What is Defense-search.xyz

Defense-search.xyz is a so-called “redirect virus” that modifies settings of Google Chrome, Safari, Mozilla Firefox, IE, or Edge browsers without user consent. As a result, the user is forced to visit http://www.defense-search.xyz/ every time he/she launches the browser. Since browser hijacker is used for income generation from advertising, you may notice an increased amount of pop-up ads as well as random redirects to commercial websites. Be careful, these commercial offers are displayed in order to trick you into downloading rogue software or impose unnecessary paid services. In some cases, it might trigger Bing redirect, and although it is a legitimate website, the user will still be provided with misleading results that can help you visit ad sites. Thus, the user can click on a link and end up on an absolutely irrelevant website that has nothing in common with the required one. The only way to stop such activity is to remove Defense-search.xyz from your computer.

Brief overview:

Name	Defense-Search
Type of threat	Browser hijacker
URL address	http://www.defense-search.xyz/
Symptoms	Browser hijacker changes homepage and search engine of browser so that users are forced to use them. It fills the targeted browser with commercial content in form of pop-ups, banners, in-text links, audio/video ads, etc. Also, hijacker can occasionally cause redirects to third-party websites
Infiltration	Freeware programs, illegal software, software cracks, torrents, fake updates
Manual Removal	To eliminate threat manually, you should remove all files and applications related to the browser hijacker
Removal Tool	To completely get rid of hijacker, We recommend using SpyHunter. This is the only way you can be 100% sure that all components of the threat are removed from the system.

How to uninstall Defense-search.xyz hijacker from your computer?

The easiest and most modern way of removing pop-ups, trojans, ransomware, or other viruses is to use automatic removal tools. See our Anti-malware tools below for further instructions.

Recommended Anti-malware tools:

Also, you can try to uninstall Defense-search.xyz hijacker manually.

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Sometimes, an extension cannot be removed because it is supposedly “Managed by your organization”. If this is your case, we recommend that you also use this guide – How to remove Managed by your organization from Chrome?

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Step 1: Remove Defense-search.xyz hijacker from Control Panel/Applications

Windows XP:

1. Click Start.
2. Control Panel.
3. Then click Add or Remove Programs.
4. Find Defense-search.xyz hijacker.
5. Click Uninstall.

Learn more about uninstallation of programs in Windows XP.

Windows 7/Windows Vista:

1. Click Start.
2. Then Control Panel.
3. Click Uninstall a Program.
4. Find Defense-search.xyz and click Uninstall.

Learn more about uninstallation of programs in Windows 7.

Windows 8/Windows 8.1:

1. Open the Menu.
2. Click Search.
3. After that click Apps.
4. Then Control Panel.
5. Then as in Windows 7, click Uninstall a Program under Programs.
6. Find Defense-search.xyz, select it and click Uninstall.

Learn more about uninstallation of programs in Windows 8 (8.1).

Windows 10:

1. Click on the Start button (or press the Windows key) to open the Start menu, click on the Settings at the top.
2. Click on App & features on the left menu.
3. On the right side, locate Defense-search.xyz and click it, then click on the Uninstall button.
4. Click on Uninstall to confirm.

Learn more about uninstallation of programs in Windows 10

Note: If you can’t find required program, sort programs by date in Control panel and search for last installed programs.

Mac OSX:

1. Open Finder
2. In the Finder sidebar, click Applications
3. If you see Uninstall Defense-search.xyz or Defense-search.xyz Uninstaller (or other suspicious apps that you’ve never installed), double-click it and follow instructions
4. Drag unwanted application Defense-search.xyz from the Applications folder to the Trash (located on the right side of the Dock)

Learn more about uninstallation of programs in Mac OSX

After that uninstall Defense-search.xyz from your browser.

Step 2: Remove Defense-search.xyz from browsers

Google Chrome:

If you cannot remove the extension from Google Chrome, as the delete icon is greyed out and the extension is marked as “managed by your organization”, you should first perform steps described in the How to remove Managed by your organization from Chrome? article and only then proceed with the removal.

1. Open Google Chrome
2. Click on 3-dots icon in the upper right corner and select Tools.
3. Choose Extensions.
4. Find Defense-search.xyz.
5. Click the trash can icon to remove it.

Learn more about removing extensions from Chrome.

Safari:

1. Open Safari
2. Click Safari menu.
3. Choose Extensions.
4. Find Defense-search.xyz or other suspicious extensions.
5. Click Uninstall button to remove it.

Learn more about removing extensions from Safari.

Mozilla Firefox:

1. Open Firefox.
2. Push Shift + Ctrl + A.
3. Choose Defense-search.xyz.
4. Click Disable or Remove button.

Learn more about removing extensions from Firefox.

Microsoft Edge:

1. Press Settings and more button
2. Choose and Click on Extensions
3. Find Defense-search.xyz extension and click settings
4. Press Uninstall button
5. Start Edge again

Learn more about removing extensions from Edge.

Internet Explorer:

1. Open IE.
2. Push Alt + T.
3. Click Manage Add-ons.
4. Select Toolbars and Extensions.
5. Click Disable Defense-search.xyz.
6. Click More information link in the left-bottom corner.
7. Click Remove button.
8. If this button is grayed out – perform alternative steps.

Learn more about removing extensions from IE.

Step 3: Resetting your browser search and homepage settings

Reset browser setting in Safari:

1. Open Safari.
2. Click on the Safari menu.
3. Choose Reset Safari….
4. Click Reset button.

Learn more about resetting browser settings in Safari.

Reset browser setting in Google Chrome:

1. Click the Chrome menu (3 bar button) in the top right corner.
2. Choose Settings.
3. Click Show advanced settings.
4. Go to Reset browser settings section.
5. Click Reset browser settings.
6. In the dialog that appears, click Reset.

Learn more about resetting browser settings in Google Chrome.

Reset browser setting in Mozilla Firefox:

1. Open Mozilla Firefox.
2. Go to Help.
3. Go to Troubleshooting information.
4. Click Reset Firefox… button.

Learn more about resetting browser settings in Mozilla Firefox.