How to remove an extra search bar

Why you see extra search bar in browsers

An extra search bar can be thought of as something legitimate or part of browser features. In fact, if you started seeing a search bar sticking around your desktop or hovering over the screen in other apps, this means that you have accidentally installed an unwanted program. This kind of toolbars is not necessarily related to a single program, on the contrary, there are millions of software that can force these changes. Besides the fact that these toolbars can be annoying and hard to get rid of, they can also execute a spying function. Thus, the presence of third-parties software can be the goad of data leaks and other confidential problems that can ensue. Luckily, you should not worry about it since we are here to help you uninstall irritating toolbars from your PC.

How an extra search bar was installed in your browsers

Third-parties tools and instruments that extend browsing capabilities may seem to be transient, however, most of them come via poor-reputation channels like bundling or advertising chains. To earn some money, extortionists lift up Peer2Peer websites or other platforms for exchanging files in search engines to entice more clicks once users enter a query. Such pages do not provide clean software, instead, they inject multiple freeware offers that are installed either in the background or can be selected/deselected in additional options (“Advanced/Custom). Woefully, regular users do not pay attention when going through the setup which turns out in unwanted infections. Another good tip to avoid these infiltrations is to prevent your self from clicking on suspicious ads. The best tools to do this are Adguard and Adblock. You can find more information about them below.

Remove extra search bar manually for free

Here is the manual step-by-step tutorial for full extra search bar removal from your computer. This works 99% and was checked with the latest versions of extra search bar installer on operating systems with the latest updates and browser versions.

Note: extra search bar can be installed as Google Chrome extension as Administrator (you may see Installed by enterprise policy inscription near it), and this will not allow removal. Therefore, before starting removal process, perform these actions:

1. Start the Command Prompt by clicking the Start menu button and typing command prompt (or just searching for “command prompt” in Windows 10 search field). Right click on the Command Prompt result and choose Run as Administrator.



2. Type in and execute the following commands:

   
rd /S /Q "%WinDir%\System32\GroupPolicyUsers"
rd /S /Q "%WinDir%\System32\GroupPolicy"
gpupdate /force

Remove extra search bar from Control Panel

To start removing extra search bar you should uninstall it using Control Panel. It can be present by different names, usually containing “New Tab”, “Search” or “Toolbar”. It should uninstall correctly, however, we recommend you to use IObit Uninstaller to clean leftover items after uninstalling. Here are instructions for Windows XP, Windows 7 and Windows 8.

Remove extra search bar from Mac:

1. In the Finder sidebar, click Applications.
2. Program that’ve added extra search bar might have an Uninstaller.
3. Otherwise, drag suspicious app from the Applications folder to the Trash (located at the end of the Dock).
4. Then choose Finder > Empty Trash.

Remove extra search bar from Windows XP:

1. Click on Start button.
2. Choose Control Panel.
3. Click Add or Remove Programs.
4. Find suspicious or unwanted program.
5. Click Uninstall.

Remove extra search bar from Windows 7:

1. Click Start button.
2. Then go to Control Panel.
3. Click Uninstall a Program.
4. Find suspicious or unwanted program and click Uninstall.

Remove extra search bar from Windows 8:

1. Hover mouse pointer to the bottom-right corner to see Menu.
2. Click Search.
3. After that click Apps.
4. Then Control Panel.
5. Click Uninstall a Program under Programs.
6. Find suspicious or unwanted program, click Uninstall.

Remove extra search bar from Windows 10:

There are 2 ways to uninstall extra search bar from Windows 10

Way one

1. Click on the Start button.
2. In opened menu choose Settings.
3. Click on the System tile.
4. Click Apps & features and locate suspicious or unwanted program in the list.
5. Click on it and then click Uninstall button near it.

Way two (classic)

1. Right-click on the Start button.
2. In opened menu choose Programs and Features.
3. Locate suspicious or unwanted program in the list.
4. Click on it and then click Uninstall button above.

Cannot uninstall extra search bar

In some cases, extra search bar won’t uninstall and gives you the message, that “You do not have sufficient access to uninstall extra search bar. Please, contact your system administrator” when you try to remove it from Control Panel or “Access denied” error when removing the extra search bar folder and files. This happens because the process or service does not allow you to do it. In this case, I will recommend you to use SpyHunter 5 or Malwarebytes or uninstall extra search bar in Safe Mode. To boot in Safe Mode do the following:

1. Reboot your computer.
2. While it starts booting press F8 button.
3. This will open Advanced Boot Options menu.
4. Choose Safe Mode and wait until Windows loads.
5. Go to Control Panel > Uninstall a program and remove suspicious or unwanted program

>> See detailed instructions and video tutorial on how to boot in Safe Mode

and for Mac:

If you can’t uninstall extra search bar using instructions above, or it keeps coming back, you can use free AppCleaner for Mac to remove all residual data and libraries of extra search bar. Follow instructions below:

1. Download free AppCleaner.
2. Drag suspicious app from Applications folder to AppCleaner window.
3. Choose files and folders you want to remove along with unwanted app.
4. Click Delete button.

