If your browser homepage or search queries are redirected to CapitaSearch, then you have a browser hijacker installed that is causing these redirects.
What is CapitaSearch?
CapitaSearch is a browser hijacker that redirects your homepage and search queries to search.capita.space. To do this, CapitaSearch uses either a browser extension or a custom-built browser based on the Google Chromium browser.
Let’s take a closer at the CapitaSearch browser hijacker:
- When CapitaSearch is installed as a browser extension, it will change the browser homepage and default search engine to search.capita.space. Whenever, you’ll open your browser, a new tab or perform a search query, your browser will be redirected to search.capita.space.
- When CapitaSearch is installed as a program, it will install its own customized Chromium browser and docks a toolbar at the top of your Windows desktop. Most people will use the CapitaSearch browser thinking it’s the normal Chrome browser. Similar to the CapitaSearch browser extension, your homepage and search queries will be redirected through to search.capita.space.
CapitaSearch may also track your searches and display advertisements on search.capita.space.
Here’s a short summary of the changes that the CapitaSearch browser hijacker may perform on your computer:
- Your web browser’s default homepage and new tab page are CapitaSearch New Tab.
- Your browser’s search queries are redirected through search.capita.space, which will redirect to search result pages from search.yahoo.com.
- The CapitaSearch browser extension installed on your browser.
- The CapitaSearch Chromium-based browser is installed on your computer.
- CapitaSearch creates Chrome policies that make it difficult to remove from a computer.
Why is my browser being redirected to CapitaSearch?
Your browser search queries or homepage is redirected to CapitaSearch because the “CapitaSearch” extension or program is installed on your computer. Often, this type of program is offered through advertisements or bundled with other software, leaving the user puzzled where this software came from.
You should always pay attention when installing software because often, a software installer includes optional installs. Be very careful what you agree to install.
Always opt for the custom installation and deselect anything that is not familiar, especially optional software that you never wanted to download and install in the first place. It goes without saying that you should not install software that you don’t trust.
To remove the CapitaSearch browser hijacker and check your computer for other malicious programs, please use the free malware removal guide below.
Remove CapitaSearch browser hijacker (Virus Removal Guide)
This malware removal guide may appear overwhelming due to the number of steps and numerous programs that are being used. We have only written it this way to provide clear, detailed, and easy to understand instructions that anyone can use to remove malware for free.
Please perform all the steps in the correct order. If you have any questions or doubts at any point, stop and ask for our assistance.
- STEP 1: Uninstall CapitaSearch from Windows
- STEP 2: Use Malwarebytes Free to remove CapitaSearch browser hijacker
- STEP 3: Use AdwCleaner to remove CapitaSearch browser policies
- STEP 4: Double-check for malicious programs with HitmanPro
- STEP 5: Remove CapitaSearch from your browser
STEP 1: Uninstall CapitaSearch from Windows
In this first step, we will check if the CapitaSearch program is installed on your computer. Sometimes browser hijackers or adware programs can have usable Uninstall entries that can be used to remove these programs.
Windows 10
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Open the “Settings” menu.
Click the Start button on the taskbar, then select “Settings” (gear icon).
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Click on “Apps”, then on “Apps and Features”.
When the “Windows Settings” window opens, click on “Apps“. By default, it should open “Apps and Features” but if it doesn’t, select it from the list on the left.
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Find the malicious program and uninstall it.
The “Apps and Features” screen will be displayed with a list of all the programs installed on your computer. Scroll through the list until you find the CapitaSearch program, then click to highlight it, then click the “Uninstall” button.
The malicious program may have a different name on your computer. Look out for any suspicious program that could be behind all the drama – anything you don’t remember downloading or that doesn’t sound like a genuine program. If you cannot find any malicious programs on your computer, you can continue with the second step from this guide.
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Follow the on-screen prompts to uninstall the program.
In the next message box, confirm the uninstall process by clicking on Uninstall, then follow the prompts to uninstall the program.
Make sure to read all of the prompts carefully, because some malicious programs try to sneak things in hoping that you won’t read closely.
Windows 8
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Go to “Program and Features”.
Right-click on the Start button in the taskbar, then select “Programs and Features”. This will take you directly to your list of installed programs.
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Find the malicious program and uninstall it.
The “Programs and Features” screen will be displayed with a list of all the programs installed on your computer. Scroll through the list until you find the CapitaSearch program, then click to highlight it, then click the “Uninstall” button.
