How to remove Go.next-search.net

What is Go.next-search.net

While being developed by ClientConnect Ltd, Go.next-search.net is the address of an Internet Search Portal meant to earn money on sponsored content. It is a by-product of Search Protect – the browser hijacker promoted via free bundles of software. After successfully getting installed in a system and changing the necessary browser settings, users will see Go.next-search.net open instead of their default homepage. This page displays its own search bar and quick links to access popular resources and social media. While this website is not malicious or dangerous, its behavior is definitely unwanted and should be avoided if you received such changes without your consent. In addition to this, Go.next-search.net is based on Bing search engine meaning it doesn’t generate results that could be unique and better than others. As mentioned, its main goal lies in the promotion of content (e.g. various links, ads, etc.) to generate traffic and garner some money. Although the entire promotion and search integrations are set on legitimate terms, software that got installed without your consent should be deleted to prevent privacy risks. It is also quite senseless to use software that has no inventions to offer against already existing giants like Google, Yahoo, Bing, and other search engines. To remove Go.next-search.net completely and without traces, follow our tutorial below. There is also a section dedicated to how Search Protect and other hijackers can end up on your PC.

How Go.next-search.net infected your computer

Many users reported they started receiving Go.next-search.net redirects after installing fake Adobe Flash Player, VLC, Java, and other software related to PC performance. Such installers are usually promoted via fake messages on third-party pages claiming your PC to be in need of some software or fixes. Inexperienced and naive users get easily tricked and install fake Flash Player or other software installers. As a result of this error, innocent users start facing unexpected redirects to websites they’ve never had any intentions to visit. Also, users may be infected in a similar way while downloading repacks of cracked, pirated, or simply free programs. Such installation setups often contain software from sponsors that is recommended to be installed in addition to the main program. As a rule, they can be found and manually deselected inside of “Advanced” or “Custom” sections at some point of the installation. To minimize the risk of getting infected with unnecessary software, it is a rule of thumb to be attentive and careful when using such program installers. You can also read our guide below to explore more tips on how to protect yourself against similar threats in the future.

Remove Search Protect manually for free

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

Disable push notifications from Go.next-search.net in browsers

Remove Go.next-search.net from websites, allowed to show push-notifications in Google Chrome

1. Go to Google Chrome settings, by clicking 3-dots icon in the top-right corner and choosing Settings.
2. On a Mac you can also go to Chrome and choose Preferences.
3. Under opened Privacy and security tab, choose Content settings.
4. Click on Notifications menu (with the bell icon).
5. Set up preferred overall settings for push notifications and click Manage exceptions… button.
6. Find Go.next-search.net in the list and click cross icon to remove it. Click Done button to confirm the action.

Remove Go.next-search.net from websites, allowed to show push-notifications in Mozilla Firefox

1. Go to Mozilla Firefox options, by clicking 3-bars icon in the top-right corner and choosing Options.
2. Choose Content tab on the left side.
3. Under Notifications, set up preferred overall settings for push-notifications and click Choose… button.
4. Find Go.next-search.net in the list and click Remove site to remove it.
5. Click Save Changes button to confirm the action.

Remove Go.next-search.net from websites, allowed to show push-notifications in Safari

1. Open Safari, and in the top menu click Safari, choose Preferences.
2. In the Preferences window, click on Websites tab.
3. On the left side, choose Notifications. You will see the list of websites and their settings for showing notifications.
4. Find Go.next-search.net in the list and click Remove button.

Remove Go.next-search.net from websites, allowed to show push-notifications in Android (Chrome)

1. Open Google Chrome app on Android, and tap on three dots to open main menu.
2. In the drop-down menu choose Settings, scroll down and under Advanced section tap on Site Settings.
3. In the Site Settings menu tap on Notifications.
4. In the Allowed list of websites allowed to show notifications find Go.next-search.net, tap on it and in the bottom of the window tap on Clean & Reset button.
5. Confirm your action by tapping on Clean & Reset again in opened dialog box.

Remove Go.next-search.net from websites, allowed to show push-notifications in Microsoft Edge

1. Open Microsoft Edge, and click on the three-dots menu, in the top-right corner.
2. In the drop-down menu choose Settings, and in the left part click Advanced.
3. Under Website permissions section, click Manage permissions button.
4. Find Go.next-search.net in the list and click on the cross sign to remove the setting and disable its notifications.

Note: Search Protect 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 Search Protect from Control Panel

To start removing Search Protect you should uninstall it using Control Panel. It can be present by different names – “Search Protect” or “Go.next-search.net”. 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, Windows 8, Windows 10 or Mac.

Remove Search Protect from Mac:

1. In the Finder sidebar, click Applications.
2. Search Protect might have an Uninstaller.
3. Otherwise, drag Search Protect from the Applications folder to the Trash (located at the end of the Dock).
4. Then choose Finder > Empty Trash.

Remove Search Protect from Windows XP:

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

Remove Search Protect from Windows 7:

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

Remove Search Protect 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 Search Protect or other suspicious program, click Uninstall.

Remove Search Protect from Windows 10:

There are 2 ways to uninstall Search Protect 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 Search Protect or other suspicious 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 Search Protect or other suspicious program in the list.
4. Click on it and then click Uninstall button above.

Cannot uninstall Search Protect

In some cases, Search Protect won’t uninstall and gives you the message, that “You do not have sufficient access to uninstall Search Protect. Please, contact your system administrator” when you try to remove it from Control Panel or “Access denied” error when removing the Search Protect 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 AntiMalware or uninstall Search Protect 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 Search Protect or other suspicious program

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

and for Mac:

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

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

Remove malicious add-ons from your browsers

Uninstalling Search Protect from Control Panel often does not bring the desired effect. It sometimes has a browser extension and it may still be active in Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. Here are instructions on how to remove the Search Protect 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 Search Protect extensions.
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 Search Protect or other suspicious extensions.
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 Search Protect or other suspicious extensions.
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 Search Protect from Internet Explorer, please, perform instructions for uninstalling the program from Control Panel. To disable Search Protect, 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 Search Protect or other suspicious extensions.
6. Also disable other suspicious extensions from the list.

Opera Browser:

Generally, Search Protect 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 Search Protect or other suspicious extensions.
4. Click Uninstall button.
5. Also remove other suspicious extensions from the list.

Reset browsers settings (homepage, default search)

Search Protect installs a search engine (Go.next-search.net), that hijacks your browsers. Here is the 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.

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 Search Protect. 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 Search Protect 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-virus programs is SpyHunter 5. It can protect your PC from threats like Search Protect.