How To Remove WebDiscover Browser Hijacker

How To Uninstall WebDiscover and switch to default search settings?

WebDiscover is a potentially unwanted program that acts as a browser hijacker. It makes several changes to the default browser that may frustrate the user. The program appears to be like Google Chrome, as it docks as a search toolbar on top of the desktop screen. WebDiscover allows users to quick launch chrome, pretending to improve browsing. This may sound as a useful features, however cyber-security experts never advise to install this program.

WebDiscover Overview

There are many reasons for which WebDiscover program is considered as a potentially unwanted program.

• Firstly, it is distributed via software bundling methods or click baits from promotional or fake update links;
• It tampers the default settings of the browser like new tab, homepage and search engine;
• The program manipulates the search queries to deliver sponsored links within the search results;
• It records various browsing data and send them to its authors.
• Promotes other adware-type programs that hinders the system performance.

As a consequence, users may have various difficulties while browsing. Their favorite search engine and new tab settings are totally changed with some unknown ones. This may be too annoying and interfering.

How “WebDiscover” Program Gets Installed?

Similar to most of the PUA, the WebDiscover is also bundled with other freeware programs. Thus, users may unknowingly download it from third-party freeware distribution sites. The bundling is a method to combine additional adware programs along with some legitimate free software. So, when users does not choose the custom installation step, and go with the default set up steps, then they install it automatically.

Aside to that, users may download it from its official website. As it promotes as a useful utility to improve the browsing. The advertised features includes, quick links, VPN service, Chrome browser as well as other add-ons like weather forecasts, music, and so on.

What Changes “WebDiscover” Brings?

Soon after getting inside the PC, the harmful program carries out various undesirable changes to the system as well as browsers.

WebDiscover Browser hijacker

• Foremost of which is, the WebDiscover replaces the homepage, new tab and search engine with its own set of programs. Thus, users may see “WebDiscover Homepage” and “WebDiscover Search” each time they launch their browser.
• Also, the new tab redirects to its own search engine page. Usually, it take advantage of Bing or Google search engine to display the search results. The idea behind this is to appear legitimate and drop various sponsored links to the search results page. This is done to drive traffic for its affiliate sites to earn commission.
• Additionally, the browser hijacker add a search bar on top of the desktop. When user enter any search term, it launches the chrome to display the search results. Typically, it opens up hxxp://search.ydserp.com/ home page.

How “WebDiscover” extension Affects The browsing?

The WebDiscover may mess up the the entire browser. Along with that an excessive amount of pop-up ads appear while surfing. It is worth to mention that, the malicious program also promotes third-party application via banners, pop-ups and highlighted texts. Thus, users often end up installing other adware programs. Some users often complain about getting redirected to suspicious sites. Such sites shows pop-ups to update flash player, however this is a scam. Instead of installing any useful program update, it will rather drop serious threats.

The security experts also highlights the privacy risks which may WebDiscover put up on user. As mentioned above, it is capable to track browsing data and sends the info to its authors. Typically, the data includes IP address, geo-location, search history, keyword search, other system related data.

From the above analysis, it is clear that WebDiscover is an unsafe browser utility. Rather than improving search experience it may have a negative impact of the browsing. As well as it risks the privacy. Thus, it is better to remove all its programs from the system.

How To Remove WebDiscover Hijacker?

Browser hijacker like WebDiscover it tough to remove manually. As it will not allow users to reset their settings back. They also alter system settings that launches the extension each time user opens it browser. You may face trouble uninstalling “WebDiscover” extension or its homepage from the browser, as it configures system settings, add registry entries and creates task scheduler that runs its program within the background. This makes the manual removal a tricky process. Thus, here is both the manual and automatic removal solution provided to help get rid of WebDiscover hijacker.

“Windows OS: Use Anti-Malware To Scan And Remove WebDiscover (Recommended)”

SpyHunter is a giant among the security programs that use advanced threat detection technology to remove any sort of Adware/PUPs, Browser hijacker, Trojans, Rootkits, Fake system optimization tools, worms, and rootkits.

