If you find that the browser search engine by default, homepage or newtab have modified to Fastest Search without your knowledge or permission then it could mean that you’ve an undesired software from the browser hijacker family installed on your computer. Browser hijacker is small program that can modify your homepage and search provider, reroute you to webpages you never intended to open, gather search queries and your user info. In the article below you will find guide about how to return internet browser settings to their original defaults and fully remove Fastest Search from MS Edge, Internet Explorer, Chrome and Mozilla Firefox.
In addition, the Fastest Search hijacker can also modify the search engine selected in the browser. When you try to search on the affected browser, you’ll 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 undesired and ad web-pages.
While the Fastest Search browser hijacker infection is active, you won’t be able to restore the Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, IE and MS Edge’ settings such as newtab, search provider by default and startpage. If you try to set your home page to be Google, Bing or Yahoo, those settings will be automatically changed to Fastest Search with the next computer restart. But this does not mean that you should just ignore it or get along with this fact. Because this is not the best option, due to the Fastest Search you can have problems with the Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge and Chrome, annoying ads and even personal info theft.
So, if you happen to encounter undesired Fastest Search home page, then be quick and take effort to remove browser hijacker infection that responsible for browser reroute to the annoying Fastest Search site ASAP. Follow the step-by-step guidance below to remove Fastest Search search. Let us know how you managed by sending us your comments please.
Remove Fastest Search from Windows 10 (8, 7, XP)
When a hijacker such as the Fastest Search gets installed on your computer without your knowledge, it is not easy to uninstall. In many cases, there is no Uninstall program which simply uninstall the browser hijacker infection related to Fastest Search from your computer. So, we suggest using several well-proven free specialized tools such as Zemana, MalwareBytes AntiMalware (MBAM) or HitmanPro. But the best solution to get rid of Fastest Search redirect will be to perform several manual steps, after that additionally run antimalware utilities.
To remove Fastest Search, use the steps below:
- How to remove Fastest Search start page without any software
- How to automatically remove Fastest Search browser hijacker
- How to stop Fastest Search
- How does your machine get infected with Fastest Search hijacker
- Finish words
How to remove Fastest Search start page without any software
The steps will help you get rid of Fastest Search . These Fastest Search removal steps work for the Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and MS Edge, as well as every version of Windows operating system.
Remove Fastest Search associated software by using MS Windows Control Panel
The process of hijacker removal is generally the same across all versions of Microsoft Windows OS from 10 to XP. To start with, it is necessary to check the list of installed programs on your PC system and uninstall all unused, unknown and questionable applications.
Windows 10, 8.1, 8
Click the Windows logo, and then press Search 
. Type ‘Control panel’and press Enter as shown below.
After the ‘Control Panel’ opens, click the ‘Uninstall a program’ link under Programs category as displayed in the following example.
Windows 7, Vista, XP
Open Start menu and select the ‘Control Panel’ at right as displayed in the figure below.
Then go to ‘Add/Remove Programs’ or ‘Uninstall a program’ (Windows 7 or Vista) like below.
Carefully browse through the list of installed software and remove all questionable and unknown applications. We suggest to press ‘Installed programs’ and even sorts all installed apps by date. After you’ve found anything suspicious that may be the browser hijacker that responsible for browser redirect to the annoying Fastest Search site or other PUP (potentially unwanted program), then select this program and press ‘Uninstall’ in the upper part of the window. If the questionable application blocked from removal, then use Revo Uninstaller Freeware to completely delete it from your computer.
Disinfect the web-browser’s shortcuts to get rid of Fastest Search search
Unfortunately, the browser hijacker responsible for redirecting user searches to Fastest Search, can also hijack Windows shortcut files (mostly, your internet browsers shortcuts), so that the Fastest Search home page will be opened when you launch the Microsoft Edge, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome or another web browser.
To clear the internet browser shortcut, right-click to it and choose Properties. 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 such as “http://site.address” that has been added here. You need to delete it.
When the text is removed, press the OK button. You need to clean all shortcuts of all your web-browsers, as they may be infected too.
