How to remove Bettersearch.co (Virus Removal Guide)
Bettersearch.co is a website that employs rogue browser extensions to observe your browsing activities and change your browser settings. The cooperating extensions will replace your homepage, new tab page, and default search engine with bettersearch.co. This will cause your browser to start on the site, redirect to the site when you open a new browser tab, and redirect through the site when you search the web.
Once the cooperating extension is installed, the searches you carry out in the address bar to redirect to http://bettersearch.co/search?q= (or another URL) and then to another website such as Google.com. It does this to track your IP address and what you search for online.
While your search is going through you might also notice messages that say “Connecting to http://bettersearch.co/”, “Waiting for http://bettersearch.co/”, or “Transferring from http://bettersearch.co/” in the status bar.
Furthermore, browser add-ons and extensions associated with the website often bundle with and are advertised alongside other security threats including malware, adware, spyware, and dangerous computer viruses. The other threats can cause a wide variety of other symptoms and can put your personal information at risk of being used for unknown purposes without your permission.
Bettersearch.co removal steps
The Bettersearch.co removal steps on this page explain how to remove Bettersearch.co virus, malware, and other threats from your computer.
- Step 1: Uninstall potentially unwanted programs
- Step 2: Remove browser add-on and extensions
- Step 3: Remove Bettersearch.co search engine
- Step 4: Remove Bettersearch.co homepage
- Step 5: Scan your computer for malware
- Step 6: Clean up and repair settings
Step 1: Uninstall potentially unwanted programs
1. Go to the Control Panel on Windows Start Menu. In Windows 8 and 10 you can simply open the Start Menu by right clicking the bottom left corner and select Programs and Features.
2. Click Uninstall a program (or Add and remove a program) in the Programs section.
3. The Programs and Features window will open. This window contains a list of programs installed on your computer. Search for suspicious and unwanted programs in the list of installed programs. Once a program you want to remove is located, double click it to begin the uninstall process (or select the program and click Uninstall). To sort programs that were recently installed on your computer click the “Installed On” tab. This makes it easier to identify problematic programs that may have been contracted around the same time you started to notice symptoms of this infection.
Step 2: Remove browser add-ons and extensions
Google Chrome
1. Click the Customize and control Google Chrome icon and go to More tools > Extensions.
2. Search for suspicious extensions in the list and click the trashcan icon next to each one.
Mozilla Firefox
1. Open the Menu and click Add-ons.
2. Search for suspicious add-ons and click Remove next to each one.
Microsoft Internet Explorer
1. Go to Tools (Alt+X) and click Manage add-ons.
2. Search for suspicious add-ons, select one individually with your mouse, and click Remove.
Apple Safari
1. Go to Safari > Preferences > Extensions.
2. Search for suspicious extensions in the list and click the Uninstall button next to each one.
Step 3: Remove Bettersearch.co search engine
In Mozilla Firefox, click the small search magnify glass near the search box (not url/search field) and click “Manage Search Engines…”. Remove Bettersearch.co search engine from the list of search providers by highlighting the selections and clicking remove.
In Microsoft Internet Explorer navigate to Tools > Manage Add Ons > Search Providers and remove Bettersearch.co search engine from the list.
In Google Chrome, click the customize icon (wrench or 3 bars) and navigate to Settings > Manage search engines… click the X next to Bettersearch.co search engine to remove it.
Step 4: Remove Bettersearch.co homepage
In Mozilla Firefox navigate to Tools > Options or click Firefox in the top left corner and click Options > Options. Under the General tab remove Bettersearch.co from the “Home Page:” field and replace it with your preferred home page URL.
In Microsoft Internet Explorer navigate to Tools >Internet Options. Remove Bettersearch.co from the Home Page field and replace it with your preferred URL.
In Google Chrome click the customize icon (wrench or 3 bars) and navigate to Settings.Click “Set pages” under the On startup option. Remove Bettersearch.co and replace it with your preferred homepage URL.
Step 5: Scan your computer for malware
- Open your browser window and download Malwarebytes 3.0 Premium or Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free.
- Open the executable file (mb3-setup.exe or other) to begin installing Malwarebytes.
- In some versions of the installation file you can simply click Next to install the program; Otherwise, select your language, click Next, then select “I accept the agreement,” click the Next button several times, and then click the Install button to install Malwarebytes. Click Finish once the install process is complete.
- Open Malwarebytes and click the Scan Now button on the Dashboard to begin scanning your computer.
- Click the Quarantine Selected button once the scan is finished.
- If Malwarebytes says “All selected items have been removed successfully. A log file has been saved to the logs folder. Your computer needs to be restarted to complete the removal process. Would you like to restart now?” click the Yes button to restart your computer.
Step 6: Clean up and repair settings
- Open your browser window and download CCleaner Professional or CCleaner Free.
- Open the executable file (ccsetup.exe or other) to begin installing CCleaner.
- Click the Install button to begin stalling the program.
- Click Run CCleaner to open the program when installation is complete.
- Select the Cleaner tab and click the Analyze button.
- When the Analyze process is complete click the Run Cleaner button to clean all files.
- Next, select the Registry tab and click the Scan for Issues button to scan for issues in your registry.
- When the scan is complete click the Fix selected Issues button and Fix All Selected Issues button to fix the issues.
- Next, select the Tools tab and click Startup. Examine each area, search for suspicious entries, and delete any suspicious startup entries by selecting the entry and clicking the Delete button.
- Next, click Browser Plugins and search each internet browser for unwanted browser add-ons and extensions. Click the extension you want to delete and click the Delete button to remove it.