The malicious program may have a different name on your computer. Look out for any suspicious program that could be behind all the drama – anything you don’t remember downloading or that doesn’t sound like a genuine program. If you cannot find any malicious programs on your computer, you can continue with the second step from this guide.
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Follow the on-screen prompts to uninstall the program.
In the next message box, confirm the uninstall process by clicking on Yes, then follow the prompts to uninstall the program. Make sure to read all of the prompts carefully, because some malicious programs try to sneak things in hoping that you won’t read closely.
Windows 7
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Open the “Control Panel”.
Click on the “Start” button, then click on “Control Panel“.
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Click on “Uninstall a Program”.
When the “Control Panel” appears, click on “Uninstall a Program” from the Programs category.
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Find the malicious program and uninstall it.
The “Programs and Features” screen will be displayed with a list of all the programs installed on your computer. Scroll through the list until you find the CapitaSearch program, then click to highlight it, then click the “Uninstall” button.
The malicious program may have a different name on your computer. Look out for any suspicious program that could be behind all the drama – anything you don’t remember downloading or that doesn’t sound like a genuine program.If you cannot find any malicious programs on your computer, you can continue with the second step from this guide.
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Follow the on-screen prompts to uninstall the program.
In the next message box, confirm the uninstall process by clicking on Yes, then follow the prompts to uninstall the program. Make sure to read all of the prompts carefully, because some malicious programs try to sneak things in hoping that you won’t read closely.
STEP 2: Use Malwarebytes Free to remove CapitaSearch browser hijacker
Malwarebytes Free is one of the most popular and most used anti-malware software for Windows, and for good reasons. It is able to destroy many types of malware that other software tends to miss, without costing you absolutely nothing. When it comes to cleaning up an infected device, Malwarebytes has always been free and we recommend it as an essential tool in the fight against malware.
It is important to note that Malwarebytes Free will run alongside antivirus software without conflicts.
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Download Malwarebytes Free.
You can download Malwarebytes by clicking the link below.
MALWAREBYTES DOWNLOAD LINK
(The above link will open a new page from where you can download Malwarebytes) -
Double-click on the Malwarebytes setup file.
When Malwarebytes has finished downloading, double-click on the MBSetup file to install Malwarebytes on your computer. In most cases, downloaded files are saved to the Downloads folder.
You may be presented with an User Account Control pop-up asking if you want to allow Malwarebytes to make changes to your device. If this happens, you should click “Yes” to continue with the Malwarebytes installation.
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Follow the on-screen prompts to install Malwarebytes.
When the Malwarebytes installation begins, you will see the Malwarebytes setup wizard which will guide you through the installation process. The Malwarebytes installer will first ask you on what type of computer are you installing this program, click either Personal Computer or Work Computer.
On the next screen, click “Install” to install Malwarebytes on your computer.
When your Malwarebytes installation completes, the program opens to the Welcome to Malwarebytes screen. Click the “Get started” button.
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Select “Use Malwarebytes Free”.
After installing Malwarebytes, you’ll be prompted to select between the Free and the Premium version. The Malwarebytes Premium edition includes preventative tools like real-time scanning and ransomware protection, however, we will use the Free version to clean up the computer.
Click on “Use Malwarebytes Free“.
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Click on “Scan”.
To scan your computer with Malwarebytes, click on the “Scan” button. Malwarebytes will automatically update the antivirus database and start scanning your computer for malware.
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Wait for the Malwarebytes scan to complete.
Malwarebytes will scan your computer for adware and other malicious programs. This process can take a few minutes, so we suggest you do something else and periodically check on the status of the scan to see when it is finished.
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Click on “Quarantine”.
When the scan has completed, you will be presented with a screen showing the malware infections that Malwarebytes has detected. To remove the malicious programs that Malwarebytes has found, click on the “Quarantine” button.
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Restart computer.
Malwarebytes will now remove all the malicious files and registry keys that it has found. To complete the malware removal process, Malwarebytes may ask you to restart your computer.
When the malware removal process is complete, you can close Malwarebytes and continue with the rest of the instructions.
STEP 3: Use AdwCleaner to remove CapitaSearch browser policies
AdwCleaner is a free popular on-demand scanner which can detect and remove malware that even the most well-known anti-virus and anti-malware applications fail to find. This on-demand scanner includes a lot of tools that can be used to fix side-effects of adware or browser hijacker.
