How to remove Bing.com redirect (Windows and Mac)

What is Bing.com

Note: Bing.com is legitimate search engine, that belongs to Microsoft Corporation, provides great search results and can be used as homepage and default search engine in Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Opera, Edge and Internet Explorer. It is the third biggest search engine in USA. However, its domain name, design and search results are exploited by indecent search partners, that use it for their own selfish purposes. Such affiliates create multiple browser extensions and domains, like SearchModule, Search Protection, Bing.Vc, BingProtect to take control over browser search engine and homepage settings and redirect users to Bing.com. Malefactors earn on advertising comission from original Bing.com search, but use unethical methods to infiltrate computers. In this article we will mostly describe the cases of malware infection, that causes redirects to Bing.com and methods to remove them.

There are numerous hijackers, that redirect user queries to Bing.com, or install it as default search engine and homepage without users permission. Bing.com has its own browser add-on and desktop application called Bing Toolbar and Bing Desktop, however, it is also partnering with thousands of third-party developers to promote Bing.com on their websites or in applications. Developers earn on user clicks on ads inside Bing.com search. Unfortunately, many unscrupulous partners violate the rules of the network and use spam, drive-by downloads, bundled installations to promote Bing.com. In this article we will describe all methods to remove Bing.com redirects from browsers on MacOS and Windows and restore default settings.

Bing.com

Bing.com redirect

How Bing.com infected your PC

Among most popular threats, that are related to Bing.com redirects we can note: Trovi.com, Bing.vc, My-bing.com, Search Protect, Www-searching.com, Search Module, although there are thousands of others. During last five years such hijackers infected millions of computers. This becomes real surprise and at the same time headache for people, got used to Google.com or Yahoo.com. Besides, most of such applications won’t allow users to change installed settings or control them using extensions and malicious profiles. Use tools and instructions below to get rid of Bing.com redirects and remove malware from browsers on Windows or Mac.

Example 1 of Bing.com installer

Example 2 of Bing.com installer

Remove Bing.com manually for free

Here is manual step-by-step tutorial for full Bing.com removal from your computer. This works 99% and was checked with the latest versions of Bing.com installer on operating systems with latest updates and browser versions.

Remove Bing.com from Control Panel

To start removing Bing.com you should uninstall it using Control Panel. It can be present by different names – SearchModule, Search Protection, Bing.Vc, BingProtect or just any other name. It should uninstall correctly, however, we recommend you to use IObit Uninstaller to clean leftover items after uninstalling. Here are instructions for Windows XP, Windows 7 and Windows 8 and Mac.

Remove Bing.com from Mac:

1. In the Finder sidebar, click Applications.
2. Bing.com might have an Uninstaller. If you see Uninstall Bing Toolbar, Bing Toolbar Uninstaller or other suspicious program, double-click it and follow the onscreen instructions.
3. Otherwise, drag Bing Toolbar from the Applications folder to the Trash (located at the end of the Dock).
4. Then choose Finder > Empty Trash.

Remove Bing.com from Windows XP:

1. Click on Start button.
2. Choose Control Panel.
3. Click Add or Remove Programs.
4. Find SearchModule, Search Protection, Bing.Vc, BingProtect or other suspicious program.
5. Click Uninstall.

Remove Bing.com from Windows 7:

1. Click Start button.
2. Then go to Control Panel.
3. Click Uninstall a Program.
4. Find SearchModule, Search Protection, Bing.Vc, BingProtect or other suspicious program and click Uninstall.

Remove Bing.com from Windows 8:

1. Hover mouse pointer to the bottom-right corner to see Menu.
2. Click Search.
3. After that click Apps.
4. Then Control Panel.
5. Click Uninstall a Program under Programs.
6. Find SearchModule, Search Protection, Bing.Vc, BingProtect or other suspicious program, click Uninstall.

Remove Bing.com from Windows 10:

There are 2 ways to uninstall Bing.com from Windows 10

Way one

1. Click on the Start button.
2. In opened menu choose Settings.
3. Click on the System tile.
4. Click Apps & features and locate SearchModule, Search Protection, Bing.Vc, BingProtect or other suspicious program in the list.
5. Click on it and then click Uninstall button near it.

Way two (classic)

1. Right-click on the Start button.
2. In opened menu choose Programs and Features.
3. Locate SearchModule, Search Protection, Bing.Vc, BingProtect or other suspicious program in the list.
4. Click on it and then click Uninstall button above.

Cannot uninstall Bing.com

In some cases Bing.com won’t uninstall and gives you message that “You do not have sufficient access to uninstall Bing.com. Please, contact your system administrator” when you try to remove it from Control Panel or “Access denied” error when removing Bing.com folder and files. This happens, because process or service does not allow you to do it. In this case I will recommend you to use SpyHunter 5 or Malwarebytes or uninstall Bing.com in Safe Mode. To boot in Safe Mode do the following:

1. Reboot your computer.
2. While it starts booting press F8 button.
3. This will open Advanced Boot Options menu.
4. Choose Safe Mode and wait until Windows loads.
5. Go to Control Panel > Uninstall a program and remove SearchModule, Search Protection, Bing.Vc, BingProtect or other suspicious program.

