Babylon is a desktop dictionary and translation software. It offers multiple dictionaries and comes with features like translation, text-to-speech and more. I don’t use Babylon and personally never recommended it to anyone. Reason? I hate the way it adds a toolbar and modifies search in web browsers. As you are reading this article, I assume you are familiar with the situation. This software not simply adds a toolbar but also hijacks your web browser(s). And even after you uninstall, the toolbar and Babylon Search continues to annoy. Looking for a way to remove Babylon completely from your computer? If yes, read on and follow the instructions.
What’s the problem?
Babylon Search is showing up in your computer but you can’t remember installing it? That’s okay! Babylon often comes bundled with other software, specially the free ones. They may give an option to select or skip Babylon installation, but most users don’t read the fine lines and Babylon gets installed. So, if you don’t remember installing Babylon, rest assured it came with another software.
This software adds a toolbar, replaces default search and home page in your web browser. And when one tries to uninstall or remove Babylon Search, the real problem surfaces. Typical software unstallation process can’t remove the search feature and users are often redirected to search.babylon.com.
Uninstall Babylon Software:
- Go to Control Panel and open Add/Remove Programs (or select Uninstall a Program).
- Look in the list of currently installed programs and select Babylon.
- Click the Remove button to the right of Babylon and start uninstall process.
- Now Babylon uninstall wizard will appear. Select the Uninstall option.
- Remove all other related Babylon products (e.g., Babylon Toolbar) following the same steps above.
Remove Babylon from Mozilla Firefox:
- Open Firefox and go to Tools.
- Select Add-ons (or press the Firefox button and select Add-ons).
- Select Extensions in the Add-ons Manager.
- Locate and select the add-on with name starting Babylon.
- Press the Remove button.
- Click on the Firefox search bar and press F4 button on your keyboard.
- A drop-down menu will appear with installed search engines. Select Manage Search Engines.. option at the bottom of the drop-down menu.
- Manage Search Engine List will appear. Select web (Babylon) and press the Remove button.
- Press the OK button and restart Firefox.
- Open a new tab. If Babylon Search still appears, type about:config in the address bar.
- Ignore the warning and press the I’ll be careful, I promise button.
- Type Babylon in the search field. All related entries will appear below.
- Right click on an entry and select Reset from the menu. Continue this for all entries with the term Babylon.
- Restart Firefox. It should be now Babylon Search free!
Remove Babylon from Internet Explorer:
- Open Internet Explorer and go to Tools and select Manage Add-ons option.
- In the Toolbars and Extensions section, look under the Publisher column and select everything related to Babylon Ltd.
- Press the Disable (or Disable All) button below.
- Now look select the Search Providers section from the left.
- Select Google/Bing from the list and press the Set as Default button below.
- Now select Search the web (Babylon) and press the Remove button. If other unknown search providers are present, remove them in the same way.
- Close the Manage Add-ons window.
- Now go to Tools and select Internet Options.
- Under the General tab, look in the Tabs section and press the Settings button.
- Tabbed Browsing Settings window will appear. Look in the drop-down menu under the option “When a new tab is opened, open:”. Select “Your first homepage“.
- Press the OK button below.
- Then look in the Home Page section of the Internet Options window.
- Press the Use Blank or Default button.
- Press the Apply button and then the OK button.
- Restart Internet Explorer.
So, did it worked? The above instructions were for users of Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. I can’t guarantee, but it should help. Is your computer now 100% Babylon free? Don’t forget to give you feedback in the form of comments below.
babylon support team on 30th Dec, 12 09:12am #
Hello,
I’m from babylon support team.
Babylon search page is not a virus and it’s actually very easy to remove, please follow this link: http://www.babylon.com/uninstall_search to get full and quick instructions.
Need more?
contact us at support@babylon.com