Search Powered by Yahoo Uninstall

Search Powered by Yahoo

Search Powered by Yahoo is a potentially unwanted program that alters your browser and hijacks your web searches. Powered by Yahoo as a web search addition that changes your default home page and search engine to search.yahoo.com. Most often Search Powered by Yahoo gets distributed in bundles with free programs.

Search Powered by Yahoo is a browser hijacker that targets the browsers installed on most Windows operating systems. Search Powered by Yahoo can integrate with the majority of browsing programs out there, such as Chrome, Edge, Firefox, etc.

Search Powered by Yahoo

The Search Powered by Yahoo Virus will display pop up ads and windows

A browser hijacker basically works as a tool for online advertising. And as such, it will do everything in its power to push as many different products and services on you as possible. It does this through various popups, banners, box messages, in-text links and other forms of web advertisements. In addition, it can trigger page redirects to certain sponsored web locations in order to drive more traffic to them, for example.

Search Powered by Yahoo Uninstall

To try and uninstall Search Powered by Yahoo quickly you can try this:

  1. Go to your browser’s settings and select More Tools (or Add-ons, depending on your browser).
  2. Then click on the Extensions tab.
  3. Look for the Search Powered by Yahoo extension (as well as any other unfamiliar ones).
  4. Uninstall Search Powered by Yahoo by clicking on the Thrash Bin icon next to its name.
  5. Confirm and uninstall Search Powered by Yahoo and any other suspicious items.

If this does not work as described please follow our more detailed Search Powered by Yahoo uninstall guide below.

And speaking of driving in more traffic, you may have already noticed that Search Powered by Yahoo has changed the homepage of your browsing program to a new one. The default search engine may very well have been replaced as well, and both of these acts are done exactly in the name of these websites getting more visits. The problem, however, is that, normally, not one of the affected users knowingly agreed to any of these changes. Furthermore, unless you actually remove Search Powered by Yahoo from your system, you won’t be able to have any say about the settings of your own browser. Any changes you attempt to make yourself will be overridden by the hijacker.

This is why our team of specialists has assembled a special removal guide for you. It’s simple to follow and in step-by-step format, and you will find it as soon as you’re done reading this post.

How Search Powered by Yahoo gets distributed

You might be wondering where this annoying application came from in the first place. To most, the presence of a browser hijacker like Search Powered by Yahoo comes as a complete surprise. And it’s understandable because the developers of such software rely on underhanded techniques to ensure that their programs actually reach the end-user.

Specifically, program bundles have to be the number one means of getting infected with a browser hijacker. What this boils down to is that the hijacker is placed in the installer of some other piece of software, normally a free system optimization tool or something of a similar caliber. And if you aren’t careful, which is what the developers are counting on, you can end up installing any added components together with the main program, whereas otherwise, you would have been able to leave them out.

This is one reason why experts tend to see browser hijackers like Search Powered by Yahoo as potentially unwanted programs or PUPs. And a contributing reason is that they might expose your system to various external threats, such as Trojans, ransomware, spyware and other viruses. That’s not to say that Search Powered by Yahoo is a virus, though. Browser hijackers are certainly not malicious, but caution is highly advised when dealing with them anyway.

Try not to click on any of the advertising materials that are thrown your way. And it’s best if you just see to the prompt removal of the source of all these dubious ads, so as to minimize the chances of landing on some compromised web location.

SUMMARY:

Name Search Powered by Yahoo
Type Browser Hijacker
Detection Tool

anti-malware offerOFFER *Read more details in the first ad on this page, EULA, Privacy Policy, and full terms for Free Remover.

How to Remove Search Powered by Yahoo

 

Step1

  • Attention! There are steps in this guide that involve quitting your browser! For a later reference to this page, please Bookmark it.
  • Reboot your computer in Safe Mode (click on the active link for instructions on this).

Step2

WARNING! READ CAREFULLY BEFORE PROCEEDING!

Now, let’s begin the actual removal process of Search Powered By Yahoo on your computer. For that, firstly, open the Windows Task Manager by holding together the CTRL+SHIFT+ESC keys from your keyboard. Once the Task Manager opens, select the tab that says “Processes” (or “Details” if you are using Windows 8 or 10). Carefully scroll through the list of processes that are running on your computer and try to figure out which of them could be related to Search Powered By Yahoo or could be dangerous. 

malware-start-taskbar

As soon as you detect such processes, right-click on them individually and from the menu that opens, select the first option that says “Open File Location”. Once you open the file location, use the free online scanner that is available below to scan the files found there:

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    If the scanner notifies you about a danger after running the files through it, end the processes that are related to these files and delete their folders. 

    Note: No scanner is flawless, thus, in case that you are absolutely sure that there are processess and files that are part of the infection, just delete them even if the scanner doesn’t detect them as questionable.  

    Step3

    Next, open the Run box by pressing the Start and R keys on your keyboard together. Then, in the empty field just where it says “Open”, type appwiz.cpl as shown on the image:

     appwiz

    Click the OK button to run the command and you will enter the Control Panel. The Control Panel is a Windows component which allows you to view and change system components and settings.It contains a set of options that let you add or remove hardware and software, control your accounts and change the options for accessiblity. Once you get inside, search for questionable-looking entries that could be related to Search Powered By Yahoo and Uninstall them.

