How to delete Mountainbrowse.com browser hijacker

If Mountainbrowse.com loads every time you open your browser, your computer is likely infected with a browser hijacker. The infections will make unwanted changes to your browser, try to redirect you to sponsored websites to generate traffic and revenue, and collect information related to your browsing. It’s not a harmful infection but you still need to remove Mountainbrowse.com sooner rather than later.

 

The good thing about browser hijackers is that they are very noticeable infections because they make unwanted changes to your browser’s settings. What that means is that the hijacker’s promoted site will be set as your homepage and you’ll be forced to use a different search engine. In this particular case, Mountainbrowse.com would be set as the homepage and searchlee.com as your default search engine. Just like with its installation, the changes are made by the hijacker without your explicit permission.

While hijackers are mostly harmless, they do try to redirect you to sponsored websites. And it should be mentioned that in some cases, the websites may be dangerous to visit as they could have malware on them or promote scams. The sponsored results will be mostly useless to you so there is no reason to keep a browser hijacker installed, even if it doesn’t actively try to harm your computer.

Browser hijacker installation method

Infections like browser hijackers and adware use the software bundling method to install on users’ computers without being noticed. The method is quite frowned upon because it allows programs like browser hijackers to install unnoticed by users. Despite this, even legitimate programs use it to install. In this particular case, the Mountainbrowse.com browser hijacker came attached as an extra offer to a free program you installed. These offers are permitted to install alongside automatically without requiring any additional permission. Furthermore, they’re initially hidden, which prevents many users from deselecting them. For users to be able to prevent these unwanted installations, users would need to pay attention when installing free programs, which many do not do, unfortunately.

To correctly install free programs, make sure you opt for Advanced (Custom) settings when given the option during installation. While Default settings will hide all extra offers and allow their automatic installations, Advanced will make them visible. You will not only be able to review whatever has been added but also deselect all offers. Once you uncheck the boxes of those offers you can continue installing the program.

Keep in mind that most free programs you download from third-party websites will have extra offers so it’s always necessary to deselect them. Otherwise, your computer will be filled with junk programs that only take up space and cause annoyance.

Can browser hijackers be harmful?

The most obvious sign of a browser hijacker being installed is the changed browser’s settings. Changes include Mountainbrowse.com set as the homepage and searchlee.com set as the default search engine. This can affect all popular browsers, including Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. It should be noted that the changes to the browser’s settings will be irreversible while the hijacker remains installed. So make sure your first course of action is to delete the Mountainbrowse.com hijacker from your computer.

The site set as your homepage is mainly promoting a questionable search engine searchlee.com. If you use the search bar or try to search via your browser’s address bar, you will be shown dubious search results. The hijacker aims to redirect you to sponsored websites and it does that by inserting those sites among legitimate search results. In most cases, the sites will be unrelated to what you were searching for. In rare cases, you may be redirected to potentially dangerous websites that have malware or promote scams. In any case, those results would be useless to you.

Lastly, keep in mind that the hijacker is tracking what you search for, what sites you visit, your IP address, etc. While it’s not personal information, there’s no reason why you should put up with this intrusive behavior from a program you didn’t even install willingly.

Mountainbrowse.com removal

The easiest way to uninstall Mountainbrowse.com would be to use anti-virus software like WiperSoft. The program would not only remove Mountainbrowse.com hijacker but also undo all setting changes. Anti-virus software is particularly recommended for users who have very little experience with uninstalling pesky infections like browser hijackers. However, it is possible to delete Mountainbrowse.com manually. Once you get rid of it, you’ll be free to change your browser’s settings as you want.