Findwide Search

Some search engines provide their own toolbars for users to download and install on their computers. Findwide Search is one of these search engines. It is a genuine search engine that does not use a customize search of any other major search engine and it often offers users to download Search.us Toolbar from its homepage to improve the overall web browsing experience. Since Findwide Search is distributing Search.us Toolbar, it is directly related to Search.us search engine. Users often claim that the toolbar cannot be removed from their browser and Findwide Search functions as browser hijacker, because their home page address gets changed to either search.findwide.com or search.us.com. However, it is not hard to remove Findwide Search manually, and the truth is that users are often responsible for having installed the plugin themselves.

Findwide Search and its toolbar is compatible with Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer web browsers. When you download the toolbar from Findwide Search homepage and initiate the installation, you are prompted whether you want to change your home page and default search engine to search.us. Thus, one cannot claim that Findwide Search enters the system surreptitiously, because the user is informed about the oncoming changes. It is possible to download Findwide Search from a third party website as well bundled with freeware, but even so it is very unlikely that the plugin will not prompt you about the oncoming installation.

If you install the full version of Findwide Search toolbar, however, your home page and default search engine do get changed, and there is also Search.us toolbar installed on your browser. The toolbar provides instant access to social networking websites (Facebook, Twitter), your email inbox (at Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo!) and even weather widgets and Windows system calculator. The toolbar is not dangerous in itself, but it may slow down your browser and collect various system-related information to provide you with customized search results. Although it is done in order to provide you with the best service, in case Findwide Search gets exploited by malicious third party, you may face various security risks and even malware infection.

To remove Findwide Search from your computer, do the following:

Manual Findwide Search removal

Instructions for Windows 8

1. Move mouse cursor to the bottom right corner of your screen.
2. Click Settings on Charms bar and go to Control Panel.
3. Select Uninstall a program and remove Search.us.

Instructions for Windows Vista & Windows 7

1. Open Start Menu and select Control Panel.
2. Go to Uninstall a program and remove Search.us.

Instructions for Windows XP

1. Open Start menu and click Control Panel.
2. Select Add or Remove programs and uninstall Search.us.

Restore default browser settings

Internet Explorer

1. Press Alt+X and click Manage add-ons. Go to Search Providers on the left.
2. Set a new default search engine and remove Search. Close the window.
3. Press Alt+X again and select Internet Options.
4. Delete start.search.us.com or search.findwide.com from home page section under General tab.
5. Enter a new home page address and click OK.

Mozilla Firefox

1. Press Firefox button and move your mouse cursor to Help.
2. When another menu appears, click Troubleshooting information.
3. Click Reset Firefox button on the right.
4. Click Reset Firefox again when another box appears.
5. Click Finish.

Google Chrome

1. Press Alt+F and go to Tools.
2. Open Extensions and remove Search.us.com Toolbar. Click Settings on the left.
3. Choose Open a page or set of pages. Click Set Pages.
4. Delete start.search.us.com or search.findwide.com and enter a new home page address. Click OK.
5. Select Manage search engines under Search.
6. Set a new default search engine and remove Search from the list. Click Done.

Scan your computer with SpyHunter free scanner to see whether you have deleted all the undesirable files from your system. Invest in a computer security program if you need to safeguard the system against a number of threats.