>> See detailed instructions and video tutorial on how to boot in Safe Mode

and for Mac:

If you can’t uninstall Bing.com using instructions above, or it keeps coming back, you can use free AppCleaner for Mac to remove all residual data and libraries of Bing.com. Follow instructions below:

1. Download free AppCleaner.
2. Drag SearchModule, Search Protection, Bing.Vc, BingProtect or other suspicious program from Applications folder to AppCleaner window.
3. Choose files and folders you want to remove along with Safe Finder.
4. Click Delete button.

Remove malicious add-ons from your browsers

Uninstalling Bing.com from Control Panel often does not bring desired effect. It sometimes have browser extension and it may still be active in Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. Here are instructions on how to remove Bing.com related extension from your browsers manually.

Safari:

1. Start Safari on your Mac, click Safari to open drop-down menu and choose Preferences
2. Click Extensions tab.
3. Find SearchModule, Search Protection, Bing.Vc, BingProtect extension.
4. Click Uninstall button to remove it.
5. Also remove other suspicious extensions from the list.

Google Chrome:

1. Start Google Chrome browser
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) chrome://extensions/.
3. Find SearchModule, Search Protection, Bing.Vc, BingProtect or other suspicious extensions.
4. Click the trash can icon to remove them.
5. Also remove other suspicious extensions from the list.

Mozilla Firefox:

1. Start Mozilla Firefox browser.
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) about:addons.
3. Choose SearchModule, Search Protection, Bing.Vc, BingProtect or other suspicious extension.
4. Click Disable or Remove button.
5. Remove all suspicious extensions from the list.

Internet Explorer (9, 10, 11):

Note: There is no feature to remove browser extensions from browser in latest version of Internet Explorer. To remove Bing.com from Internet Explorer, please, perform instructions for uninstalling program from Control Panel. To disable Bing.com, please, do the following:

1. Open Internet Explorer.
2. Click on gear/asterisk icon in the top-right corner.
3. In opened menu Manage Add-ons.
4. Select Toolbars and Extensions.
5. Click Disable SearchModule, Search Protection, Bing.Vc, BingProtect or other unwanted add-on.
6. Also disable other suspicious extensions from the list.

Opera Browser:

Generally, Bing.com does not install in Opera browser however you can always double check. Do the following:

1. Start Opera browser.
2. Go to Tools > Extensions > Manage Extensions.
3. Find SearchModule, Search Protection, Bing.Vc, BingProtect or other suspicious extension.
4. Click Uninstall button.
5. Also remove other suspicious extensions from the list.

Reset browsers settings (homepage, default search)

Bing.com installs search engine that hijacks your browsers. Here is instruction to reset your browsers homepage, newtab and search engine to default values.

Reset Safari:

1. Start Safari on your Mac, click Safari to open drop-down menu and choose Preferences
2. Go to the Privacy section of Safari’s preferences.
3. Click Remove All Website Data button.
4. In opened window click Remove Now button to remove data stored by websites in Safari.
5. Go to the Advanced section of Safari’s preferences.
6. Click the Show Develop menu in menu bar option.
7. In the menu click Develop and select Empty Caches from this menu.
8. Again, go to Safari menu and choose Clear History….
9. Choose to clear all history and click Clear History button.

Google Chrome:

1. Start Google Chrome browser
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) chrome://settings/.
3. Scroll down and find Show advanced settings link.
4. Click on it and scroll down to the bottom again.
5. Click Reset browser settings button and click Reset to confirm.

Mozilla Firefox:

1. Start Mozilla Firefox browser.
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) about:support.
3. Click Reset Firefox… button.
4. Click Reset Firefox to confirm.

Internet Explorer (9, 10, 11):

1. Start Internet Explorer.
2. Click on gear/asterisk icon in the top-right corner.
3. In opened menu choose Internet options.
4. Click Advanced tab.
5. Click Reset button.
6. Choose Delete personal settings and click Reset.

Opera Browser:

1. Close Opera and open command prompt from the start menu.
2. Type following command del %AppData%\Opera\Opera\operaprefs.ini
3. Start Opera.

How to block redirects from Bing.com

AdGuard main window

AdGuard general settings

AdGuard browser assistant

Bing.com redirects, in most cases, are caused by a program installed on your PC or add-on installed in browsers. However, sometimes it can appear on a clean computer when visiting malicious website, using advertising script. Also, apps that generate “Bing.com” hijacks are themselves installed from pop-ups. To protect your PC and browsers from phishing websites, pop-up ads, banners, malicious scripts it is recommended to use AdGuard. Download free trial here:

Alternative way to remove adware browser extensions and reset browser settings

For safe and effective browser extension removal use avast! Browser Cleanup utility. Run it with administrator privileges and remove all extensions with bad rating including related to Bing.com. You can also reset your browser settings for each of your browsers: Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox.

Cleaning browsers shortcuts

You can clean your browser shortcuts manually right-clicking on your browser icon, choosing “Properties” and removing hijacker address from “Target” field (leave just the path to your browser). However it is easier to use free Shortcut Cleaner from BleepingComputer. Download it here – its FREE:

Final tips

Be careful surfing the internet and downloading software, as programs like Bing.com may become a real headache as they are hard to remove and break your privacy. To keep safe from such threats we recommend you always use antivirus and one of antimalware programs available on the market. One of the best anti-spyware and antimalware programs is SpyHunter 5. It can protect your PC from threats like Bing.com.