A friend telephoned me frantically asking me, “How do I remove AVG secure search? It has invaded my computer!”
Once it was established that my friend is using FireFox (my favourite browser!) as their default browser, I went to work searching the internet in hope of finding instructions that I could easily issue to my friend in an email, simply offering a link to the instructions.
Well, I did find lots of instructions on removing AVG Secure Search tool bar using the Control Panel > Programs and Features. However, my friend informed me that AVG Secure Search was not listed among the many programs on their computer, and so they could not remove this invader using the instructions issued.
Aha! Now I had a new challenge, so my friend and I scheduled a visit from me… and this is what I discovered.
AVG had in fact pushed their AVG safe search option which uses Yahoo search… whoopee-doo… onto my friend’s computer after offering my friend an additional option in which they ended up saying “NO” to accepting.
Now how nasty is that I ask you; nothing like invading someone’s computer even though they answered no to the offer.
In checking my friend’s computer Control Panel they were correct. AVG Secure Search did NOT appear in the list of Programs and Features.
So, now the next step was to investigate the browser further.
There is an option for resetting Firefox but my friend said, “NOOOOO!” as all AddOns and bookmarks would disappear.
My investigation continued…
Having reset their browser’s loading page to what it was previous to AVG’s having hoodwinked that… I noticed that the AVG Secure Search continued to appear as the default search in the address bar search box.
Wow, talk about being sneaky or what!
That’s when I decided to click on that search box, and then I selected the “Change Search Settings” option.
Which sent me to Firefox’s about:preferences#search.
Under the subtitle “Default Search Engine” I noticed an option to reset the default to the previous search my friend wanted used.
All I had to do was click on the upside-down, gray triangle pointed to in the screen print below… and select the search engine my friend wants used.
Once I had the original search engine set as the default, I then scrolled down further until I came to the subtitle “One-Click Search Engines”.
Below this, I noticed the AVG Secure Search still appeared on the list of Search Engines.
All I had to do was to highlight the unwanted secure search and click on the “Remove” button that appears directly below the list, and VOILA!
AVG Secure Search disappeared from my friend’s browser for good.
The next day, a telephone call to my friend confirmed for me that the proper steps had been taken to eradicate this intrusive search from their computer completely. After a fresh reboot, the next morning my friend found absolutely no trace of that nasty software.
Yeaaaah!
With permission granted, my friend allowed me to take and use these screen prints, as well as to write about this experience, sharing it here with the world, in hope of helping you and other users from having to put up with a search that gets forced onto your computer.
Do let me know in a comment below if this helps you to remove AVG Secure Search from your computer too. All comments are responded to in a timely manner.
Header Image: by ID 30493158 © Alexyndr | Dreamstime.com