    Next, you need to head to the System Configuration Panel. You can quickly open it by typing msconfig in the search field and hitting the enter button of the keyboard. In the window that opens, hit on the Startup tab and see what entries are listed there:

    msconfig_opt

    To prevent Search Powered By Yahoo from messing with your system on Startup,  remove the checkmark from any entries that seem to be related to it, as well as programs that have an “Unknown” Manufacturer or seem suspicious.

    Step4

    After you are done with the instructions in step 3, find the Start and R keys on your keyboard and press them together. This will pop-up a Run dialog on your screen. Copy and paste the following in the empty text box of the Run dialog:

    notepad %windir%/system32/Drivers/etc/hosts

    Then, press the Enter button on your keyboard.

    This command will open the Hosts file of your computer. It is a plain text file that logs In case that you have been hacked, you will notice that under where it says “Localhost”, there will be many different IP addresses just as shown on the image below:

    hosts_opt (1)

    If there are no suspicious IPs below “Localhost“, you don’t need to worry but if you really see a bunch of IPs that are questionable, please write us in the comments below this article so we can advise you on what to do further.

    In the Start menu find Network Connections (On Windows 10 click on the Windows button and simply write “Network Connections”), and click the Enter key to open it. Once you get inside do the following:

    • Find the Network Adapter you are using and right-click on it
    • Navigate to> Properties > Internet Protocol Version 4 (ICP/IP) and click  on Properties.
    • Check if the DNS line is set to Obtain DNS server automatically. In case that it is not, set it manually to this option.
    • After that, click on the Advanced option and select the the DNS tab. If there is something there, remove it and click OK to confirm the changes.

    DNS

    Step5

    The instructions in this step will help you to remove Search Powered By Yahoo from your browsers. 

    First, let’s start with Google Chrome. Right click on the browser’s shortcut icon on your desktop and from the menu that pops-up select Properties.

    NOTE: We are explaining the steps in Google Chrome, but in order to prevent Search Powered By Yahoo from messing with your other browsers, you can apply these steps for Firefox and IE (or Edge).

    browser-hijacker-taskbar-properties

    Once you enter in Google Chrome Properties, select the Shortcut tab. Head where it says Target and remove everything after .exe.

    Browser Hijacker Removal Instructions

    ie9-10_512x512  Remove Search Powered by Yahoo from Internet Explorer:

    On IE, open the browser and click the gear icon  IE GEAR

    After that, from the menu that opens select Manage Add-ons.

    pic 3

    This will open the add-ons list of your browser. Sometimes, apps like Search Powered By Yahoo may add some add-ons and helper components that need to be removed from the list if you want to fully get rid of the unwanted application. Try to locate these add-ons and select Disable.

    After that, go back to the gear icon IE GEAR but this time select the Internet Options. Once the window opens, check if the URL of your homepage has been hijacked and change it to a URL that you prefer. Finally, select Apply to apply the changes.

    firefox-512 Remove Search Powered by Yahoo from Firefox:

    For Mozilla Firefox, launch the browser and click on its icon menu mozilla menu  From the menu select Add-ons > Extensions and remove any extensions that might have been added by Search Powered By Yahoo or linked to it. Do the same for any other unwanted extensions that you can’t remember installing by yourself.

    pic 6


    chrome-logo-transparent-backgroundRemove Search Powered by Yahoo from Chrome:

    Finally, close the Chrome browser and go to the following directory: 

     C:/Users/!!!!USER NAME!!!!/AppData/Local/Google/Chrome/User Data. Search for a folder named “Default” and highlight it:

    Rename the Folder to Backup Default

    Rename the “Default” folder to “Backup Default” and restart your Chrome.

    Step6

    In order to get rid of Search Powered By Yahoo completely, you need to remove any entries related to it from the Registry Editor. Registry Editor is a hieararchy database containing configurational settings and options of your Operation System that you are going to use for this purpose.

    Now, to open the Registry editor,  simply type Regedit in the windows search field and hig the Enter key on your keyboard.

    Inside the Registry Editor, press CTRL and F keys on your keyboard to open the Find dialog. In the empty text field, type the Name of the threat. Make sure that you Right click and delete any entries that are detected with this name (or a similiar one).  If the Find dialog cannot find anything by the name, then you need to manually navigate to these directories and delete or uninstall them:

    • HKEY_CURRENT_USER-Software-Random Directory. 
      HKEY_CURRENT_USER-Software-Microsoft-Windows-CurrentVersion-Run-Random
      HKEY_CURRENT_USER-Software-Microsoft-Internet Explorer-Main-Random

    If you are not sure what needs to be deleted, write us in the comments and we will help. In case that  this guide isn’t enough to help you remove Search Powered By Yahoo completely, try using the professional program we recommend or our free online virus scanner. Also, don’t be shy to ask us any questions that you may have in the comments below this article.


    About the author

    Violet George

    Violet is an active writer with a passion for all things cyber security. She enjoys helping victims of computer virus infections remove them and successfully deal with the aftermath of the attacks. But most importantly, Violet makes it her priority to spend time educating people on privacy issues and maintaining the safety of their computers. It is her firm belief that by spreading this information, she can empower web users to effectively protect their personal data and their devices from hackers and cybercriminals.

    3 Comments

    • When I ran notepad %windir%/system32/Drivers/etc/hosts I got
      35.156.90.191 authserver.mojang.com
      35.156.90.191 sessionserver.mojang.com

      below local host !!!

      PLEASE HELP
      SEARCH POWERED BY YAHOO! is still there…
      I mistakely removed the add on “SEARCH POWERED BY YAHOO!” from IE instead of disabling it…
      PLEASE HELP

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