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  • Active
  • Severity: Medium
  • System tools
  • Windows, Mac
  • Verified · Jan 2017

How to remove DogBackgrounds Toolbar

A step-by-step removal guide for affected devices. Follow the verified procedure below — most readers complete it in under 10 minutes.

Alice Woods · Likes to teach users about virus prevention

The questionable features of DogBackgrounds Toolbar

Recently, our readers began flooding our inbox with complains about “DogBackgrounds Toolbar virus,” desperately asking for its removal recommendations. Indeed, the program may not be the easiest to remove. Nevertheless, the users are wrong labelling it a virus. In fact, it is a legitimate browser extension that you can download off of the Chrome Web Store [1]. The official DogBackgrounds website introduces this application as a convenient and fun tool for picking a dog-themed background for your web browser. What the program creators forget to mention is that installation of this browser extensions will also result in homepage and default search engine changes. In particular, your usual browser start page will be replaced with hp.myway.com, a Google-enhanced search engine designed by Mindspark Interactive Network — the creators of DogBackgrounds Toolbar. The problem with this search engine is that it is advertising-based [2], so unlike other regular search services, this site puts the sponsored content forward leaving the regular search results aside. It is not quite what the users who download this extension actually expect. Thus, it is not surprising that some of them soon turn to DogBackgrounds Toolbar removal.

Image of dogbackrounds toolbar

Nevertheless, add-filled search results is not the main aspect of this program that concerns users the most. What they are worried about way more is the mysterious appearance of DogBackgrounds Toolbar on their computers. Many of them claim to have no idea how this extension ended up on their browsers and could swear they have not installed it on their computer themselves. Well, this only shows how inattentive most of us are while installing software on our computers. In reality, no such thing as DogBackgrounds Toolbar hijack ever happened. The users most probably have carelessly installed some freeware or shareware packages that had this browser extension added as an optional install [3]. Such software bundling is not an illegal way to distribute programs, but it is not an honest promotion strategy either. The users should always be able to choose what programs they actually want to use. Thus, if animal pictures on the homepage is not your thing — remove DogBackgrounds Toolbar from your computer without hesitation. Just to be sure that your computer is not infected with some malware, check your device with an automatic scanner, such as FortectIntego.

What made this website appear on your browser?

As we have already mentioned, DogBackgrounds Toolbar can be downloaded from the official website or software distribution services such as Chrome Web Store. But the extension may as well be distributed via software bundling [4] technique and install on the computer without receiving a direct permission from the user. That is the main reason we recommend our readers to use “Advanced” or “Custom” settings while installing new content on their computers. Then, there will be unexpected surprises as you will be able to manually deselect DogBackgrounds Toolbar or any programs from installing on your computer.

Recently, the developer of this program contacted us asking us to remove this post from 2-spyware.com website. We believe that we shouldn’t do that as long as programs that we offer for the removal of DogBackgrounds Toolbar can detect it and help users to remove it from the system. As it is mentioned under each of download buttons, we ARE affiliated with these anti-malware programs, and while some of them are free, others can remove a virus only after purchasing them. These mentions fully fulfill each of the requirements of FTC.

Nevertheless, we have recently decided to make a revision of this and other posts that are related to this developer. We claim that all of them are described properly.

Can’t remove DogBackgrounds Toolbar?

As we have already pointed out in the very beginning of this article, there is no such thing as DogBackgrounds Toolbar virus, and you should be able to remove the application from your computer like any other program. If regular DogBackgrounds Toolbar removal does not do the trick, though, you may want to investigate your system a bit closer and find out what is preventing this extension from leaving your computer. You may do that following instructions presented below. Finally, if none of your attempts to remove DogBackgrounds Toolbar work, you should use specialized programs [5] like FortectIntego and allow it to locate and remove all of the program’s components automatically.

Uninstall from Windows

Uninstall from Windows 10/8:

  1. Type Control Panel into the Windows search box and open the result.
  2. Under Programs, select Uninstall a program.Uninstall from Windows 10/8

Uninstall from Windows 7/XP:

  1. Click on Windows Start > Control Panel (Windows XP users should click on Add/Remove Programs).
  2. In Control Panel, select Programs > Uninstall a program.Uninstall from Windows 7/XP

Remove the unwanted program:

  1. In the Programs and Features window, look for any recently installed suspicious entries, select them, and click Uninstall.
  2. If User Account Control appears, click Yes to confirm, then complete the removal.Uninstall the unwanted program from Windows

Delete from macOS

Remove the unwanted application:

  1. From the menu bar, select Go > Applications.
  2. In the Applications folder, look for any suspicious entries, then drag them to Trash (or right-click and pick Move to Trash).Uninstall from Mac

Delete leftover files and folders:

  1. Select Go > Go to Folder.
  2. Enter /Library/Application Support and remove any suspicious folders related to the unwanted program.
  3. Repeat the same check in the /Library/LaunchAgents and /Library/LaunchDaemons folders, deleting any suspicious entries.Delete leftover files from Mac
  4. Finally, empty the Trash to permanently remove the leftovers.

