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Published on Friday, 09 December 2016 12:07

What is Google Custom Search Engine and how to remove cse.google.com redirect

In recent years, the activity of viruses and all sorts of unwanted programs has greatly increased. People are becoming very suspicious, and sometimes take useful programs for viruses, swelling around the real sensation. Not so long ago we could observe such a fuss about Rundll32.exe, which is a basic, harmless Windows program. Now, one of Google services, called cse.google.com has become a victim of publicity. This is the official Google service which allows user to create his own search engine and configure his own search. In addition, you can enjoy benefits such as the absence of the Google logo, advertising or personalized search. This feature is not very widely known and used primarily by professionals. However, cse.google.com has one feature that allows online criminals to use it for their own purposes. In this article, we will explain to you what is cse.google.com, why people consider it a virus, and how to remove a program that uses this service to achieve malicious goals.

 

 

What is Google Custom Search Engine

Browser hijackers are the advertising programs which modify the user's browser settings so that the user can not perform a normal search on the Internet, and receive irrelevant results on all requests. In addition, working in the infected browser user is constantly faced with redirections to malicious sites, and including the primary site of hijacker. Hijackers taken steps to ensure that the user can not remove them from computer, and could not change the browser settings. Among these measures are such as: changes in the properties of browser’s shortcuts (when you click on the browser’s shortcut you not only run the browser, but also open the hijacker’s page), add the strings in the registry, which continue to redirect user to a malicious website, even if he resets browser settings, and so on. 99% browser hijackers are created using open code of Google search engine. This method allows scammers to take complete search engine, change its name, replace logo and start using it for the earnings on advertising. In fact, cse.google.com service is used by browser hijackers for many years, because this service allows to set up a search engine so that it will not take into account the normal sites, and will perform search only among those sites, that will be marked by the user.

The so-called cse.google.com “virus” can be a very blatant attempt to earn money. Fraudsters were too lazy to even draw their own logo and use the basic version of CSE (Custom Search Engine), thereby saving on the designer, and misleading users. When user sees a web address that contains the word “Google” - he becomes quieter, and tries not to clean the system from adware. The second option: maybe cse.google.com is just a mistake. Hackers simply forgot to bring the work to the end, or, for whatever reasons, have uploaded unfinished version of the program to the Web. We can assume that this browser hijacker simply has no name, but it does not change the fact that it must be immediately removed from your computer and from your browser.

How to remove cse.google.com “virus” from your computer

 

Removal of this browser hijacker can be done both manually and with the help of antivirus. In this particular case, you are likely to be more convenient to use antivirus program, so we do not know the exact name of the viral file. If you decide to remove the virus manually you will have to literally inspect every process, every program and every task, in order to understand which one is malicious. In the case of antivirus use it will be enough to scan the system in usual way, because antivirus software methods aren’t only based on file names, but also on their structure and behavior. We have prepared for you the instructions for manual removal.

Step 1. Uninstall recently added programs from the system

It is an optional step, if you have no installed software with the same name, go to the next step.

Instruction for Windows XP and Windows 7

1. Click Start, click Control Panel, and then double-click Add or Remove Programs.

2. In the Currently installed programs box, click the program, and then click Change or Change/Remove.

3. Follow the instructions that appear on the screen to make the changes that you want.

 

Instruction for Windows 8

1. Point to the upper-right corner of the screen, move the mouse pointer down, and tap Search.

2. Enter Control panel in the search box, and then click Control Panel.

3. Under View by: select Large Icons, and then click Programs and features.

4. Click the program, and then click Uninstall.

5. Follow the instructions on the screen.

 

Instruction for Windows 10

1. On the field Search Windows type 'Control Panel'

2. Click Uninstall a program

3. Select Cse.google.com and press Uninstall

 

Step 2. Check default network settings

1. Click Start, click Control Panel, and then double-click Network and Internet.

2. Select Network and Sharing Center

3. Click Change Adapter Settings

4. Right-click your active internet connection and select Properties

5. Select Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4), and click Properties

6. Put tick near "Obtain an IP address automatically" and "Obtain DNS server address automatically"

7. Click Ok

Step 3. Check browser shortcut

1. Right-click on shortcut

2. Select Properties

3. Check the field Target: there must be only way to your browser, e.g.:

Google Chrome: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe"

Internet Explorer: "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe"

Mozilla Firefox: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe"

Opera: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Opera\launcher.exe"

Safari: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Safari\"

Step 4. Remove Cse.google.com from browser settings

 

Instructions for Google Chrome

1. Launch Google Chrome

2. Click Menu (Customize and control Google Chrome)

3. Select Settings

4. Scroll down and click Show advanced settings...

5. Click Reset settings

Instructions for Mozilla Firefox

1. Launch Mozilla Firefox

2. Click on Help on menu bar

3. Select Troubleshooting information

4. Click Reset Firefox...

Instructions for Internet Explorer

1. Launch Internet Explorer

2. Click Tools (You can press ALT+X on the keyboard)

3. Select Internet Options

4. Select Advanced tab

5. Click Reset... button

6. Put the tick near 'Delete personal settings' and click Reset

Instructions for Opera

1. Start Opera

2. Click Menu (Customize and Control Opera)

3. Select Settings > Browser tab

4. Select On Startup - Open a specific page or set of pages - Press button "Set pages" and change Homepage to your favorite one

Instructions for Safari

1. Open Safari browser

2. Click Menu (Display a menu of General Safari Settings)

3. Select Reset Safari...

4. Click Reset

 

Step 5. Fix registry

• Click the Start button
• Type Regedit.exe and press Enter
• Press Ctrl+F and type 'Cse.google.com'
• Click 'Find Next'
• Delete the entries that were found

 

 

We hope that by now you have already removed the advertising program, and it remains to discuss only one question: how do you protect yourself from these programs. To cope with this problem you do not need any additional software, and it will be enough to adhere to few simple rules:

 

• First, you should heed the warnings of anti-virus software and browser. If you see a message stating that the site you're trying to visit may be dangerous for your computer - it's true, and you should close it immediately.
• Some sites even if the browser does not warn you of the danger, may contain malicious files, or offer them for download. These sites are fairly easy to recognize, because of persistent requests to download something, the abundance of advertising and limited topics. The most common topics of such sites are related to pornography, gambling on the Internet, cheaper browser-based games as well as the earnings on the Internet, on the stock exchange or in the currency market.
• If you install any software, you should carefully follow all the installation steps to prevent the installation of unwanted software.
• If you often use e-mail, then you should get a program like "sandbox", which allows you to open any files contained in the letters, without giving them access to the system.

 

Follow these rules, and your computer will always be clean and free from viruses. If you have any questions about the removal of cse.google.com from your PC - you are welcome to ask them in the comments.