The Hit Start is an unwanted page that can be set as your start page and search provider by a PUP (potentially unwanted program) from the browser hijacker infection family. Most often, the undesired program installs on the personal computer in abundle with free software that you downloaded and installed from the World Wide Web. Once it gets inside your browser, it will alter certain web browser’s homepage, search engine and new tab to Hit Start. The Hit Start is made in order to redirect user’s web-browser and display a huge count of unwanted advertisements and sponsored links from AdSense or another third-party vendors in your search results.
The Hit Start hijacker will modify your browser’s search engine so that all searches are sent via Hit Start, that redirects to Bing, Yahoo or Google Custom Search engine that displays the search results for your query. The devs behind this hijacker are utilizing legitimate search provider as they may generate revenue from the advertisements which are shown in the search results.
Although, Hit Start browser hijacker is not a virus, but it does bad things, and it imposes changes to settings of all your typical web browsers. Moreover, an ‘ad-supported’ software (also known as adware) can be additionally installed on to your computer by this hijacker, that will open a huge number of advertisements, or even massive full page ads that blocks surfing the Internet. Often such these advertisements may recommend to install other unknown and undesired applications or visit harmful websites.
We strongly suggest that you perform the steps below that will help you to remove Hit Start search using the standard features of Windows and some proven free applications.
Remove Hit Start from Google Chrome, Firefox, IE, Edge
In many cases browser hijackers requires more than a simple uninstall with the help of MS Windows Control panel in order to be fully deleted. For that reason, our team made several removal methods which we’ve summarized in a detailed guidance. Therefore, if you have the annoying Hit Start hijacker on your PC and are currently trying to have it removed then feel free to follow the instructions below in order to resolve your problem. Read this manual carefully, bookmark or print it, because you may need to exit your browser or reboot your personal computer.
To remove Hit Start, perform the following steps:
- Manual Hit Start removal
- Hit Start automatic removal
- Stop Hit Start redirect and other intrusive websites
- How was Hit Start hijacker installed on system
- To sum up
Manual Hit Start removal
The following instructions is a step-by-step guide, which will help you manually get rid of Hit Start home page from the Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox and Edge.
Remove Hit Start related programs through the Control Panel of your PC
First method for manual hijacker infection removal is to go into the MS Windows “Control Panel”, then “Uninstall a program” console. Take a look at the list of applications on your computer and see if there are any questionable and unknown applications. If you see any, you need to uninstall them. Of course, before doing so, you can do an World Wide Web search to find details on the program. If it is a potentially unwanted program, ‘ad supported’ software or malware, you will likely find information that says so.
Windows 8, 8.1, 10
First, press Windows button
, then press Search 
. Type ‘Control panel’and press Enter as shown on the image below.
Once the ‘Control Panel’ opens, click the ‘Uninstall a program’ link under Programs category as shown in the figure below.
You will see the ‘Uninstall a program’ panel like below.
Very carefully look around the entire list of apps installed on your system. Most probably, one of them is the hijacker responsible for Hit Start . If you have many apps installed, you can help simplify the search of malicious apps by sort the list by date of installation. Once you have found a questionable, unwanted or unused application, right click to it, after that click ‘Uninstall’.
Windows XP, Vista, 7
First, click ‘Start’ button and select ‘Control Panel’ at right panel as shown on the image below.
Once the Windows ‘Control Panel’ opens, you need to click ‘Uninstall a program’ under ‘Programs’ as on the image below.
You will see a list of apps installed on your PC. We recommend to sort the list by date of installation to quickly find the software that were installed last. Most probably, it’s the hijacker that reroutes your internet browser to intrusive Hit Start website. If you’re in doubt, you can always check the application by doing a search for her name in Google, Yahoo or Bing. After the program which you need to uninstall is found, simply press on its name, and then press ‘Uninstall’ as displayed below.
Delete Hit Start from Mozilla Firefox by resetting internet browser settings
If your Firefox browser start page has modified to Hit Start without your permission or an unknown search engine shows results for your search, then it may be time to perform the internet browser reset. When using the reset feature, your personal information such as passwords, bookmarks, browsing history and web form auto-fill data will be saved.
