QuickMail Hijacker - How to remove

There exist lots of useful Chrome extensions that help people optimize their browsing experience. QuickMail looks like it should do that as well, and it does indeed help some people quickly access the login pages of some email providers.

However, it’s not all good — this add-on changes your default search engine and doesn’t allow you to change it back. It also claims the power to change the way websites are displayed to you, which gives it incredible power really not needed for an extension that’s just supposed to let people access their email accounts quickly.

Since QuickMail is available in the Web Store, you might think that it’s been reviewed and approved as a safe browser extension. But that’s not necessarily true — malicious extensions are discovered on the store regularly. And potentially unwanted add-ons like QuickMail are not even necessarily doing anything against the rules, even if their users often are disappointed and confused with what happens to their browsers.

QuickMail memo:

QuickMail sources	Ads, Adware.
Problems with QuickMail	Replaced search engine, increased amount of promoted content, dishonest distribution, excessive privileges.
Avoid hijackers	Remove malware (Malwarebytes), avoid unethical websites, avoid freeware optional installations.
Stop search redirects	Access browser settings and remove QuickMail.

 

What does QuickMail do?

This article is mostly about how to uninstall QuickMail. QuickMail is not malware, not at all — though there do exist various malicious Chrome add-ons that are used for criminal purposes. However, it is a PUP — a potentially unwanted program. This category is meant for software that is not malicious but is a bit exploitative, predatory, and can potentially put your device in increased risk by, for example, showing you more ads or revealing your private data.

But before that, functionality: typing “Mail” in the address bar leads to the Gmail login page, and the card of the extension has links to a couple of other email provider websites. That is helpful for some users — those who use the most popular providers. There is no obvious way to personalize the settings. So, the QuickMail extension is very basic.

The search engine that your browser uses by default is modified by QuickMail to make sure that it’s Yahoo. While this search engine is totally fine and many people like it and use it voluntarily, it is intrusive and disruptive for a browser add-on to force people to go there to search the web. Especially when QuickMail is in no way improved by this behavior. So, why does it do it?

The answer is monetization. Various browser hijackers either enter partnerships where they’re paid for pushing a specific search engine, or they promote a proprietary engine. The results of a search query often have promoted results included among them and the more people see those ads, the more money the search engine makes. That’s why some people consider browser hijackers like QuickMail to be adware — they result in you seeing more ads than before.

Besides the ads, QuickMail asks permission to read and change all your data on the websites you visit. Not saying that they make use of it, but this does give the developers of QuickMail a lot of power over the display of various websites and even the power to see what you do online. So, it’s a permission that ought to be granted only to extensions that you really trust.

How to remove QuickMail

If you uninstall QuickMail then the changes it made should go away. And if you review your other extensions (type chrome://extensions into your address bar or go to the menu, Settings, Settings again, and click on Extensions) and find some things you don’t use, think about whether you want them to stay on your device. There is an incredible number of hijackers out there, like Bigsrch.xyz, Smart Search, or Heasyphotoeditpro.com.

If some extensions mysteriously return or can’t be removed at all, there might be some malware on your computer and you might need an antivirus program to solve that.

You can continue using QuickMail safely, especially if you like Yahoo and don’t mind the ads. Just know that the distribution that the developers of the add-on use does show that your device could be poorly protected, just because ads for QuickMail made it to your attention.

You can also find a safer alternative for quickly accessing email accounts. There are ways to manually modify your new tab page on Chrome and you can add the login pages of Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo Mail, and whatever other providers you use. Bookmarks are another alternative, as well as other browser add-ons. Just make sure that you read the reviews and that the developer is transparent.

How to avoid browser hijackers

Malicious ads are what is mostly used to advertise QuickMail (as well as various other unwanted programs). Adware programs are one way that malicious ads are delivered to people, and it’s concerning — stuff like ransomware (viruses that, if they infect your device, lock all of your files so that you can’t read or use them anymore) and miners (programs that hijack your hardware resources to perform calculations needed for mining cryptocurrencies). So, make sure you don’t have any adware. You can do that by scanning your computer with an aggressive anti-malware tool like Spyhunter (PC), or Combo-Cleaner (Mac). If you find anything, make sure to remove it before it results in real malware on your device.

But adware isn’t the only source of malicious ads — you might want to avoid unsafe websites. Piracy streaming, adult sites, filesharing pages, and innocent websites that unknowingly partner with unethical ad-networks can redirect you to QuickMail and other PUPs, so it’s worth looking for safer alternatives.

And don’t download freeware from poor-reputation websites if you want to avoid unwanted applications being installed in the background.

Automatic Malware removal tools

TopRemoving QuickMail Hijacker from Chrome

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Google Chrome window. Select “Settings”.
  
• Click “Extensions” on the left menu bar.
• Go through the extensions list and remove programs you do not need, especially similar to QuickMail Hijacker. Click on the trash bin icon next to QuickMail Hijacker or other add-ons you want to remove.
  
• Press on the “Remove” button on the Confirmation window.
  
• If unsure, you can disable them temporarily.
  
• Restart Chrome.

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings

If you are still experiencing any issues related to QuickMail Hijacker, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

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