Quick Search is a potentially unwanted program (PUP) that belongs to the family of browser hijackers.. It is an advertising product to track people’s browsing habits, including user search queries and browsing history.
PUPs and adware like Quick Search display many promotions, banner ads, coupons and pop-ups using your search history to examine the browsing pattern. They could trade your information in exchange for money with third-party organisations.
Therefore, you should get rid of Quick Search. Here is how to delete the Quick Search from your system manually. You can also install anti-virus tools to monitor your system in real-time and avoid any such malicious installations.
Also Read:Â How to uninstall Tor browser?
What is Quick Search?
Browser hijackers like Quick Search promote fake search providers by setting their addresses as default search providers in the search URL.
The program takes over your browser controls and forces you to use the https://www.quick-search.xyz/address, Yahoo or other search engines as your default engine, homepage URL and the new page on your browser.
Since Quick Search is not a real search provider engine, it’s incapable of finding the information needed by the users. It redirects the search browser to Bing or Yahoo search.
These browser hijackers primarily target the browsers with a large user base like Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer and other browsers. These applications have data tracking capabilities, which they employ to track and monitor the users’ browsing habits.
Once they have control over your browser settings, they can monitor the browsing activities that may not limit to URLs visited, pages viewed, and search queries typed, IP address, geolocation and other details.
The presence of these data tracking applications on your system or browser is potentially dangerous, as they may cause system infections, financial loss, serious privacy concerns and even identity thefts. So, if you find Quick Search on your computer, delete it immediately.
How does Quick Search find its way to your PC?
The reason why PUPs install on your system is with the use of trojan horses and other malicious software. But most commonly, these applications download or install on your system with other free programs. Quick Search can also pave its way into your system through the free and legitimate-appearing applications you sometimes download unknowingly — a technique known as bundling.
Rushing through the installation process could put the users’ system at risk of allowing bundled content into their system.
Choose manual, custom or advanced setup for software installation and unset all the checkboxes before clicking on Install or Next. If you’re unsure about any component of the program, then avoid downloading it. But if your system is already infected, follow the instructions to remove Quick Search.
Also read: Windows error 0x0 0x0: 6 Fixes
How to remove Quick Search from Windows PC?
You can remove the Quick Search from your system by uninstalling it from the Control Panel. Different versions of Windows support different ways of achieving this.
Step.1: Press the Windows key to open the Start menu, and click on the Settings button.
Step.2: Click on the Apps tab from the menu.
Step.3: Locate the QuickSearch item from the list, then click on the Uninstall button.
Step.4: Click on Uninstall button to give confirmation.
If you’re using Windows 8.1 or older version, you can uninstall Quick Search like any other program via the Control Panel.
Also Read: How to fix Windows error 1075?
How to uninstall Quick Search on Mac?
Quick Search might be available on your Mac as a browser plug-in or malicious software. You can get rid of this malicious application from your Mac in a few simple steps.
Step.1: Click Finder on your system.
Step 2: Select Applications from the left side menu.
Step 3: If the application you want to delete is in a folder, then open the folder and look for Uninstallers.
Step 4: Double-click on the uninstaller and then follow the on-screen instructions to uninstall the app completely.
Step 5: If the application is not in a folder then click and drag it to the trash bin.
Step 6: Open the trash bin, then click on Empty to uninstall the application completely from your Mac.
Click here to learn how to uninstall apps on Mac using the Launchpad
How to delete Quick Search hijacker from your browsers?
QuickSearch mainly attacks the browsers that have huge user engagement and are in frequent use. Here we’ve covered how to remove it from Chrome, Firefox and Edge.
If, in any case, Quicksearch isn’t removed after you’ve followed the guides below, first restart your PC, and if things still don’t seem good, you’ll need to reset the browser.
Google Chrome
Step 1:Â Open Google Chrome on your system.
Step 2:Â Click on the three vertical dots in the top right corner of the screen.
Step 3: Click on More Tools option from the menu.
Step 4: Choose Extensions from the sub-menu.
A new browser window will open.
Step 5: Find the Quick Search extension in the list if it has affected your browser.
Step 6: Click the Trash can icon to remove it.
If things don’t go back to normal, you’ll need to reset Chrome browser through the browser settings.
To reset the changes in the Chrome browser, you would again need to visit the settings section of the browser and heed the steps shared below.
Mozilla Firefox
- Open Firefox browser.
- Click the Firefox three horizontal line menu.
- Select the Add-Ons option.
- Choose QuickSearch plug-in from the list.
- Click on the Disable or Remove button.
Microsoft Edge
Step 1:Â Click on the Edge menu (three horizontal dots) icon at the top right corner of the browser window.
Step 2: Select the Extensions option from the dropdown menu.
Step 3:Â In the Extensions pop-up box, click on Manage Extensions link.
Step 4: Locate Quicksearch extension on your browser if any and remove it by clicking on the Remove link below the plug-in entry.
Also Read: How to delete Flipkart search history?