Bing is one of the most popular and totally legitimate search engines. It is second after Google in the category of search engines, and fifth in the list of the total number of searches.
Sep 22, 2013 Make Bing home page & default search engine on Browsers Microsoft’s Bing is one of the most famous and widely used search engines in the world. It’s at the 2nd position after Google. Google, being the most widely used search engine has an impressive search market share of over 65%.
Using Bing.com does not bring any harm to your device. However, many users get unintentional redirects to Bing.com, while they are searching on Google.com. This redirection is carried out through the malware known as Browser Hijacker.
In this guide, we would talk more about what Browser Hijacker is and how to remove it from your system to fix Google redirects to Bing.
A Browser Hijacker, commonly known as the Browser Virus,is a malicious program that gets an entry on your web browser through various means and infiltrates with browser settings, without user permission to promote the fake search engines or the affiliated web pages. Since users do not willingly install them, such hijackers are often considered as Potentially Unwanted Programs or Applications (PUPs or PUAs).
After entering your browser, a browser hijacker would get hold of its settings and change the default home page, search engine, and new tab redirection. All these would be set to raise the dubious web page or search engine.
Usually, these forced redirections are performed to generate advertising revenues or promote affiliated products and services.
You might feel that browser hijackers are not much of a threat to your system, and there is no need to get scared of it. Unfortunately, you’re mistaken. Browser Hijackers itself might not be a significant threat, but when it enters your system, it can bring other greater threats such as spyware, keyloggers, and other malware programs with it. These malicious software can cause extensive damage to you and your system. Also, the webpages it promotes cannot be trusted. They might be filled with illegitimate and malicious content. Once you know about it, removing the browser virus from your system should be your top priority.
If Google is your default search engine, but every search query you type on it is redirected to Bing, then definitely a browser hijacker has compromised your system.
As mentioned in the previous section, the browser hijacker might have altered your system settings, and that’s the reason the search query is redirected to Bing without your permission.
To stop Google redirects to Bing, you have to catch and remove the culprit browser hijacker, which is the root cause.
For that follow these steps:
Windows Safe Mode is the perfect environment to find out and solve the critical errors in the system. In safe mode, only system programs and some crucial programs run. Safe mode would most likely kill the applications and its files that try to run automatically on your system. Follow this guide to boot your Windows 10 PC in the Safe Mode.
You might have accidentally installed a malicious browser web extension that is causing the redirects.
If you have many web extensions installed in your Chrome browser, it is time to sort them out and at least disable, if not delete, the ones you rarely use. However, you must remove the useless web extensions instead of disabling them. Because, even after disabling them, they might use the CPU processing power while checking for updates and performing updates.
Here are the steps to manage the web extensions on the Chrome Browser:
If your browser is misbehaving because browser virus, then reset its settings to default.
If the Bing redirection is still happening on your PC, try to find the culprit application and uninstall it.
Right-click on the taskbar and select the Task Manager.
Watch out for the applications that are consuming the system memory even though you did not install or launch them.
Right-click on the suspicious application and open its file location.
Delete the file from its root location.
Open Control Panel and click on Uninstall a program and check for suspicious apps. One by one, select and uninstall them.
The temporary files folder can also be a carrier of malicious files. You should delete all the temporary files and folders regularly for the smooth running of the system. Removing the temporary files would also clear the unnecessary clutter from your system and free-up the valuable space.
Here are the steps to eliminate thre temporary files:
Manually removing malware can be a tedious task, and it takes a lot of time and effort on our part. Sometimes, it may get irritated for you if you are not much into the technology. There is no need to worry; you can get a robust antimalware like MalwareFox that will scan for malware and remove it.
MalwareFox is a reliable security software that promises to protect your system and helps to handle malware and viruses. MalwareFox will scans, detect, and remove Malware and offers real-time protection. It also protects your PC from most dangerous malware such as Ransomware, Zero-Day Attack protection, Grayware, Keyloggers, etc.
So, these are the steps through which you can remove the browser hijacker and fix the Google redirects to Bing problem. The steps in this guide are applicable to remove any browser hijackers you come across. However, you should always follow the healthy browsing practices to avoid getting browser viruses on your system.
1. Why does my Google search always redirect?If your Google search has started redirecting to unknown, irrelevant web pages, most probably a malware like Browser Hijacker or Adware has attacked your browser. You can get rid of these malicious programs by following the steps explained in this guide.
2. Is Bing.com a virus?Bing is the legit search engine from a reputed tech company Microsoft and is the default search engine for Microsft Edge and Internet Explorer. If you are getting unintentional redirects to Bing.com, it is because a browser hijacker has got an entry on your device.
If your search queries or browser homepage are being redirected through Bing Search, it may be a sign of a browser hijacker installed in your PC. The Bing redirect virus has become notorious and highly persistent.
This article will give you insights into what the Bing redirect virus is and guide you through the process of getting rid of it from your computer. If Bing Redirect has recently hijacked your default browser, we suggest you follow the instructions in this removal guide.
Bing redirect isn’t even a virus per se because unlike real viruses, it doesn’t copy or replicate itself from computer to computer using shared storage or over a network. However, Bing Redirect is a form of browser-hijacking malware classified among Potentially Unwanted Programs or PUs).
Bing Redirect can often look like a normal extension for browsers such as Safari, Chrome, Firefox, and Explorer, among others, but it’s not. It operates differently than a regular browser extension. As a result, you may quickly notice it on your computer.
Once it infiltrates your system, Bing Redirect may:
You can remove Bing Redirect virus in two ways:
It is important to note that before you embark on the removal process, you need to ensure that you back up all your files to safe storage, such as an external hard drive. This is important to protect you from losing your files.
We recommend that you use this automatic method if the Bing Redirect has infiltrated your computer, and you cannot locate it.
If you already have a professional antivirus or malware removal software, you have an advantage. If you do not have the software, you have to do the following:
The software will scan your computer and automatically remove any unwanted apps and malware, including the Bing Redirect Virus.
To remove and get rid of the Bing Redirect Virus, carry out the following steps:
First, stop it from running by stopping your hijacked browser from running.
Once you have removed the virus from your PC or Mac, you need to remove it from your browser as well and set it back to default.
In the future, cybersecurity analysts recommend different precaution measures, such as:
Additionally, take note of software bundling, which is often used to distribute potentially unwanted programs without users noticing. Therefore, never rush through the installation steps and always pick Custom or Advanced installation settings instead of the recommended settings.
We believe that the information in this article will be of great help. If you have any other issues with ransomware attacks, alert us through the comments section.