Reset Internet Explorer

Remove dangerous add-ons:

  1. Open Internet Explorer, click on the Gear icon (IE menu) on the top-right corner of the browser
  2. Pick Manage Add-ons.
  3. You will see a Manage Add-ons window. Here, look for suspicious plugins. Click on these entries and select Disable.Remove add-ons from Internet Explorer

Change your homepage if it was altered:

  1. Open IE and click on the Gear icon.
  2. Select Internet Options.
  3. In the General tab, delete the Home page address and replace it by your preferred one (for example, Google.com).
  4. Click Apply and then select OK.Reset IE homepage

Delete temporary files:

  1. Press on the Gear icon and select Internet Options.
  2. Under Browsing history, click Delete...
  3. Select relevant fields and press Delete.Clear temporary files from Internet Explorer

Reset Internet Explorer:

  1. Click on Gear icon > Internet options and select Advanced tab.
  2. Select Reset.
  3. In the new window, check Delete personal settings and select Reset.Reset Internet Explorer

Remove from Microsoft Edge

Delete unwanted extensions from MS Edge:

  1. Select Menu (three horizontal dots at the top-right of the browser window) and pick Extensions.
  2. From the list, pick the extension and click on the Gear icon.
  3. Click Remove.Remove extensions from Edge

Clear cookies and other browser data:

  1. Click on the Menu (three horizontal dots at the top-right of the browser window) and select Settings > Privacy, search, and services..
  2. Under Clear browsing data, pick Choose what to clear.
  3. Select Cookies and other site data and Cached images and files. (apart from passwords, although you might want to include Media licenses as well, if applicable) and click on Clear.Clear Edge browsing data

Restore new tab and homepage settings:

  1. Click the menu icon and choose Settings.
  2. Then find On startup section.
  3. Click Remove next to any suspicious startup page.

Reset MS Edge if the above steps did not work:

  1. Press on Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager.
  2. Click on More details arrow at the bottom of the window.
  3. Select Details tab.
  4. Now scroll down and locate every entry with Microsoft Edge name in it. Right-click on each of them and select End Task to stop MS Edge from running.Reset MS Edge

Instructions for Chromium-based Edge

Delete extensions from MS Edge (Chromium):

  1. Open Edge and click select Settings > Extensions.
  2. Delete unwanted extensions by clicking Remove.Remove extensions from Chromium Edge

Clear cache and site data:

  1. Click on Menu and go to Settings.
  2. Select Privacy, search and services.
  3. Under Clear browsing data, pick Choose what to clear.
  4. Under Time range, pick All time.
  5. Select Clear now.Clear browser data from Chroum Edge

Reset Chromium-based MS Edge:

  1. Click on Menu and select Settings.
  2. On the left side, pick Reset settings.
  3. Select Restore settings to their default values.
  4. Confirm with Reset.
  5. This will disable extensions and reset startup pages but will not delete bookmarks, saved passwords, or browsing history.Reset Chromium Edge

Remove from Mozilla Firefox (FF)

Remove dangerous extensions:

  1. Open Mozilla Firefox browser and click on the Menu (three horizontal lines at the top-right of the window).
  2. Select Add-ons.
  3. In here, select the unwanted extension and click Remove.Remove extensions from Firefox

Reset the homepage:

  1. Click three horizontal lines at the top right corner to open the menu.
  2. Choose Settings.
  3. Under Home, set your preferred homepage and new tab settings.

Clear cookies and site data:

  1. Click Menu and pick Settings.
  2. Go to Privacy & Security section.
  3. Scroll down to locate Cookies and Site Data.
  4. Click on Clear Data...
  5. Select Cookies and Site Data and Temporary cached files and pages, then click Clear.Clear cookies and site data from Firefox

Reset Mozilla Firefox

If clearing the browser as explained above did not help, reset Mozilla Firefox:

  1. Open Mozilla Firefox browser and click the Menu.
  2. Go to Help and then choose Troubleshooting Information.Reset Firefox 1
  3. Under Give Firefox a tune up section, click on Refresh Firefox...
  4. Once the pop-up shows up, confirm the action by pressing on Refresh Firefox.Reset Firefox 2

Remove from Google Chrome

Delete malicious extensions from Google Chrome:

  1. Open Google Chrome, click on the Menu (three vertical dots at the top-right corner) and select More tools > Extensions.
  2. In the newly opened window, you will see all the installed extensions. Uninstall all suspicious extensions related to the unwanted program by clicking Remove.Remove extensions from Chrome

Clear cache and web data from Chrome:

  1. Click on Menu and pick Settings.
  2. Under Privacy and security, select Clear browsing data.
  3. Select Browsing history, Cookies and other site data, as well as Cached images and files.
  4. Click Clear data.Clear cache and web data from Chrome

Change your homepage:

  1. Click menu and choose Settings.
  2. Look for a suspicious site in the On startup section.
  3. Click on Open a specific or set of pages and click on three dots to find the Remove option.

Reset Google Chrome:

If the previous methods did not help you, reset Google Chrome to eliminate all the unwanted components:

  1. Click on Menu and select Settings.
  2. In the Settings, scroll down and click Advanced.
  3. Scroll down and locate Reset and clean up section.
  4. Now click Restore settings to their original defaults.
  5. Confirm with Reset settings.Reset Chrome 2

Delete from Safari

Remove dangerous extensions:

  1. Open Safari, click Safari in the menu at the top-left of the screen, and select Preferences.
  2. Go to the Extensions tab, look for any suspicious entries, and click Uninstall to remove them.Remove extensions from Safari

Clear history and website data:

  1. Click Safari in the menu and pick Clear History.
  2. Set Clear to all history and confirm with Clear History.Clear history from Safari

Reset Safari:

  1. Click Safari in the menu and select Preferences > Advanced.
  2. Enable Show Develop menu in menu bar.
  3. From the menu bar, click Develop and select Empty Caches.Reset Safari

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