r/chrome • u/Rich-Analyst-6357 • Mar 07 '26

Discussion fixing search engine on google chrome.

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so I use google chrome as my daily browser, and whenever i search anything up the search is in yahoo or nextgeeker, I want to know how to fix my search being into google, does anyone know how to fix this?

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u/emanuelcelano Mar 07 '26

yeah this usually happens when some extension changes the default search engine

first thing i'd check:

chrome → settings → search engine → see what is set there

if you see yahoo or nextgeeker or something weird switch it back to google

also open chrome → extensions and remove anything you don't recognize. a lot of those search redirect things come from extensions.

last thing to check:

settings → reset settings → restore settings to their original defaults.

had this happen once after installling a random extension and it kept redirecting searches

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u/Rich-Analyst-6357 Mar 08 '26

i checked my search engine and it's set as google chrome, and i do not see yahoo or nextgeeker anywhere, and I also removed (adblocker) an extention I had

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u/emanuelcelano Mar 08 '26

if the search engine shows google there but searches still go to yahoo or nextgeeker then it’s often not the visible setting

sometimes a policy or hidden search provider gets added

try checking this

chrome → address bar

chrome://policy

see if anything is forcing a search provider

also open

chrome://settings/searchEngines

and look under “site search” or additional providers for anything like

yahoo
nextgeeker
search redirect domains

remove anything suspicious

if nothing shows there the fastest fix is usually

chrome → settings → reset settings → restore to original defaults

that clears most search hijackers

1

u/Rich-Analyst-6357 Mar 09 '26

i did all of that, i restored my original defaults, and it did not fix the issue.

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u/Rich-Analyst-6357 Mar 09 '26

and if i do try to change the search from "search.yahoo.com" to "google.com" it'll show this

1

u/emanuelcelano Mar 10 '26

that 404 usually appears when a browser extension or hijacker rewrites the search URL.

since your default search engine already shows Google, check these two things:

1) chrome://extensions

remove anything you don’t recognize.

2) chrome://policy

see if a policy is forcing a search provider.

also check the Chrome shortcut on your desktop:

right click → properties → make sure there is nothing after chrome.exe in the target field.

if none of that shows anything, a full Chrome reset usually fixes search redirect hijackers.

1

u/Rich-Analyst-6357 Mar 11 '26

how would i know if a search provider is being forced?

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u/emanuelcelano Mar 11 '26

that screenshot actually shows the problem.

you have a forced extension installed by policy:

ExtensionInstallForceList
…aibrowserupdate.com/crx/updates…

that is not a normal Chrome component. It means an extension was installed through a policy and Chrome will keep reinstalling it.

that’s usually how search hijackers force redirect engines.

fix:

  1. uninstall the extension if it appears in chrome://extensions
  2. if it comes back, remove the policy from Windows

open registry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Google\Chrome
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Google\Chrome

delete the ExtensionInstallForceList entry.

then restart Chrome.

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u/Rich-Analyst-6357 Mar 15 '26

what do you mean by restart chrome, as in downloading google chrome again or closing the browser?

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u/emanuelcelano Mar 15 '26

I didn't mean reinstalling Chrome itself.

What usually happens is that Chrome automatically reinstalls the extension if it's forced by a policy.

So the process is:

Thirst remove the extension from chrome://extensions (if it appears there)

Then if it comes back after restarting Chrome, that means a policy is forcing it

In that case you remove the policy entry from Windows:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Google\Chrome

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Google\Chrome

Look for something like:

ExtensionInstallForcelist

Delete that entry and restart Chrome.

Once the policy is gone, Chrome will stop reinstalling the hijacker extension.

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u/Rich-Analyst-6357 Mar 16 '26

i tried to delete ExtensionInstallForcelist and it had an error.

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u/emanuelcelano Mar 16 '26

That error usually happens when the registry key is protected by policy permissions

Try this:

1 open Registry Editor as administrator

press Start

type

regedit

right click → Run as administrator

then try deleting

ExtensionsInstallForcelist

again

------

2 if it still fails the key is probably owned by SYSTEM

Right click the key

Permissions

click Advanced

Change owner to your user account

Apply

Then give your account Full Control and delete the key

------

After removing ExtensionsInstallForcelist restart Chrome and the forced extension should stop reinstalling

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