MyStart Search Protection
MyStart Search Protection Removal Guide
What is MyStart Search Protection?
What is MyStart Search Protection?
MyStart Search Protection is a potentially unwanted program (PUP) that has been created with an intension to protect other potentially unwanted programs. It spreads using misleading ‘bundling’ distribution method and is usually related to browser hijacker. It is known that once inside it corrupts DNS settings on each of the web browser that it finds on the target computer and sets mystart.com or mystartsearch.com as a default homepage and search engine. After doing so, MyStart Search Protection virus is responsible for making sure that those changes will remain and won’t be unchanged by other third party programs. When this misleading add-on is inside your computer, you may noticed such and similar notifications:
Search Settings Change Notification
MyStart Search Protection has blocked an attempt by another program to change your default search settings.
MyStart. Attempted Search Settings Change
An attempt has been made to switch your default search away from Search The Web:
Keep Search The Web
Disable default search protection and change my default search to: Google
The later notification may appear right after your attempts to change this your homepage and search engine manually. If you have already seen such and similar alerts, we highly recommend you to scan your PC with a reputable anti-spyware, such as FortectIntego because using the search engine that is set against your will may cause serious issues. Be aware that it seeks to earn the money from affiliate marketing and in order to do so tracks your online activities, delivers altered search results, makes its users visit unknown and sometimes unsafe websites and so on. All these operation may result in system slow downs, infiltration of other potentially unwanted programs on your computer and so on. Therefore, if goes without saying that you have to take needed actions to eliminate it from your computer..

How can MyStart Search Protection hijack my computer?
MyStart Search Protection can get inside your computer right after installing another free program from the Internet. That’s because this misleading add-on is mainly distributed using a well-known method that is called ‘bundling’. Developers of popular free software are paid by third parties for the possibility to add their advertisements alongside various download managers PDF creators, video streaming software and so on. That’s why it is very important to select and install freewares carefully. First of all, you should always read End-User’s License Agreement, Privacy Policy, comments and reviews related to your selected program and ensure that it’s reliable. After that, you should opt for Advanced or Custom installation option and carefully check every notification. Specifically look for those that has been already check by default and claim that you accept to install add-on, toolbar, plug-in or extension on your computer. Besides, never allow that your homepage or search engine would be replaced from Google, Yahoo or Bing to unknown one. In case SearchProtection.exe process running in the Windows Task Manager and mystart.com appears as your default homepage and search engine, do not waste your time because that’s a clear sign indicating that potentially unwanted program hides on your computer.
How to remove MyStart Search Protection virus?
Be careful with MyStart Search Protection redirect because this add-ons is closely related to browser hijacker and may force you to visit unsafe websites. Therefore, follow the guidelines that are below and get rid of it as soon as possible.
You may remove virus damage with a help of FortectIntego. SpyHunter 5Combo Cleaner and Malwarebytes are recommended to detect potentially unwanted programs and viruses with all their files and registry entries that are related to them.
Getting rid of MyStart Search Protection. Follow these steps
Uninstall from Windows
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Click Start → Control Panel → Programs and Features (if you are Windows XP user, click on Add/Remove Programs).
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If you are Windows 10 / Windows 8 user, then right-click in the lower left corner of the screen. Once Quick Access Menu shows up, select Control Panel and Uninstall a Program.
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Uninstall MyStart Search Protection and related programs
Here, look for MyStart Search Protection or any other recently installed suspicious programs. -
Uninstall them and click OK to save these changes.
Delete from macOS
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If you are using OS X, click Go button at the top left of the screen and select Applications.
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Wait until you see Applications folder and look for MyStart Search Protection or any other suspicious programs on it. Now right click on every of such entries and select Move to Trash.
Remove from Microsoft Edge
Delete unwanted extensions from MS Edge:
- Select Menu (three horizontal dots at the top-right of the browser window) and pick Extensions.
- From the list, pick the extension and click on the Gear icon.
- Click Remove.

Clear cookies and other browser data:
- Click on the Menu (three horizontal dots at the top-right of the browser window) and select Settings > Privacy, search, and services..
- Under Clear browsing data, pick Choose what to clear.
- Select Cookies and other site data and Cached images and files. (apart from passwords, although you might want to include Media licenses as well, if applicable) and click on Clear.

