Remove Newtab.icu browser hijacker

Newtab.icu is a questionable website that would be set as your homepage if your computer is infected with a browser hijacker. It’s a pretty noticeable computer infection because your browser’s settings will be changed and you will be redirected to random websites out of the blue.

 

If your browser is constantly redirecting you to Newtab.icu whenever you open your browser, your computer has a browser hijacker installed. It’s not a dangerous infection that will directly harm your computer but it’s also not something you should leave installed. It will change your browser’s settings, set its promoted Newtab.icu website as your homepage and try to redirect you to sponsored websites. These redirects are the main goal of hijackers as they intend to generate traffic and revenue for those sites. The hijacker will try to force you to use a questionable search engine, which could be inserting sponsored content into search results in order to redirect you.

In case your confused about how browser hijackers install, they come attached to free software as extra offers. So what likely happened is you installed a free program that had this browser hijacker attached to it, and you were not aware of that. This method is called software bundling, and it’s usually how hijackers, adware and potentially unwanted programs (PUPs) install.

The obvious changes to your browser are what makes browser hijackers very noticeable. Though if users are not familiar with what they are, they may not associate the changes with a hijacker. But at least they would be alerted that something is wrong, which would hopefully prompt them to look into what may be going on. Fortunately, hijackers aren’t particularly difficult to remove, both manually and using anti-virus software. If you want to delete Newtab.icu hijacker manually, you will have to go through all your browser extensions, looking for the culprit.

How to avoid installing browser hijackers

If you want to avoid installing browser hijackers and other similar infections, you need to pay attention to how you install free programs. This is because free programs are the primary reason users pick up these minor infections. Programs, especially ones you download from non-official sites, will usually have added offers, which will be permitted to install alongside without requiring additional permission from you. As is pretty obvious, it’s a rather sneaky installation method, which is why anti-virus programs usually detect programs that use it as potential threats.

It’s not difficult to install freeware without those extra offers, as long as you know how. What you need to do is opt for Advanced (Custom) settings during installation, and not Default. Default will hide the offers and essentially permit their installation. However, all added offers will be made visible in Advanced, and you will have the option to deselect all of them. All you need to do is uncheck the boxes, and you can then continue the installation.

What does a browser hijacker do?

You will know as soon as a browser hijacker installs on your computer because your browser’s settings will be changed. Whether you’re using Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox, Newtab.icu will be set as your homepage and new tabs, and you will be redirected to it every time you open your browser. These changes are done to make redirecting you easier, and will be irreversible while the hijacker remains installed on your computer.

The main aim of a hijacker is to redirect you to sponsored websites to generate traffic and revenue. This is done by forcing you to use a questionable search engine and inserting sponsored content into search results. These search engines are promoted on the sites that are set as the homepages by browser hijackers. For example, Newtab.icu will display a search engine, as well as a couple of shortcuts to sites like Facebook, YouTube and Gmail. The site strongly resembles Google, which is likely done purposely to make it more difficult for users to notice that something’s not right. We don’t recommend using the site, and you should get rid of it as soon as possible. Especially because the hijacker is collecting information about what sites you visit, what you search for, your IP address, etc.

Newtab.icu removal

Like we said in the beginning, you can remove Newtab.icu both manually and using anti-virus software. It may be easier to use an anti-virus program like WiperSoft because it would do everything for you. If you want to uninstall Newtab.icu hijacker manually, you will have to go through your browser’s extensions one by one, trying to determine which one is the issue, and that may take a while. Whichever method you choose, once you delete Newtab.icu hijacker from your device, you will be able to go back to regular browsing and change your browser’s settings as you please.