MyNewsFree Hijacker - How to remove

MyNewsFree is a browser hijacker – a new tab replacer. Instead of helping you track news, it simply replaces the new tab page to redirect searches (to Yahoo) and then logs your search activity. As MyNewsFree fails to provide any useful features, it should be removed.

About MyNewsFree:

Classification	Adware, browser hijacker.
What MyNewsFree does	Replaces your new tab page, promotes Yahoo search and cause the results to show more ads, logs what you search for and which results you click on.
How the hijacker spreads	Advertised online deceptively (for example, fake reviews), bundled with free apps.
How to remove MyNewsFree	Uninstall unwanted browser extensions manually, find malware with antivirus scanners (Spyhunter for PC, Combo Cleaner for Mac, others).

What does MyNewsFree do?

Change the new tab

MyNewsFree is a browser extension that replaces the default new tab page with its own. You can see your new tab page when you press the plus ‘+’ button at the top of your browser or when you use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+T (Windows) or Cmd+T (macOS). To do this, the MyNewsFree extension asks for the single permission to replace your new tab page.

MyNewsFree can be found on the Chrome Web Store, presented as a helper for accessing various news. It does this by… posting links to news sites on your new tab page. That is literally it. From what I see, there’s no news aggregator or feed, nor a way to favorite sites, topics, to filter by tags – nothing. MyNewsFree is nothing like Feedly or other sites for tracking news.

But MyNewsFree does something else, too: it offers a search box in the middle of you hijacked new tab. The search box goes to Yahoo.com and I see no way to select another search engine. This puts MyNewsFree in the already overflowing basket of Yahoo redirect viruses.

Adware and spyware

MyNewsFree’s search box leads the search to Yahoo. In my experience of trying a few keywords and comparing the results on both sites, the Yahoo.com results seen through MyNewsFree delivered a few more ads than the plain Yahoo did. So, indirectly, MyNewsFree is a kind of adware.

MyNewsFree’s privacy policy lists all the data that MyNewsFree may log, including:

• search activity, like what you searched for and which ads and search results you clicked on,
• what lead you to install MyNewsFree and which other browser extensions are on your browser,
• your IP address, your location, language, OS, and some hardware and software settings.

Of course, this data may be shared with advertisers to help them show you relevant ads.

Usually, ad-supported sites and apps do something in exchange: provide valuable unique content or features. In my opinion, MyNewsFree fails at that. That leads to it being called adware.

Similar to other hijackers

When I saw MyNewsFree at first, I immediately assumed that it was a creation of Eightpoint Technologies, the company behind Online News Now Tab and dozens and dozens of other browser extensions. The privacy policy is also incredibly similar. But no, MyNewsFree is actually made by Neefla Technologies, a company I’ve never heard of before. (As a bunch of Eightpoint extensions were just removed from the Chrome Web store once again, I wonder if Neefla Technologies is related.)

Another note is that MyNewsFree is not as bad as many of Eightpoint’s creations. It hijacks the new tab page but, unlike many newtab viruses, it doesn’t promote many clickbait ad-filled sites. That makes it less terrible than many hijackers out there. Still not worth using, though.

Installation

Extensions like MyNewsFree tend to get installed either by being bundled with freeware or by being offered by ads that look like download buttons/links. This leads to accidental installations and people wondering why their browser is taking them to Yahoo all of a sudden.

When I looked at MyNewsFree’s reviews on the Chrome Web Store to see what experiences people have had, I was surprised to find what looks like a list of fake reviews: 24 five-star reviews posted between two days, none longer than 10 words, none discussing any of MyNewsFree’s specific features. A few of the reviews don’t even make sense (thanking for opportunities? what is that about?) and others are just the same phrase repeated (“This extension is very helpful”).

Posting fake reviews is not good.

How to remove MyNewsFree

Uninstall MyNewsFree from your browser settings: go into the main menu, open Settings, open Extensions, find MyNewsFree, and press the Remove button.

And look at the other extensions that are installed, as well as the programs and apps that were installed at around the same time as MyNewsFree. Scan your computer with an anti-malware app, such as Spyhunter for Windows, Combo Cleaner for macOS, others to find suspicious items on your computer.

Automatic Malware removal tools

Remove unwanted browser extensions

TopHow To remove MyNewsFree 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 MyNewsFree 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 MyNewsFree 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 MyNewsFree 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 MyNewsFree 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 MyNewsFree Hijacker 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 MyNewsFree 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.