How to remove Lax-search.com

What is Lax-search.com

Lax-search.com is a search engine that is promoted through the use of malicious browser extensions and browser hijackers. When installed, these browser hijackers modify a web browser’s configuration to automatically redirect all searches through Lax-search.com. Common symptoms of having this browser hijacker installed include browser search queries being redirected through Lax-search.com, and the presence of a malicious browser extension or program on the computer. This type of program often comes from misleading advertisements or adware, which can confuse users about the origin of the software. The Lax-search.com hijacker installs malicious browser extensions or programs that facilitate its activities. These extensions can modify browser settings, including the default search engine, new tab page, and homepage, redirecting them to Lax-search.com or related websites. The extensions often have generic names, making them hard to identify as malicious. Users might find these extensions installed without their explicit permission, typically as a result of bundled software installations or through deceptive advertisements. Once installed, the Lax-search.com hijacker redirects all search queries through its own search engine. This redirection can lead to inaccurate search results that may contain unreliable or harmful content. The primary purpose of these redirects is to generate revenue for the hijacker’s creators through advertisement clicks and data collection. Users may also experience unwanted pop-ups and advertisements that overlay website content, significantly hindering the browsing experience.

How Lax-search.com infects computer

Lax-search.com infects browsers primarily through deceptive methods that trick users into inadvertently installing browser hijackers or malicious programs. These methods include:

• Fake Software Updates and Installations: Users might encounter pop-ups or notifications that mimic legitimate software update alerts. Clicking on these can lead to the installation of the Lax-search.com hijacker instead of the expected software update.
• Spam Emails: Emails that appear to be from reputable sources may contain links or attachments that, when opened, install the browser hijacker.
• Misleading Advertisements: Ads that seem harmless can redirect users to malicious websites or trigger the download of the browser hijacker. These ads often appear on less reputable websites and can be very convincing.
• Bundled Software Installations: The hijacker may come bundled with other software, especially free programs. During the installation process, if users opt for the express installation without checking the advanced options, they might inadvertently install the hijacker along with the intended software.
• Malicious Browser Extensions or Programs: Sometimes, the hijacker is embedded within browser extensions or programs that seem legitimate. Installing these extensions or programs leads to the modification of browser settings, redirecting searches and other browser activities through Lax-search.com.

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

Remove Lax-search.com manually for free

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

Note: Lax-search.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:

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 Lax-search.com from Control Panel or Applications

To start removing Lax-search.com you should uninstall it using Control Panel. It can be present by different names – “Lax-search.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 Lax-search.com from Windows XP:

1. Click on Start button.
2. Choose Control Panel.
3. Click Add or Remove Programs.
4. Find Lax-search.com-related or other suspicious program.
5. Click Uninstall.

Remove Lax-search.com from Windows 7:

1. Click Start button.
2. Then go to Control Panel.
3. Click Uninstall a Program.
4. Find Lax-search.com-related or other suspicious program and click Uninstall.

Remove Lax-search.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 Lax-search.com-related or other suspicious program, click Uninstall.

Remove Lax-search.com from Windows 10:

There are 2 ways to uninstall Lax-search.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 Lax-search.com-related 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 Lax-search.com-related or other suspicious program in the list.
4. Click on it and then click Uninstall button above.

Remove Lax-search.com 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 Lax-search.com-related 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 Lax-search.com from Mac:

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

Cannot uninstall Lax-search.com in Windows

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

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

Cannot uninstall Lax-search.com in MacOS

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

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

Remove malicious add-ons from your browsers

Uninstalling Lax-search.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 Lax-search.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 Apps or other related 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 Apps or other related 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 Apps or other related 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 Apps or other related 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 Lax-search.com from Internet Explorer, please, perform instructions for uninstalling program from Control Panel. To disable Lax-search.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 Apps or other suspicious extensions.
6. Also disable other suspicious extensions from the list.

Opera Browser:

Generally, Lax-search.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 Apps or other suspicious extensions.
4. Click Uninstall button.
5. Also remove other suspicious extensions from the list.

Reset browsers settings (homepage, default search)

Lax-search.com installs a search engine (search.Lax-search.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:

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 Lax-search.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

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 Lax-search.com, in future


SpyHunter 5 Dashboard

SpyHunter 5 Results

SpyHunter 5 System Guard

Be careful surfing the internet and downloading software, as programs like Lax-search.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 Lax-search.com.

Download SpyHunter for Windows

Download SpyHunter for Mac