SMSfromBrowser Hijacker - How to remove

Once added to your browser, SMSfromBrowser makes some potentially unwanted changes – it replaces your home page, the default search engine, reads your browsing history and your search history. By now, many reputable antivirus programs detect SMSfromBrowser as malware.

If you have SMSfromBrowser on your computer, you may want to remove it along with any add-ons that may have been installed with it.

About SMSfromBrowser in short:

Classification	Browser hijacker, adware.
Problems with SMSfromBrowser	It changes browser settings in ways that are not relevant to its promised features, it collects search and browsing data, it does not itself provide a way to send messages from the browser.
How hijackers are downloaded	From Smsfrombrowser.com, advertised online on browser game sites and other websites, promoted by other extensions.
How to remove SMSfromBrowser	Remove unwanted browser add-ons and other programs manually or with antivirus tools like Spyhunter for Windows, Combo Cleaner for macOS, and others.

How SMSfromBrowser hijacks the browser

Changes made to your browser

SMSfromBrowser is a browser extension that promises to help you send SMS messages from your web browser. It gets installed together with Search Extension by Ask, another browser extension.

Once installed, SMSfromBrowser replaces the new tab page – the page that is displayed when you open a new tab in your browser by clicking the little plus ‘+’ button at the top. Meanwhile, the Ask add-on replaces the search engine used in your address bar.

When you use your internet browser, the new tab page and the address bar are probably where you begin searching the web or navigating to other sites by typing a query into your address bar or the search box in the new tab page, or by clicking one of your bookmarks, favorites, or frequently visited links. You may have even customized your new tab page to your liking.

So, SMSfromBrowser and Ask take over the spaces in your web browser that are the most important. With these two extensions installed, your browser uses Ask.com as the default search engine, Myway.com as the search engine for the search bar in the new tab page, and a custom SMSfromBrowser page as the new tab page.

It shouldn’t surprise you to know that SMSfromBrowser and Ask are related: SMSfromBrowser is made by Ask Applications.

SMSfromBrowser features

SMSfromBrowser has a few reviews in the Chrome Web Store – they’re just complaints about SMSfromBrowser not providing the app that people expected to get. SMSfromBrowser was advertised as providing a text messaging tool in the browser.

There are many websites and programs that provide such a feature, but SMSfromBrowser is not one of them. Instead, it links users to a few websites that do it.

Also, despite SMSfromBrowser being advertised as free, some of the messaging sites it links to are paid.

In a way, the only useful thing in SMSfromBrowser is a modest list of web links to potentially useful websites.

Privacy issues

The reason that SMSfromBrowser works the way it does is so that it can manipulate its users:

• To get people to use Myway.com, Ask.com, and affiliated sites, making them more popular and more lucrative.
• To read the user’s data, including their search logs, browsing history, ad viewing history, demographic data, location data. All this data is associated with a unique ID.

The company Ask does online advertising, including behavioral advertising – when ads are targeted to a user’s interests. This type of advertising is valued by advertisers. However, it’s not always easy to collect data about people’s interests. Most websites use encryption (the little padlock next to a site’s address) to protect people’s privacy.

But a browser extension like SMSfromBrowser or Search Extension by Ask does not need to worry about encryption – it can see what you see, unencrypted. It can even open new tabs in your browser.

How to remove SMSfromBrowser

You can remove SMSfromBrowser by opening the extension area in your browser or by going to your settings and opening the Extensions page.

Remember to look at all the extensions that you have installed and to remove those that you don’t use or do not want to be installed.

You can use an antivirus program (Spyhunter for Windows, Combo Cleaner for macOS, and others) to check your computer for other malware. Then, remove all the malicious items. SMSfromBrowser and other browser hijackers get detected as PUP (potentially unwanted program), PUA, Unwanted, Unsafe, Malicious, Adware, and Mindspark (Mindspark is the name of the company that used to be responsible for SMSfromBrowser before Ask Applications).

In addition to being advertised on various websites, add-ons like SMSfromBrowser are promoted by other hijackers and adware infections. If you did not install SMSfromBrowser after clicking an ad, it’s important to scan your device with an antivirus tool and look for other infections that may have helped SMSfromBrowser make it onto your computer.

For example, MyFormsFinder, WorldOfNotes, and PDFConverterHQ are just a few add-ons that are related closely to SMSfromBrowser and could be installed together.

Automatic Malware removal tools

Remove unwanted extensions

TopRemoving SMSfromBrowser 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 SMSfromBrowser Hijacker. Click on the trash bin icon next to SMSfromBrowser 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 SMSfromBrowser 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.

How to remove SMSfromBrowser Hijacker from Microsoft Edge:Top

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

• Go through the extensions list and remove programs you do not need, especially similar to SMSfromBrowser Hijacker. Click on the "Remove" icon next to SMSfromBrowser 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 Microsoft Edge.

TopRemoving SMSfromBrowser Hijacker from Firefox

• 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 SMSfromBrowser 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.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings If you are still experiencing any issues related to SMSfromBrowser Hijacker, 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.
  
• Choose Troubleshooting Information on the Help menu.
  
• Click on the Reset Firefox button.
  
• Click on the Reset Firefox button on the confirmation box. Mozilla Firefox will close and change the settings to default.
  

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

TopRemove malicious extensions from Internet Explorer

• Press on the Gear icon→Manage Add-ons.
  
• Go through Toolbars and extensions. Remove everything related to SMSfromBrowser Hijacker and items you do not know that are made not by Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Oracle or Adobe.
  
• Close the Options.

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings

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

• Press on the Gear icon->Internet Options.
  
• Choose the Advanced tab and click on the Reset button.
  
• Select a “Delete personal settings” checkbox and click on the Reset button.
  
• Click on the Close button on the confirmation box, then close your browser.
  

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