Protect My Search Daily: what it is and how to remove it
Protect My Search Daily is the browser hijacker that promotes other potentially unwanted programs and installs applications of this type on the web browsers to control the internet search results. Browser hijackers supposed to prevent users from harmful sites, provide improved search results, and offer other valuable features, as promotional advertisements for their tool claims.
Facts checked October 6, 2026. Removal steps tested on Windows 11 (26H2) and checked against Microsoft's and the browser makers' current documentation. Sections marked as our earlier report are the original text: they describe the threat as it was then and have not been reviewed since. The 2026 status, the removal steps and the questions are current.
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Protect My Search Daily: summary
| Distribution | Developers promote their products on various misleading sites, advertising services. Also, insecure freeware installations lead to PUP infiltrations because users skip through important steps allowing all included apps to get downloaded |
|---|---|
| Name | Protect My Search Daily |
| Type | Browser hijacker/ unwanted browser application |
| Symptoms | Internet browser settings get manipulated and every search attempt online redirects user to possibly harmful pages and advertising services, injects results with commercial banners, pop-ups, links |
| Danger | Users get forced to visit hijackers' site and other services that expose to possibly malicious content, PUP collects and tracks data regarding users' browsing habits and preferences |
| Promotional page | protectmysearchdaily.com |
| Removal | Scan the PC with security software to find and remove the malware and anything installed with it. Fortect scans Windows for malware and repairs the system files and settings it damaged. Remove it nowTo use the full-featured product, you have to purchase a license for Fortect. The scan is free. |
Show 7 more facts
| Detection names | No Microsoft detection name is known |
|---|---|
| Damage | Not recorded in the old report |
| Evidence | 4 write-ups by security sites; details still limited |
| Search page | protectmysearchdaily.com |
| Browsers | Chrome, Edge and Firefox |
| First seen | 2 March 2020 |
| Facts checked | 6 October 2026 |
Is Protect My Search Daily dangerous? What it collects
From our report of Mar 2020 · not reviewed since
Protect My Search Daily – a browser extension that should provide secure search and indicate cyber threats for you
Protect My Search Daily is the browser hijacker that promotes other potentially unwanted programs and installs applications of this type on the web browsers to control the internet search results.
Browser hijackers supposed to prevent users from harmful sites, provide improved search results, and offer other valuable features, as promotional advertisements for their tool claims. But this PUP falls in the category of potentially unwanted programs because it gets distributed stealthily and without users' knowledge or permission.
Even though the program resembles a legitimate search engine or a site that provides proper online search results there is no need to use it as your online search provider since it can expose you to possibly harmful content or lead to malware installations.
The so-called Protect My Search Daily virus is the application focusing on creating redirects and changing particular settings of the browsing tools, so every search goes through the useless domain.
The program is advertised on protectmysearchdaily.com and other shady pages that promote such unwanted programs capable of tracking your searches and other data related to online behavior. Unfortunately, due to such promotional material, people tend to install the application without even realizing that this is a cyber threat and intrusive PUP.
Protect My Search Daily is advertised as the extension that indicates unsafe websites and highlights those domains on the list of search results, so custom searches improve the performance and safety of your machine. However, this tool controls your browsers' search bar and redirects to insecure pages. Visiting unsafe websites can lead to the installation of more severe malware, so you should avoid such activities as much as possible.
Protect My Search Daily supposed to prevent users from accessing harmful pages, but the app itself exposes you to questionable pages by showing altered search results and rerouting online searches through a fake search engine. Unfortunately, people tend to install and download such app unknowingly when the freeware installation setup is not fully disclosing additional programs pre-packed in the bundle.
Developers of this particular browser extension claim that the app is preventing users from visiting harmful pages. However, continuous redirects triggered by Protect My Search Daily exposes a user to sites filled with advertisements, shady promotional content and can even automatically trigger downloads of unwanted and intrusive ad-supported applications.
Protect My Search Daily is one of many potentially unwanted programs that are related to advertising sites and services, the content it shows on the screen of the hijacked web browser is designed to cause more views and page visits on sponsored pages and advertisers' domains.
This is the reason why you need to remove Protect My Search Daily as soon as possible. When PUP has more time on the machine, it causes more and more pop-ups, redirects, and reroutes to questionable sites.
Also, all those ads and sites collect data about your preferences and habits while browsing online, so advertisements delivered to your screen are more geared towards your particular habits and preferences. Personalized ads ensure that you click on the material and go to the needed site or even purchase the promoted product or program.
Experts always note that installing anything from promotional ads or sites that offer various browser or system tools can be dangerous due to additional installations and not disclosed automatic downloads. Protect My Search Daily can be included as extra on installation setup for other browser tools or freeware that may look trustworthy.
