What is Internet-start.net

Causing modifications in browser settings, Internet-start.net is categorized as a browser hijacker. In general, it changes your homepage to Internet-start.net, which is ostensibly capable of generating smarter and faster results. This browser hijacker does not touch the visual part that much, so your homepage will look almost as same as the original one. A range of Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Internet Explorer users have reported that Internet-start.net can randomly channel to other pages containing promotional links and banners. All of these traits beg up a serious question – is it safe? Of course not, because such programs may gather personal data (passwords, IP-addresses, geolocations, etc.) and sell it to cybercriminals. Unfortunately, most users fail to uninstall the unwanted application as it continues its presence during the browsing session. This is why we are going to give you expanded instructions on how to get rid of the Internet-start.net redirects.

internet-start.net hijacker

How Internet-start.net infected your computer

Browser hijackers and many other Potentially Unwanted Software can be distributed via so-called “bundles”. Originally, it is a marketing technique meant to promote unknown products via other software. Unfortunately, some people known as frauds tend to exploit the popularity of this tool in order to spread unwanted programs. To illustrate, users download a cracked or pirated application concealed in a repack. During the installation process, they act in favor of faster and easier installation missing all of the steps. The disaster strikes when users skip over “Advanced” or “Custom” settings offering to select/deselect additional programs. Because they are initially set for the installation, such an omission leads to an unwanted program altering browser segments. To avert this in the future and detect unwanted software right off the bat, you are advised to use security tools. Our guide below will cover everything related to online protection and removal as well.

Download Removal Tool for Windows

Download Removal Tool

compatible with microsoft

To remove Internet-start.net completely, we recommend you to use Norton Antivirus from Symantec. It detects and removes all files, folders, and registry keys of Internet-start.net and several millions of other adware, hijackers, toolbars.

Download Removal Tool for Mac

Download SpyHunter for Mac

To remove Internet-start.net completely, we recommend you to use SpyHunter for Mac. It can help you remove files, folders, and registry keys of Internet-start.net 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 Internet-start.net manually for free

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

Note: Internet-start.net 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. start command prompt as administrator

  3. Type in and execute the following commands:


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

  4. update group policy in windows

Remove Internet-start.net from Control Panel

To start removing Internet-start.net you should uninstall it using Control Panel. It can be present by different names, but usually “OKSearch” or “InternetStart”. 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 or Mac.

Remove Internet-start.net from Mac:

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

Remove Internet-start.net from Windows XP:

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

Remove Internet-start.net from Windows 7:

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

Remove Internet-start.net 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 InternetStart or other suspicious program, click Uninstall.

Remove Internet-start.net from Windows 10:

There are 2 ways to uninstall Internet-start.net 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 InternetStart 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 InternetStart or other suspicious program in the list.
  4. Click on it and then click Uninstall button above.

Cannot uninstall Internet-start.net

In some cases, Internet-start.net won’t uninstall and gives you the message, that “You do not have sufficient access to uninstall Internet-start.net. Please, contact your system administrator” when you try to remove it from Control Panel or “Access denied” error when removing the Internet-start.net 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 Internet-start.net 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 InternetStart 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 Internet-start.net using instructions above, or it keeps coming back, you can use free AppCleaner for Mac to remove all residual data and libraries of Internet-start.net. Follow instructions below:

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

Remove malicious add-ons from your browsers

Uninstalling Internet-start.net from Control Panel often does not bring the desired effect. It sometimes has browser extensions and it may still be active in Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. Here are instructions on how to remove Internet-start.net related extensions 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 InternetStart extension.
  4. Click Uninstall button to remove it.

Google Chrome:

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

Opera Browser:

Generally, Internet-start.net 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 InternetStart or other suspicious extensions.
  4. Click Uninstall button.
  5. Also remove other suspicious extensions from the list.

Reset browsers settings (homepage, default search)

Internet-start.net installs a search engine that hijacks your browsers. Here is the instruction to reset your browser’s homepage, new tab, 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.

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 Internet-start.net. You can also reset your browser settings for each of your browsers: Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox.

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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