What is the Yahoo Search Engine?

Yahoo is one of the first search engines that appeared on the Internet. In 1995, it was initially introduced as a search mechanism for cataloging the websites recommended by Yahoo. Further, they applied for a partnership with Inktomi and then Google. That allowed Yahoo to become much more popular. In 2003, they added a full-fledged web crawling service that extended the search results. However, in 2004 Google managed to outpace Yahoo by market share. Now it is just a part of niche services offered by Yahoo.

Besides its 100% benevolent nature, there are cases when users uncover that Yahoo is set as their search engine by force. Changing it to the one you used does not help – it will be switched back to Yahoo almost immediately. Searching with such settings is likely not comfortable because the results differ from what you expect. And the most unpleasant thing is that someone earns money for you with such changes.

How Does That Work?

Seeing your search engine constantly changed to Yahoo means that you have a malicious program on your computer. Such programs are usually identified as browser hijackers. As you can guess from their name, , they take control of your web browser without your allowance. They can change any setting in the infected browser, including the search engine, redirect search queries, open the websites and start the browser whenever it wants. The crooks control all this activity and designate all changes and redirects that malware does.

The exact form of that malware may be different. Most browser hijackers are tiny programs that sit deep on the disk. Throughout the last couple of years, they massively opted for the guise of a browser plugin. That makes the malware implementation much easier, and formally such plugins do not violate any rules – the user allows it to do all these nasty things during the installation.

Is the Yahoo Search in Chrome Dangerous?

There is no direct danger browser hijackers bring to your system. But since it can throw you on the website it wants, you may easily fall victim to phishing or unintentionally trigger the malware downloading. Same-quality crooks often make sites advertised by crooks, so the chance of seeing a legit site after the redirect is pretty low. Scam sites like Pornographic Virus Alert from Microsoft also appear among these redirections.

Besides the possibility of being scammed in such a way, you may also get your personal information stolen. In the cases when malware is spread as a browser hijacker, it asks you to give access to cookie files and browser history. Those two categories are pretty valuable for selling the data to third parties. Besides that, cookies may contain the login credentials in the unciphered form – that is just a gift for cybercriminals.

How Did I Get the Malware?

As I have mentioned before, browser hijackers may have different forms. Web browser plugin, “PC optimiser”, rogue – choose what you want. While all this diversity is hard to compare when you don’t know about the internal things, the externals – exactly how they are distributed- are most likely the same. Crooks who spread hijackers usually try to bait the user into installing the malware under something useful. Usually, such stuff is found on online forums, abandoned sites that were hacked, and advertisements.

Any advertised offers that look too generous or contain statements baiting you to click on them must not be trusted. Only God knows what will happen – redirection, malware downloading, or even throwing you to the exploit page. It is better not to choose at all – I recommend you avoid clicking such things. It is one of the most basic principles of cyber hygiene – don’t ignore it!

Remove Yahoo Search from Chrome

Most modern malware creates enough hitches in your system to make it harder to remove. Browser hijackers are not an exclusion. Users may delete some of the files, leaving the other part untouched. And the virus manages to recover its files using the rest of them. Detecting all malware parts is a thankless job. That’s why I’d advise you to use anti-malware software. Reverting the changes in the web browser is much easier, so I will show you how to reset your Chrome browser.

Anti-malware programs can find all malware parts by checking the paths specified in their code. Therefore, using a well-done antivirus that will detect and wipe all the files of browser hijackers is a perfect way to get rid of the latter. I will recommend GridinSoft Anti-Malware as the program that will 100% complete this task. Download it from our official website.

You can try out the full functionality of GridinSoft Anti-Malware during a 6-day free trial. After the app installation, you will be offered to type your nickname and email address to receive a free trial code. It will arrive right in your email after passing these steps. Without it, you can still scan your devices and reset the browsers but can’t remove the detects.

Reset Your Chrome Browser Settings

• Most of the contemporary browsers have the same reset steps. Chrome is not an exclusion; it is a trendsetter for the rest programs in this class. Go to Settings, and find there the Reset and Clean Up submenu.

• In it, click on the Restore settings to their original defaults. That will call the appearance of the pop-up window.

• In that pop-up window, accept the settings resetting. Then, your browser will be as good as the newly installed.

The post Yahoo Search: How to Remove Yahoo from Chrome? appeared first on Gridinsoft Blog.

What is Computer Viruses & Why is it Dangerous?

A computer virus is a type of computer program that when executed modifies the other existing programs. What it does is that it replicates itself and inserts its own code. The areas of the program affected in such a way by the malicious program are said to be infected.

Some computer viruses can steal your data, alter it or encrypt it to demand a ransom for it. The other kinds of malicious programs like cryptominers render your machine completely unusable. Not to mention that there exist quite an aggressive form of malware who once gets on the machine completely destroys the data with no recovery possible.

IMPORTANT FACT: Malware is a term for any type of computer software with malicious intent that does great harm to your PC. Among the most dangerous are: Coin miner, browser hijackers, adware, spyware, etc.

How to Detect a Computer Virus: Pay Attention

Despite the myriad of computer viruses existing out there in the world you will know when you get infected with some of them. Because in case of a computer infection everything that doesn’t work properly may hint at it. But more precisely it is the following:

• Browser lags or makes unwanted redirects;
• You noticed that from your account has been sent emails that you clearly remember you didn`t write and send;
• You also noticed that the hard drive seems to be working overly when you even don’t do that much;
• New applications (toolbars, etc.) appeared without you actually downloading them;
• Unexpected pop-up windows started to annoy you increasingly;
• The system began frequently to crash and message error;
• You started to have missing files;
• You also started to have shutting down or restarting system;
• Your computer performance significantly slows down ( It takes to much time to start up or open programs;
• Antivirus programs or firewalls don’t work or work problematic.