It not only remove threats but provides rigorous 24/7 protection from any unsolicited programs, vulnerability or rootkits attacks.

Why we are recommending SpyHunter is because of its efficiency, lightweight that only takes up 12% of the CPU space and simpler user-interface that is designed for both beginners and advanced users. Besides that, it has features which require less-user monitoring, custom scan options, system guard and 24*7 help desk support. Keeping SpyHunter actively running on your computer adds an extra security layer that protects your computer system from being attacked.

Spyhunter certified by “West Coast Labs’ Checkmark Certification System” gives you a complete money-back guarantee, if you are not satisfied with its results. Because they are sure you will going to have it on your system. So, it’s a win-win situation for you try out SpyHunter free version and if you are fully satisfied to get registered for full protection against all malicious odds that hampers your security.

Instructions To Download And Install SpyHunter 5

• Once the file “SpyHunter-InstallerAccess” is downloaded, double-click on the file to open (you can see it in your browser’s bottom-left corner);
• Click “Yes” to the “User Account Control” dialog box;
• Now, choose your preferred language and then click on “OK” for the next installation step;
  

  SpyHunter 5 Installation Step 1

• Now, click on “Continue” button to proceed with the To proceed to the installation;
  

  SpyHunter 5 Installation Step 2

• Read and click on the accept button to agree for “End User License Agreement” and “Privacy Policy“. Now, click on the “Install” button.
  

  SpyHunter 5 Installation Step 4

• Now installation will begin, please be patience as it may take few minutes;
  

  SpyHunter 5 Installation Step 5

• Click on the “Finish” button to successfully install the program.
  

  SpyHunter 5 Installation Step 6

  Note: It may ask you to enter your information- there you can add your details or go with the default information to start the program.

Steps To Perform System Scan with SpyHunter

• Once the program is installed successfully, the SpyHunter 5 Anti-malware program will launch automatically. If it does not then locate the SpyHunter icon on the desktop or click on “Start” ? “Programs” ? Select “SpyHunter”.
• Now, To start the scan click on the “Home” tab and select “Start Scan Now” button. The program will now start scanning for WebDiscover and other associated programs.
  

  Start Scan Now For WebDiscover

• The scan will report will all the details of the result about WebDiscover along with system errors, vulnerabilities and malware found.
  

  WebDiscover PUP Found

• Once you have found WebDiscover as shown in the screenshot below:

WebDiscover PUP Removal

• To select an object for removal, just select the checkbox at the left of the object and click on “Next“. You can select or deselect any objects displayed in the “Malware,” “PUPs” or “Privacy” tabs. We have included a convenient “Select All” feature that will allow you to select or deselect all objects displayed in a specific tab. To utilize this feature, simply select the checkbox at the left in the specific tab (9).

Select Objects To Remove

• Once you have selected which objects you would like to remove, click the “Next” button.
  

  Press Next To Clean You PC

If you want to know more about it, you are welcomed to check out the full review of SpyHunter 5.

Remove WebDiscover browser hijacker Manually

To Manually Remove WebDiscover browser hijacker, follow the below steps carefully:

The manual steps guided below are the links separately made with caution, to avoid any confusion to our readers. Please follow the links below and perform them one by one. If you are going for the manual removal process, then we recommend you to print/download these instructions or open it from another uninfected computer or laptop and follow step-by-step manual removal instruction. Windows OS PDF Guide.

1. Remove WebDiscover extension from the web browsers

   1. Google Chrome

      1. Click the Chrome menu appearing on the top right corner of the browser as three vertical dots;
      2. Select “Settings”;
      3. Click “Extensions,” (steps by slightly differ due to browser versions, to avoid any clash simply copy this URL “chrome://extensions/” and paste it within the search bar).
      4. Once the extension page appears, look for any suspicious extension that you may have choose to install.
      5. Click on the trash icon or “Remove” button.