First, open the Mozilla Firefox. Next, click the button in the form of three horizontal stripes (
). It will display the drop-down menu. Next, click the Help button (
).
In the Help menu click the “Troubleshooting Information”. In the upper-right corner of the “Troubleshooting Information” page click on “Refresh Firefox” button as on the image below.
Confirm your action, press the “Refresh Firefox”.
Get rid of Hit Start home page from Internet Explorer
First, start the Internet Explorer, then press ‘gear’ icon 
. It will show the Tools drop-down menu on the right part of the web browser, then click the “Internet Options” as shown on the image below.
In the “Internet Options” screen, select the “Advanced” tab, then click the “Reset” button. The Internet Explorer will display the “Reset Internet Explorer settings” dialog box. Further, click the “Delete personal settings” check box to select it. Next, click the “Reset” button as displayed on the image below.
When 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 page, start page and search engine by default to default state.
Remove Hit Start from Google Chrome
Reset Chrome settings is a easy way to remove the browser hijacker, harmful and ‘ad-supported’ extensions, as well as to recover the web browser’s new tab page, search provider and start page that have been changed by Hit Start browser 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. Select More Tools, then click Extensions.
- You will see the list of installed addons. If the list has the add-on labeled with “Installed by enterprise policy” or “Installed by your administrator”, then complete the following instructions: Remove Chrome extensions installed by enterprise policy.
- Now open the Google Chrome menu once again, click the “Settings” menu.
- You will see the Google Chrome’s settings page. Scroll down and click “Advanced” link.
- Scroll down again and click the “Reset” button.
- The Chrome will show the reset profile settings page as shown on the image above.
- Next press the “Reset” button.
- Once this process is finished, your web-browser’s new tab page, default search provider and start page will be restored to their original defaults.
- To learn more, read the article How to reset Chrome settings to default.
Hit Start automatic removal
In order to completely delete Hit Start, you not only need to remove it from the internet browsers, but also delete all its components in your computer including Windows registry entries. We recommend to download and run free removal tools to automatically clean your personal computer of Hit Start browser hijacker.
Use Zemana to remove Hit Start start page
We suggest using the Zemana Anti-Malware (ZAM) that are completely clean your personal computer of the hijacker infection. The utility is an advanced malware removal program created by (c) Zemana lab. It is able to help you get rid of PUPs, browser hijacker infections, adware, malicious software, toolbars, ransomware and other security threats from your PC for free.
- Click the link below to download Zemana. Save it to your Desktop so that you can access the file easily.
Zemana AntiMalware
164032 downloads
Author: Zemana Ltd
Category: Security tools
Update: July 16, 2019
- After downloading is complete, close all apps and windows on your personal computer. Open a directory in which you saved it. Double-click on the icon that’s named Zemana.AntiMalware.Setup.
- Further, click Next button and follow the prompts.
- Once install is finished, click the “Scan” button . Zemana tool will start scanning the whole machine to find out hijacker infection responsible for changing your internet browser settings to Hit Start. Depending on your system, the scan can take anywhere from a few minutes to close to an hour. When a threat is found, the count of the security threats will change accordingly. Wait until the the checking is finished.
- When Zemana Free has finished scanning, you will be opened the list of all detected threats on your computer. Next, you need to click “Next”. After the cleaning process is finished, you can be prompted to reboot your PC system.
Run HitmanPro to get rid of Hit Start homepage
HitmanPro is a free removal utility which can scan your system for a wide range of security threats such as adware, malicious software, potentially unwanted software as well as hijacker responsible for redirecting your internet browser to Hit Start web-site. It will perform a deep scan of your computer including hard drives and Microsoft Windows registry. When a malicious software is found, it will help you to delete all detected threats from your computer with a simple click.
- Download HitmanPro on your Windows Desktop by clicking on the following link.
