How to remove Tabsearch.net

What is Tabsearch.net

Tabsearch.net is an unwanted search engine being part of a browser hijacker. The program that adds such changes does alter your browser settings to configure the search options. After Tabsearch.net becomes your default homepage, the queries entered in the bar will be redirected through series of unwanted links and eventually end up on legitimate Yahoo or Bing pages. The main goal pursued by cybercriminals is traffic generation and data collection for revenue gains. Tabsearch.net might have access to what you enter around the web and sell it to dark figures. Also, the extension promoting Tabsearch.net has adware capabilities. This means that the searched content may be accompanied by an increased number of unreliable ads generated by the extension. To remove these changes and avert privacy leaks, you should delete the extension or program (often both) affecting these changes. Follow our guide below to learn the necessary instruments to do it.

How Tabsearch.net infected your computer

There are millions of similar add-ons promoting such features. However, because users do not install them intentionally, developers do their best to infiltrate programs that will ensure the changes and make the removal more difficult to pull off. Usually, it is done via third-party repacks spread on the web. Cracked, pirated, or simply free software copied from official resources may bear additional programs hidden inside. In other words, when users download one of these types of software, there are “Advanced” or “Custom” sections offering to select/deselect third-party offers. Unfortunately, most users find it difficult or time-consuming to locate such sections and remove unnecessary programs from the installation list. As a result, people open a window for Potentially Unwanted Apps to infect the system. The only way to reduce the risk of receiving such types of infections is either using trusted resources or being more attentive with the pirated ones. Below, we also provide some tips on establishing further protection against such threats.

Remove Tabsearch.net manually for free

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

Note: Tabsearch.net 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 Tabsearch.net from Control Panel

To start removing Tabsearch.net you should uninstall it using Control Panel. It can be present by different names, but usually “Firesearch”. 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 Tabsearch.net from Mac:

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

Remove Tabsearch.net from Windows XP:

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

Remove Tabsearch.net from Windows 7:

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

Remove Tabsearch.net 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 Firesearch or other suspicious program, click Uninstall.

Remove Tabsearch.net from Windows 10:

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

Cannot uninstall Tabsearch.net

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

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

Remove malicious add-ons from your browsers

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

Opera Browser:

Generally, Tabsearch.net 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 Firesearch or other suspicious extensions.
4. Click Uninstall button.
5. Also remove other suspicious extensions from the list.

Reset browsers settings (homepage, default search)

Tabsearch.net 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.

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