How to remove Combo Search (Virus Removal Guide)
Combo Search is a potentially malicious browser extension that can read and change your data and hijack your search settings. Once the Combo Search extension is installed it will replace your homepage and default search settings with a Combo Search search engine (feed.combo-search.com).
The Combo Search extension is will replace your startpage and default search engine with their own website. The extension will also display an icon in the menu that when clicked will give you the option to use affiliated versions of Yahoo, Bing, and Google that they can generate revenue from. The entire purpose of this extension is to generate revenue from search results and advertisements shown to you.
To make matters worse, the Combo Search extension is advertised on websites that also advertise and trick users to install malware, adware, spyware, and malicious threats. This means that if you found Combo Search attached to your internet browser without your consent or knowledge it is very possible that your computer is infected with malware, adware, spyware, and other malicious cyber threats.
The Combo Search extension for Google Chrome and other internet browsers has permission to read and change all your data on the websites you visit and change your search settings to feed.combo-search.com. This allows the Combo Search extension to gather as much information about you as they can. The information about you and other victims is likely to be sold to unknown third-parties similar to how the mywot extension was selling personal information about their users which caused them to be removed and identified as malicious by Chrome and Firefox.
Follow the instructions below to completely remove the Combo Search extension, viruses, and malware from your computer.
1. Remove Combo Search extension
How to remove extensions from Chrome
1. Click the Customize and control Google Chrome icon and go to More tools > Extensions.
2. Click the trashcan icon next to the Chrome extension you want to remove.
How to remove add-ons from Firefox
1. Open the Menu and click Add-ons.
2. Click Remove next to the Firefox add-on you want to remove.
How to remove add-ons from Internet Explorer
1. Go to Tools (Alt+X) and click Manage add-ons.
2. Select the Internet Explorer add-on you want to remove with your mouse and click Remove.
How to remove extensions from Safari
1. Go to Safari > Preferences > Extensions.
2. Click the Uninstall button next to the Safari extension you want to remove.
2. Remove malware with Malwarebytes
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- Open your browser window and download Malwarebytes 3.0 Premium or Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free.
- Open the executable file (mb3-setup.exe) to begin installing Malwarebytes.
- 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.
3. Remove malware with HitmanPro
- Open your browser window and download HitmanPro.
- Open the executable file (hitmanpro_x64.exe or hitmanpro_x32.exe) to begin installing HitmanPro.
- Click the Next button, check “I accept the terms of the license agreement,” and click the Next button again.
- On the Setup page select “Yes, create a copy of HitmanPro so I can regularly scan this computer (recommended)” and add your email address to the registration fields to begin the free trial.
- Click Next to begin scanning your computer.
- Once the Scan results are displayed click the Next button and click the Next button again on the Removal results page.
4. Clean up and fix issues with CCleaner
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- 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.