Wowbrowse browser hijacker removal instructions

Wowbrowse search hijacker is an illustration of a typical unwanted program; such programs are distributed enormously nowadays. In this article you will see the detailed directions of Wowbrowse hijacker removal in different ways: using anti-malware software and hand-operated elimination technique.
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About Wowbrowse hijacker origins

Wowbrowse search hijacker is a potentially unwanted application (PUA)1, that is promoted as a plugin for your internet browser. It is typically advertised as an add-on for Chrome or Firefox, that helps to search some precise details, for instance, about sport events, make your browser much more secure, enable downloading of any kind of video clip, and so on.

Nevertheless, the Wowbrowse plugin is pretty pointless since all such functions are already built-in to your browser and/or Windows. Such marketing mottos are targeted on low-skilled computer users, such as pensioners or schoolchildren. But occasionally even skilled users are getting caught on such an attraction. In certain cases, this hijacker is distributed together with free apps.

Here is a short info for the Wowbrowse hijacker
Sitetailsearch.com
HostingAS13335 Cloudflare, Inc.
United States, San Francisco
Infection TypeBrowser Hijacker, Unwanted Application
IP Address104.27.147.124
SymptomsChanged search engine; search queries redirection
Similar behaviorMyTab App, BestPDFSearch, MagicMovieSearch
Fix Tool
To remove possible virus infections, try to scan your PC

How harmful is Wowbrowse hijacker?

Besides its uselessness, Wowbrowse hijacker is additionally quite harmful for web browser use. It changes your search engine to its particular – tailsearch.com, and also changes your background, putting its watermark on your wallpaper (or, sometimes, altering it to default with the specified sign).

Besides visual modifications done by Wowbrowse hijacker, you might see that a couple of your search queries are redirecting to the unfamiliar web pages, full of links and advertisements – so-called doorway websites. Such websites can contain the web links for malware downloading. The chance of redirecting boosts if you try to start Google search page forcibly.

However all these actions are more annoying than truly damaging. The greatest hazard, specifically for individuals who have a huge amount of confidential information in their internet browsers, is installed in information gathering functions. Cookie files, chats, often-visited websites as well as various other activities are simply collected by Wowbrowse hijacker.

How to remove Wowbrowse search hijacker?

  • Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware.
  • Open GridinSoft Anti-Malware and perform a “Standard scan“.
  • “Move to quarantine” all items.
  • Open “Tools” tab – Press “Reset Browser Settings“.
  • Select proper browser and options – Click “Reset”.
  • Restart your computer.

Browser hijackers are almost always rather easy to deal with. In many cases, they have an independent app that can be located in the list of installed programs. As a result of the specific distribution tactic of Wowbrowse hijacker, it can be conveniently tracked and erased by hand. Nevertheless, if you got Wowbrowse in the bundle with a free program( s), your PC may be infected with a lot more dangerous malwaretrojans, spyware and even ransomware. That’s why I ‘d recommend you to use anti-malware tools to remove the Wowbrowse PUA and all various other malware.

You can use Microsoft Defender2 – it is capable of finding and eliminating a wide range of malware, including mentioned hijacker. Nevertheless, serious malware, that can be present on your personal computer in the mentioned situation, can disable the Windows antimalware program by modifying the Group Policies. To prevent such scenarios, it is far better to utilize GridinSoft Anti-Malware.

To detect and delete all unwanted applications on your desktop with GridinSoft Anti-Malware, it’s better to utilize Standard or Full scan. Quick Scan is not able to find all the malicious apps, because it checks only the most popular registry entries and folders.

Main screen in GridinSoft Anti-Malware

You can see the detected viruses sorted by their possible hazard till the scan process. But to perform any actions against malware, you need to hold on until the scan is over, or to stop the scan.

GridinSoft Anti-Malware during the scan

To set the action for each spotted virus or unwanted program, click the arrow in front of the name of detected malicious app. By default, all malware will be moved to quarantine.

List of detected malware after the scan

Reset browser settings to original ones

To revert your browser settings, you are required to use the Reset Browser Settings option. This action is not able to be intercepted by any malicious program, hence, you will surely see the result. This option can be located in the Tools tab.

Tools tab in GridinSoft Anti-Malware

After pressing the Reset Browser Settings option, the menu will be shown, where you can specify, which settings will be reverted to original.

Reset Browser Settings options

Deleteing Wowbrowse hijacker manually

Besides using anti-malware software for browser restoration, you may choose the “Reset browser settings” function, which is usually embedded in all popular browsers.

To reset Edge, do the following steps :
  1. Open “Settings and more” tab in upper right corner, then find here “Settings” button. In the appeared menu, choose “Reset settings” option :
  2. Reseting the Edge browser

  3. After picking the Reset Settings option, you will see the following menu, stating about the settings which will be reverted to original :
For Mozilla Firefox, do the next actions :
  1. Open Menu tab (three strips in upper right corner) and click the “Help” button. In the appeared menu choose “troubleshooting information” :
  2. The first step to revert Mozilla Firefox

  3. In the next screen, find the “Refresh Firefox” option :
  4. The second step of Firefox restoration
    After choosing this option, you will see the next message :
    The last step for Firefox

If you use Google Chrome
  1. Open Settings tab, find the “Advanced” button. In the extended tab choose the “Reset and clean up” button :
  2. In the appeared list, click on the “Restore settings to their original defaults” :
  3. Finally, you will see the window, where you can see all the settings which will be reset to default :
Opera can be reset in the next way
  1. Open Settings menu by pressing the gear icon in the toolbar (left side of the browser window), then click “Advanced” option, and choose “Browser” button in the drop-down list. Scroll down, to the bottom of the settings menu. Find there “Restore settings to their original defaults” option :
  2. After clicking the “Restore settings…” button, you will see the window, where all settings, which will be reset, are shown :

As an afterword, I want to say that the time plays against you and your PC. The activity of browser hijacker must be stopped as soon as possible, because of possibility of other malware injection. This malware can be downloaded autonomously, or offered for you to download in one of the windows with advertisements, which are shown to you by the hijacker. You need to act as fast as you can.

I need your help to share this guide.

Browser hijackers are among the most large and also disruptive kinds of malware. I published this article to help you, so I wish you will help me to make the computer world completely clean of malware. Please, share this article in the social networks you use – Twitter, Reddit, Facebook – wherever.
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Wilbur Woodham
How to Remove Wowbrowse?

Name: Wowbrowse

Description: Wowbrowse - a lot of users became a victim of browser hijacker. I have a lot of friends who literally bombed me with the questions like “how to remove Wowbrowse?”. In this article we will show you how to deal with Wowbrowse (Tailsearch.com), which may corrupt your browser’s correct performance, and create a lot of troubles while you are working.

Operating System: Windows

Application Category: Browser Hijacker

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References

  1. More information about PUAs
  2. Detailed review of Microsoft Defender

About the author

Wilbur Woodham

I was a technical writer from early in my career, and consider IT Security one of my foundational skills. I’m sharing my experience here, and I hope you find it useful.

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