Toptabengine.xyz Hijacker - How to remove

Toptabengine.xyz is a browser extension that hijacks the new tab page in your browser. It sends the new tab searches to Bing and it occasionally opens a new browser window. Overall, Toptabengine.xyz is not too malicious, but its main goal seems to be to hijack your searches and it messes up the new tab page in the process, so I consider it to be unhelpful and potentially unwanted.

Toptabengine.xyz in short:

Type of threat	Browser hijacker, potentially unwanted program.
How Toptabengine.xyz works	Advertised on pirating sites, replaces the new tab page, displays your open tabs.
Problems and issues	Hijacks the new tab for no good reason, restricts customizability of the new tab, opens pop-ups when you open a new website, redirects searches from the new tab to Bing.
How to remove Toptabengine.xyz	Uninstall Top Tab Engine, remove other malware, manually or with anti-malware tools (Spyhunter for PC, Combo Cleaner for Mac, or others).

What is Toptabengine.xyz?

Toptabengine.xyz is the website that is connected with the Top Tab Engine browser extension.

I got suspicious of it because it uses the same home page template as a few sites that ought to be avoided, including Fasturlapp.xyz (injects ads into search results), Hyper-app.xyz (injects ads into Bing search results), and Proext-app.xyz (search hijacker).

The good news is that Toptabengine.xyz is not as bad as the others. It is a new tab replacer and actually offers some functionality, which is unexpectedly nice.

When Toptabengine.xyz is installed, it changes the browser’s new tab page. This page displays all of your active tabs. It also has a search box that looks just like the Chrome default new tab search box. Unlike it, though, it opens Toptabengine.xyz which opens Bing.com. It uses Bing search and nothing else. There is no way to change this.

It’s doubtful that people install Toptabengine.xyz intentionally. It’s likely advertised on video streaming and audio converter sites, where Toptabengine.xyz pops up randomly in a full-page ad. People might install it after mistaking it for a necessary extension.

Problems with Top Tab Engine

Here is the biggest issue: Toptabengine.xyz replaces the new tab, supposedly, to display its features, but the real reason for it is to get people to use the Toptabengine.xyz search. It can collect data about users and control how they search. Toptabengine.xyz probably makes money this way.

Besides malicious search hijacking, there is no reason for Toptabengine.xyz to restrict the search engine used on the new tab. It could easily have let you select a search engine in a drop-down in Toptabengine.xyz’s settings.

Besides, Toptabengine.xyz displays your active tabs after you click on the extension icon, so it’s not like taking over the new tab page is even helpful.

And then, thanks to Toptabengine.xyz, you lose a lot of customization of the new tab:

• No way to change the background picture. Toptabengine.xyz only gives you boring plain white.
• There’s no way to change the pinned links or to add new ones.

Basically, thanks to Toptabengine.xyz, the new tab page is ruined.

Also, when opening a new website, strange pop-ups would appear where Toptabengine.xyz would open a Check.qualitychecker.net pop-up that says “Please wait: we are searching deals and coupon codes for…”, then the name of the site. Then it would quickly close the page. Not sure what that’s about but the favicon is the same as the Proext-app.xyz one.

How to remove Toptabengine.xyz

I recommend removing Toptabengine.xyz by uninstalling Top Tab Engine. You should also check your other browser add-ons and desktop programs for suspicious items. If you find anything harmful, remove it.

You can do that manually or by using an anti-malware app, such as Spyhunter for Windows, Combo Cleaner for macOS, or others.

There are better tab managers out there that don’t hijack the new tab page or open pop-ups on your screen.

Just be careful when finding a new extension:

• Avoid extensions that ask too much access without good justification.
• Be careful of extensions that don’t reveal what company is behind them (Toptabengine.xyz is pretty tight-tipped about this).
• Check the reviews of your extensions. Be careful of those that have no reviews or very few reviews despite having a lot of users (also like Toptabengine.xyz).

Automatic Malware removal tools

Restore browser settings

TopHow To remove Toptabengine.xyz 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 Toptabengine.xyz 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 Toptabengine.xyz 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 Toptabengine.xyz 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.