GotoWebs.com Removal Guide

We have bad news for you: if a new search engine GotoWebs.com has already changed your all browsers’ settings, it means that there is a browser hijacker inside the computer. Browser hijackers always try to stay unnoticed, which explains why so many users cannot tell how this browser hijacker has entered their computers. Of course, it is not very important how this has happened now because you have to delete it from all your browsers today anyway. GotoWebs.com should not be kept set on browsers, and you should not use it as your default search engine because it is known that this tool might expose users to potential threats by redirecting them to unreliable websites. The only way to make sure that this does not happen is to delete GotoWebs.com fully. If you know nothing about the deletion of browser hijackers and questionable search tools, read this article from beginning to end. It will definitely become clearer for you what you need to do.

GotoWebs.com might look like an ordinary search tool with the search box in the middle of the page and all these quick access buttons leading to Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, YouTube, and other popular pages. It seems to be working the way it has been programmed to as well. Even though it works properly, this search tool cannot be called trustworthy. It is because, according to specialists at 411-spyware.com, it might show sponsored search results for users, i. e. results that are displayed just to promote particular websites, products, and services. The main danger of GotoWebs.com is associated with these third-party websites. It is evident that users might find anything on them, including malicious software, because these websites are not checked by experts before taking users to them. A bunch of these untrustworthy websites is made to look reliable, but it does not mean that they are safe, so users have to be very cautious.

Researchers say that the presence of promotional links on the search results page is not the only problem associated with the questionable search tool GotoWebs.com. It has been revealed that it is also going to gather data associated with users’ activities on the web and interests. Unfortunately, it is unclear what details it is going to record because the Privacy Policy of this search tool does not exist. Reputable search engines have the End User License Agreement and Privacy Policy so that users could know how they are going to act. Therefore, you can expect anything from a search provider that does not have those documents. In case of GotoWebs.com, even though we cannot check the Privacy Policy, it is still very likely that this questionable search engine will gather personal data. This might happen indirectly, for example, personal details might be recorded as a part of the search data.

It has not been hard to find out how GotoWebs.com is distributed. Since there are so many users who cannot explain why they see this search tool set on their Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, and Mozilla Firefox browsers, there is basically no doubt that a browser hijacker is the only one responsible for the presence of GotoWebs.com. These threats usually enter computers without permission in a software bundle. These infections tend to travel with freeware and shareware so that they could hide themselves behind them. Users should be more cautious in the future so that they could prevent malware from entering their systems. Unfortunately, in some cases, it is not enough to be attentive and careful. Therefore, online safety experts also suggest installing a security application to protect the system from the sneakiest threats.

It might be very true that the browser hijacker promoting GotoWebs.com has modified your browsers’ shortcuts too. As a consequence, you should check them first before resetting browsers to their default settings. The manual removal guide (see below) will guide you through the removal of this browser hijacker; however, if it happens that you do not find these instructions helpful at all, you should use an automatic malware remover, e.g. SpyHunter. Download its free version by clicking on the Download button to try it out.

Remove GotoWebs.com manually

Fix browsers’ shortcuts

1. Right-click on the shortcut.
2. Select Properties.
3. Click on the Shortcut tab to open it.
4. Delete GotoWebs.com from the Target line.
5. Click Apply.
6. Click OK.

Reset browsers

Internet Explorer

1. Launch your browser.
2. Click Tools.
3. Click Internet Options.
4. Open the Advanced tab.
5. Click Reset.
6. Put a tick in the box to enable Delete personal settings.
7. Click Reset in the confirmation window.

Mozilla Firefox

1. Open your browser.
2. Press Alt+H and click Troubleshooting information.
3. Click Refresh Firefox.
4. Click again on the Refresh Firefox button.

Google Chrome

1. Double-click on the shortcut of your browser.
2. Click on the button in the top-right corner.
3. Select Settings.
4. Scroll down and then click Show advanced settings.
5. Click Reset settings.
6. In the pop-up window, click Reset.