What is Guardflares.com
Guardflares.com is a deceptive search engine that often infiltrates users’ browsers through a browser hijacker known as SpeedyLook. This intrusive software alters browser settings, setting Guardflares.com as the default search engine, homepage, and new tab page without consent. When users enter search queries, instead of providing legitimate search results, Guardflares.com redirects them to potterfun.com, another dubious search engine notorious for linking to phishing sites, technical support scams, and potentially malicious websites. The presence of SpeedyLook, often bundled with free software or downloaded from unreliable sources, is a significant concern as it can exploit browser settings using the “Managed by your organization” feature. This capability allows SpeedyLook to inject unwanted extensions, remove user-added extensions, and restrict access to certain websites, raising privacy and security alarms. Users should be cautious and regularly check their browsers for such unwanted extensions, as these hijackers can be persistent and difficult to remove without specialized tools. Guardflares.com and its associated hijacker highlight the importance of using trusted sources for downloads and maintaining vigilant browser security practices.
How Guardflares.com infects computer
Guardflares.com infiltrates computers primarily through deceptive distribution methods commonly associated with browser hijackers, such as SpeedyLook. Users often unknowingly install these hijackers by downloading free or unreliable software bundled with additional offers. During installation, users may overlook the “Advanced” or “Custom” settings, which often conceal pre-selected agreements to install unwanted programs. Once installed, the hijacker modifies browser settings, making Guardflares.com the default search engine, homepage, and new tab page without user consent. This redirection tactic not only disrupts browsing experiences but can also expose users to security risks by leading them to potentially harmful websites. Additionally, Guardflares.com may utilize misleading pop-ups and advertisements from untrustworthy sites to further entice users into downloading malicious extensions, perpetuating the cycle of infection.
- Download Guardflares.com Removal Tool
- Remove Guardflares.com from Control Panel and Applications
- Remove Guardflares.com extensions from browsers
- Reset browser search and homepage settings
- Alternative way to remove Guardflares.com search redirects
- Clean browser shortcuts from Guardflares.com
- How to protect from threats like Guardflares.com
Download Removal Tool for Windows
To remove Guardflares.com completely, we recommend you to use SpyHunter 5. It detects and removes all files, folders, and registry keys of Guardflares.com and several millions of other adware, hijackers, toolbars. The trial version of SpyHunter 5 offers virus scan and 1-time removal for FREE.
Download Removal Tool for Mac
To remove Guardflares.com completely, we recommend you to use SpyHunter for Mac. It can help you remove files, folders, and registry keys of Guardflares.com and uninstall hijackers, toolbars, and unwanted add-ons from the Safari browser. The trial version of SpyHunter for Mac offers virus scan and 1-time removal for FREE.
Remove Guardflares.com manually for free
Here is a manual step-by-step tutorial for full Guardflares.com removal from your computer. This works 99% and was checked with the latest versions of the Guardflares.com an installer on operating systems with the latest updates and browser versions.
Note: Guardflares.com can be installed as Google Chrome extension as Administrator (you may see Installed by enterprise policy or Your browser is managed by your organization inscription near it), and this will not allow removal. Therefore, before starting removal process, perform these actions:
- 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.
- Type in and execute the following commands:
rd /S /Q "%WinDir%\System32\GroupPolicyUsers"
rd /S /Q "%WinDir%\System32\GroupPolicy"
gpupdate /force
Remove Guardflares.com from Control Panel or Applications
To start removing Guardflares.com you should uninstall it using Control Panel. It can be present by different names – “Guardflares.com”. 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 Guardflares.com from Windows XP:
- Click on Start button.
- Choose Control Panel.
- Click Add or Remove Programs.
- Find Guardflares.com-related or other suspicious program.
- Click Uninstall.
Remove Guardflares.com from Windows 7:
- Click Start button.
- Then go to Control Panel.
- Click Uninstall a Program.
- Find Guardflares.com-related or other suspicious program and click Uninstall.
Remove Guardflares.com from Windows 8:
- Hover mouse pointer to the bottom-right corner to see Menu.
- Click Search.
- After that click Apps.
- Then Control Panel.
- Click Uninstall a Program under Programs.
- Find Guardflares.com-related or other suspicious program, click Uninstall.
Remove Guardflares.com from Windows 10:
There are 2 ways to uninstall Guardflares.com from Windows 10
Way one
- Click on the Start button.
- In opened menu choose Settings.
- Click on the System tile.
- Click Apps & features and locate Guardflares.com-related or other suspicious program in the list.
- Click on it and then click Uninstall button near it.
Way two (classic)
- Right-click on the Start button.
- In opened menu choose Programs and Features.
- Locate Guardflares.com-related or other suspicious program in the list.
- Click on it and then click Uninstall button above.
Remove Guardflares.com from Windows 11:
- Right-click on the Start button.
- In opened menu choose Settings.
- Click on the Apps tab on the left side.
- Click Apps & features and locate Guardflares.com-related or other recently installed suspicious program in the list.
- Click on 3-dots icon near it and then click Uninstall button near it.
- 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.
- In the Finder sidebar, click Applications.
- Guardflares.com might have an Uninstaller.
- Otherwise, drag Apps from the Applications folder to the Trash (located at the end of the Dock).
