How Do I Stop Yahoo from Hijacking My Browser

If this sounds familiar to you, chances are you’re being a victim to hijacker adware or malware. This article will better explain how this happens and how you can take care of it.

How to Remove the Yahoo Hijacker from My Browser

One of the most common hijackers that troubles users all around the world is Yahoo Search. Even though Yahoo is a legitimate company that has been around for decades and doesn’t directly hijack their users’ browsers, many malware developers mimic this renowned platform’s look and use it as a tool to link the user to malicious websites. If you are facing this particular problem, keep reading.

What is a Hijacker?

A browser hijacker is defined as a type of malware or unwanted software, often downloaded and installed in a device without the user even noticing, that modifies your internet browser’s settings without your permission. The hijacker’s objective is to inject the browser with all sorts of unwanted advertising or redirect the affected users to scam sites that can jeopardize their privacy and personal information. Hijackers can completely replace your browser’s homepage or search engine with their own to make you go to certain websites and monetize from each visitor from the advertising revenue. It is also common for browser hijackers to contain even more dangerous settings and spyware to obtain personal data, banking information, and passwords from their victims.

How to Prevent Malware Downloads

When it comes to viruses, malware, spyware, adware, and other malicious software that can put your personal information out there for a potentially dangerous use, prevention is critical. Many seemingly harmless sites offer free downloads, but the hidden truth is that most of the software you get from them is “packed up” along with hijackers as a way for the site to make some revenue from each download.

The definitive measure you can take to prevent these malicious programs from ever getting to your devices is to avoid these downloads altogether. Although they may sound appealing, they’ve proven to be extremely risky. If, despite that, you’re still willing to take that chance, make sure you make a hard pass on the quick installation and to choose the advanced one instead. That way, you can closely follow the installation process, read the privacy agreements of each download, and catch the potential threats before they affect your devices. Never consent to the installation of any third-party provider that you’re not familiar with.

What to Do If You Have Already Been Hijacked

If you’re already trapped in this scenario, take it from the more simple solutions to those requiring a little more effort. Your first option would be to try to change the default settings of your web browser manually. You can easily achieve this by finding the settings/preferences menu, going to your default search engine and home page settings, and selecting your preferred one.

If this doesn’t work, you can then try resetting your browser to its default settings and then manually reactivating all of your previously downloaded extensions to try and find the ones you don’t recognize and removing all of them. You can also try and reinstall your browser altogether. This will eliminate the issue for most users, but some others may be facing a more persistent type of malware. If that happens to be the case, the hijacker might not be just attached to your browser but installed directly onto your device’s operating system. Luckily, many malware removal tools can dig deeper into your affected device to detect and delete any suspicious software before it does any more harm. Once you get rid of the malware, the problem should be gone, and your search should work as intended.

Some Final Words

It’s true, malware such as browser hijackers can be a nightmare, but there are ways to deal with it. Once you get rid of the menace and take control over your search engine and home page preferences again, you can also learn how to enable JavaScript in my browser to improve your web navigation experience altogether.

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Note: Some of the information in samples on this website may have been impersonated or spoofed.