Restore new tab and homepage settings:
- Click the menu icon and choose Settings.
- Then find On startup section.
- Click Remove next to any suspicious startup page.
Reset MS Edge if the above steps did not work:
- Press on Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager.
- Click on More details arrow at the bottom of the window.
- Select Details tab.
- Now scroll down and locate every entry with Microsoft Edge name in it. Right-click on each of them and select End Task to stop MS Edge from running.

Instructions for Chromium-based Edge
Delete extensions from MS Edge (Chromium):
- Open Edge and click select Settings > Extensions.
- Delete unwanted extensions by clicking Remove.

Clear cache and site data:
- Click on Menu and go to Settings.
- Select Privacy, search and services.
- Under Clear browsing data, pick Choose what to clear.
- Under Time range, pick All time.
- Select Clear now.

Reset Chromium-based MS Edge:
- Click on Menu and select Settings.
- On the left side, pick Reset settings.
- Select Restore settings to their default values.
- Confirm with Reset.
- This will disable extensions and reset startup pages but will not delete bookmarks, saved passwords, or browsing history.

Remove from Mozilla Firefox (FF)
Remove dangerous extensions:
- Open Mozilla Firefox browser and click on the Menu (three horizontal lines at the top-right of the window).
- Select Add-ons.
- In here, select the unwanted extension and click Remove.

Reset the homepage:
- Click three horizontal lines at the top right corner to open the menu.
- Choose Settings.
- Under Home, set your preferred homepage and new tab settings.
Clear cookies and site data:
- Click Menu and pick Settings.
- Go to Privacy & Security section.
- Scroll down to locate Cookies and Site Data.
- Click on Clear Data…
- Select Cookies and Site Data and Temporary cached files and pages, then click Clear.

Reset Mozilla Firefox
If clearing the browser as explained above did not help, reset Mozilla Firefox:
- Open Mozilla Firefox browser and click the Menu.
- Go to Help and then choose Troubleshooting Information.

- Under Give Firefox a tune up section, click on Refresh Firefox…
- Once the pop-up shows up, confirm the action by pressing on Refresh Firefox.

Remove from Google Chrome
Delete malicious extensions from Google Chrome:
- Open Google Chrome, click on the Menu (three vertical dots at the top-right corner) and select More tools > Extensions.
- In the newly opened window, you will see all the installed extensions. Uninstall all suspicious extensions related to the unwanted program by clicking Remove.

Clear cache and web data from Chrome:
- Click on Menu and pick Settings.
- Under Privacy and security, select Clear browsing data.
- Select Browsing history, Cookies and other site data, as well as Cached images and files.
- Click Clear data.

Change your homepage:
- Click menu and choose Settings.
- Look for a suspicious site in the On startup section.
- Click on Open a specific or set of pages and click on three dots to find the Remove option.
Reset Google Chrome:
If the previous methods did not help you, reset Google Chrome to eliminate all the unwanted components:
- Click on Menu and select Settings.
- In the Settings, scroll down and click Advanced.
- Scroll down and locate Reset and clean up section.
- Now click Restore settings to their original defaults.
- Confirm with Reset settings.

Delete from Safari
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Remove dangerous extensions
Open Safari web browser and click on Safari in menu at the top left of the screen. Once you do this, select Preferences.
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Here, select Extensions and look for MyStart Search Protection or other suspicious entries. Click on the Uninstall button to get rid each of them.
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Reset Safari
Open Safari browser and click on Safari in menu section at the top left of the screen. Here, select Reset Safari....
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Now you will see a detailed dialog window filled with reset options. All of those options are usually checked, but you can specify which of them you want to reset. Click the Reset button to complete MyStart Search Protection removal process.
After uninstalling this potentially unwanted program (PUP) and fixing each of your web browsers, we recommend you to scan your PC system with a reputable anti-spyware. This will help you to get rid of MyStart Search Protection registry traces and will also identify related parasites or possible malware infections on your computer. For that you can use our top-rated malware remover: FortectIntego, SpyHunter 5Combo Cleaner or Malwarebytes.
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