Remove malicious add-ons from your browsers

Uninstalling extra search bar from Control Panel often does not bring the desired effect. It sometimes has browser extension and it may still be active in Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. Here are instructions on how to remove extra search bar extension from your browsers manually.

Safari:

1. Start Safari on your Mac, click Safari to open drop-down menu and choose Preferences
2. Click Extensions tab.
3. Find suspicious extension.
4. Click Uninstall button to remove it.

Google Chrome:

1. Start Google Chrome browser
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) chrome://extensions.
3. Find suspicious add-on.
4. Click the trash can icon to remove them.
5. Also remove other suspicious extensions from the list.

Mozilla Firefox:

1. Start Mozilla Firefox browser.
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) about:addons.
3. Choose suspicious extension.
4. Click Disable or Remove button.
5. Remove all suspicious extensions from the list.

Internet Explorer (9, 10, 11):

Note: There is no feature to remove browser extensions from browser in latest version of Internet Explorer. To remove extra search bar from Internet Explorer, please, perform instructions for uninstalling a program from Control Panel. To disable extra search bar, please, do the following:

1. Open Internet Explorer.
2. Click on gear/asterisk icon in the top-right corner.
3. In opened menu Manage Add-ons.
4. Select Toolbars and Extensions.
5. Click Disable to deactivate suspicious add-on.
6. Also disable other suspicious extensions from the list.

Opera Browser:

Generally, extra search bar does not install in Opera browser however you can always double check. Do the following:

1. Start Opera browser.
2. Go to Tools > Extensions > Manage Extensions.
3. Find suspicious extension.
4. Click Uninstall button.
5. Also remove other suspicious extensions from the list.

Reset browsers settings (homepage, default search)

extra search bar installs a search engine (search.hfastpackagetracker.net), that hijacks your browsers. Here is an instruction to reset your browser’s homepage, new tab and search engine to default values.

Reset Safari:

1. Start Safari on your Mac, click Safari to open drop-down menu and choose Preferences
2. Go to the Privacy section of Safari’s preferences.
3. Click Remove All Website Data button.
4. In opened window click Remove Now button to remove data stored by websites in Safari.
5. Go to the Advanced section of Safari’s preferences.
6. Click the Show Develop menu in menu bar option.
7. In the menu click Develop and select Empty Caches from this menu.
8. Again, go to Safari menu and choose Clear History….
9. Choose to clear all history and click Clear History button.

Google Chrome:

1. Start Google Chrome browser
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) chrome://settings.
3. Scroll down and find Show advanced settings link.
4. Click on it and scroll down to the bottom again.
5. Click Reset browser settings button and click Reset to confirm.

Mozilla Firefox:

1. Start Mozilla Firefox browser.
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) about:support.
3. Click Reset Firefox… button.
4. Click Reset Firefox to confirm.

Internet Explorer (9, 10, 11):

1. Start Internet Explorer.
2. Click on gear/asterisk icon in the top-right corner.
3. In opened menu choose Internet options.
4. Click Advanced tab.
5. Click Reset button.
6. Choose Delete personal settings and click Reset.

Opera Browser:

1. Close Opera and open command prompt from the start menu.
2. Type following command del %AppData%\Opera\Opera\operaprefs.ini
3. Start Opera.

How to block redirects and pop-ups from extra search bar

extra search bar redirects, in most cases, are caused by a program installed on your PC or add-on installed in browsers. However, sometimes it can appear on a clean computer when visiting malicious websites, using an advertising script. Also, apps that generate “extra search bar” are themselves installed from pop-ups. To protect your PC and browsers from phishing websites, pop-up ads, banners, malicious scripts it is recommended to use AdGuard. Download free trial here:

Download AdGuard for Windows

Download AdGuard for Mac

Alternative way to remove adware browser extensions and reset browser settings

For safe and effective browser extension removal use avast! Browser Cleanup utility. Run it with administrator privileges and remove all extensions with bad ratings including related to extra search bar. You can also reset your browser settings for each of your browsers: Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox.

Download Avast Browser Cleanup

Cleaning browsers shortcuts

You can clean your browser shortcuts manually right-clicking on your browser icon, choosing “Properties” and removing hijacker address from “Target” field (leave just the path to your browser). However it is easier to use free Shortcut Cleaner from BleepingComputer. Download it here – its FREE:

Download Shortcut Cleaner

Final tips

Be careful surfing the internet and downloading software, as programs like extra search bar may become a real headache as they are hard to remove and break your privacy. To keep safe from such threats we recommend you always use antivirus and one of the anti-malware programs available on the market. One of the best anti-spyware and anti-malware programs is SpyHunter 5. It can protect your PC from threats, like extra search bar.