What is Top Search
Top Search is an unwanted piece of software that alters the default homepage appearance and promotes the fake topsearch.co
search engine. Software with such behavioral traits is usually categorized as browser hijackers. Developers behind often seek to generate revenue by displaying personalized ads on various pages. Such ads can be intentionally displayed using multiple layers even on the most legitimate websites and deteriorate users’ experience. Browser hijackers may also be able to cause extra redirects to sponsored pages that promote untrustworthy content. These functionalities are not only annoying but dangerous. Pages involved in promotion may be linked to spreading various malware or unwanted software that might become compromising for the safety of users. It is also worth mentioning that many search engines promoted by hijackers are fake because they cannot generate their own results. Instead, they employ already existing and popular engines like Google or Yahoo to display results with extra advertisements. Top Search is not an exception in many of the unwanted features we outlined above. Thus, there is no reason to keep it as we recommend you delete it from your computer. Use our step-by-step guide below to do it correctly and without traces.
How Top Search infected your computer
There are several alternatives to how this hijacker could get into your system. Unwanted software can be distributed through deceptive advertisements and pop-up messages placed on dubious third-party pages. Such ads/messages may claim the promoted software is useful and that it is worth having installed. Alternatively, threat actors may include ostensibly useful apps inside of other program installers. This is a very popular case of how unwanted software ends up puzzling users. Presented and hidden inside āAdvancedā, āCustomā, or other sections as additional offers, unwanted software may be set for the automatic installation without requesting direct permission from users. If such offers are skipped and left as they are, they (or it) will be eventually installed, bringing confusion on where they came from.
- Download Top Search Removal Tool
- Remove Top Search from Control Panel and Applications
- Remove Top Search extensions from browsers
- Reset browser search and homepage settings
- Alternative way to remove Top Search search redirects
- Clean browser shortcuts from Top Search
- How to protect from threats like Top Search
Download Removal Tool for Windows
To remove Top Search completely, we recommend you to use WiperSoft Antispyware. It detects and removes all files, folders, and registry keys of Top Search and several millions of other adware, hijackers, toolbars. WiperSoft Antispyware offers free scan and 7-days limited trial.
Download Removal Tool for Mac
To remove Top Search completely, we recommend you to use Combo Cleaner for Mac. It can help you remove files, folders, and registry keys of Top Search and uninstall hijackers, toolbars, and unwanted add-ons from the Safari browser. Combo Cleaner for Mac offers free scan and 7-days limited trial.
Remove Top Search manually for free
Here is a manual step-by-step tutorial for full Top Search removal from your computer. This works 99% and was checked with the latest versions of the Top Search installer on operating systems with the latest updates and browser versions.
Note: Top Search 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:
- 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.
- Type in and execute the following commands:
rd /S /Q "%WinDir%\System32\GroupPolicyUsers"
rd /S /Q "%WinDir%\System32\GroupPolicy"
gpupdate /force
Remove Top Search from Control Panel or Applications
To start removing Top Search you should uninstall it using Control Panel. It can be present by different names – “Top Search”. 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 Top Search from Windows XP:
- Click on Start button.
- Choose Control Panel.
- Click Add or Remove Programs.
- Find Top Search or other suspicious program.
- Click Uninstall.
Remove Top Search from Windows 7:
- Click Start button.
- Then go to Control Panel.
- Click Uninstall a Program.
- Find Top Search or other suspicious program and click Uninstall.
Remove Top Search from Windows 8:
- Hover mouse pointer to the bottom-right corner to see Menu.
- Click Search.
- After that click Apps.
- Then Control Panel.
- Click Uninstall a Program under Programs.
- Find Top Search or other suspicious program, click Uninstall.
Remove Top Search from Windows 10:
There are 2 ways to uninstall Top Search from Windows 10
Way one
- Click on the Start button.
- In opened menu choose Settings.
- Click on the System tile.
- Click Apps & features and locate Top Search or other suspicious program in the list.
- Click on it and then click Uninstall button near it.
Way two (classic)
- Right-click on the Start button.
- In opened menu choose Programs and Features.
- Locate Top Search or other suspicious program in the list.
- Click on it and then click Uninstall button above.
Remove Top Search from Windows 11:
- Right-click on the Start button.
- In opened menu choose Settings.
- Click on the Apps tab on the left side.
- Click Apps & features and locate Top Search or other recently installed suspicious program in the list.
- Click on 3-dots icon near it and then click Uninstall button near it.
- 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.
- In the Finder sidebar, click Applications.
- Top Search might have an Uninstaller.
- Otherwise, drag Top Search from the Applications folder to the Trash (located at the end of the Dock).
- Then choose Finder > Empty Trash.
- Reboot your computer.
- While it starts booting press F8 button.
- This will open Advanced Boot Options menu.
- Choose Safe Mode and wait until Windows loads.
