How to remove Oksearch.org

What is Oksearch.org

Known to be distributed via mimicked versions of legitimate apps (e.g. NordVPN, Adguard VPN, TunnelBear VPN, The Great Suspender), Oksearch.org represents the address of a fake search engine working on Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome browsers. During the study, it was recorded that users land on oksearch.org after clicking on generated results provided by Google or Bing. It acts as part of the chain redirecting people to suspicious pages. Such a change may be influenced by third-party add-ons installed in your browser, so check the list of installed extensions. Look for OKsearch New Tab or any unknown extensions installed. Note that unwanted add-ons can bear the threat of data-surveillance. Passwords, geolocations, IP-addresses, and other sensitive data can be collected and sold for revenue purposes. Disabling or removing them should seal the problem, so try to do it first. If Oksearch.org keeps coming back no matter what, there is a possibility that your PC is infected with a potentially unwanted program. To know whether it is or not, refer to our guide below to detect and delete it from your computer.

How Oksearch.org infected your computer

The Microsoft and Google teams have wiped out malicious extensions accused in the promotion of Oksearch.org from their stores. This was the main reason for Oksearch.org sticking around your system. In other cases, however, there are channels capable of spreading similar infections. Usually, it is done via so-called “bundling”, which stands for downloading pirated or cracked software from the web. When users open the setup of a downloaded program, they seek towards the end of the kit missing essential sections (“Advanced/Custom”). This, therefore, leads to an opened door for the virus or whatever trying to infect your system. Do not allow cybercriminals to record you as another victim on their list and deselect additional offers hidden inside of such sections. To learn more information on the online protection and removal process, please follow the article below.

Remove Oksearch.org manually for free

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

Note: Oksearch.org 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 Oksearch.org from Control Panel

To start removing Oksearch.org you should uninstall it using Control Panel. It can be present by different names, but usually “OKSearch” or “OKsearch New Tab”. 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 Oksearch.org from Mac:

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

Remove Oksearch.org from Windows XP:

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

Remove Oksearch.org from Windows 7:

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

Remove Oksearch.org 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 OKsearch New Tab or other suspicious program, click Uninstall.

Remove Oksearch.org from Windows 10:

There are 2 ways to uninstall Oksearch.org 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 OKsearch New Tab 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 OKsearch New Tab or other suspicious program in the list.
4. Click on it and then click Uninstall button above.

Cannot uninstall Oksearch.org

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

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

Remove malicious add-ons from your browsers

Uninstalling Oksearch.org 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 Oksearch.org 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 OKsearch New Tab 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 OKsearch New Tab 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 OKsearch New Tab 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 Oksearch.org from Internet Explorer, please, perform instructions for uninstalling program from Control Panel. To disable Oksearch.org, 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 OKsearch New Tab or other suspicious extensions.
6. Also disable other suspicious extensions from the list.

Opera Browser:

Generally, Oksearch.org 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 OKsearch New Tab or other suspicious extensions.
4. Click Uninstall button.
5. Also remove other suspicious extensions from the list.

Reset browsers settings (homepage, default search)

Oksearch.org 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

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