Thesafebrowsing.com - How to remove

Thesafebrowsing.com is a site associated with the Safe Browsing extension. It toggles the SafeSearch setting (filter adult and violent material out of results) in your browser. It also collects your usage data so that it can make money off of your searches.

While Thesafebrowsing.com isn’t dangerous, it could be considered a potentially unwanted program. It might be better to not install it and instead manage the SafeSearch settings yourself.

About Thesafebrowsing.com:

Classification	Potentially unwanted program.
Problems with Thesafebrowsing.com	Asks for intrusive permissions, limits search engine choices, offers almost no benefit over using built-in search engine settings.
Alternatives	Use SafeSearch settings in search engines.
How to remove Thesafebrowsing.com	Uninstall the Safe Browsing extension, check your computer for other unwanted items (Spyhunter for PC, Combo Cleaner for Mac, others).

Potentially unwanted program

Thesafebrowsing.com is a website associated with the Safe Browsing extension. But there are so many hijackers that call themselves some variation of “Safe Browsing” (this eanswers.com hijacker, this old site, and especially Myprivacykeeper.com) that I will refer to this hijacker as Thesafebrowsing.com.

I first noticed Thesafebrowsing.com because of its similarity to many other browser extensions, such as Mysafebrowsing.net, Browsingsafety.net, and Myprivacykeeper.com. They don’t appear to be dangerous, but they also show a few red flags: changing the user’s default search engine (to Yahoo) and having thousands of users with no reviews and no ratings.

Thesafebrowsing.com does have a few reviews, mostly by people complaining about being forced to use Yahoo. That already should be enough to classify Thesafebrowsing.com as a potentially unwanted program (PUP).

SafeSearch and Thesafebrowsing.com

SafeSearch is an optional filter that all mainstream search engines offer. SafeSearch removes most search results that lead to violent and adult content. You can turn this on and off on your browser. You can also force it to remain on. (Support.google.com)

Once installed, Thesafebrowsing.com turns on this filter for you and allows you to manage it.

Is it worth using? I don’t think so.

• Toggling SafeSearch manually is three clicks, managing it via Thesafebrowsing.com is two or three clicks, depending on if you pinned Thesafebrowsing.com to your toolbar. So, you’re not necessarily saving any time.
• In addition, Thesafebrowsing.com gets access to all your data on all the websites that you visit. As in, everything you do on all the sites that you visit. That doesn’t mean that Thesafebrowsing.com abuses this access, but it really shouldn’t need this permission to function. Most browser hijackers and malicious extensions don’t even ask this.
• On top of that, Thesafebrowsing.com limits your search engine choices. Even though a few less popular search engines, such as DuckDuckGo or Ecosia, support SafeSearch, Thesafebrowsing.com does not support them, it only supports Google, Bing, and Yahoo.
• While some search engines support moderate and strict versions of SafeSearch, Thesafebrowsing.com does not.

Overall, it’s difficult for me to see a reason for using Thesafebrowsing.com over not using it.

How to remove Thesafebrowsing.com

You can uninstall Thesafebrowsing.com by going into your browser’s settings (main menu, then Settings, and Extensions) and removing the Safe Browsing extension. It might be a good idea to scan your computer with an antivirus scanner, too (Spyhunter for Windows, Combo Cleaner for macOS, or another program). Or you can manually review your recently installed programs and browser extensions.

I say that you should check for other malware because, according to web analytics estimates, traffic to Thesafebrowsing.com may come from sites that show a lot of aggressive ads (torrenting sites, for example). And it might lead to some other potentially unwanted sites, like Hidemyhistory.co.

Automatic Malware removal tools

Restore browser settings

TopHow To remove Thesafebrowsing.com from Google Chrome:

• Click on the 3 horizontal lines icon on a browser toolbar and Select More Tools→Extensions
  
• Select all malicious extensions and delete them.
  
• Click on the 3 horizontal lines icon on a browser toolbar and Select Settings
  
• Select Manage Search engines
  
• Remove unnecessary search engines from the list
  
• Go back to settings. On Startup choose Open blank page (you can remove undesired pages from the set pages link too).
• If your homepage was changed, click on Chrome menu on the top right corner, select Settings. Select Open a specific page or set of pages and click on Set pages.
  
• Delete malicious search websites at a new Startup pages window by clicking “X” next to them.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings

If you are still experiencing any issues related to Thesafebrowsing.com, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on a Chrome’s menu button (three horizontal lines) and select Settings.
• Scroll to the end of the page and click on theReset browser settings button.
  
• Click on the Reset button on the confirmation box.
  

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.

How to remove Thesafebrowsing.com from Microsoft Edge:Top

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Microsoft Edge window. Select “Extensions”.

• Select all malicious extensions and delete them.

• Click on the three-dot menu on the browser toolbar and Select Settings

• Select Privacy and Services and scroll down. Press on Address bar.

• Choose Manage search engines.

• Remove unnecessary search engines from the list: open the three-dot menu and choose Remove.

• Go back to Settings. Open On start-up.
• Delete malicious search websites at Open specific page or pages by opening the three-dot menu and clicking Delete.

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings If you are still experiencing any issues related to Thesafebrowsing.com, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings

• Click on Edge's menu button and select Settings. Click on the Reset Settings button on the left.
• Press the Restore settings to their default values option.

• Click on the Reset button on the confirmation box.

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.