FunPopularGames New Tab Hijacker - How to remove

FunPopularGames, or Free Games by FunPopularGames, is a browser plugin that’s supposed to help people find and play browser games more easily. However, those whose computer is infected with this plugin know that this new tab is little more than an adware virus: it hijacks the new tab page and turns web search results into ads for other malware. Plus, is many cases, FunPopularGames doesn’t even ask the user’s permission to get installed – it just appears in the browser with no explanation. By the way, the extension’s gaming features are very poor.

What is FunPopularGames

FunPopularGames new tab characteristics and removal:

Classification	Browser hijacker Adware
FunPopularGames infection symptoms	Changed new tab page Different search results page Seemingly more ads in search results
Problems with the new tab hijacker	Hijacks browser settings Fills search results with ads Extracts private information for advertisers Gets installed without getting explicit consent
Uninstall FunPopularGames new tab	Remove malware using antivirus programs (Combo Cleaner for Macs, SpyHunter for PCs) Uninstall unwanted extensions from browser settings

Search-hijacking adware

You might think that FunPopularGames is just one of those extensions that are great to use, but maybe they read your browsing history in the background. Not a big deal – authors of these free extensions work hard, so they look for ways to monetize their apps in an unintrusive way.

Well, FunPopularGames is rather worse than that. There is a whole list of problems with this new tab extension that make it almost malware – frustrating to use and annoying to get rid of:

• FunPopularGames takes over the new tab page, changing it to hp.myway.com/funpopulargames/ttab02/index.html.
• Myway.com and Ask.com search engines are aggressively pushed by FunPopularGames just because they’re owned by the new tab’s developer.
• Search results when filtered through the FunPopularGames plugin are filled with ads for more malware and other low-quality content.
• The new tab extension often gets installed without permission, together with other extensions.

Let’s talk about this in more detail: FunPopularGames new tab is a browser hijacker, its purpose is to allow ads to be more easily shown to users. It’s adware that’s recognized by antivirus programs as something that should be avoided.

Having FunPopularGames installed and replacing your new tab page allows the extension to influence how you surf the web and it can show you search results that are most lucrative for Mindspark, FunPopularGames’ creator company. Besides generic ads in web search results, other new tabs are heavily promoted through the FunPopularGames extension: MyMapsExpress, MergeDocsNow, ProPDFConverter, TestForSpeed, and others. You might even have an extension like this installed and not notice it.

FunPopularGames and privacy

To make the ads more effective, FunPopularGames uses another of its powers as an extension: its ability to spy on you. Even with limited permissions, FunPopularGames can do a lot:

• It can see your location and other demographic data.
• It can read your browsing history.
• FunPopularGames can see what you search for while you’re on its new tab page.
• The links and ads you click on are seen by the extension.

A lot of data is gathered and used for advertising, even shared with third parties. This helps advertisers get around the various privacy measures that are already implemented on the web, such as HTTPS.

The problem is that a lot of people who get FunPopularGames installed on their browser don’t realize what happened, why their new tab changed, or what the purpose of FunPopularGames really is. They get taken advantage of by this adware extension while their web browsing becomes less safe and less fun than before.

Unwanted installation

It’s totally possible for FunPopularGames to get installed without the permission of the user of the infected computer. New tab hijackers use a few different tactics:

• They get bundled with freeware and installed as “additional offers”.
• They use deceptive ads and installation tactics to trick people to install them.

The first option is when browser toolbars, new tabs, search settings, and adware is included in the setup of another, totally unrelated program. If you breeze through the installation of a FunPopularGames bundler, you will be surprised to see that new tab in your browser. If you carefully go through the setup instead, you’ll notice that FunPopularGames was mentioned, but it was hidden out-of-the-way and nearly impossible to notice. To avoid installing bundled hijackers, you need to find their settings – they’re installed by default, so you need to find a checkbox next to FunPopularGames and uncheck it. This is tedious and really unfair to users who just want to install a program.

Deceptive installation online might look like a website that requires you to install FunPopularGames to access its content (“Recommended Extension” and “Flash SD App Required” sites do this). You might install FunPopularGames when you were meaning to download a file or watch a video. This sort of thing is an ongoing problem, despite the efforts of browser developers.

Thus, people end up with FunPopularGames on their computer and no idea where it came from. Sometimes new tabs have a malicious application that prevents them from being removed or the settings are changed in such a way that manual removal doesn’t work and antivirus programs need to be used to get rid of the adware.

How to remove FunPopularGames new tab

The FunPopularGames extension can be uninstalled with the help of an anti-malware tool and some manual changes to browser settings.

A trusted anti-malware scanner, such as SpyHunter for Windows or Combo Cleaner for MacOS, can find and remove malicious files from your computer, including the bundler that might have brought FunPopularGames on you. Bundlers might not be malware, but they’re still considered potentially unsafe.

You can uninstall FunPopularGames and all the other new tabs by going to your browser settings. The next section has detailed instructions on that, as well as on restoring your search settings that the new tabs might thave messed up. If everything goes well, your browser will be as good as new!

Automatic Malware removal tools

Get rid of FunPopularGames from your browser

How to remove FunPopularGames using Windows Control Panel

Many hijackers and adware like FunPopularGames New Tab Hijacker install some of their components as regular Windows programs as well as additional software. This part of malware can be uninstalled from the Control Panel. To access it, do the following.

• Start→Control Panel (older Windows) or press Windows Key→Search and enter Control Panel and then press Enter (Windows 8, Windows 10).
• Choose Uninstall Program (if you don't see it, click in the upper right next to "View by" and select Category).
• Go through the list of programs and select entries related to FunPopularGames . You can click on "Name" or "Installed On" to reorder your programs and make FunPopularGames New Tab Hijacker easier to find.
• Click the Uninstall button. If you're asked if you really want to remove the program, click Yes.
• In many cases anti-malware programs are better at detecting related parasites, thus I recommend installing Spyhunter to identify other programs that might be a part of this infection.

How to remove FunPopularGames from macOS

Delete FunPopularGames New Tab Hijacker from your applications.

1. Open Finder.
2. In the menu bar, click Go.
3. Select Applications from the dropdown.
4. Find the FunPopularGames app.
5. Select it and right-click it (or hold the Ctrl and click the left mouse button).
6. In the dropdown, click Move to Bin/Trash. You might be asked to provide your login password.

TopHow To remove FunPopularGames New Tab Hijacker 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 FunPopularGames New Tab Hijacker, 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 FunPopularGames New Tab Hijacker 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 FunPopularGames New Tab Hijacker 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 FunPopularGames, 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.

How to remove FunPopularGames New Tab Hijacker 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 FunPopularGames New Tab Hijacker, 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 FunPopularGames New Tab Hijacker from Safari:Top

Remove malicious extensions

• Click on Safari menu on the top left corner of the screen. Select Preferences.
  
• Select Extensions and uninstall FunPopularGames and other suspicious extensions.
  
• If your homepage was changed, click on Safari menu on the top left corner of the screen. Select Preferences and choose General tab. Enter preferable URL to the homepage field.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings(older versions) If you are still experiencing any issues related to FunPopularGames New Tab Hijacker, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on Safari menu on the top left corner of the screen. Select Reset Safari…
  
• Select which options you want to reset (usually all of them come preselected) and click on the Reset button.
  

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