What is a browser hijacker

Search.startbrowser.io is a redirect virus that possibly infected your device through freeware bundles. You must have installed some kind of freeware recently, and it came along with a redirect virus. It is crucial that you are vigilant during software installation because otherwise, these kinds of infections will install again and again. While browser hijackers are not categorized as malicious themselves, their activity is pretty questionable. Your browser’s homepage and new tabs will be set to load the browser hijacker’s advertised web page instead of your normal web page. You will also have a different search engine and it could insert advertisement content into results. If you press on one of those result, you’ll be redirected to weird pages, whose owners get money from increased traffic. You need to be careful with those redirects because one of them may redirect you to a malware infection. Malicious software would be a much more severe infection so avoid it as much as possible. Hijackers like to pretend they have beneficial features but you can find legitimate extensions doing the same thing, which will not cause random redirects. Something else you should be aware of is that some hijackers can monitor user activity and gather certain data to know what you are more likely to click on. The info might also be shared with third-parties. And the sooner you terminate Search.startbrowser.io, the better.
Download Removal Toolto remove Search.startbrowser.io

How does it act

Free software packages is the likely way your system got contaminated. They’re unneeded and somewhat invasive threats, so it’s dubious anyone would install them otherwise. This method is effective because people are likely to rush when installing something, not reading anything, and in general just being rather careless when installing programs. Those items are frequently hidden when you install software, and if you aren’t paying attention, you will miss them, which means they will be permitted to install. Do not use Default mode as they do not permit you to deselect anything. Instead, select Advanced or Custom settings because they will not only make attached offers visible but also provide a chance to deselect everything. Ensure you uncheck all the items. And until you have done that, don’t continue the installation. Initially preventing the infections can can go a long way to save you a lot time because dealing with it later might be time-consuming and irritating. Review what sources you use to obtain your programs because by using unreliable sites, you are risking getting your OS infected with malicious programs.

When a browser hijacker installs, you’ll know immediately. You’ll notice modifications carried out to your browsers, such as an unfamiliar web page set as your home website/new tabs, and the browser redirect won’t require your permission to carry out those alterations. Main browsers like Internet Explorer, Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox will probably be altered. The site will greet you every time your browser is opened, and this will continue until you delete Search.startbrowser.io from your computer. Modifying the settings back would a wild-goose chase since the hijacker will overrule them. If when you search for something results are generated by a strange search engine, the browser redirect likely changed it. It will probably be injecting advertisement links into the results so that you are redirected. Page owners sometimes employ redirect viruses to boost traffic and earn more money, which is why redirects are occurring. After all, increased traffic means who are prone to clicking on ads, meaning more profit. You will be able to make a distinction between those and real pages pretty easily, primarily because they’ll not match your search query. Or they could seem real, if you were to search for ‘antivirus’, it’s possible you might encounter results for web pages that endorse suspicious anti-malware software, but look entirely legitimate in the beginning. When you are rerouted, you might end up with an infection since those sites could be hiding malicious program. You should also be aware that these types of threats snoop on you so as to get data about what you press on, what pages you enter, your search queries and so on. The data may then be shared with various third-parties, who would use it for ad purposes. After some time, the sponsored results will become more customized, and that’s because the hijacker is using the information acquired. While it isn’t exactly the most serious threat, we still highly suggest you eliminate Search.startbrowser.io. Do not forget to modify your browser’s settings back to usual after the uninstallation process is carried out.

Search.startbrowser.io uninstallation

Now that you know what kind of infection you have to deal with, you may proceed to delete Search.startbrowser.io. It may be carried out in two methods, manually and automatically. Manual entails you finding the redirect virus’s location yourself. If you have never dealt with this kind of infection before, we have put instructions below this article to help you, we can reassure you that the process should not be difficult, although it may take more time than you expect. By following the guidelines, you shouldn’t run into issues when trying to get rid of it. If you have no experience with computers, this might not be the most suitable option. In that case, download spyware elimination software, and have it dispose of the threat. If it discovers the threat, permit it to dispose of it. To check whether the infection is gone or not, change your browser’s settings, if you are able to, it is a success. The hijacker is still present on the device if the modifications you make are nullified. Try to block not wanted programs from installing in the future, and that means you should be more careful when installing programs. If you possess good computer habits, you will prevent loads of trouble.Download Removal Toolto remove Search.startbrowser.io

Learn how to remove Search.startbrowser.io from your computer

Step 1. How to delete Search.startbrowser.io from Windows?

a) Remove Search.startbrowser.io related application from Windows XP

  1. Click on Start
  2. Select Control Panel winxp-start Uninstall Search.startbrowser.io
  3. Choose Add or remove programs winxp-control-panel Uninstall Search.startbrowser.io
  4. Click on Search.startbrowser.io related software winxp-add-remove-program Uninstall Search.startbrowser.io
  5. Click Remove

b) Uninstall Search.startbrowser.io related program from Windows 7 and Vista

  1. Open Start menu
  2. Click on Control Panel win7-start Uninstall Search.startbrowser.io
  3. Go to Uninstall a program
  4. win7-control-panel Uninstall Search.startbrowser.io
  5. Select Search.startbrowser.io related application
  6. Click Uninstall win7-remove-program Uninstall Search.startbrowser.io

c) Delete Search.startbrowser.io related application from Windows 8

  1. Press Win+C to open Charm bar win8-charm-bar Uninstall Search.startbrowser.io
  2. Select Settings and open Control Panel win8-menu-control-panel Uninstall Search.startbrowser.io
  3. Choose Uninstall a program win8-programs-features Uninstall Search.startbrowser.io
  4. Select Search.startbrowser.io related program
  5. Click Uninstall win8-uninstall-program Uninstall Search.startbrowser.io

d) Remove Search.startbrowser.io from Mac OS X system

  1. Select Applications from the Go menu. mac-os-x-go-menu Uninstall Search.startbrowser.io
  2. In Application, you need to find all suspicious programs, including Search.startbrowser.io. Right-click on them and select Move to Trash. You can also drag them to the Trash icon on your Dock. mac-os-x-application-trash Uninstall Search.startbrowser.io

