How to remove Retro Revive

What is Retro Revive

Retro Revive is a browser hijacker that masquerades as a browser extension claiming to give your new tabs a nostalgic, retro aesthetic. In reality, it forcibly alters crucial browser settings such as your homepage, default search engine, and new tab page, redirecting all search queries and navigation attempts to retrorevivesearch.com. This site is a fake search engine that cannot deliver legitimate results and often forwards users to major search engines like Google, Yahoo, or Bing, or simply fails to load any results at all. The extension is typically installed through deceptive pop-up ads, software bundling with free downloads, or misleading websites promoting its supposed features. Once added to the browser, Retro Revive commonly prevents users from easily reverting these changes by employing persistence mechanisms and restricting access to relevant settings. Beyond annoyance, this hijacker can track your browsing activity, collect sensitive information, and expose you to additional threats such as unwanted ads or further malware. Its presence on your device is not only intrusive but also poses substantial risks to your privacy and security. Immediate removal of both the Retro Revive extension and any related applications is strongly advised to restore normal browser functionality and protect your personal data.

How Retro Revive infects computers

Retro Revive, a notorious browser hijacker, typically infiltrates computers through deceptive means such as bundled software installations, where it is silently included with other legitimate applications. Users often download these bundles from unofficial or dubious websites, inadvertently allowing Retro Revive access to their systems. Once installed, it modifies browser settings by assigning retrorevivesearch.com as the default search engine and homepage, forcing users into unwanted redirects. The hijacker is further propagated through rogue advertisements and phishing sites that trick users into downloading malicious extensions. Additionally, Retro Revive employs persistence mechanisms, making it difficult to remove by undoing user-made changes and restricting access to removal settings. This malware not only disrupts browsing experiences but also poses significant privacy risks by potentially collecting sensitive user data for monetization.

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

Remove Retro Revive manually for free

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

Note: Retro Revive 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 Retro Revive from Control Panel or Applications

To start removing Retro Revive you should uninstall it using Control Panel. It can be present by different names – “Retro Revive”. 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 Retro Revive from Windows XP:

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

Remove Retro Revive from Windows 7:

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

Remove Retro Revive 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 Retro Revive or other suspicious program, click Uninstall.

Remove Retro Revive from Windows 10:

There are 2 ways to uninstall Retro Revive 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 Retro Revive 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 Retro Revive or other suspicious program in the list.
4. Click on it and then click Uninstall button above.

Remove Retro Revive 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 Retro Revive 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 Retro Revive from Mac:

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

Cannot uninstall Retro Revive in Windows

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

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

Cannot uninstall Retro Revive in MacOS

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

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

Remove malicious add-ons from your browsers

Uninstalling Retro Revive 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 Retro Revive extension from your browsers manually.

Google Chrome:

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

Opera Browser:

Generally, Retro Revive 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 Retro Revive or other suspicious extensions.
4. Click Uninstall button.
5. Also remove other suspicious extensions from the list.

Reset browsers settings (homepage, default search)

Retro Revive installs a search engine (retrorevivesearch.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 Retro Revive. 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 Retro Revive, in future


SpyHunter 5 Dashboard

SpyHunter 5 Results

SpyHunter 5 System Guard

Be careful surfing the internet and downloading software, as programs like Retro Revive 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 Retro Revive.

Download SpyHunter for Windows

Download SpyHunter for Mac