- Then choose Finder > Empty Trash.
- Reboot your computer.
- While it starts booting press F8 button.
- This will open Advanced Boot Options menu.
- Choose Safe Mode and wait until Windows loads.
- Go to Control Panel > Uninstall a program and remove Apps or other suspicious program
- Download free AppCleaner.
- Drag Apps from Applications folder to AppCleaner window.
- Choose files and folders you want to remove along with Guardflares.com.
- Click Delete button.
- Start Google Chrome browser
- In address box type (or copy-paste)
chrome://extensions
. - Find Apps or other related extension.
- Click the Remove button to remove them.
- Also remove other suspicious extensions from the list.
- Start Mozilla Firefox browser.
- In address box type (or copy-paste)
about:addons
. - Find Apps or other related extension.
- Click three-dots icon near it and choose Remove in the menu.
- In opened dialog window click Remove button to confirm the action.
- Remove all suspicious extensions from the list.
- Start Safari on your Mac, click Safari to open drop-down menu and choose Preferences
- Click Extensions tab.
- Find Apps or other related extension.
- Click Uninstall button to remove it.
- Start Microsoft Edge browser.
- In address box type (or copy-paste)
edge://extensions
. - Find Apps or other related extension.
- Click Remove link under the name of extension.
- In opened dialog window click Remove button to confirm the action.
- Remove all suspicious extensions from the list.
- Open Internet Explorer.
- Click on gear/asterisk icon in the top-right corner.
- In opened menu Manage Add-ons.
- Select Toolbars and Extensions.
- Click Disable Apps or other suspicious extensions.
- Also disable other suspicious extensions from the list.
- Start Opera browser.
- Go to Tools > Extensions > Manage Extensions.
- Find Apps or other suspicious extensions.
- Click Uninstall button.
- Also remove other suspicious extensions from the list.
- Start Google Chrome browser
- In address box type (or copy-paste)
chrome://settings
. - On the left panel expand Advanced options.
- Choose Reset and clean up.
- Click on Restore settings to their original defaults link and confirm by clicking Reset button.
- Start Mozilla Firefox browser.
- In address box type (or copy-paste)
about:support
. - Click Refresh Firefox… button.
- Click Refresh Firefox button in opened dialog window to confirm.
- Start Safari on your Mac, click Safari to open drop-down menu and choose Preferences
- Go to the Privacy section of Safari’s preferences.
- Click Remove All Website Data button.
- In opened window click Remove Now button to remove data stored by websites in Safari.
- Go to the Advanced section of Safari’s preferences.
- Click the Show Develop menu in menu bar option.
- In the menu click Develop and select Empty Caches from this menu.
- Again, go to Safari menu and choose Clear History….
- Choose to clear all history and click Clear History button.
- Start Microsoft Edge browser
- Click on 3-dots icon in the top-right corner and choose Settings.
- On the left panel find and click Reset settings option.
- Click on Restore settings to their default values link and confirm by clicking Reset button.
- Start Internet Explorer.
- Click on gear/asterisk icon in the top-right corner.
- In opened menu choose Internet options.
- Click Advanced tab.
- Click Reset button.
- Choose Delete personal settings and click Reset.
- Start Opera browser and click on Opera icon in the top-left corner.
- Choose Settings and click Advanced on the left side and choose Browser.
- Scroll down to the very bottom and click on Restore settings to their original defaults link.
- Confirm by clicking Reset button.
Remove Guardflares.com from Mac:
Cannot uninstall Guardflares.com in Windows
In some cases, Guardflares.com won’t uninstall and gives you the message, that “You do not have sufficient access to uninstall Guardflares.com. Please, contact your system administrator” when you try to remove it from Control Panel or “Access denied” error when removing the Guardflares.com 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 Guardflares.com in Safe Mode. To boot in Safe Mode do the following:
>> See detailed instructions and video tutorial on how to boot in Safe Mode
Cannot uninstall Guardflares.com in MacOS
If you can’t uninstall Guardflares.com using instructions above, or it keeps coming back, you can use free AppCleaner for Mac to remove all residual data and libraries of Guardflares.com. Follow instructions below:
Remove malicious add-ons from your browsers
Uninstalling Guardflares.com 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 Guardflares.com-related extension from your browsers manually.
Google Chrome:
Mozilla Firefox:
Safari:
Microsoft Edge:
Internet Explorer (9, 10, 11):
Note: There is no feature to remove browser extensions from browser in latest version of Internet Explorer. To remove Guardflares.com from Internet Explorer, please, perform instructions for uninstalling program from Control Panel. To disable Guardflares.com, please, do the following:
Opera Browser:
Generally, Guardflares.com does not install in Opera browser however you can always double check. Do the following:
Reset browsers settings (homepage, default search)
Guardflares.com installs a search engine (search.Guardflares.com) that hijacks your browsers. Here is the instruction to reset your browser’s homepage, new tab, and search engine to default values.
Google Chrome:
Mozilla Firefox:
Reset Safari:
Microsoft Edge:
Internet Explorer (9, 10, 11):
Opera Browser:
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 Guardflares.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:
How to protect from threats, like Guardflares.com, in future
Be careful surfing the internet and downloading software, as programs like Guardflares.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 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 Guardflares.com.