How to remove Savings Scout

What is Savings Scout

Savings Scout is a browser extension that, on the surface, promises to help users save money by displaying coupons, deals, and advertisements when visiting online shopping websites. However, it is categorized as adware due to its intrusive behavior and potential privacy concerns. Developed by 215 Apps (Innovative Apps), Savings Scout is compatible with major web browsers, including Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, and Mozilla Firefox. Savings Scout targets and is compatible with the following web browsers: Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox. These browsers are among the most widely used, making a significant number of users vulnerable to Savings Scout’s adware activities. Although not classified as a virus or traditional malware, Savings Scout exhibits several malicious traits that categorize it as a potentially unwanted program (PUP) or adware.

How Savings Scout infects computers

Savings Scout typically infiltrates users’ computers through a deceptive software marketing method known as “bundling.” This method involves packaging the adware with free software downloads, so when users install the primary software, they inadvertently install Savings Scout as well. Many users report that Savings Scout was installed on their computers without their explicit consent, often as a result of not paying close attention during the installation process of free software. The adware exploits the fact that most users do not thoroughly inspect each step of the software installation process. Download clients on free software download websites often promote browser add-ons like Savings Scout, using a deceptive user interface that may obscure the option to decline the installation of such add-ons. To avoid unintentional installation, users are advised to select ‘Custom’ or ‘Advanced’ installation options, which can reveal any bundled browser add-ons and provide an opportunity to opt-out.

1. Download Savings Scout Removal Tool
2. Remove Savings Scout from Control Panel and Applications
3. Remove Savings Scout extensions from browsers
4. Reset browser search and homepage settings
5. Alternative way to remove Savings Scout search redirects
6. Clean browser shortcuts from Savings Scout
7. How to protect from threats like Savings Scout

Remove Savings Scout manually for free

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

Note: Savings Scout can be installed as Google Chrome extension as Administrator (you may see Installed by enterprise policy or Your browser is managed by your organization 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 Savings Scout from Control Panel or Applications

To start removing Savings Scout you should uninstall it using Control Panel. It can be present by different names – “Savings Scout”. 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, Windows 11, or Mac.

Remove Savings Scout from Windows XP:

1. Click on Start button.
2. Choose Control Panel.
3. Click Add or Remove Programs.
4. Find Savings Scout-related or other suspicious program.
5. Click Uninstall.

Remove Savings Scout from Windows 7:

1. Click Start button.
2. Then go to Control Panel.
3. Click Uninstall a Program.
4. Find Savings Scout-related or other suspicious program and click Uninstall.

Remove Savings Scout 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 Savings Scout-related or other suspicious program, click Uninstall.

Remove Savings Scout from Windows 10:

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

Remove Savings Scout from Windows 11:

1. Right-click on the Start button.
2. In opened menu choose Settings.
3. Click on the Apps tab on the left side.
4. Click Apps & features and locate Savings Scout-related or other recently installed suspicious program in the list.
5. Click on 3-dots icon near it and then click Uninstall button near it.
6. Depending on the type of application (Windows Store app or classic Win32 app) it will be removed immediately or you will need to confirm the action and go through standard uninstall procedure.

Remove Savings Scout from Mac:

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

Cannot uninstall Savings Scout in Windows

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

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

Cannot uninstall Savings Scout in MacOS

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

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

Remove malicious add-ons from your browsers

Uninstalling Savings Scout from Control Panel or Applications 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 Savings Scout extension from your browsers manually.

Google Chrome:

1. Start Google Chrome browser
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) chrome://extensions.
3. Find Savings Scout extension.
4. Click the Remove button 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. Find Savings Scout extension.
4. Click three-dots icon near it and choose Remove in the menu.
5. In opened dialog window click Remove button to confirm the action.
6. Remove all suspicious extensions from the list.

Safari:

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

Microsoft Edge:

1. Start Microsoft Edge browser.
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) edge://extensions.
3. Find Savings Scout extension.
4. Click Remove link under the name of extension.
5. In opened dialog window click Remove button to confirm the action.
6. 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 Savings Scout from Internet Explorer, please, perform instructions for uninstalling program from Control Panel. To disable Savings Scout, 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 Savings Scout or other suspicious extensions.
6. Also disable other suspicious extensions from the list.

Opera Browser:

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

Reset browsers settings (homepage, default search)

Savings Scout installs a search engine, that hijacks your browsers. Here is the instruction to reset your browser’s homepage, new tab, and search engine to default values.

Google Chrome:

1. Start Google Chrome browser
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) chrome://settings.
3. On the left panel expand Advanced options.
4. Choose Reset and clean up.
5. Click on Restore settings to their original defaults link and confirm by clicking Reset button.

Google Chrome > Settings > Advanced

Reset and clean up

Reset Google Chrome

Mozilla Firefox:

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

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.

Microsoft Edge:

1. Start Microsoft Edge browser
2. Click on 3-dots icon in the top-right corner and choose Settings.
3. On the left panel find and click Reset settings option.
4. Click on Restore settings to their default values link and confirm by clicking Reset button.

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. Start Opera browser and click on Opera icon in the top-left corner.
2. Choose Settings and click Advanced on the left side and choose Browser.
3. Scroll down to the very bottom and click on Restore settings to their original defaults link.
4. Confirm by clicking Reset button.

How to block ads and pop-ups, promoting Savings Scout


AdGuard main window

AdGuard general settings

AdGuard browser assistant

Savings Scout, in most cases, is promoted by ads and pop-ups on doubtful websites. These sites can redirect users’ browsers to Savings Scout ads, generating advertising revenue for the attackers. The malware is often offered through these ads, leaving users puzzled about the origin of the software. In some cases, users may unknowingly install the Savings Scout extension, which then injects advertisements into the websites they visit and redirects their search queries. Additionally, the malware can be distributed through other channels such as peer-to-peer file-sharing networks, misleading ads, and compromised or shady websites that trigger automatic downloads 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

How to protect from threats, like Savings Scout, in future


SpyHunter 5 Dashboard

SpyHunter 5 Results

SpyHunter 5 System Guard

Be careful surfing the internet and downloading software, as programs like Savings Scout 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 Savings Scout.

Download SpyHunter for Windows

Download SpyHunter for Mac