However, PUP developers make the Protect My Search Daily removal processes even more difficult when they design these PUAs to control additional processes, change settings, and even install programs or files. When browser hijacker gets on the system, it can easily access the registry entries and add new or alter existing ones to keep the PUP more persistent and harder to terminate.
Protect My Search Daily PUP itself manages to manipulate settings like:
It also installs toolbars, changes bookmarks, adds extensions, or tools on the machine or web browser that has to Protect My Search Daily enabled already. This is the reason why you need a proper anti-malware tool for the cleaning processes, so all the parts of the intruder get deleted at once.
- homepage;
- search engine;
- default new tab.
From our report of Mar 2020 · not reviewed since
Third-party downloaders and installers shouldn't be trusted
Bundling is the method that gets employed for the distribution of such intrusive applications, so paying attention to details and choosing freeware sources can be crucial in such infections.
PUP developers trick people into downloading, adding, or installing unwanted software by promoting tools online or included the installation as an additional one when people skip through steps if the installation of the desired software.
Such information about additional downloads and the unwanted programs included in the bundle gets hidden behind Custom or Advanced settings. If you go for Recommended or Quick options of the installation, you automatically agree to get all those tools and programs without having the option to deselect them.
So keep the system clean by choosing proper sources of programs, relying on official pages, developers' sites and always go for Advanced or Custom installation options.
From our report of Mar 2020 · not reviewed since
More from our earlier report on Protect My Search Daily
- Protect My Search Daily removal should give the best results when you rely on proper anti-malware tools that can scan the machine fully and eliminate all PUPs, related programs, and files
- Get pr a similar optimizer for the job
Check your browser and PC
- Address:
protectmysearchdaily.com
How to remove Protect My Search Daily
How to remove Protect My Search Daily and get your search engine back
Remove the extension first.
The search settings only stay fixed once nothing on the PC can change them again.
Step 1: Remove extensions you did not add
In Chrome open
chrome://extensions, in Edgeedge://extensions, and in Firefox the menu > Extensions and themes.Remove every extension you do not remember adding, especially search, new tab, coupon, PDF, weather or video downloader add-ons. Check every browser and every profile, because each keeps its own list.
If an extension has no Remove button or comes back, a browser policy holds it (see "Managed by your organization" in the procedure below). The pages are the same on Windows 11 and Windows 10.
Chrome on Windows 11: More > Extensions > Manage extensions. Full procedure with screenshots: Remove a browser extension
Step 2: Put the search engine back and delete protectmysearchdaily.com
In Chrome open Settings > Search engine > Manage search engines and site search, make an engine you trust the default, and delete
protectmysearchdaily.comfrom the list.In Edge type
search engineinto the search box at the top of Settings and open Manage search engines; in Firefox use Settings > Search. Then check the homepage and the new tab page in the same settings, because hijackers change all three.If protectmysearchdaily.com is back after a restart, an extension, a program or a policy still sets it, so finish the other steps and check again. The settings are the same on Windows 11 and Windows 10.
Chrome on Windows 11: check Search engine and On startup. Full procedure with screenshots: Reset a browser and fix a hijacked search engine
Step 3: Uninstall programs you did not mean to install
Protect My Search Daily rarely comes alone: it is usually installed by, or together with, a free program. In Windows 11 open Settings > Apps > Installed apps, in Windows 10 Settings > Apps > Apps & features, and sort by install date.
Uninstall every entry from the day the trouble began that you did not install on purpose, for example a download manager, a converter or a browser you never chose.
Keep drivers and entries from Microsoft, Intel, AMD, NVIDIA or your PC's maker unless you are sure.
Full procedure with screenshots: Uninstall a program or app in Windows On uGetFix
Step 4: Reset the browser
A reset removes what the steps above could miss:
- changed start pages
- site permissions
- hidden settings
In Chrome open Settings > Reset settings > Restore settings to their original defaults; in Edge Settings > Reset settings; in Firefox Help > More troubleshooting information > Refresh Firefox.
Tip: Bookmarks and saved passwords stay, while extensions are turned off and the search engine and start page return to the defaults.
Reset every browser on the PC, including Edge, which Windows 11 and Windows 10 always have.
Chrome on Windows 11: Settings > Reset settings. Full procedure with screenshots: Reset a browser and fix a hijacked search engine
Step 5: Scan the PC, then run the offline scan
A scan finds the parts of Protect My Search Daily that the manual steps cannot see. In Windows Security > Virus & threat protection > Scan options, start a Full scan and quarantine what it reports.
Follow it with Microsoft Defender Antivirus (offline scan) > Scan now, which restarts the PC and checks the disk while Windows and the malware are not running.
It takes about 15 minutes and works the same in Windows 11 and Windows 10. If either scan finds something, run the full scan again after removal until it comes back clean.
