How to remove Custom Search Bar (customsearchbar.me)

What is Custom Search Bar

Custom Search Bar is most often a browser extension that promotes unwanted features without the consent of users. It changes the default homepage URL-address to customsearchbar.me and redirects users through one of the most popular search engines, such as Yahoo.com. Software with this post-installation behavior falls under the category of browser hijackers. It brings no real value to users, at least due to the lack of authentic features. As said, instead of generating its own results, customsearchbar.me will redirect users to Yahoo.com or other legitimate search engines. Browser hijackers tend to exploit the usage of popular search platforms to generate fake traffic and earn additional revenues. Due to the fact that Custom Search Bar is given reading permissions, it may also be able to capture what users enter while visiting various websites (e.g. passwords, IP-addresses, geolocations, log-in credentials, etc.). In addition to this, it is worth mentioning that some browser hijackers have adware features as well. This means the generation of unwanted and suspicious ads that appear in random places across different websites. Note that Custom Search Bar is quite a generic name that can be used by other browser hijackers as well. If you became a victim of Custom Search Bar or anything similar, we recommend you follow our guide below to stop it from working. Many users struggle to do it on their own, as such extensions are often backed by additional changes in system settings disallowing their traditional removal.

Customsearchbar.me homepage

Custom Search Bar extension in Chrome

How Custom Search Bar infected your computer

Unwanted extensions may be offered for installation through suspicious ads or pirated program installers. In any of these cases, developers attempt to trick users into installing browser hijackers or other unwanted software by making them think it is useful and trustworthy. For instance, a person downloading pirated, or cracked software torrents can stumble upon unwanted program offers in addition to the main program. One of such offers may be Custom Search Bar claiming to improve your browser experience and integrate some other useful features. As a rule, if information about such software is disclosed, it can be therefore deselected inside “Advanced”, “Custom”, or similar installation sections. In other cases, unwanted extensions may install themselves without notifying users at all. This is why it is always a risk one should keep in mind while installing software from unofficial web resources.

1. Download Custom Search Bar Removal Tool
2. Remove Custom Search Bar from Control Panel and Applications
3. Remove Custom Search Bar extensions from browsers
4. Reset browser search and homepage settings
5. Alternative way to remove Custom Search Bar search redirects
6. Clean browser shortcuts from Custom Search Bar
7. How to protect from threats like Custom Search Bar

Remove Custom Search Bar manually for free

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

Note: Custom Search Bar can be installed as Google Chrome extension as Administrator (you may see Installed by enterprise policy inscription near it), and this will not allow removal. Therefore, before starting removal process, perform these actions:

1. Start the Command Prompt by clicking the Start menu button and typing command prompt (or just searching for “command prompt” in Windows 10 search field). Right click on the Command Prompt result and choose Run as Administrator.



2. Type in and execute the following commands:

   
rd /S /Q "%WinDir%\System32\GroupPolicyUsers"
rd /S /Q "%WinDir%\System32\GroupPolicy"
gpupdate /force

Remove Custom Search Bar from Control Panel or Applications

To start removing Custom Search Bar you should uninstall it using Control Panel. It can be present by different names – “Custom Search Bar”. 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, Windows 8, Windows 10, Windows 11, or Mac.

Remove Custom Search Bar from Windows XP:

1. Click on Start button.
2. Choose Control Panel.
3. Click Add or Remove Programs.
4. Find Custom Search Bar or other suspicious program.
5. Click Uninstall.

Remove Custom Search Bar from Windows 7:

1. Click Start button.
2. Then go to Control Panel.
3. Click Uninstall a Program.
4. Find Custom Search Bar or other suspicious program and click Uninstall.

Remove Custom Search Bar 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 Custom Search Bar or other suspicious program, click Uninstall.

Remove Custom Search Bar from Windows 10:

There are 2 ways to uninstall Custom Search Bar 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 Custom Search Bar 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 Custom Search Bar or other suspicious program in the list.
4. Click on it and then click Uninstall button above.

Remove Custom Search Bar from Windows 11:

1. Right-click on the Start button.
2. In opened menu choose Settings.
3. Click on the Apps tab on the left side.
4. Click Apps & features and locate Custom Search Bar or other recently installed suspicious program in the list.
5. Click on 3-dots icon near it and then click Uninstall button near it.
6. Depending on the type of application (Windows Store app or classic Win32 app) it will be removed immediately or you will need to confirm the action and go through standard uninstall procedure.

