How to get rid of a browser redirectĪs with removing unwanted browser toolbars, there are various things you can do, and we recommend trying them all. And you really don’t know what you are getting in to when you click any link on any infected site. They may be collecting your passwords, account names and home addresses. And it can be worse than simply irritating. It’s not a good idea to have software on your PC or laptop doing things you don’t know about. You may even find that your PC’s browser shortcuts and Windows hosts files are tweaked without your conscious permission – although you may have unwittingly clicked an EULA (End User Licence Agreement) when trying to install what appeared to be unrelated, legitimate and useful software. They’ll mess with the default, managed, and provided search engines. In order to force you to use their search services as often as possible the many variants of the redirect virus can change your browsers’ home pages. These tend not to be high-class ads for high-class products. Those annoying virus-like search toolbars and pages such as Delta and Babylon take this a step further, building legitimate search engine functionality into their own ‘search engines’, and delivering ads they themselves sell.

At the simplest level browser redirect ‘malware’ uses this functionality to take you to a custom search page and then generate tiny amounts of money every time you use that page to search and adverts are delivered.

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