How to remove Go.mail.ru Hijacker

What is Go.mail.ru

Go.mail.ru is a questionable website that may be set as your browser’s homepage if you have a certain browser hijacker installed. Browser hijackers are pretty minor computer infections that affect browsers. They change browser’s settings, set dubious pages as homepages, and try to redirect users to sponsored websites to generate traffic. Because of this, they’re pretty obvious infections. If you notice that Go.mail.ru loads every time you open your browser, you very likely have a browser hijacker installed on your computer. They usually install alongside freeware, so you likely did not notice it being attached when you installed some free program. This method of distributing programs is called software bundling. We will explain more about it in a the following section, but it was essentially attached to free software as an extra offer. Because you did not deselect it, it was permitted to install.

 

Hijackers are not considered to be serious infections, they’re more of a nuisance than actually dangerous. However, because they can redirect to malicious sites, users might end up with much more serious infections. Go.mail.ru will encourage you to use its search engine, which generates rather dubious results. The results might lead you to scams or malware infected pages. In addition to the redirects, you will also see an increase in ads. In particular, when using Go.mail.ru, ads will bombard you from every angle. They are not necessarily safe, thus engaging with them is not a good idea. If you have adblocker, you should keep it enabled until you deal with the hijacker.

This is why it would best if you delete Go.mail.ru as soon as possible. Particularly because it installed by itself, and the homepage was set without your permission. And it’s of no use to you anyway.

How do browser hijackers install?

No one would install browser hijackers purposely, so the bundling method is often used to distribute them. They are added to popular free programs as extra offers, and because they are pre-selected they are authorized to install alongside without needing your explicit permission. This installation method is rather questionable, mainly because the added items are usually hidden from users unless they go out of their way to check. A lot of free programs come with attached items, which are usually adware, browser hijackers and potentially unwanted programs. Basically, programs you do not want on your computer.

Preventing these installations is not difficult, as long as you pay attention to how you install programs. It’s important that you choose Advanced (Custom) settings when installing programs because only in those settings will the extra offers be visible. If you use Default, the items will install alongside the program. In Advanced, deselect all extra offers. All you really need to do is uncheck the boxes, and you can continue installing the program. It suggested to do this with every programs you install.

Should you remove Go.mail.ru?

The browser hijacker installed on your computer targets all popular browsers, including Internet Explorer, Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. It will set Go.mail.ru as the homepage, which means the site will load every time you open your browser. It will also change your new tab and default search engine. These changes make the infection highly noticeable, prompting some users to change everything back. However, while the infection is still present on the computer, making any changes to the browser would be a waste of time because the hijacker would reverse all your changes.

The Go.mail.ru website is aimed at Russian-speaking users and primarily acts as a search engine. You can also find email services, news, games, etc. The search engine generates questionable results, and you will often see ads as the first results. Others results may also be not what you are looking for, and lead to sponsored sites. This is typical browser hijacker behaviour. We suggest not clicking on any of the results as they could lead to dangerous sites. Hijackers exist to redirects users to certain sites to generate traffic and revenue. Hijacker promoted search engines are particularly annoying because they do not provide reliable results, and make searching for something much more difficult.

Be vary of phishing and tech-support scams if you decide to use the search engine. You may be redirected to a site that claims your computer is seriously infected with malware, and the only way to solve the issue would be to call the provided number. Professional scammers are usually on the other side the line, and they will try to trick you into paying for supposed malware removal services. In reality, you would be paying for nothing. You could also encounter phishing attempts, which aim to steal your personal and financial information.

In addition to the redirects, you will also notice that there is an increase in advertisements. They will pop-up randomly, and advertise questionable things, possibly lead to scams or even malware. Engaging with ads at all is not suggested until you get rid of the infection. Do not download anything offered to you in advertisements, and certainly do not install any “updates” provided to you in ads.

Browser hijackers are known to collect information about the users. The hijacker probably tracks your IP address, what sites you visit, what you search for, what you engage with, etc. The information will likely be shared with unknown third-parties.

Go.mail.ru removal

If you have decided to uninstall Go.mail.ru, you can do so in two ways. If you know how, you can remove Go.mail.ru manually. We will provide instructions below this article in case you need them. Otherwise, we recommend you use anti-virus software to delete Go.mail.ru. This would be the quickest way as the program would take care of everything. After the hijacker has been deleted, you can change back your browser’s settings.