the “Scan Now” button for checking your system for the hijacker which modifies web browser settings to replace your new tab, homepage and search engine with ChromeSearch.net web-site. A scan can take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the number of files on your PC system and the speed of your computer.
After the checking is finished, MalwareBytes will display a scan report. Once you’ve selected what you want to delete from your PC system click “Quarantine Selected” button.
The Malwarebytes will now remove hijacker responsible for modifying your browser settings to ChromeSearch.net and move items to the program’s quarantine. Once the task is finished, you may be prompted to restart your system.
The following video explains guide on how to remove browser hijacker, adware and other malware with MalwareBytes Anti Malware.
How to stop ChromeSearch.net redirect
Run adblocker application like AdGuard in order to block ads, malvertisements, pop-ups and online trackers, avoid having to install harmful and adware browser plug-ins and add-ons which affect your PC performance and impact your PC security. Surf the Web anonymously and stay safe online!
Installing the AdGuard is simple. First you will need to download AdGuard on your Windows Desktop by clicking on the following link.
26627 downloads
Version: 6.4
Author: © Adguard
Category: Security tools
Update: November 15, 2018
After the download is finished, double-click the downloaded file to start it. The “Setup Wizard” window will show up on the computer screen as displayed on the screen 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 instructions like below.
Press “Skip” button to close the window and use the default settings, or click “Get Started” to see an quick guide that will allow you get to know AdGuard better.
Each time, when you run your personal computer, AdGuard will start automatically and stop pop-up ads, web-sites like ChromeSearch.net, as well as other malicious 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, that can be found on your desktop.
Method of ChromeSearch.net hijacker infection intrusion into your machine
Many hijackers like ChromeSearch.net come from browser toolbars, browser extensions, BHOs (browser helper objects) and third-party apps. In most cases, these items claim itself as programs which improve your experience on the World Wide Web by providing a fast and interactive start page or a search engine that does not track you. Remember, how to avoid the unwanted apps. Be cautious, start only reputable apps which download from reputable sources. NEVER install an unknown and suspicious program.
Finish words
After completing the steps outlined above, your PC system should be clean from this browser hijacker and other malware. The Internet Explorer, Edge, Chrome and Firefox will no longer open unwanted ChromeSearch.net site on startup. Unfortunately, if the few simple steps does not help you, then you have caught a new hijacker infection, and then the best way – ask for help.
Please start a new thread by using the “New Topic” button in the Spyware Removal forum. When posting your HJT log, try to give us some details about your problems, so we can try to help you more accurately. Wait for one of our trained “Security Team” or Site Administrator to provide you with knowledgeable assistance tailored to your problem with the unwanted ChromeSearch.net search.
