How to Remove a Browser Hijacker (Chrome, Edge & Firefox)

A browser hijacker is software that changes your browser settings without permission — swapping your homepage, default search engine, or new-tab page, and often redirecting your searches through an ad-laden page you’ve never heard of. Most hijackers arrive bundled with free downloads or sketchy extensions. They’re usually classed as potentially unwanted programs (PUPs) rather than viruses, but they’re annoying, can leak your browsing to advertisers, and need to go. Here’s how to remove one cleanly.

How to tell your browser is hijacked

• Your homepage or search engine changed on its own and won’t stay reset.
• Searches redirect through an unfamiliar site before reaching real results.
• New toolbars, extensions, or shortcuts appeared that you didn’t install.
• More pop-ups and ads than usual, sometimes on sites that normally have none.

Step 1 — Remove unknown browser extensions

Hijackers very often live as a browser extension, so start there.

Chrome: Menu → Extensions → Manage Extensions. Remove anything you don’t recognize. Edge: Menu → Extensions → Manage extensions. Remove unfamiliar items. Firefox: Menu → Add-ons and themes → Extensions. Remove what you didn’t install.

If an extension won’t uninstall or reappears, note its name — you’ll likely need to remove an associated program in Step 4 and run a scan.

Step 2 — Reset your homepage, search engine, and new tab

Once the rogue extension is gone, fix the settings it changed.

• Search engine: In your browser’s settings, find Search engine and set it back to your preferred one (e.g., Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo). Then open Manage search engines and delete any entries you don’t recognize.
• Homepage / startup pages: Set “On startup” back to a page you choose, and remove unknown URLs.
• New tab: If a hijacker controls your new-tab page, removing its extension usually restores the default; double-check it points where you expect.

Step 3 — Clear cache, cookies, and check site permissions

Clear your browsing data (cached files and cookies) to remove tracking left behind, then review Settings → Privacy and security → Site settings → Notifications and revoke notification permission from any site you didn’t intend to allow — hijackers love spamming desktop notifications.

Step 4 — Uninstall the program that installed it

Many hijackers also install a companion program on Windows.

1. Open Settings → Apps → Installed apps.
2. Sort by install date and look for anything you don’t recognize installed around the time the problem started.
3. Uninstall suspicious “search,” “shopping,” “coupon,” or unfamiliar utility programs.

If you can’t find it or it won’t uninstall, move to the scan step.

Step 5 — Scan with a free anti-malware tool

To catch the source and any leftovers, run a free scanner:

• AdwCleaner (by Malwarebytes) is purpose-built for adware, toolbars, and browser hijackers, and resets common browser changes.
• Malwarebytes Free and Microsoft Defender (Windows Security → Virus & threat protection → Full scan) catch deeper infections.

Quarantine everything they flag, then reboot.

Step 6 — Reset the browser (if it’s still misbehaving)

If your browser still redirects after the above, do a full reset:

• Chrome: Settings → Reset settings → Restore settings to their original defaults.
• Edge: Settings → Reset settings → Restore settings to their default values.
• Firefox: Help → More troubleshooting information → Refresh Firefox.

A reset keeps your bookmarks and saved passwords but clears extensions, search defaults, and site data — which usually finishes off a stubborn hijacker.

Stay clean afterwards

• When installing free software, choose Custom/Advanced setup and untick bundled “offers,” toolbars, and extra search tools.
• Only add extensions from the official browser stores, and review the permissions they request.
• Keep your browser and Windows updated.

A hijacker that survived a settings reset and a scan is rare; if yours does, a clean Windows reinstall is the last resort. On a Mac, hijackers usually persist through a hidden configuration profile rather than the registry, so see how to remove malware from a Mac for the macOS-specific cleanup. After removing it, if you typed passwords into any redirected page, change those credentials from a device you trust — a password manager makes that quick and keeps each login unique.