Getting annoying ads or weird search engine on web browser. The feeling of someone controlling your web browser experience is pathetic. I know exactly how you feel. This kind of PUP (Potentially Unwanted Program) ruins your browsing experience and is often very difficult to get rid of it.
There’s no need to worry, though. Follow this short guide, and you should be able to remove the hijacker easily.
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Now, there’s the easy way, and there’s also the hard way. You can choose which method to follow on your own!
The Easy Way
You can remove a hijacker very quickly by using an all-purpose Anti-Malware program. In our case, we’ll use MalwareFox. It offers a free trial for two weeks, which means that you won’t have to pay for it to remove your hijacker.
All you have to do is go to its website, then proceed to download and install it. The whole setup shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes or so.
Wait for it to update its database and once completes, perform a full scan with it. Quarantine or remove the detected threats and proceed to make a reboot if requested.
If it doesn’t work, reboot into safe mode and try again from over there. In case that safe mode also fails you, well, maybe you need to try out the hard way.
The Hard Way
The hard way of removing a browser hijacker is doing it manually. The process can get a bit tedious so do bear with me.
Uninstall Unwanted Software
Go to your Windows Settings -> Apps -> Apps And Features, and uninstall the hijacker – if you can find something suspicious there. You might get redirected to the control panel of Windows in some cases, but the process is the same.
Do keep in mind that 3rd party programs often get bundled with browser hijackers. So, don’t be surprised if you find multiple suspicious programs. Just be careful not to remove anything of high importance!
Remove Unwanted Extensions
The next thing that you want to do is go to your browser and remove any suspicious extensions that you didn’t install.
To do that in Chrome, click on the options button on the upper right part of your screen, then click on More tools -> Extensions, and remove the appropriate extensions by clicking on Remove.
Remove the Unwanted Search Engines
Go to Settings -> Search Engine -> Manage Search Engines, and remove the hijacker search engine by clicking on the options button and selecting remove from list.
Change the Startup Page
Go to Settings -> On Startup, and select whatever option fits you best. Just don’t let the hijacker website as it is.
Reset your Browser
Go to Settings -> Advanced -> Reset and clean up -> Reset.
Remove the Malicious Registry Key
If you followed the above steps one by one and the hijacker didn’t get removed, then the chances are that it has modified your registry which allows it to get re-installed automatically.
The problem here is that there is no standard procedure for removing a malicious registry key.
Each hijacker can use a different name and location. The easiest way to find out how to find it is to look it up online.
Just Google “How to remove (hijacker name) hijacker manually” and you should find the malicious key location for the particular hijacker that has infected you.
Careful! The Windows registry is not something to play around. You can easily end up rendering your system useless.
I won’t accept any responsibility in case that you followed someone’s guide and it ended up destroying your OS.
Format Hard Drive
Last but not least, you can format your whole drive and perform a clean install of Windows.
If that doesn’t remove a hijacker, then I don’t know what will. Just backup your essential data to an external drive, insert your Windows installation media Disc or thumb drive and proceed to make a clean install of Windows. Go through the appropriate steps.
Do keep in mind that you want to delete your old Windows installation and make a new clean install – not to create a second installation of Windows on top of your old one.
Why Remove Browser Hijacker?
A Browser hijacker is a kind of PUP – a Potentially Unwanted Program. And while they are not considered malicious, it’s still often recommended to remove them.
That’s because they:
The easiest way to stay safe from hijackers is to stay away from freeware, suspicious stuff, and use an Anti-Malware program.
Further Reading
Ultimate Windows 10 Security Guide
How to Remove Malware from Windows 10
Just another average person, living an average life. Which, by the way, mostly revolves around art and gaming.
