TheCookingClub Hijacker - How to remove

“Search TheCookingClub” being displayed in your address bar, your searches being redirected to Yahoo, and unwanted pop-up ads being shown to you are all symptoms of a mild malware infection. Browser hijacker — that’s the label given to applications like TheCookingClub.

TheCookingClub hijacks your address bar to direct your searches to the Yahoo search engine. It also reads your browsing history and your search queries. Its developers employ more serious malware to promote and advertise TheCookingClub, and, in my experience, its recipe finding abilities are poor — worse than a normal search engine.

Not to mention that the company which developed the “The Cooking Club” extension, Eightpoint, has already released a few recipe-themed add-ons (View Recipes For Free, Get Recipes, Recipestab) and many, many other clone extensions. Most of these extensions just replace the search engine, monitor your actions online, and provide you with links to a few websites, like TheCookingClub does with a few recipe sites. Some of the hijackers would even trick people into installing more unwanted add-ons.

In short, TheCookingClub shouldn’t be installed because it’s:

• bad for your productivity (replacing your normal search engine with Yahoo, which fils its results page with ads),
• bad for your privacy (your data being collected and shared with marketers),
• indicates a possible problem with your security (TheCookingClub is promoted by malware).

How TheCookingClub is distributed

The install.thecooking.club site looks very similar to the page of Flas SD App, Score Stars, other hijackers. The way it’s promoted it also the same: unwanted pop-ups, redirects, freeware bundles. Basically, the same channels that most viruses use. Even though TheCookingClub is not the worst malware by far, it’s easy to be suspicious of it when it partners with illegitimate and unethical ad-networks.

Adware programs — viruses, installed on your computer and constantly displaying excessive ads — direct you to browser hijacker installation pages. These extensions can be advertised as some sort of improved search, safe browsing, free films, or easily accessible recipes. These add-ons generally don’t reveal that they hijack your search engine and the other suspicious features. If TheCookingClub just popped up in a browser window one day, without you searching for it, it’s likely that an adware virus has infected your machine.

Redirect viruses also forward you to install.thecooking.club. Malicious redirecting websites are malware, and they’re recognized as such by antivirus programs, but they work online. No virus is installed on your computer, yet, your browser is behaving strangely, showing full-page ads and controlling which websites you can go to. This type of virus is similar to the concept of “living off the land“, when a virus doesn’t use files so that it can’t be detected by antivirus programs. Luckily, a redirect virus is solvable.

Freeware bundles might carry TheCookingClub and install it for your default browser. If you download a lot of free programs, you’re probably familiar with the concept of bundling — including various “recommended offers” in the installer. Sometimes the additional programs are completely hidden, though. If TheCookingClub was simply installed and you don’t know how, then it’s likely that some type of software bundle is responsible.

How to remove TheCookingClub

TheCookingClub will leave the browser if the extension is removed. The guide for all the most popular browsers is below. Check your list of installed add-ons: there might be more than just TheCookingClub that are causing problems.

Block the notifications from all the suspicious websites, too. TheCookingClub did not wait to start sending me pop-up ads when I gave it permission to send me notifications. That’s how redirect viruses work, too. Review your list of websites which can send you updates, see if any suspicious ones are there.

You might also want to scan your computer for malware (Spyhunter) and remove the potentially unwanted programs that are found. After all, if you’ve been infected with one virus, even as mild as TheCookingClub, it’s likely that there are more. Bundles generally include multiple PUPs and adware never stops promoting viruses.

Avoid hijackers in the future

Be careful what you download and install. Avoid sites with too many intrusive ads, scan the setup files that you download. Be skeptical of ads and marketing material that sounds too good to be true. And research each program that you want to install. Some PUPs are simple to install, but very stubbornly resist you when you want to remove them, and it’s best to avoid problems before they even start.

Automatic Malware removal tools

Remove TheCookingClub

How to remove TheCookingClub Hijacker using Windows Control Panel

Many hijackers and adware like TheCookingClub 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 TheCookingClub Hijacker . You can click on "Name" or "Installed On" to reorder your programs and make TheCookingClub 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 TheCookingClub Hijacker from macOS

Delete TheCookingClub Hijacker from your applications.

1. Open Finder.
2. In the menu bar, click Go.
3. Select Applications from the dropdown.
4. Find the TheCookingClub Hijacker 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 TheCookingClub 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 TheCookingClub 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 TheCookingClub 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 TheCookingClub 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 TheCookingClub 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.
  
• 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 TheCookingClub 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 TheCookingClub 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 TheCookingClub 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 TheCookingClub 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 TheCookingClub 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.