   2. Mozilla Firefox

      1. Start your Firefox browser and click on three horizontal lines on top right corner to open menu then select “Add-ons”. You can also press Ctrl+Shift+A on your keyboard or copy and paste “about:addons” to the address bar to open the ‘Add-Ons Manager’ page. This page will show you the list of all extensions/add-ons installed on your browser.
      2. Select Extensions, and check the installed extensions and if it stands out to be an Adware/PUP then
      3. Click on Remove button.
      4. You may be prompted to restart the browser then do it make the changes successful.

   3. Internet Explorer

      1. On Internet Explorer browser click “Tools,” icon;
      2. Select “Manage add-ons.” Within the Manage add-ons window on show section choose “All add-ons”. This will list all the toolbars and extensions installed on the browser.
      3. Select the ones which are unusual and can be recognized as an Adware;
      4. Click “Disable.”
      5. Repeat the steps for all unwanted add-ons and extensions.

2. Reset web browsers

   1. Google Chrome
   2. Mozilla Firefox
   3. Internet Explorer
   4. Microsoft Edge

3. Uninstall WebDiscover/ suspicious program from your computer

4. Scan your computer for complete removal of WebDiscover.

Note: The above manual steps may not guarantee the full removal, as the complete removal of any harmful program means more than that. They have the ability to modify the browser settings again and again, till its associated files and registries are not completely removed.

If you are not familiar with the above steps then, we recommend you to choose the automatic removal of Wise Search Adware.

Remove WebDiscover using HitmanPro.Alert.

HitmanPro.Alert

HitmanPro-Alert

HitmanPro.Alert is an advanced anti-malware program that takes on proactive approach towards threat behavior and its activities. Its cloud-based scanning technique is deeply scans the system to the possible locations where threats mostly resides. This is a real-time malware program that delivers protection from latest threat, crypto-malware, ransomware, exploits, spyware, risks related to online transactions.

HitmanPro.Alert is best-in-class that provides various advanced features like:

• Safe Browsing;
• Exploit Mitigation;
• Risk reduction:
• Key-loggers Protection and many such.

Running HitmanPro.Alert on your computer will provide your real-time status, checks the browser integrity and alerts or any suspicious activity. So that you can have a safe browsing and online transactions. Read the full review of HitmanPro.Alert here.

Steps To Install And Run HitmanPro.Alert

• • • Click on the provided link to download HitmanPro.Alert anti-malware;
      

      HitManPro.Alert Step1

    • Now, open the download folder or where your program is downloaded to locate “hmpalert3”;
      

      HitmanPro.Alert Step 2

    • Click on it, to begin the installation;
    • It will ask your User Account control, if prompted click on “yes”;
    • The download should begin shortly. HitmanPro.Alert window will appear, where you need to choose the options:
      

      HitManPro.Alert Step3

      Choose Protection level as Maximum
      And tick the other boxes and finally click on “Install”.
      HitmanPro.Alert only takes 5MB of your memory and is very quick to install.

      

      HitManPro.Alert Step4

    • After the installation is complete, the scan will start. First scan may take up some minutes, as it will scan the whole computer.
      

      HitmanPro.Alert step 4

    • The scan results are displayed. Carefully look down the list. You can here, the scan has found 1 Riskware and thousands of traces which can be risky.
      

      HitmanPro.Alert step 5

    • You can select the threat to delete, quranantize, ignore or, mark as safe. If you want to remove all the threats, then simply click on the “Next” button below.
      

      HitmanPro.Alert step 6

    • HitmanPro.Alert first creates a restore point and then starts the removal process. This helps to recover from any damage.
      

      HitmanPro.Alert step 7

This is the removal process with HitmanPro.Alert.

HitmanPro.Alert step 8

However, these steps may help you successfully remove WebDiscover browser hijacker, but should be cautious while you do any kind of online activity. Always pay attention to what you choose to download, as various freeware downloads come as software bundles.

These bundles may purposely drop other harmful programs on the computer. Better to opt for Advanced or custom installation procedure to avoid installation of unknown programs.

Hope you find this article helpful.