Cookie Muncher Adware - How to remove

Cookie Muncher is a browser extension. You can find it on Cookiemuncher.org. It promises to remove cookies from any site with just one click.

Deleting or managing cookies is something that you can also do yourself, manually.

While Cookie Muncher does that, it also replaces your new tab page and your default search engine. As a result, your home page looks different and your search results are delivered by Yahoo or another unexpected search engine.

Frustratingly, Cookie Muncher’s new tab lacks even the most basic features, such as pinned links and background images. It’s bad – but it does help Cookie Muncher manipulate people’s web searches.

Cookie Muncher in short:

Type of threat	Browser hijacker, adware.
How the extension changes your browser	Cookie Muncher lets you delete site cookies, it replaces your new tab/home page, it makes it so that your search results appear on Yahoo or another site.
How Cookie Muncher is installed	It’s promoted by pre-site pop-ups that encourage you to install it before you can visit a site.
How to remove Cookie Muncher new tab	Uninstall the Cookie Muncher extension and other potentially unwanted extensions, check your new tab and search settings, check if there’s any more adware on your computer (Spyhunter for Mac, Combo Cleaner for macOS, Spyhunter for PC, others).

Cookie Muncher tracks user data

Why does a cookie deleter extension need to take over your home page? Why does it need to change your search engine settings?

It doesn’t need to. But Cookie Muncher does it anyway – to track users and to forward them to sponsored websites. You can read about it in the extension’s privacy policy. It says that Cookie Muncher logs cookies (how ironic), device ID, IP and location, advertising ID, your installed software, etc. This data can be combined with data from third parties.

Cookie Muncher does this so that personalized ads can be delivered to you on all your devices. That’s what it says on its privacy policy.

Indeed, browser extensions are not good for privacy. They can access more data than websites, and they often do. Be careful about what you install.

Even extensions that look safe at first glance can turn out to be problematic (Ad Video Blocker, Food Tab).

 

How are browser hijackers installed?

Cookie Muncher has a few curious pages on its website. These pages suggest that Cookie Muncher is advertised as a pre-site pop-up. Here’s what the pop-up says:

Before you continue to [site]

By clicking the button below you’ll be redirected to the Chrome Store and be given the option to install the “Cookie Muncher” Extension, otherwise skip directly to your destination by clicking on this link. This extension will offer you a safe web experience by removing cookies and changing your default search provider.

The pop-up says that Cookie Muncher will “offer you a safe web experience”. Hypocritically, the extension tracks its users for advertising purposes.

The pop-ups like those below make it easy to install a potentially unwanted add-on without thinking, out of habit or reflex. When you see such pop-ups, always remember that you don’t have to install the offered extension.

How to remove Cookie Muncher new tab

Uninstall Cookie Muncher from your web browser. The instructions for how to do this are below.

At the same time, review the other extensions that are installed on your browser. Do you know and trust all of them? Remove or disable those that are even a little bit suspicious. Read their privacy policies, check their developers. Only allow trusted add-ons on your browser.

Then, open the search engine and new tab settings in your browser. The instructions are below. These are the settings that Cookie Muncher takes over once installed. You can set them to whatever sites you like now that the hijacker is gone.

To make sure that your device is free of adware and other malware, scan it with anti-malware programs, such as Spyhunter for Mac, Combo Cleaner for Mac, Spyhunter for Windows, and others. These programs might not detect Cookie Muncher, as it’s such a mild threat. But they can tell you if there are suspicious, potentially unwanted programs that ought to be removed, which may be relevant after an adware infection. After all, malware often spreads in groups.

Automatic Malware removal tools

Manually uninstall browser extensions

TopHow To remove Cookie Muncher Adware from Google Chrome:

• Click on the 3 horizontal lines icon on a browser toolbar and Select More Tools→Extensions
  
• Select all malicious extensions and delete them.
  
• Click on the 3 horizontal lines icon on a browser toolbar and Select Settings
  
• Select Manage Search engines
  
• Remove unnecessary search engines from the list
  
• Go back to settings. On Startup choose Open blank page (you can remove undesired pages from the set pages link too).
• If your homepage was changed, click on Chrome menu on the top right corner, select Settings. Select Open a specific page or set of pages and click on Set pages.
  
• Delete malicious search websites at a new Startup pages window by clicking “X” next to them.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings

If you are still experiencing any issues related to Cookie Muncher Adware, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on a Chrome’s menu button (three horizontal lines) and select Settings.
• Scroll to the end of the page and click on theReset browser settings button.
  
• Click on the Reset button on the confirmation box.
  

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.

How to remove Cookie Muncher Adware from Microsoft Edge:Top

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Microsoft Edge window. Select “Extensions”.

• Select all malicious extensions and delete them.

• Click on the three-dot menu on the browser toolbar and Select Settings

• Select Privacy and Services and scroll down. Press on Address bar.

• Choose Manage search engines.

• Remove unnecessary search engines from the list: open the three-dot menu and choose Remove.

• Go back to Settings. Open On start-up.
• Delete malicious search websites at Open specific page or pages by opening the three-dot menu and clicking Delete.

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings If you are still experiencing any issues related to Cookie Muncher Adware, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings

• Click on Edge's menu button and select Settings. Click on the Reset Settings button on the left.
• Press the Restore settings to their default values option.

• Click on the Reset button on the confirmation box.

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.

How To remove Cookie Muncher Adware from Firefox:Top

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Mozilla window and select the “Add-ons” icon (Or press Ctrl+Shift+A on your keyboard).
  
• Go through Extensions and Addons list, remove everything Cookie Muncher Adware related and items you do not recognise. If you do not know the extension and it is not made by Mozilla, Google, Microsoft, Oracle or Adobe then you probably do not need it.
  
• If your homepage was changed, click on the Firefox menu in the top right corner, select Options → General. Enter a preferable URL to the homepage field and click Restore to Default.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings If you are still experiencing any issues related to Cookie Muncher Adware, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Mozilla Firefox window. Click on the Help button.
  
• ChooseTroubleshooting Information on the Help menu.
  
• Click on theReset Firefox button.
  
• Click on the Reset Firefox button on the confirmation box. Mozilla Firefox will close and change the settings to default.
  

If the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program to identify malicious entries.