Step 2. How to remove Search.startbrowser.io from web browsers?

a) Erase Search.startbrowser.io from Internet Explorer

  1. Open your browser and press Alt+X
  2. Click on Manage add-ons ie-alt-x Uninstall Search.startbrowser.io
  3. Select Toolbars and Extensions
  4. Delete unwanted extensions ie-toolbars-extensions Uninstall Search.startbrowser.io
  5. Go to Search Providers
  6. Erase Search.startbrowser.io and choose a new engine ie-search-provider Uninstall Search.startbrowser.io
  7. Press Alt+x once again and click on Internet Options ie-menu Uninstall Search.startbrowser.io
  8. Change your home page on the General tab ie-option-general Uninstall Search.startbrowser.io
  9. Click OK to save made changes

b) Eliminate Search.startbrowser.io from Mozilla Firefox

  1. Open Mozilla and click on the menu
  2. Select Add-ons and move to Extensions firefox-menu-options Uninstall Search.startbrowser.io
  3. Choose and remove unwanted extensions firefox-extensions Uninstall Search.startbrowser.io
  4. Click on the menu again and select Options firefox-menu Uninstall Search.startbrowser.io
  5. On the General tab replace your home page firefox-homepage Uninstall Search.startbrowser.io
  6. Go to Search tab and eliminate Search.startbrowser.io firefox-search-engines Uninstall Search.startbrowser.io
  7. Select your new default search provider

c) Delete Search.startbrowser.io from Google Chrome

  1. Launch Google Chrome and open the menu
  2. Choose More Tools and go to Extensions chrome-more-menu Uninstall Search.startbrowser.io
  3. Terminate unwanted browser extensions chrome-extensions Uninstall Search.startbrowser.io
  4. Move to Settings (under Extensions) chrome-set-pages Uninstall Search.startbrowser.io
  5. Click Set page in the On startup section chrome-set-homepage Uninstall Search.startbrowser.io
  6. Replace your home page
  7. Go to Search section and click Manage search engines chrome-manage-search Uninstall Search.startbrowser.io
  8. Terminate Search.startbrowser.io and choose a new provider

d) Remove Search.startbrowser.io from Edge

  1. Launch Microsoft Edge and select More (the three dots at the top right corner of the screen). edge-menu Uninstall Search.startbrowser.io
  2. Settings → Choose what to clear (located under the Clear browsing data option) edge-settings Uninstall Search.startbrowser.io
  3. Select everything you want to get rid of and press Clear. edge-clear-browsing-data Uninstall Search.startbrowser.io
  4. Right-click on the Start button and select Task Manager. task-manager-open Uninstall Search.startbrowser.io
  5. Find Microsoft Edge in the Processes tab.
  6. Right-click on it and select Go to details. task-manager-processes Uninstall Search.startbrowser.io
  7. Look for all Microsoft Edge related entries, right-click on them and select End Task. task-manager-end-task Uninstall Search.startbrowser.io

Step 3. How to reset your web browsers?

a) Reset Internet Explorer

  1. Open your browser and click on the Gear icon
  2. Select Internet Options ie-menu Uninstall Search.startbrowser.io
  3. Move to Advanced tab and click Reset ie-advanced-tab Uninstall Search.startbrowser.io
  4. Enable Delete personal settings
  5. Click Reset ie-reset-window Uninstall Search.startbrowser.io
  6. Restart Internet Explorer

b) Reset Mozilla Firefox

  1. Launch Mozilla and open the menu
  2. Click on Help (the question mark) firefox-menuhelp Uninstall Search.startbrowser.io
  3. Choose Troubleshooting Information firefox-menu-help Uninstall Search.startbrowser.io
  4. Click on the Refresh Firefox button firefox-reset Uninstall Search.startbrowser.io
  5. Select Refresh Firefox

c) Reset Google Chrome

  1. Open Chrome and click on the menu chrome-menu Uninstall Search.startbrowser.io
  2. Choose Settings and click Show advanced settings chrome-advanced-menu Uninstall Search.startbrowser.io
  3. Click on Reset settings chrome-reset Uninstall Search.startbrowser.io
  4. Select Reset

d) Reset Safari

  1. Launch Safari browser
  2. Click on Safari settings (top-right corner)
  3. Select Reset Safari... safari-reset-menu Uninstall Search.startbrowser.io
  4. A dialog with pre-selected items will pop-up
  5. Make sure that all items you need to delete are selected safari-reset Uninstall Search.startbrowser.io
  6. Click on Reset
  7. Safari will restart automatically

* SpyHunter scanner, published on this site, is intended to be used only as a detection tool. More info on SpyHunter. To use the removal functionality, you will need to purchase the full version of SpyHunter. If you wish to uninstall SpyHunter, click here.

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