Fix Search failed error when running Chrome Malware Scanner

Among the other problems created by malware, a major one is browser hijacking and other browser-related problems. Thus, Chrome came up with its own malware scanner which scans for threats all across the system. However, in some cases, users encounter the Search failed error on Chrome while using the malware scan.

How to use Google Chrome’s malware scanner?

The procedure to use Google Chrome’s malware scanner is as follows:

1. Click on the More (three vertical dots) icon on the top-right corner of the Google Chrome browser.
2. Go to Settings and scroll down to the bottom of the Settings page.
3. Click on Advanced to expand the menu further.
4. Select Clean up computer.
5. Select Find.

The Google Chrome malware scan will automatically clean up your system.

Search failed error on Chrome

However, you might encounter the Search failed error on Chrome while using a malware scan. The two primary causes of this error are an obsolete browser version or corrupt browser cookies and cache files.

To resolve the error in the discussion, proceed with the following solutions sequentially:

1] Update Google Chrome to the latest version

Google Chrome is regularly updated with security updates and other features. Really old versions of Google Chrome might not even have the feature for the malware scan and even slightly obsolete ones might not have the latest security updates. In such a case, a malware scan wouldn’t be helpful and you may get the Search failed error on Chrome error while using the malware scan feature.

In order to resolve this case, you could update Google Chrome to the latest version as follows:

1. Click on the More (three vertical dots) icon on the top-right corner of the Google Chrome browser.
2. Go to Settings.
3. On the left-pane of the Settings page, select About Chrome.
4. Google Chrome will start updating automatically to the latest build.

If this doesn’t help with your problem, proceed to the next solution.

2] Delete cookie and cache files

While cache and cookie files store information of web pages which is helpful in loading them faster over successive sessions, if any of these files are corrupt, it could cause issues with the functionality of the browser.

In such a situation, you could delete the cache and cookie files for Google Chrome as follows:

1. Press Ctrl+H to open the History window on Google Chrome.
2. Select Clear browsing data.
3. In the Clear browsing history window, select the Time range to All time.
4. Check the boxes associated with cache and cookie files.
5. Select Clear data to delete the cache and cookie files.

Restart the browser and check if it resolves your problem.

All the best!