browser hijacks

Greg's wife has an iMac running El Capitan, but now the Safari app just goes to Yahoo Safefinder no matter what! Rich says that there's some malware on the browser, likely an extension. Rich recommends Malwarebytes, and give the iMac a scan. Also, go through the apps and see if there are any that are unrecognizable. CleanMyMac is a program that can also clear out malware. Greg can also look for a browser reset in the settings, which will wipe out everything and start over.

Caller keeps getting popups when he's watching YouTube on his Google Pixel C Tablet. It just keeps minimizing his videos and he's inundated with popups. It also happens on his Motorola Moto G6.  Leo says that he's likely got some apps from the Google Play store that have malicious behaviour programmed into it. Just use apps you want or need by well-known developers. It's likely an app that he installed on both devices. Leo is guessing it's probably ads trying to play from an app, but sometimes even removing the app won't work. He may need to do a complete reset on his devices. 

John is finding that when he goes to a website, he gets an additional window open with an advertisement. Leo says that's called a browser hijack and it's usually caused by an extension he doesn't recognize. John should look in his browser settings and extensions, and then see if there's anything in there he doesn't recognize. Chances are, there is.

Steve's printer is suddenly printing out ads. What the heck? Leo says there's a good chance he got nailed by either a browser hijack, or malware that has replaced his printer driver. He recommends using Malware Bytes, by only get it from the original creator. The chatroom says that there is a printer exploitation tool kit out there on the web. It could be that there's malware in the HP firmware as well.

Steve bought a Lenovo Windows 7 PC a few years back. He recently wound up getting the Taplika virus with non stop pop up ads in his browser. Leo says he'll need to install "VPlay" from Add/Remove programs and then remove Taplika from his browser. Technically it's not a virus, but a browser hijack and that should get rid of it. VPlay is a Windows service, and that is very insideous. It's going to make it harder to get rid of. He can find more information at malwaretips.com

Ron can watch TWiT on Internet Explorer with no problem. But when he gets on Firefox, he has trouble with popups of surveys. Leo says that's not his site, that's for sure. Leo suspects that it's an issue with Flash. Internet Explorer has Flash built in, as does Chrome. So it sounds like maybe there's an issue with no Flash being installed, and Firefox might have a browser hijacker object that's popping up.

Sam clicked on a bad link and how he has malware. It has locked his browser. Leo says that uninstalling his browser and reinstalling will be of limited value. He can run Malware Bytes, but he'll need to make sure he uses the official version because there are counterfeits out there. Leo says that it's likely a browser hijacker object is in the mix, which will then popup ads and push him towards certain search results. Malware Bytes will remove it.

Brian wound up getting a browser hijacker. Leo says that's the risk of downloading software these days -- it often will come bundled with other unwanted programs. Typically, during the install, there will be checkboxes for other programs which should be unchecked. It's not technically considered malware, but they were likely obscure in how it was worded and it tricks users into installing these programs. Leo strongly advises against using third party download sites like CNET's Download.com because of this. Only download software from the original developer.

Michele accidentally clicked on an ad and now she keeps getting pop ups to download "Windows updater." Leo says that's malware and to avoid it. Leo also thinks that Michele hasn't gotten a virus just yet. But since she clicked on the ad, there may be a cookie there that keeps bringing it up. Leo advises running MalwareBytes, but she should only download it from http://www.malwarebytes.org/. There are bad versions out there that are designed to confuse people. Always download software from the original designer.