Remove Fastest Search from Google Chrome
Reset Chrome settings is a simple way to delete the browser hijacker, malicious and ‘ad-supported’ extensions, as well as to restore the web browser’s startpage, search engine and new tab page that have been modified by Fastest Search browser hijacker.
- First run the Chrome and click Menu button (small button in the form of three dots).
- It will open the Chrome main menu. Select More Tools, then press Extensions.
- You will see the list of installed plugins. If the list has the extension labeled with “Installed by enterprise policy” or “Installed by your administrator”, then complete the following guidance: Remove Chrome extensions installed by enterprise policy.
- Now open the Chrome menu once again, press 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 display the reset profile settings page as shown on the screen above.
- Next press the “Reset” button.
- Once this process is complete, your web-browser’s new tab page, start page and search engine by default will be restored to their original defaults.
- To learn more, read the post How to reset Google Chrome settings to default.
Delete Fastest Search redirect from Microsoft Internet Explorer
The Internet Explorer reset is great if your internet browser is hijacked or you’ve unwanted extensions or toolbars on your web browser, that installed by a malicious software.
First, open the Internet Explorer, press 
) button. Next, click “Internet Options” as displayed below.
In the “Internet Options” screen select the Advanced tab. Next, click Reset button. The Microsoft Internet Explorer will open the Reset Internet Explorer settings dialog box. Select the “Delete personal settings” check box and click Reset button.
You will now need to reboot your machine for the changes to take effect. It will remove hijacker infection that cause Fastest Search web site to appear, disable malicious and ad-supported web browser’s extensions and restore the IE’s settings such as newtab, search engine by default and startpage to default state.
Get rid of Fastest Search homepage from Mozilla Firefox
Resetting your Mozilla Firefox is good initial troubleshooting step for any issues with your browser application, including the redirect to Fastest Search webpage. However, your themes, bookmarks, history, passwords, and web form auto-fill information will not be deleted.
Press 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 in the figure below.
A small menu will appear, click the “Troubleshooting Information”. On this page, click “Refresh Firefox” button as on the image below.
Follow the onscreen procedure to restore your Firefox internet browser settings to their default state.
How to automatically remove Fastest Search browser hijacker
If you’re not expert at computers, then all your attempts to remove Fastest Search browser hijacker infection by following the manual steps above might result in failure. To find and remove all of the Fastest Search related files and registry entries that keep this hijacker infection on your computer, use free antimalware software such as Zemana, MalwareBytes Anti-Malware and Hitman Pro from our list below.
Use Zemana Free to get rid of hijacker
Download Zemana to get rid of Fastest Search automatically from all of your web-browsers. This is a freeware tool specially made for malicious software removal. This utility can delete ad-supported software, hijacker from Edge, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Windows registry automatically.
Click the following link to download Zemana Free. Save it on your MS Windows desktop or in any other place.
164034 downloads
Author: Zemana Ltd
Category: Security tools
Update: July 16, 2019
When the download is finished, close all windows on your machine. Further, run the set up file called Zemana.AntiMalware.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 Zemana on the computer. Follow the prompts and do not make any changes to default settings.
Once setup is finished successfully, Zemana will automatically start and you can see its main window as on the image below.
Next, press the “Scan” button . Zemana Anti Malware (ZAM) application will scan through the whole PC for the browser hijacker infection responsible for redirects to Fastest Search. A system scan can take anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes, depending on your machine. When a malware, adware or PUPs are detected, the number of the security threats will change accordingly.
After the scan get finished, Zemana Free will open a list of detected items. You may delete threats (move to Quarantine) by simply click “Next” button.
The Zemana Free will remove hijacker infection responsible for Fastest Search search. When disinfection is done, you may be prompted to restart your computer.
Run HitmanPro to remove Fastest Search from the computer
HitmanPro is a portable tool which finds and deletes undesired applications like browser hijackers, adware, toolbars, other web browser add-ons and other malware. It scans your PC for browser hijacker infection responsible for redirecting user searches to Fastest Search and creates a list of items marked for removal. HitmanPro will only delete those unwanted software that you wish to be removed.
