How to remove Search Awesome (Windows and Mac)

What is Search Awesome

Search Awesome is pesky adware for Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer, that creates ads, pop-ups and integrates banners into browser pages. It is advertised as tool to improve user search experience by showing results shared by friends in social networks and inserting additional widgets into search result pages. In reality, Search Awesome generates third-party advertising on shopping and travel sites like Amazon, TripAdvisor, Ebay, Google. This malware destroys user privacy by collecting information about visited sites, cookies, search history. This article is intended to help you remove Search Awesome from browsers and get rid of annoying advertisements.

How Search Awesome infected your PC

Search Awesome is distributed along with freeware installers. Pictures below illustrate, that developers use tricky methods to make users install adware.

It can be installed on Mac and Windows via such installers of third-party applications, unless users uncheck appropriate checkboxes or decline promotional offer. Regular antiviruses will not find infection on your computer and we recommend you to use SpyHunter 5 or Malwarebytes Anti-Malware.

Download Search Awesome Removal Tool for Windows

Remove Search Awesome manually for free

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

Note: Search Awesome 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 Awesome from Control Panel

To start removing Search Awesome you should remove it using Control Panel. 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 and Mac.

Remove Search Awesome from Mac:

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

Remove Search Awesome from Windows XP:

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

Remove Search Awesome from Windows 7:

1. Click Start button.
2. Then go to Control Panel.
3. Click Uninstall a Program.
4. Find Search Awesome and click Uninstall.

Remove Search Awesome 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 Awesome, click Uninstall.

Remove Search Awesome from Windows 10:

There are 2 ways to uninstall Search Awesome 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 Awesome 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 Awesome in the list.
4. Click on it and then click Uninstall button above.

Cannot uninstall Search Awesome

In some cases Search Awesome won’t uninstall and gives you message that “You do not have sufficient access to uninstall Search Awesome. Please, contact your system administrator” when you try to remove it from Control Panel or “Access denied” error when removing Search Awesome folder and files. This happens, because some 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 Search Awesome 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 Awesome

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

and for Mac:

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

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

Remove Search Awesome add-on from your browsers

Removing Search Awesome from Control Panel often does not bring desired effect. It is browser extension and it may still be active in Safari, Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. Here are instructions on how to remove Search Awesome 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 Awesome 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 Search Awesome extension.
4. Click the trash can icon to remove it.

Mozilla Firefox:

1. Start Mozilla Firefox browser.
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) about:addons.
3. Choose Search Awesome extension.
4. Click Disable or Remove button.

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 Awesome from Internet Explorer, please, perform instructions for uninstalling program from Control Panel. To disable Search Awesome, 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 Awesome.

Opera Browser:

Generally, Search Awesome 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 Awesome extension.
4. Click Uninstall button.

Reset browsers settings (homepage, default search)

Search Awesome installs search engine that hijacks your browsers. Here is instruction to reset your browsers 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.

Remove following files and folders

Search Awesome files:


no information


Search Awesome folders:


C:\Program Files\Search Awesome\


Alternative way to remove adware browser extension Search Awesome

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 Search Awesome. You can also reset your browser settings for each of your browsers: Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox.

Download Avast Browser Cleanup