How to remove Link Default Search (find.linkdefault.com)

What is Link Default Search

Link Default Search is an unwanted application that aggressively hijacks your browser by adding a new search engine (find.linkdefault.com). These changes are extremely popular around such infections, you can also see the interface change and a couple of details to highlight the hijacker. Originally, browser hijackers are ostensibly created to improve the browsing experience by adding new features. Unfortunately, this contradicts reality as Link Default Search simply redirects users to Google and shows results from it. This practice is made to generate fake traffic to monetize advertised banners and other content. Oftentimes, attacked users struggle to deal with Potentially Unwanted Programs because they can alter system registries, which prevents people from manual removal. In the guideline below, we will show you how to get rid of Link Default Search and similar threats.

How Link Default Search infected your computer

Notoriously, unwanted software has been distributed through so-called “bundles”. This is such a technique of promoting third-party repacks with additional offers included. Usually, people tend to disregard unchecking extra programs along with the setup. “Advanced” and “Custom” sections might contain sponsored products that are installed automatically unless users change it. So our advice is to be wary of such tricks and deselect suspicious offers, if possible. The only and best way that will secure you from getting infected with unwanted software is using only trusted and official resources for downloads. Otherwise, you may risk being inadvertently caught by an unwanted piece like Link Default Search. Follow our guide below to learn more tips and tools for protecting yourself on the web.

Remove Link Default Search manually for free

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

Disable push notifications from find.linkdefault.com in browsers

Remove find.linkdefault.com 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 find.linkdefault.com in the list and click cross icon to remove it. Click Done button to confirm the action.

Remove find.linkdefault.com 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 find.linkdefault.com in the list and click Remove site to remove it.
5. Click Save Changes button to confirm the action.

Remove find.linkdefault.com 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 find.linkdefault.com in the list and click Remove button.

Remove find.linkdefault.com 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 find.linkdefault.com, 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 find.linkdefault.com 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 find.linkdefault.com in the list and click on the cross sign to remove the setting and disable its notifications.

Note: Link Default Search 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 Link Default Search from Control Panel

To start removing Link Default Search you should uninstall it using Control Panel. It can be present by different names – “Link Default Search” or “find.linkdefault.com”. 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 Link Default Search from Mac:

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

Remove Link Default Search from Windows XP:

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

Remove Link Default Search from Windows 7:

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

Remove Link Default Search 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 Link Default Search or other suspicious program, click Uninstall.

Remove Link Default Search from Windows 10:

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

Cannot uninstall Link Default Search

In some cases, Link Default Search won’t uninstall and gives you the message, that “You do not have sufficient access to uninstall Link Default Search. Please, contact your system administrator” when you try to remove it from Control Panel or “Access denied” error when removing the Link Default Search 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 Link Default Search 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 Link Default Search 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 Link Default Search using instructions above, or it keeps coming back, you can use free AppCleaner for Mac to remove all residual data and libraries of Link Default Search. Follow instructions below:

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

Remove malicious add-ons from your browsers

Uninstalling Link Default Search 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 the Link Default Search 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 Link Default Search 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 Link Default Search 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 Link Default Search 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 Link Default Search from Internet Explorer, please, perform instructions for uninstalling the program from Control Panel. To disable Link Default Search, 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 Link Default Search or other suspicious extensions.
6. Also disable other suspicious extensions from the list.

Opera Browser:

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

Reset browsers settings (homepage, default search)

Link Default Search installs a search engine (find.linkdefault.com), 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 rating including related to Link Default Search. 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 Link Default Search 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 Link Default Search.