Prevent Computer Viruses: Useful Tips

Of course the old rule says it’s better to prevent a problem than deal with it. In case of computer safety and security the same rule also applies. The bad security hygiene makes the way for the various kinds of viruses to infect your computer and interfere with its work. For the responsible user, cyber security hygiene is one of the top priorities if not the first. Make yourself a note to always keep up to the next points:

#1. Have additional security solutions. Apart from having your main antivirus and firewall, consider buying another antivirus or firewall. Just in case the main security solution fails you will always have the backup of your security tools;

#2. Make it a habit to do regular backups of all important data you have on your computer. You can store it securely in the cloud or on the hard drive. In case of a compromise you won’t get your data completely lost;

#3. Use a firewall. If you have some antivirus solution it doesn’t necessarily mean you have a firewall. But both PCs and Macs have pre installed firewall software so make sure you have that activated on your computer;

#4. Use antivirus software. There’s not that much to say that`s basically the most essential thing in your cybersecurity. Don`t leave yourself without  an antivirus solution at all.

#5. Use strong passwords. Strong password will consist of symbols, letters, numbers and is at least eight characters long. And don`t reuse your username and password because once a hacker obtains them they can access all your accounts you have the same username and password on.

#5. Keep Everything Up to Date. Just saying, if you have the latest version of the software it means you have a little possible percentage of being hacked. Companies like Oracle and Microsoft regularly do their updates in order to eliminate the bugs that hackers have been already exploiting.

To show an example: If you have bought your operating system like 3 years ago it can be vulnerable against any new viruses developed in this age gap.

How to Remove a Virus: Check for Viruses On PC

So if you suspect that you have a virus on the computer take the steps below immediately to remove the threat:

1. Update your antivirus. Before you do a scan check if your antivirus solution has the latest update. Software vendors regularly do the updates adding to the list new discovered in the wild or in lab threats. If you have not done it yet your antivirus solution may not detect the virus that has infected the computer.
2. Disconnect from the internet. It will be a good idea to disconnect your computer from the internet as some viruses use the connection to do its malicious work. Once you have done it you can proceed further.
3. Do the reboot of your computer into safe mode. In the safe mode you can remove the virus without it returning again. Because in some cases malware tends to return. But this mode leaves only the essential programs to work while disabling all others and of course it will stop the virus.
4. Delete any temporary files. Some viruses initiate when your computer boots up. You may get rid of the virus if you delete the temporary file. But the advice will be not to rely on the deletion and proceed further to have the full proper deletion process.
5. Delete or quarantine the virus. After a scan is finished you can delete or quarantine the found file. Having done the step, run another scan to make  sure there’s no malware left.
6. Reboot your computer. Simply turn your computer on. It doesn’t need to be in Safe Mode any longer.
7. Change all your passwords. If you fear that your passwords may have been compromised, change on all accounts the passwords.
8. Update your software, browser and operating system. By doing so you will ensure that hackers could not exploit the same vulnerability again.

Types of Computer Viruses: What Users Should Beware of

Out of the variety of viruses there are some most common ones. The possibility that it’s this particular virus has got onto your machine is very high. Because they are widely spread it won’t take too much effort to get rid of one of them.  But don’t underestimate them the sooner you detect a virus and erase it the better. So once you know the cause of the problem it should be the matter of time to successfully deal with it:

1. Trojan Virus. At first site a seemingly legitimate looking program but once on the victim’s machine will secretly do its primary job to steal, disrupt or damage the user`s data or network. Trojan can’t replicate itself. A victim should start the execution of it.
2. MedusaLocker virus. A malicious software that is classified as ransomware. It encrypts files and keeps them locked until the ransom is paid. All the encrypted files receive “.encrypted” extension.
3. Macro Virus. A computer virus written in the same macro language as Word or Microsoft Excel. It works with these software applications and doesn’t depend on what OS the victim has. If a macro virus infects a file it can also damage other applications and the system.
4. Resident Virus. A kind of computer virus that hides in memory and from it can infect any program it has been tasked to infect. It loads its replication module into memory that’s why it doesn’t need to be executed to do the work. It activates every time the operating system loads or does a specific function.
5. Multipartite Virus. This virus infects the boot sector and executable files simultaneously. Most viruses infect only one thing either the boot, system or program files. Because of such a double functionality the virus causes much more damage than any other.
6. Browser Hijacker. A malicious software that will change browser`s settings, appearance and its behavior. Browser hijacker creates revenue by dircting users to different websites and constantly showing pop up windows forcing users to click. Apart from such “innocent” things the virus can also collect the victim`s data or do the keystroke logging. Remove it as soon as you notice any changes you didn’t actually remember to make to your browser.

Find The Best Computer Wirus Protection

It won’t be wrong to say that any antivirus protection is still protection. But of course the question is how good that protection is. The best thing to do in order to know which antivirus software has the quality of protection is simply to try it out.

In this way you will see the work of the product in action and will decide for yourself if what this or that antivirus software vendor proposes is enough for your needs.

The search for the ideal antivirus solution won’t be hard if you know what the thing should do. The antivirus solution searches, detects and removes the malware. It’s the basic three-part system of any program that calls itself an antivirus solution. Additionally, most antivirus software have the feature of removing or quarantining the offending malware. Also an antivirus solution works on two principles: either way it scans the programs upon their uploading or checks those already existing.

Now that you’ve secured yourself with knowledge, try to secure your computer with Gridinsoft Anti-Malware. Not a bad start in testing out the various antivirus solutions in the search for that special one. 

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