How To Remove Search Protect HpUI.exe From Taskbar Successfully

The other day suddenly I noticed there is this blue color shield-shape icon with a white color magnifying glass inside. It is called Search Protect and it was located in the system tray at the taskbar of my laptop.

When I clicked on "Customize..." of system tray, I saw the word HpUI.exe.

From what I gathered HpUI.exe is an obnoxious adware that can hijack your web browser and display pop-up ads on your computer. Luckily, it did not hijack my browser.  So it is easier to resolve the problem.

Anyway, here is how I remove or delete Search Protect from the task bar.

Step One: Stop Search Protect Processing At Taskbar

1.  Shut down all open affected browsers.

2. Right click on the taskbar (area below your computer screen).

3. Immediately a box will pop up.

4. Click on "Start Task Manager".

5. Another bigger box will pop up called "Windows Task Manager" as seen below:

6.  Under the "Processes" tab, you should see the active “SearchProtection.exe” among the list.

7. Click on it and then click "End Process" button at the bottom right hand side of the box.

Step Two: Delete Sup Tab Folder

1. Click "Start" (Windows icon), then click "Computer".

2. Double click on OS (C:) hard drive.

3. Scroll down and click on "Program Files".

4. Look for "Sup Tab" folder and delete it away.

5. Delete the "Sup Tab" folder from the Recycle Bin.

Step Three: Clean Up With Anti-Malware

1. If you do not have one, you can install Malwarebytes for free from: https://www.malwarebytes.org/mwb-download/

2. After you have installed it, click "Scan Now".

3. If you do not perform Step Two, once you finished scanning, chances you will see a lot of PUP (potentially unwanted program) in your file, folder and registry key located at C:\Program Files (X86)\SupTab.

4. You have them quarantined and you can delete them away later.