- Go to Control Panel > Uninstall a program and remove Top Search or other suspicious program
- Download free AppCleaner.
- Drag Top Search from Applications folder to AppCleaner window.
- Choose files and folders you want to remove along with Top Search.
- Click Delete button.
- Start Google Chrome browser
- In address box type (or copy-paste)
chrome://extensions
. - Find Top Search extension.
- Click the Remove button to remove them.
- Also remove other suspicious extensions from the list.
- Start Mozilla Firefox browser.
- In address box type (or copy-paste)
about:addons
. - Find Top Search extension.
- Click three-dots icon near it and choose Remove in the menu.
- In opened dialog window click Remove button to confirm the action.
- Remove all suspicious extensions from the list.
- Start Safari on your Mac, click Safari to open drop-down menu and choose Preferences
- Click Extensions tab.
- Find Top Search extension.
- Click Uninstall button to remove it.
- Start Microsoft Edge browser.
- In address box type (or copy-paste)
edge://extensions
. - Find Top Search extension.
- Click Remove link under the name of extension.
- In opened dialog window click Remove button to confirm the action.
- Remove all suspicious extensions from the list.
- Open Internet Explorer.
- Click on gear/asterisk icon in the top-right corner.
- In opened menu Manage Add-ons.
- Select Toolbars and Extensions.
- Click Disable Top Search or other suspicious extensions.
- Also disable other suspicious extensions from the list.
- Start Opera browser.
- Go to Tools > Extensions > Manage Extensions.
- Find Top Search or other suspicious extensions.
- Click Uninstall button.
- Also remove other suspicious extensions from the list.
- Start Google Chrome browser
- In address box type (or copy-paste)
chrome://settings
. - On the left panel expand Advanced options.
- Choose Reset and clean up.
- Click on Restore settings to their original defaults link and confirm by clicking Reset button.
- Start Mozilla Firefox browser.
- In address box type (or copy-paste)
about:support
. - Click Refresh Firefox… button.
- Click Refresh Firefox button in opened dialog window to confirm.
- Start Safari on your Mac, click Safari to open drop-down menu and choose Preferences
- Go to the Privacy section of Safariās preferences.
- Click Remove All Website Data button.
- In opened window click Remove Now button to remove data stored by websites in Safari.
- Go to the Advanced section of Safariās preferences.
- Click the Show Develop menu in menu bar option.
- In the menu click Develop and select Empty Caches from this menu.
- Again, go to Safari menu and choose Clear History….
- Choose to clear all history and click Clear History button.
- Start Microsoft Edge browser
- Click on 3-dots icon in the top-right corner and choose Settings.
- On the left panel find and click Reset settings option.
- Click on Restore settings to their default values link and confirm by clicking Reset button.
- Start Internet Explorer.
- Click on gear/asterisk icon in the top-right corner.
- In opened menu choose Internet options.
- Click Advanced tab.
- Click Reset button.
- Choose Delete personal settings and click Reset.
- Start Opera browser and click on Opera icon in the top-left corner.
- Choose Settings and click Advanced on the left side and choose Browser.
- Scroll down to the very bottom and click on Restore settings to their original defaults link.
- Confirm by clicking Reset button.
Remove Top Search from Mac:
Cannot uninstall Top Search in Windows
In some cases, Top Search won’t uninstall and gives you the message, that “You do not have sufficient access to uninstall Top Search. Please, contact your system administrator” when you try to remove it from Control Panel or “Access denied” error when removing the Top Search 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 Top Search in Safe Mode. To boot in Safe Mode do the following:
>> See detailed instructions and video tutorial on how to boot in Safe Mode
Cannot uninstall Top Search in MacOS
If you can’t uninstall Top Search using the instructions above, or it keeps coming back, you can use free AppCleaner for Mac to remove all residual data and libraries of Top Search. Follow the instructions below:
Remove malicious add-ons from your browsers
Uninstalling Top Search 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 the Top Search extension from your browsers manually.
Google Chrome:
Mozilla Firefox:
Safari:
Microsoft Edge:
Internet Explorer (9, 10, 11):
Note: There is no feature to remove browser extensions from browser in latest version of Internet Explorer. To remove Top Search from Internet Explorer, please, perform instructions for uninstalling the program from Control Panel. To disable Top Search, please, do the following:
Opera Browser:
Generally, Top Search does not install in Opera browser however you can always double check. Do the following:
Reset browsers settings (homepage, default search)
Top Search installs a search engine (topsearch.co), that hijacks your browsers. Here is the instruction to reset your browser’s homepage, new tab, and search engine to default values.
Google Chrome:
Mozilla Firefox:
Reset Safari:
Microsoft Edge:
Internet Explorer (9, 10, 11):
Opera Browser:
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 Top Search. You can also reset your browser settings for each of your browsers: Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox.
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:
How to protect from threats, like Top Search, in future
Be careful surfing the internet and downloading software, as programs like Top Search 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 Top Search.