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Download AdwCleaner.
You can download AdwCleaner by clicking the link below.
ADWCLEANER DOWNLOAD LINK
(The above link will open a new web page from where you can download AdwCleaner) -
Double-click on the setup file.
Double-click on the file named “adwcleaner_x.x.x.exe” to start AdwCleaner. In most cases, downloaded files are saved to the Downloads folder.
You may be presented with a User Account Control dialog asking you if you want to run this file. If this happens, you should click “Yes” to continue with the installation.
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Enable “Reset Chrome policies”.
When AdwCleaner starts, on the left side of the window, click on “Settings” and then enable “Reset Chrome policies“.
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Click on “Scan Now”.
On the left side of the window, click on “Dashboard” and then click “Scan Now” to perform a system scan.
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Wait for the AdwCleaner scan to complete.
AdwCleaner will now scan your PC for malicious files. This process can take a few minutes.
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Click on “Clean & Repair”.
When AdwCleaner has finished it will display a list of all the malware that the program found. Click on the “Clean & Repair” button to remove the malicious files from your computer.
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Click on “Clean & Restart Now”
When the malware removal process is complete, AdwCleaner may need to restart your device. Click on the “Clean & Restart Now” button to finish the removal process.
When the process is complete, you can close Adwcleaner and continue with the rest of the instructions.
STEP 4: Double-check for malicious programs with HitmanPro
HitmanPro is a second opinion scanner that takes a unique cloud-based approach to malware scanning. HitmanPro scans the behavior of active files and also files in locations where malware normally resides for suspicious activity. If it finds a suspicious file that’s not already known, HitmanPro sends it to their clouds to be scanned by two of the best antivirus engines today, which are Bitdefender and Kaspersky.
Although HitmanPro is shareware and costs $24.95 for 1 year on 1 PC, there is actually no limit in scanning. The limitation only kicks in when there is a need to remove or quarantine detected malware by HitmanPro on your system and by then, you can activate the one time 30-days trial to enable the cleanup.
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Download HitmanPro.
You can download HitmanPro by clicking the link below.
HITMANPRO DOWNLOAD LINK
(The above link will open a new web page from where you can download HitmanPro) -
Install HitmanPro.
When HitmanPro has finished downloading, double-click on “hitmanpro.exe” (for 32-bit versions of Windows) or “hitmanpro_x64.exe” (for 64-bit versions of Windows) to install this program on your PC. In most cases, downloaded files are saved to the Downloads folder.
You may be presented with an User Account Control pop-up asking if you want to allow HitmanPro to make changes to your device. If this happens, you should click “Yes” to continue with the installation.
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Follow the on-screen prompts.
When HitmanPro starts you will be presented with the start screen as shown below. Click on the “Next” button to perform a system scan.
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Wait for the HitmanPro scan to complete.
HitmanPro will now begin to scan your computer for malicious programs. This process will take a few minutes.
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Click on “Next”.
When HitmanPro has finished the scan, it will display a list of all the malware that the program has found. Click on the “Next” button to remove the malicious programs.
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Click on “Activate free license”.
Click on the “Activate free license” button to begin the free 30 days trial and remove all the malicious files from your PC.
When the process is complete, you can close HitmanPro and continue with the rest of the instructions.
HITMANPRO DOWNLOAD LINK
STEP 5: Remove CapitaSearch from your browser
If your computer is still being redirected to CapitaSearch, we will need to reset the web browser settings to their original defaults. This step should be performed only if your issues have not been solved by the previous steps.
Google Chrome
Remove CapitaSearch browser hijacker from Google Chrome
To remove CapitaSearch redirect from Chrome we will reset the browser settings to its default. Resetting your browser settings will reset the unwanted changes caused by installing other programs. However, your saved bookmarks and passwords will not be cleared or changed.
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Click the menu icon, then click on “Settings”.
In the top right corner, click on Chrome’s main menu button, represented by three vertical dots. When the drop-down menu appears, click on “Settings“.
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Click “Advanced”.
Chrome’s “Settings” should now be displayed in a new tab or window, depending on your configuration. Next, scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the “Advanced” link.
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Click “Reset settings to their original defaults”.
Scroll down until the “Reset and clean up” section is visible, as shown in the example below. Click on “Reset settings to their original defaults“.
