Newtab Viruses - How to remove

Newtab viruses are a popular group of browser hijackers that infect the browser’s new tab page and (in some cases) start page. These hijackers are created for the reasons to show advertisements or to distribute other forms of malware.

Newtab hijackers evolved from start page hijackers after tabbed browsing became popular due to Firefox, which was one of the first major browsers using tabs in 2002. Before that, hijackers tried either to get full control of the browser or changed the start page. However, the new tab page allows showing advertisements more frequently without annoying people too much. Thus this became a popular way to push advertisements long term.

How do Newtab hijackers differ from other parasites?

Newtab hijackers are different from search hijackers by leaving the search page untouched or using another parasite for changing its settings. Furthermore, the search might be just an additional function rather than the main way of making a profit.

Different from Clickjackers, hijackers do not usually steal clicks. Sure, there are versions of parasites that try to implement all the possible ways to earn money, but these are very rare. This type of malware relies on showing moderate amounts of advertisements by pretending to be useful.

The majority of such parasites implement useless toolbars in various bundles for distribution. Common choices of “useful” functions are weather information, links to common services (like Facebook and Gmail), recipes. Typically, they include some sort of search box too. This search uses either their own engine or one of the popular ones, which gives no additional benefit for you. However, they spend a bit more time coding the toolbar so these might have a useful function, though this is rare.

Types and families of Newtab hijackers

The majority of newtab hijackers are usually clones under a new name. The makers search for freeware apps looking for ways to make money or create their own versions of barely useful programs. Then they create a webpage or just redirect to their main page on the newtab. Their most popular choice today is the Myway virus, created by Mindspark. It has its own search engine, however, it is distributed with Ask, Yahoo, or another search toolbar.

Another popular family of hijackers is Eightpoint/Polarity one or AirFind Corp one. They do not care about creating unique plugins at all thus almost all of them share the design. The technology is owned by Cayman company Eightpoint, which “licenses” to some subsidiary that does dirty work.

The third group of New tab hijackers is created by Imali media that used many domains for their malware. The domains are very alike, and it is hard to see how one hijacker differs from another.

The fourth major group is Infospace.com-based hijackers. Infospace is an old metasearch engine, which provides search and advertising services for other pages. The most widely known search engine that uses this provider is Dogpile.com (which is completely legitimate); however, it is used by hijackers too. Furthermore, they have another product: Msxml.excite.com new tab virus.

There is also a producer of browser hijackers called Trovi (ClientConnect LTD) and this company is responsible for aggravating parasites like My-bing.com and Need4search.com. This Israel-based unit promises to enhance users’ browsing experiences, but most of the people ended complaining about unauthorized modifications to their preferences.

There were some hijackers that use the name “Newtab” as well, e.g. Newtab.online an Infospace.com based hijacker, Newtab.club hijacker, Newtab.quiklogin.co virus, Betternewtabsearch.com, Startnetab.info, Search.newtabfun.com, Searchnewtab.com, Searchtabnew.com and many others.

Note that many search hijackers try to hijack new tabs and start pages, too. However, their removal is more complex as they rely on making money from the search results either by using ad networks or inserting promotions themselves.

Are newtab hijackers legitimate?

Newtab hijackers rarely break the law. While some of them might install with help of malware, they try to avoid the shadiest of tactics and rely on tricking people during bundle installation or advertise their “useful” functions. So, technically they do not break laws, but they can be categorized as Adware, hijackers or PUPS.

Thus the majority of anti-malware programs try to detect and remove all the hijacker types with various success. If you get infected, scan your Windows PC with Spyhunter, Mac with Combo Cleaner, or another security program. You can also remove this parasite manually too.

Automatic Malware removal tools

How to get rid of New Tab hijackers manually

How to remove newtab virus using Windows Control Panel

Many hijackers and adware like Newtab Viruses 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 newtab virus . You can click on "Name" or "Installed On" to reorder your programs and make Newtab Viruses 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 newtab virus from macOS

Delete Newtab Viruses from your applications.

1. Open Finder.
2. In the menu bar, click Go.
3. Select Applications from the dropdown.
4. Find the newtab virus 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 Newtab Viruses 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 Newtab Viruses, 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 Newtab Viruses 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 Newtab Viruses 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 newtab virus, 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 Newtab Viruses 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 Newtab Viruses, 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 Newtab Viruses from Safari:Top

Remove malicious extensions

• Click on Safari menu on the top left corner of the screen. Select Preferences.
  
• Select Extensions and uninstall newtab virus 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 Newtab Viruses, 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.