What is Hao123.com

Hao123.com by Baidu Inc. is common browser search engine that hijacks Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer. It originates in China, but spreads all over the world, mostly in Latin America. Hao123.com can redirect searches to different resources like yahoo.com, govome4.insppartner.com, baidu.com. Main page of Hao123.com is filled with ads, banners and links to popular resources. Using this search engine may harm your safety online. In order to remove Hao123.com use this guide.

br.hao123.com redirect

How Hao123.com infected your PC

Hao123.com can get in your browsers after installation of free programs. Internet is the source of various adware and viruses, and sometimes even well-known programs can contain adware in a installation “bundle”. They install advertising module like extension or some small background program that will show ads to you or replace your browser settings. Famous antivirus programs cannot remove hijackers like Hao123.com. Use SpyHunter 5 antimalware to remove Hao123.com and reset your settings.

Download Removal Tool

Download Removal Tool

To remove Hao123.com completely we recommend you to use SpyHunter 5 from EnigmaSoft Limited. It detects and removes all files, folders and registry keys of Hao123.com and several millions of other adware, hijackers, toolbars.

Remove Hao123.com manually for free

Here is manual step-by-step tutorial for full Hao123.com removal from your computer. This works 99% and was checked with the latest versions of Hao123.com installer on operating systems with latest updates and browser versions.

Remove Hao123.com from Control Panel

To start removing Hao123.com you should uninstall it using Control Panel. It can be present by different names – “Hao123-Client” or just “Hao123.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 and Windows 8.

Latest versions of Hao123.com hijacker are protected by program called Hao123.com. You can use SpyHunter 5 antimalware to remove it completely.

Remove Hao123.com from Windows XP:

  1. Click on Start button.
  2. Choose Control Panel.
  3. Click Add or Remove Programs.
  4. Find Hao123.com or Hao123-Client.
  5. Click Uninstall.

Remove Hao123.com from Windows 7:

  1. Click Start button.
  2. Then go to Control Panel.
  3. Click Uninstall a Program.
  4. Find Hao123.com or Hao123-Client and click Uninstall.

Remove Hao123.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 Hao123.com or Hao123-Client, click Uninstall.

Remove Hao123.com from Windows 10:

There are 2 ways to uninstall Hao123.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 Hao123.com or Hao123-Client 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 Hao123.com or Hao123-Client in the list.
  4. Click on it and then click Uninstall button above.

Cannot uninstall Hao123.com

In some cases Hao123.com won’t uninstall and gives you message that “You do not have sufficient access to uninstall Hao123.com. Please, contact your system administrator” when you try to remove it from Control Panel or “Access denied” error when removing Hao123.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 Hao123.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 Hao123.com or Hao123-Client

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

Remove malicious add-ons from your browsers

Uninstalling Hao123.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 Hao123.com related extension from your browsers manually.

Google Chrome:

  1. Start Google Chrome browser
  2. In address box type (or copy-paste) chrome://extensions/.
  3. Find 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 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 Hao123.com from Internet Explorer, please, perform instructions for uninstalling program from Control Panel. To disable Hao123.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 Hao123.com.
  6. Also disable other suspicious extensions from the list.

Opera Browser:

Generally, Hao123.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 Hao123.com extension.
  4. Click Uninstall button.
  5. Also remove other suspicious extensions from the list.

Reset browsers settings (homepage, default search)

Hao123.com installs search engine that hijacks your browsers. Here is instruction to reset your browsers homepage, newtab and search engine to default values.

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.

Remove following files and folders

Hao123.com files:


hao123.1.0.0.1101.exe
hao123.1.0.0.1106.exe
hao123.1.0.0.1108.exe
hao123.1.0.0.1111.exe
UninstallMinibar.exe

Hao123.com folders:


C:\users\user\appdata\roaming\baidu\hao123-br
C:\Program Files\hao123.com\

Alternative way to remove adware browser extensions and reset browser settings

avast browser cleanup 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 Hao123.com. 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

shortcut cleaner 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

Final tips

Be careful surfing the internet and downloading software, as programs like Hao123.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 Hao123.com.

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James Kramer
Hello, I'm James. My website Bugsfighter.com, a culmination of a decade's journey in the realms of computer troubleshooting, software testing, and development. My mission here is to offer you comprehensive, yet user-friendly guides across a spectrum of topics in this niche. Should you encounter any challenges with the software or the methodologies I endorse, please know that I am readily accessible for assistance. For any inquiries or further communication, feel free to reach out through the 'Contacts' page. Your journey towards seamless computing starts here