- Hitman Pro can be downloaded from the following link. Save it on your Microsoft Windows desktop.
- When the downloading process is finished, double click the Hitman Pro icon. Once this utility is started, click “Next” button to begin scanning your computer for the browser hijacker responsible for redirects to Fastest Search. This procedure can take quite a while, so please be patient. While the HitmanPro utility is checking, you can see how many objects it has identified as being affected by malicious software.
- Once Hitman Pro has completed scanning your PC system, HitmanPro will show a list of detected threats. Next, you need to click “Next” button. Now click the “Activate free license” button to start the free 30 days trial to remove all malware found.
Delete Fastest Search with Malwarebytes
Remove Fastest Search hijacker manually is difficult and often the browser hijacker is not completely removed. Therefore, we suggest you to run the Malwarebytes Free that are completely clean your machine. Moreover, the free application will help you to get rid of malware, potentially unwanted software, toolbars and adware that your system may be infected too.
- Download MalwareBytes Anti-Malware on your computer by clicking on the following link.
Malwarebytes Anti-malware
326387 downloads
Author: Malwarebytes
Category: Security tools
Update: April 15, 2020
- When the download is finished, close all applications and windows on your computer. Open a file location. Double-click on the icon that’s named mb3-setup.
- Further, press Next button and follow the prompts.
- Once installation is finished, press the “Scan Now” button . MalwareBytes Anti-Malware program will scan through the whole personal computer for the hijacker responsible for redirecting user searches to Fastest Search. A scan can take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the count of files on your machine and the speed of your computer. When a malicious software, ad-supported software or PUPs are detected, the number of the security threats will change accordingly. Wait until the the checking is done.
- When that process is complete, the results are displayed in the scan report. In order to remove all items, simply click “Quarantine Selected”. Once disinfection is done, you may be prompted to restart your system.
The following video offers a few simple steps on how to delete browser hijackers, adware and other malware with MalwareBytes.
How to stop Fastest Search
One of the worst things is the fact that you cannot stop all those annoying web pages such as Fastest Search using only built-in Windows capabilities. However, there is a application out that you can use to block intrusive web browser redirects, ads and pop-ups in any modern web-browsers including Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firefox and MS Edge. It’s named Adguard and it works very well.
- Download AdGuard from the following link.
Adguard download
26627 downloads
Version: 6.4
Author: © Adguard
Category: Security tools
Update: November 15, 2018
- After downloading it, start the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” program window. Follow the prompts.
- When the installation is complete, click “Skip” to close the installation program and use the default settings, or click “Get Started” to see an quick tutorial that 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 start your PC, AdGuard will start automatically and stop pop-up ads, web-pages such as Fastest Search, as well as other malicious or misleading websites. For an overview of all the features of the application, or to change its settings you can simply double-click on the icon named AdGuard, that is located on your desktop.
How does your machine get infected with Fastest Search hijacker
The hijacker responsible for Fastest Search, can be defined as potentially unwanted application (PUA) that commonly comes on the PC with other free applications. In many cases, this unwanted program comes without the user’s knowledge. Therefore, many users aren’t even aware that their computer has been hijacked by malicious software. Please follow the easy rules in order to protect your personal computer from any undesired apps: don’t install any suspicious apps, read the user agreement and choose only the Custom, Manual or Advanced installation method, don’t rush to press the Next button. Also, always try to find a review of the application on the World Wide Web. Be careful and attentive! If Fastest Search has already come into your PC, then you need to check your machine for browser hijacker and other malware. Use our detailed steps that are listed above.
Finish words
Now your PC system should be clean of the hijacker that changes web browser settings to replace your default search provider, start page and new tab with Fastest Search. We suggest that you keep Zemana (to periodically scan your computer for new hijackers and other malware) and AdGuard (to help you block intrusive pop-up ads and malicious webpages). Moreover, to prevent any hijacker, please stay clear of unknown and third party software, make sure that your antivirus program, turn on the option to find potentially unwanted programs.
If you need more help with Fastest Search related issues, go to here.