Windows 11: Windows Security > Virus & threat protection > Scan options. Full procedure with screenshots: Run a Microsoft Defender Offline scan
Instructions for each browser and system
The detailed steps for every browser and system this guide covers. Open the one you use.
Uninstall from Windows
Clean the machine from any PUPs and make sure to delete all parts of the Protect My Search Daily PUA
Uninstall from Windows 10/8:
- Type Control Panel into the Windows search box and open the result.
- Under Programs, select Uninstall a program.
Uninstall from Windows 7/XP:
- Click on Windows Start > Control Panel (Windows XP users should click on Add/Remove Programs).
- In Control Panel, select Programs > Uninstall a program.
Remove the unwanted program:
- In the Programs and Features window, look for any recently installed suspicious entries, select them, and click Uninstall.
- If User Account Control appears, click Yes to confirm, then complete the removal.
Remove from Google Chrome
Clean your browser by resetting Chrome to default fully
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.
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.
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)
Eliminate Protect My Search Daily by resetting the web browser to default
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.
Delete from Safari
Remove dangerous extensions:
- Open Safari, click Safari in the menu at the top-left of the screen, and select Preferences.
- Go to the Extensions tab, look for any suspicious entries, and click Uninstall to remove them.
Clear history and website data:
- Click Safari in the menu and pick Clear History.
- Set Clear to all history and confirm with Clear History.
Reset Safari:
- Click Safari in the menu and select Preferences > Advanced.
- Enable Show Develop menu in menu bar.
- From the menu bar, click Develop and select Empty Caches.
Delete from macOS
Remove the unwanted application:
- From the menu bar, select Go > Applications.
- In the Applications folder, look for any suspicious entries, then drag them to Trash (or right-click and pick Move to Trash).
Delete leftover files and folders:
- Select Go > Go to Folder.
- Enter /Library/Application Support and remove any suspicious folders related to the unwanted program.
- Repeat the same check in the /Library/LaunchAgents and /Library/LaunchDaemons folders, deleting any suspicious entries.
- Finally, empty the Trash to permanently remove the leftovers.
Reset Internet Explorer
Remove dangerous add-ons:
- Open Internet Explorer, click on the Gear icon (IE menu) on the top-right corner of the browser
- Pick Manage Add-ons.
- You will see a Manage Add-ons window. Here, look for suspicious plugins. Click on these entries and select Disable.
Change your homepage if it was altered:
- Open IE and click on the Gear icon.
- Select Internet Options.
- In the General tab, delete the Home page address and replace it by your preferred one (for example, Google.com).
- Click Apply and then select OK.
Delete temporary files:
- Press on the Gear icon and select Internet Options.
- Under Browsing history, click Delete...
- Select relevant fields and press Delete.
Reset Internet Explorer:
- Click on Gear icon > Internet options and select Advanced tab.
- Select Reset.
- In the new window, check Delete personal settings and select Reset.
Protect your privacy - employ a VPN
There are several ways how to make your online time more private - you can access an incognito tab.
However, there is no secret that even in this mode, you are tracked for advertising purposes. There is a way to add an extra layer of protection and create a completely anonymous web browsing practice with the help of VPN. This software reroutes traffic through different servers, thus leaving your IP address and geolocation in disguise.
Besides, it is based on a strict no-log policy, meaning that no data will be recorded, leaked, and available for both first and third parties. The combination of a secure web browser and VPN will let you browse the Internet without a feeling of being spied or targeted by criminals.
No backups? No problem. Use a data recovery tool
If you wonder how data loss can occur, you should not look any further for answers - human errors, malware attacks, hardware failures, power cuts, natural disasters, or even simple negligence.
In some cases, lost files are extremely important, and many straight out panic when such an unfortunate course of events happen. Due to this, you should always ensure that you prepare proper data backups on a regular basis.
If you were caught by surprise and did not have any backups to restore your files from, not everything is lost. is one of the leading file recovery solutions you can find on the market - it is likely to restore even lost emails or data located on an external device.
From our report of Mar 2020 · not reviewed since
Protect My Search Daily has many components installed on the machine, so get rid of them all with AV tools
Protect My Search Daily virus fakes the legitimacy by redirecting your online searches through engine resembling Yahoo or Bing, but this is a fake search engine that generates unique results but filled with hyperlinks, advertisements, banners and other content that can possibly lead to malware infiltrations or expose you to the dangerous material. The potentially unwanted program and other sites, applications can gather information about you.
Since that data can be misused and needed for generating revenue, you should remove Protect My Search Daily as soon as possible. The more time PUP has on the systems, the more advertising material you encounter, and the more details about your browsing sessions get accessed and gathered. You can become a victim of identity theft or experience other privacy issues.
The best option for such stealthy intruders is an anti-malware tool and a proper system scan. When you go for such Protect My Search Daily removal method, you can eliminate all related applications and delete files associated with the particular intruder.
