LookSafeSearch.com: what it is and how to remove it

It is not recommended. Searches through looksafesearch.com usually still return results, but the operator sees every query, often stores it with an identifier for your browser and shows extra ads or paid links. Some hijacked results lead to fake downloads or scam pages.

You also did not choose it, which means something changed your settings without asking and may still be installed. Set your own search engine back, remove the extension or program that set looksafesearch.com, and check the browser's other settings, such as the start page and notification permissions, for further changes made at the same time.

Yes. Every search typed into the address bar goes to looksafesearch.com first, which is how it earns money. It can log the query, the time and an identifier for your browser, and some hijackers also collect the pages you visit through their extension.

The privacy policy of such sites usually allows sharing that data with partners. Once the hijacker is removed and your own search engine is set again, new searches no longer reach it. Searches already sent cannot be taken back, so avoid entering sensitive information until the clean-up is finished, and clear cookies afterwards.

Because the browser's default search engine was changed to it. LookSafeSearch.com did that through an extension, a program or a browser policy, and as long as that source remains, the setting points to looksafesearch.com.

The page then passes your query to a real search provider, so the results look almost normal, with extra sponsored links on top. Changing the search engine back on its own does not last, because the source resets it. Remove the extension or program first, then the policies if any, then set your own search engine.

We would not. Every query you type is logged by its operators and shared with their advertising partners, and the sponsored links at the top are chosen for payment, not relevance. Results that look like a download page or a support site may lead to scams.

The page will not damage Windows by itself, but there is no benefit in keeping it: the results come from another search engine anyway. Remove LookSafeSearch.com and use that search engine directly, by typing its address or choosing it in the browser settings.

We saw it in Chrome, Edge and Firefox. That does not mean the other browsers on your PC are safe: hijacker installers usually change every browser they find, and browser sync can carry an extension to other computers signed in to the same account.

Check the search engine, home page, new tab, extensions and policies in each browser you have, including ones you rarely open. Chrome and Edge profiles count separately, so switch to each profile and check it as well before you call the job done.

It knows what you searched for while it was your search engine, when, from which IP address and with which browser, and usually which results you opened. Tracking cookies let it connect those searches into a profile. It does not see your saved passwords or files.

After removing LookSafeSearch.com, delete the cookies and site data for looksafesearch.com so the profile cannot be continued, and remove it from the browser's list of saved search engines. Signing out of important sites and back in also replaces session cookies.

It may not help. Installers that add hijackers usually target every browser on the PC, and system-level changes such as the hosts file, DNS or proxy affect all browsers at once. A new browser also leaves the hijacker's program and extension in place, collecting data in the old one.

Remove LookSafeSearch.com properly first. After that, use whichever browser you prefer; Chrome, Edge and Firefox all let you set and protect your own search engine. Import your bookmarks only after the old browser is clean.

The hijacker is still installed, and it rewrites the setting whenever the browser starts or the extension updates. Changing the setting is the last step, not the first. Find what controls it: the search settings page usually names the extension, and a greyed-out field means a policy.

Remove that source, restart the browser, then pick your search engine and delete the hijacker's entry from the list of saved search engines so it cannot be chosen by accident. Check again after a day, when extensions have had a chance to update.

Partly. Many hijacker search pages pass your query to a real search engine and show its results, so the list looks familiar. What changes is the frame around it:

• extra sponsored links at the top
• the hijacker's own tracking
• sometimes a design that copies a known search engine

You can tell by the address bar. If it shows looksafesearch.com or another unfamiliar domain instead of the search engine you know, the results come through a middleman. Remove LookSafeSearch.com and search directly.

Fortect scans Windows for malware and unwanted programs and repairs the system files and settings they change, and its free scan shows what it finds on your PC before you decide anything.

For LookSafeSearch.com, follow the plan above as well: the browser steps take back permissions and settings that no scanner treats as a threat, and uninstalling the program that brought it removes the source.

Run Microsoft Defender's full scan and, if anything was found, its offline scan as a second opinion. If the symptoms are gone after the plan and both scans are clean, there is nothing more to do.