Remove Custom Search Bar from Mac:

1. In the Finder sidebar, click Applications.
2. Custom Search Bar might have an Uninstaller.
3. Otherwise, drag Custom Search Bar from the Applications folder to the Trash (located at the end of the Dock).
4. Then choose Finder > Empty Trash.

Cannot uninstall Custom Search Bar in Windows

In some cases, Custom Search Bar won’t uninstall and gives you the message, that “You do not have sufficient access to uninstall Custom Search Bar. Please, contact your system administrator” when you try to remove it from Control Panel or “Access denied” error when removing the Custom Search Bar folder and files. This happens because the 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 Custom Search Bar 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 Custom Search Bar or other suspicious program

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

Cannot uninstall Custom Search Bar in MacOS

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

1. Download free AppCleaner.
2. Drag Custom Search Bar from Applications folder to AppCleaner window.
3. Choose files and folders you want to remove along with Custom Search Bar.
4. Click Delete button.

Remove malicious add-ons from your browsers

Uninstalling Custom Search Bar from Control Panel or Applications often does not bring the desired effect. It sometimes has a browser extension and it may still be active in Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. Here are instructions on how to remove the Custom Search Bar extension from your browsers manually.

Google Chrome:

1. Start Google Chrome browser
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) chrome://extensions.
3. Find Custom Search Bar extension.
4. Click the Remove button 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. Find Custom Search Bar extension.
4. Click three-dots icon near it and choose Remove in the menu.
5. In opened dialog window click Remove button to confirm the action.
6. Remove all suspicious extensions from the list.

Safari:

1. Start Safari on your Mac, click Safari to open drop-down menu and choose Preferences
2. Click Extensions tab.
3. Find Custom Search Bar extension.
4. Click Uninstall button to remove it.

Microsoft Edge:

1. Start Microsoft Edge browser.
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) edge://extensions.
3. Find Custom Search Bar extension.
4. Click Remove link under the name of extension.
5. In opened dialog window click Remove button to confirm the action.
6. 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 Custom Search Bar from Internet Explorer, please, perform instructions for uninstalling the program from Control Panel. To disable Custom Search Bar, 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 Custom Search Bar or other suspicious extensions.
6. Also disable other suspicious extensions from the list.

Opera Browser:

Generally, Custom Search Bar 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 Custom Search Bar or other suspicious extensions.
4. Click Uninstall button.
5. Also remove other suspicious extensions from the list.

Reset browsers settings (homepage, default search)

Custom Search Bar installs a search engine (customsearchbar.me), that hijacks your browsers. Here is the instruction to reset your browser’s homepage, new tab, and search engine to default values.

Google Chrome:

1. Start Google Chrome browser
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) chrome://settings.
3. On the left panel expand Advanced options.
4. Choose Reset and clean up.
5. Click on Restore settings to their original defaults link and confirm by clicking Reset button.

Google Chrome > Settings > Advanced

Reset and clean up

Reset Google Chrome

Mozilla Firefox:

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

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.

Microsoft Edge:

1. Start Microsoft Edge browser
2. Click on 3-dots icon in the top-right corner and choose Settings.
3. On the left panel find and click Reset settings option.
4. Click on Restore settings to their default values link and confirm by clicking Reset button.

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. Start Opera browser and click on Opera icon in the top-left corner.
2. Choose Settings and click Advanced on the left side and choose Browser.
3. Scroll down to the very bottom and click on Restore settings to their original defaults link.
4. Confirm by clicking Reset button.

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 Custom Search Bar. You can also reset your browser settings for each of your browsers: Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox.

Download Avast Browser Cleanup

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:

Download Shortcut Cleaner

How to protect from threats, like Custom Search Bar, in future


SpyHunter 5 Dashboard

SpyHunter 5 Results

SpyHunter 5 System Guard

Be careful surfing the internet and downloading software, as programs like Custom Search Bar 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 the anti-malware programs available on the market. One of the best anti-virus programs is SpyHunter 5. It can protect your PC from threats like Custom Search Bar.

Download SpyHunter for Windows

Download SpyHunter for Mac