- When the downloading process is finished, run the Hitman Pro, double-click the HitmanPro.exe file.
- If the “User Account Control” prompts, press Yes to continue.
- In the Hitman Pro window, click the “Next” to perform a system scan with this utility for the browser hijacker that responsible for web browser redirect to the intrusive Hit Start website. Depending on your PC system, the scan can take anywhere from a few minutes to close to an hour. While the Hitman Pro tool is checking, you can see count of objects it has identified as being affected by malware.
- When Hitman Pro has completed scanning your personal computer, Hitman Pro will show a scan report. Make sure all items have ‘checkmark’ and press “Next”. Now, press the “Activate free license” button to start the free 30 days trial to remove all malware found.
Use Malwarebytes to remove Hit Start search
Get rid of Hit Start hijacker manually is difficult and often the hijacker is not completely removed. Therefore, we suggest you to run the Malwarebytes Free that are completely clean your PC. Moreover, the free program will help you to delete malware, PUPs, toolbars and adware that your personal computer may be infected too.
Visit the following page to download MalwareBytes Free. Save it directly to your Windows Desktop.
326384 downloads
Author: Malwarebytes
Category: Security tools
Update: April 15, 2020
Once the download is finished, close all applications and windows on your PC. Double-click the install file named mb3-setup. If the “User Account Control” dialog box pops up as on the image below, click the “Yes” button.
It will open the “Setup wizard” which will help you install MalwareBytes Free on your system. Follow the prompts and don’t make any changes to default settings.
Once install is complete successfully, click Finish button. MalwareBytes AntiMalware will automatically start and you can see its main screen as on the image below.
Now press the “Scan Now” button . MalwareBytes Anti Malware (MBAM) utility will begin scanning the whole PC system to find out hijacker responsible for Hit Start start page. A scan can take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the count of files on your personal computer and the speed of your PC. During the scan MalwareBytes AntiMalware will search for threats exist on your computer.
After MalwareBytes has completed scanning, a list of all threats detected is produced. Next, you need to click “Quarantine Selected” button. The MalwareBytes Free will delete browser hijacker responsible for redirecting your internet browser to Hit Start website and add threats to the Quarantine. When disinfection is done, you may be prompted to reboot the computer.
We suggest you look at the following video, which completely explains the procedure of using the MalwareBytes to get rid of ad-supported software, hijacker and other malware.
Stop Hit Start redirect and other intrusive websites
In order to increase your security and protect your computer against new unwanted advertisements and malicious pages, you need to run ad blocking application that blocks an access to malicious advertisements and web-sites. Moreover, the program may block the open of intrusive advertising, that also leads to faster loading of web sites and reduce the consumption of web traffic.
Click the link below to download AdGuard. Save it to your Desktop so that you can access the file easily.
26627 downloads
Version: 6.4
Author: © Adguard
Category: Security tools
Update: November 15, 2018
Once downloading is done, run the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” screen as displayed on the image below.
Follow the prompts. When the installation is done, you will see a window as on the image below.
You can press “Skip” to close the installation application and use the default settings, or click “Get Started” button to see an quick tutorial which will assist 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 machine, AdGuard will run automatically and stop unwanted ads, Hit Start redirect, as well as other malicious or misleading web pages. For an overview of all the features of the application, or to change its settings you can simply double-click on the AdGuard icon, that can be found on your desktop.
How was Hit Start hijacker installed on system
It is very important to pay attention to additional checkboxes during the installation of freeware to avoid installing of PUPs, adware, browser hijackers or other unwanted apps. Never install the additional applications that the program wants to install with it. Inattentive free programs download can result in installation of undesired program like this hijacker that alters browser settings to replace your home page, newtab page and default search provider with Hit Start web-page.
To sum up
Once you have finished the steps above, your machine should be clean from browser hijacker infection which cause a redirect to Hit Start site and other malware. The Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Edge will no longer open undesired Hit Start page on startup. Unfortunately, if the few simple steps does not help you, then you have caught a new browser hijacker, and then the best way – ask for help here.
