How to remove Secured Search (securedsearch.org)

What is Securedsearch.org

If you spotted that your browser settings have been changed, then it is because a browser hijacker is installed on your computer. After infiltration, this specific virus alters your homepage to Securedsearch.org which will be seen each time you boot a browser. Unfortunately, any attempts to restore the settings are useless since Secured Search immediately changes them back. Browser hijackers are supposedly meant to improve the browsing experience by adding various features. For example, Secured Search extension assigns a new securedsearch.org search engine that ostensibly generates more accurate and sorted results. However, after entering a query, you will be redirected to legitimate Yahoo.com. Not only browser hijackers can bother your browsing by showing intrusive ads, banners, and links without your consent, but they are also capable of gathering personal data (passwords, IP-addresses, geolocations, history, etc.) that can be sold to third-parties. Securedsearch.org is fake and brings no promised value, therefore, it needs to be removed from your PC to secure your data.

How Securedsearch.org infected your computer

Browser hijackers and other Potentially Unwanted Applications (PUAs) are usually distributed via so-called bundles. Bundling means injecting additional offers (usually PUAs) alongside pirated or cracked software that is advertised on dubious pages. During the installation, most users get caught on careless since they fail to check “Advanced” or “Custom” sections for these offers. They rush till the end of the installation rather than wasting time on checking extra options. Woefully, this behavior leads to inadvertent infections like browser hijackers or adware that put your data under severe risk. Sometimes unwanted applications can penetrate your system via malicious redirects/ads that run executable scripts. If you constantly encounter unwanted domains at the startup, then you should remove Securedsearch.org or similar hijackers by following a short guideline below.

Remove Secured Search manually for free

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

Note: Secured 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 Secured Search from Control Panel

To start removing Secured Search you should uninstall it using Control Panel. It can be present by different names – “Secured Search” or “securedsearch.org”. 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 Secured Search from Mac:

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

Remove Secured Search from Windows XP:

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

Remove Secured Search from Windows 7:

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

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

Remove Secured Search from Windows 10:

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

Cannot uninstall Secured Search

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

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

Remove malicious add-ons from your browsers

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

Opera Browser:

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

Reset browsers settings (homepage, default search)

Secured Search installs a search engine (securedsearch.org), 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.

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 rating including related to Secured 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 Secured 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 Secured Search.