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Click “Reset Settings”.
A confirmation dialog should now be displayed, detailing the components that will be restored to their default state should you continue on with the reset process. To complete the restoration process, click on the “Reset Settings” button.
Optional: Remove the CapitaSearch “Managed by your organization” policy from Chrome
If you are still seeing the “Managed by your organization” policy in Google Chrome, we will need to reset these unwanted policies.
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Open Command Prompt as Administrator.
Click on Start, type “command“, and you’ll see “Command Prompt” listed as the main result. Right-click that result and choose “Run as administrator“.
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Enter the commands to remove browser policies.
In the Command Prompt window, type or copy/paste each of the below commands. Press “Enter” after each of the below commands.
- rd /S /Q “%WinDir%\System32\GroupPolicyUsers
- rd /S /Q “%WinDir%\System32\GroupPolicy
- gpupdate /force
You should see the following notifications after the above commands are performed successfully:
User Policy update has completed successfully.
Computer Policy update has completed successfully
Mozilla Firefox
Remove CapitaSearch browser hijacker from Firefox
To remove CapitaSearch redirect from Firefox we will reset the browser settings to its default. The reset feature fixes many issues by restoring Firefox to its factory default state while saving your essential information like bookmarks, passwords, web form auto-fill information, browsing history, and open tabs.
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Click the menu icon, then click on “Help”.
Click on Firefox’s main menu button, represented by three horizontal lines. When the drop-down menu appears, select the option labeled “Help“.
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Click “Troubleshooting Information”.
From the Help menu, click on “Troubleshooting Information“.
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Click on “Refresh Firefox”
Click the “Refresh Firefox” button in the upper-right corner of the “Troubleshooting Information” page.
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Confirm.
To continue, click on the “Refresh Firefox” button in the new confirmation window that opens.
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Click “Finish”.
Firefox will close itself and will revert to its default settings. When it’s done, a window will list the information that was imported. Click on “Finish“.
Your old Firefox profile will be placed on your desktop in a folder named “Old Firefox Data“. If the reset didn’t fix your problem you can restore some of the information not saved by copying files to the new profile that was created. If you don’t need this folder any longer, you should delete it as it contains sensitive information.
Microsoft Edge
Remove CapitaSearch browser hijacker from Microsoft Edge
To remove CapitaSearch redirect from Microsoft Edge we will reset the browser settings to its default. This will reset your startup page, new tab page, search engine, and pinned tabs. It will also disable all extensions and clear temporary data like cookies. Your favorites, history and saved passwords will not be cleared.
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Open the “Settings” menu.
In the top right corner, click on Microsoft Edge’s main menu button, represented by three horizontal dots. When the drop-down menu appears, click on “Settings“.”.
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Click on “Reset Settings”.
On the left side of the window, click on “Reset Settings”.
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Click on “Restore settings to their default values”.
In the main window, click on “Restore settings to their default values”.
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Click “Reset”.
A confirmation dialog should now be displayed, detailing the components that will be restored to their default state should you continue on with the reset process. To complete the restoration process, click on the “Reset” button.
Internet Explorer
Remove CapitaSearch browser hijacker from Internet Explorer
To remove CapitaSearch redirect from Internet Explorer we will reset the browser settings to its default. You can reset Internet Explorer settings to return them to the state they were in when Internet Explorer was first installed on your computer.
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Go to “Internet Options”.
Open Internet Explorer, click on the gear icon in the upper right part of your browser, then select “Internet Options“.
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Select the “Advanced” tab, then click “Reset”
In the “Internet Options” dialog box, select the “Advanced” tab, then click on the “Reset” button.
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Click on “Reset”.
In the “Reset Internet Explorer settings” section, select the “Delete personal settings” checkbox, then click on the “Reset” button.
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Click on “Close”.
When Internet Explorer has completed its task, click on the “Close” button in the confirmation dialogue box.
Close your browser and then you can open Internet Explorer again.
Your computer should now be free of the CapitaSearch browser hijacker. If your current antivirus allowed this malicious program on your computer, you may want to consider purchasing the full-featured version of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware to protect against these types of threats in the future.
If you are still having problems with your computer after completing these instructions, then please follow one of the steps:
- Run a computer scan with ESET Online Scanner
- Ask for help in our Windows Malware Removal Help & Support forum.
