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I've had my Chrome browser infected by a browser hijacker. It would replace my home page with startsear.info. I fixed that, but every time I restart Chrome, it resets the following:

  • It redirects all my searches through a startsear.info custom Google search.
  • All Chrome extensions are removed
  • Skype Click to Call extension is added. (Extension)
  • DivX Plus Web Player HTML5 is added. (Extension)

I've followed most of the basic tutorials out there to remove this browser hijacker, but it still resets every time I restart Chrome. As for the registry entries which are often referenced, I've either removed them or been unable to find them. Any suggestions on how to get rid of this? Thanks for the help, and let me know if you need any more information.

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This is called a search engine hijack. Chrome 25 is adding two new features to prevent silent extension installs. From the Chrome blog post:

Extensions installed by third party programs using external extension deployment options will be disabled by default. When a third party program installs an extension, the Chrome menu will be badged, and users can click through the Chrome menu to see a dialog containing an option to enable the extension or to remove it from their computer.

In addition, all extensions previously installed using external deployment options will be automatically disabled. Chrome will show a one-time prompt to allow the re-enabling of any of the extensions.

I don't know if this will block all search engine hijacks but it will go a long way to stopping a lot of them.

Steps to remove now that it is there:

  • If you haven't upgraded to the latest version of Chrome do that first.
  • Check your installed programs and remove anything you don'r recognize.
  • Download an anti-spyware program and run that.
  • Disable any Chrome extensions you don't recognize
  • Remove the search engine and set the default back to Chrome.

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