MyBrowserHome.com virus (Tutorial) - Chrome, Firefox, IE, Edge
MyBrowserHome.com virus Removal Guide
What is MyBrowserHome.com virus?
MyBrowserHome.com might not be the best choice for your startup page
MyBrowserHome.com by WebStart.me is a questionable search engine that offers quick access to more than 40 different social media, shopping, email, and other websites. The program is created by RCPmedia and mostly spreads in software bundles as a My Browser Home extension. After the installation, it alters browser’s settings and tries to control user’s browsing habits.
MyBrowserHome.com virus works as a browser hijacker. Therefore, it’s not a real virus; it’s a potentially unwanted program (PUP). After the infiltration, it might alter Windows registry and browser’s settings. As a result, users might find a new homepage, search engine or new tab URL address instead of their regular domains.
Even though MyBrowserHome.com removal might be complicated, continuing using this tool is not recommended as well. The search engine redirects to DuckDuckGo search results page, and this service also caught the eye of the security experts.
Furthermore, the research also revealed about suspicious MyBrowserHome.com redirect tendencies. The hijacker might trigger redirects to various third-party sites when a user clicks on a result link. These redirects might end up not only on irrelevant sites. Sometimes you might be forced to visit a malicious or misleading website. Thus, you might suffer from cyber crime.
However, these activities help developers of MyBrowserHome.com generate revenue, and its the primary goal of the developers. To achieve this goal, developers also use tracking cookies that help to collect various non-personally identifiable information. However, if you sign in to their services, you even let them collect personally identifiable details as well.
The aggregated information helps to apply targeted advertising strategy. However, these details might also be shared with third-parties. Thus, it might not only increase the number of ads on your browser but might also put your privacy at risk.
Therefore, to avoid possible problems and cyber threats, you should remove MyBrowserHome.com from your startup page. If the application was installed in a software bundle without your knowledge, you should also scan the system with FortectIntego or another anti-malware to get rid of all suspicious components as well.
MyBrowserHome.com virus spreads in the form of a browser extension.
The PUP spreads in the form of the browser extension
People can download this PUP both – directly and indirectly. For instance, Chrome users can download My Browser Home extension directly from the Chrome Web Store. However, the hijacker is often included in various freeware packages.
Therefore, MyBrowserHome.com hijack might occur when users download various free programs from the Internet without paying attention to the installation. However, it’s possible to avoid PUP if you:
- always choose “Advanced” or “Custom” installation settings instead of “Quick” or “Recommended.”
- read Terms of Use, Privacy Policy or other provided information before installing the program.
- carefully follow installation guide and unmark all pre-selected statements or third-party programs.
Uninstall MyBrowserHome.com from the computer
MyBrowserHome.com removal should not cause you any problems if you have installed this extension yourself. Just access the lost of extensions and uninstall My Browser Home. Also, you should check if the application was not installed on the computer too (follow the steps below).
However, security experts from Poland suggest opting for the automatic elimination and remove MyBrowserHome.com with the help of security software if PUP has sneaked inside the computer in the software bundle. It helps to make sure that any hijacker-related entries were not left in the system.
You may remove virus damage with a help of FortectIntego. SpyHunter 5Combo Cleaner and Malwarebytes are recommended to detect potentially unwanted programs and viruses with all their files and registry entries that are related to them.
Getting rid of MyBrowserHome.com virus. Follow these steps
Uninstall from Windows
Follow these steps to check if the hijacker hasn't installed any suspicious entries:
Instructions for Windows 10/8 machines:
- Enter Control Panel into Windows search box and hit Enter or click on the search result.
- Under Programs, select Uninstall a program.
- From the list, find the entry of the suspicious program.
- Right-click on the application and select Uninstall.
- If User Account Control shows up, click Yes.
- Wait till uninstallation process is complete and click OK.
If you are Windows 7/XP user, proceed with the following instructions:
- Click on Windows Start > Control Panel located on the right pane (if you are Windows XP user, click on Add/Remove Programs).
- In Control Panel, select Programs > Uninstall a program.
- Pick the unwanted application by clicking on it once.
- At the top, click Uninstall/Change.
- In the confirmation prompt, pick Yes.
- Click OK once the removal process is finished.
Delete from macOS
Remove items from Applications folder:
- From the menu bar, select Go > Applications.
- In the Applications folder, look for all related entries.
- Click on the app and drag it to Trash (or right-click and pick Move to Trash)
To fully remove an unwanted app, you need to access Application Support, LaunchAgents, and LaunchDaemons folders and delete relevant files:
- Select Go > Go to Folder.
- Enter /Library/Application Support and click Go or press Enter.
- In the Application Support folder, look for any dubious entries and then delete them.
- Now enter /Library/LaunchAgents and /Library/LaunchDaemons folders the same way and terminate all the related .plist files.
Remove from Microsoft Edge
These steps will help you to terminate the hijacker from Microsoft Edge:
Delete unwanted extensions from MS Edge:
- Select Menu (three horizontal dots at the top-right of the browser window) and pick Extensions.
- From the list, pick the extension and click on the Gear icon.
- Click on Uninstall at the bottom.
Clear cookies and other browser data:
- Click on the Menu (three horizontal dots at the top-right of the browser window) and select Privacy & security.
- Under Clear browsing data, pick Choose what to clear.