Anti-malware tools check various system parts and places, so you don't need to find all programs manually. The only manual option is browser resetting, but you can find a guide for that below.
Questions about Protect My Search Daily
Why does my search engine keep changing to protectmysearchdaily.com?
Because something keeps setting it. An extension can change the search engine every time the browser starts, and an ad-supported program in Windows can do it for every browser and re-add the extension after you remove it. Some hijackers also add a policy that locks the setting.
Changing the search engine back only works once the source is gone. Remove extensions you do not recognise, uninstall programs installed around the time protectmysearchdaily.com first appeared, and then set the search engine again. If it still returns, check the browser for the Managed by your organization message and follow the policy steps in this guide.
Is protectmysearchdaily.com a virus?
It is a browser hijacker, not a virus in the classic sense. protectmysearchdaily.com is a search page that an extension or program set as your default without a clear choice from you.
It does not destroy files or spread to other PCs, but it takes control of your searches, collects them and shows ads, and the software behind it is often bundled with other unwanted programs.
Many antivirus products flag such software as potentially unwanted. Removing the extension or program and resetting the search engine is enough in most cases. A full scan afterwards checks for anything else that came with it.
What is protectmysearchdaily.com?
It is the search page used by the browser hijacker Protect My Search Daily. It has no search index of its own: it forwards your queries to another search engine and adds ads and tracking along the way.
People rarely choose it on purpose; it becomes the default search engine, home page or new tab after an extension, program or policy changes the browser settings. The page itself is not malware, but it should not be in your browser if you did not set it. The steps above remove the source and restore your settings.
Is protectmysearchdaily.com dangerous?
It is not designed to infect the PC, but it is not neutral either. It logs searches, adds sponsored results that are hard to tell apart from real ones, and its ad partners are not checked as strictly as those of major search engines.
Some hijacker pages have shown ads for fake updates, tech support scams and unwanted software. The main harm is to privacy. Remove Protect My Search Daily, and if you entered personal data on sites reached through its results, check those sites carefully.
Do I have to fix every browser?
Yes, every one where the search engine or start page changed. In the cases we checked, Protect My Search Daily affected Chrome, Edge and Firefox.
Each browser stores its own search settings and extensions, so fixing one does not fix the others, and Windows-level changes such as shortcuts can affect each browser differently. Work through them one at a time:
- remove the extension
- check the policies
- restore the search engine
- start page
If you sync a browser, stay signed in so the fix spreads to your other computers.
Did protectmysearchdaily.com record my searches?
Almost certainly. Logging is the point of a hijacker search page: each query, with your IP address, browser details and the result you clicked, is valuable to advertisers.
The operators of protectmysearchdaily.com can store and share that data under their own privacy policy, which you never agreed to knowingly. There is no way to delete it from their side. What you can do is stop the flow:
- remove Protect My Search Daily
- clear cookies and site data for protectmysearchdaily.com
- treat sensitive searches made in the meantime as known to a third party
What do I lose if I reset Chrome or Edge?
Less than you might think. A reset turns off all extensions, which you can turn back on one by one, restores the default search engine, home page, new tab and pinned tabs, and clears cookies, so you are signed out of most sites.
Bookmarks, history, saved passwords and autofill data stay. Firefox's equivalent, Refresh Firefox, keeps the same essentials but removes add-ons completely. Before you reset, make sure you know your main passwords or have them saved, since you will need to sign in again.
Why can't I change my search engine back?
Because something keeps setting it. If an extension controls the search engine, Chrome and Edge show a note that an extension is controlling this setting, and your change is reverted. If a policy controls it, the field is greyed out and the browser shows Managed by your organization.
Remove the extension first, then the policies, and only then change the search engine; the change will stay. If it still reverts, look for a program in Installed apps or a scheduled task that reinstalls the extension.
Why does my search page look slightly different?
Because it is not your search engine's own page. Protect My Search Daily sends searches to protectmysearchdaily.com, which may copy the colours and layout of a known search engine while adding its own ads and tracking. Small differences give it away:
- an unfamiliar address
- more ads than usual
- a different logo
- a search box with a brand name you do not recognise
Remove the hijacker and set your search engine again from the browser's settings to get the real page back. Then delete the hijacker's entry from the saved search engines list.
Will Fortect remove Protect My Search Daily?
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 Protect My Search Daily, 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.
Sources
- Wikipedia: Potentially unwanted program (read October 6, 2026)
- ZDNet: Unwanted bundled software is way more aggressive than malware (read October 6, 2026)
- Virusai: Virusai (read October 6, 2026)
- FTC: How to recognize, remove and avoid malware (read October 6, 2026)
- Microsoft Learn: Microsoft Defender Offline (read October 6, 2026)