Max-Start.com virus - How to remove

Max-Start.com virus is a browser hijacker that can enter random computers without a user’s permission. It can affect Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome browsers. Once inside, the program is set as your start page and default search provider. If this happened to any of your browsers, keep on reading and you will learn how to remove Max-Start.com virus.

This hijacker spreads as a bundle together with plenty of freeware and shareware applications. You should be more careful when downloading any programs from the Internet and make sure you don’t allow them to make any unwanted changes in your system, like adding Max-Start.com virus. Always choose a Custom or Advanced installation and if offered to replace your homepage to some unknown website or add additional programs, do not accept that.

If Max-Start.com was already set as your default search engine and you try using it, you will see that it will display a lot of ads related to your search queries whenever you try to look for some information. Your search results will also include plenty of sponsored websites for the purpose of creating traffic for them. Beware that some of these websites can be malicious and you will have to face a risk to get your system infected by visiting them. It is highly recommended to remove Max-Start.com virus and use well known search providers instead.

Go to Control Panel, Add/Remove programs list and uninstall anything related to Max-Start.com from there. Some versions of this hijacker install software that blocks browser settings from changing. To identify them, scanning with Spyhunter or other reputable antispyware tool might be useful. Then you can uninstall the extensions and reset settings in your browsers.

How to remove Max-Start.com virus from Internet Explorer (older versions):

1. Click on the arrow on the right of the search box;
2. Do the following: on IE8-9 choose Manage Search providers, on IE7 click on Change search defaults;
3. Remove Max-Start.com from the list.

How to remove Max-Start.com virus from IE 11:

1. Click on the Settings icon (top right)->Manage Addons;
2. Select Search Providers;
3. Change the default search engine to Bing or Google;
4. If any of these search providers is not available, follow “Find more search providers” in the bottom of the screen and install Google.

How to remove Max-Start.com virus from Firefox:

1. Enter “about:config” in url bar. This will open settings page;
2. Type “Keyword.url” in the search box. Right click and reset it;
3. Type “browser.search.defaultengine” in the search box. Right click it and reset it;
4. Type “browser.search.selectedengine” in the search box. Right click it and reset it;
5. Type “browser.startup.homepage” in the search box. Right click it and reset;
6. Search for “browser.newtab.url”. Right-click and reset. This will make sure that the search page won’t launch on every new tab;
7. If the settings revert and scan with anti-malware programs are clean: close Firefox, open file explorer and enter %AppData% in the address bar. enter user.js in the search box. If this file exists, rename it and start Firefox again. You will have to repeat the steps above.

How to remove Max-Start.com virus from Google Chrome:

1. Click on the 3 horizontal lines icon on the browser toolbar;
2. Select Settings;
3. Select Basics ->Manage Search engines;
4. Remove unnecessary search engines from the list;
5. Go back to Settings. On Startup choose ‘Open blank page’ (you can remove undesired pages from the set pages link too);
6. If your New Tab page is hijacked, you will have to scan with anti-malware program or use New Tab Redirect extension from Chrome Store.

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