- Select everything (apart from passwords, although you might want to include Media licenses as well, if applicable) and click on Clear.
Restore new tab and homepage settings:
- Click the menu icon and choose Settings.
- Then find On startup section.
- Click Disable if you found any suspicious domain.
Reset MS Edge if the above steps did not work:
- Press on Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager.
- Click on More details arrow at the bottom of the window.
- Select Details tab.
- 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.
If this solution failed to help you, you need to use an advanced Edge reset method. Note that you need to backup your data before proceeding.
- Find the following folder on your computer: C:\\Users\\%username%\\AppData\\Local\\Packages\\Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe.
- Press Ctrl + A on your keyboard to select all folders.
- Right-click on them and pick Delete
- Now right-click on the Start button and pick Windows PowerShell (Admin).
- When the new window opens, copy and paste the following command, and then press Enter:
Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers -Name Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register “$($_.InstallLocation)\\AppXManifest.xml” -Verbose
Instructions for Chromium-based Edge
Delete extensions from MS Edge (Chromium):
- Open Edge and click select Settings > Extensions.
- Delete unwanted extensions by clicking Remove.
Clear cache and site data:
- Click on Menu and go to Settings.
- Select Privacy, search and services.
- Under Clear browsing data, pick Choose what to clear.
- Under Time range, pick All time.
- Select Clear now.
Reset Chromium-based MS Edge:
- Click on Menu and select Settings.
- On the left side, pick Reset settings.
- Select Restore settings to their default values.
- Confirm with Reset.
Remove from Mozilla Firefox (FF)
Uninstall My Browse Home extension as well as other suspicious add-ons from the Mozilla Firefox.
Remove dangerous extensions:
- Open Mozilla Firefox browser and click on the Menu (three horizontal lines at the top-right of the window).
- Select Add-ons.
- In here, select unwanted plugin and click Remove.
Reset the homepage:
- Click three horizontal lines at the top right corner to open the menu.
- Choose Options.
- Under Home options, enter your preferred site that will open every time you newly open the Mozilla Firefox.
Clear cookies and site data:
- Click Menu and pick Settings.
- Go to Privacy & Security section.
- Scroll down to locate Cookies and Site Data.
- Click on Clear Data…
- Select Cookies and Site Data, as well as Cached Web Content and press Clear.
Reset Mozilla Firefox
If clearing the browser as explained above did not help, reset Mozilla Firefox:
- Open Mozilla Firefox browser and click the Menu.
- Go to Help and then choose Troubleshooting Information.
- Under Give Firefox a tune up section, click on Refresh Firefox…
- Once the pop-up shows up, confirm the action by pressing on Refresh Firefox.
Remove from Google Chrome
These steps will help you to fix Google Chrome after the hijack:
Delete malicious extensions from Google Chrome:
- Open Google Chrome, click on the Menu (three vertical dots at the top-right corner) and select More tools > Extensions.
- In the newly opened window, you will see all the installed extensions. Uninstall all the suspicious plugins that might be related to the unwanted program by clicking Remove.
Clear cache and web data from Chrome:
- Click on Menu and pick Settings.
- Under Privacy and security, select Clear browsing data.
- Select Browsing history, Cookies and other site data, as well as Cached images and files.
- Click Clear data.
Change your homepage:
- Click menu and choose Settings.
- Look for a suspicious site in the On startup section.
- 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:
- Click on Menu and select Settings.
- In the Settings, scroll down and click Advanced.
- Scroll down and locate Reset and clean up section.
- Now click Restore settings to their original defaults.
- Confirm with Reset settings.
Delete from Safari
Remove unwanted extensions from Safari:
- Click Safari > Preferences…
- In the new window, pick Extensions.
- Select the unwanted extension and select Uninstall.
Clear cookies and other website data from Safari:
- Click Safari > Clear History…
- From the drop-down menu under Clear, pick all history.
- Confirm with Clear History.
Reset Safari if the above-mentioned steps did not help you:
- Click Safari > Preferences…
- Go to Advanced tab.
- Tick the Show Develop menu in menu bar.
- From the menu bar, click Develop, and then select Empty Caches.
After uninstalling this potentially unwanted program (PUP) and fixing each of your web browsers, we recommend you to scan your PC system with a reputable anti-spyware. This will help you to get rid of MyBrowserHome.com registry traces and will also identify related parasites or possible malware infections on your computer. For that you can use our top-rated malware remover: FortectIntego, SpyHunter 5Combo Cleaner or Malwarebytes.
How to prevent from getting stealing programs
Choose a proper web browser and improve your safety with a VPN tool
Online spying has got momentum in recent years and people are getting more and more interested in how to protect their privacy online. One of the basic means to add a layer of security – choose the most private and secure web browser. Although web browsers can't grant full privacy protection and security, some of them are much better at sandboxing, HTTPS upgrading, active content blocking, tracking blocking, phishing protection, and similar privacy-oriented features. However, if you want true anonymity, we suggest you employ a powerful Private Internet Access VPN – it can encrypt all the traffic that comes and goes out of your computer, preventing tracking completely.
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To ensure that all the files remain intact, you should prepare regular data backups. You can choose cloud-based or physical copies you could restore from later in case of a disaster. If your backups were lost as well or you never bothered to prepare any, Data Recovery Pro can be your only hope to retrieve your invaluable files.