Howtonews.ru Removal Guide

Howtonews.ru is an annoying Russian browser hijacker that can appear in your browsers without your knowledge or permission. Once it manages to sneak onto your system, it launches your default browser right away, loading redirected potentially harmful web content. Since this is a scheduled task, you will be exposed to unreliable content every half an hour practically until you act and remove Howtonews.ru from your system. The main news-related website may not be directly harmful but should not be trusted anyway. If you see shady Russian and other advertising websites in an automatically popping up browser window, it could also signal that your system has been infected with a couple of other malware threats as well. If you would like to restore your previous security level, we suggest that you run a malware scanner to detect all potential threats on your system. Leaving any malicious or questionable programs on your computer, however innocent they may appear to you, could lead to further and more serious infections or a crippled, frozen system. Please continue reading our article if you want to find out more about this browser hijacker and what you can do to avoid similar attacks.

This browser hijacker uses aggressive marketing tactics to spread on the web. The main reason why you may not know how it slithered onto your system is that this infection travels in freeware bundles. You may be introduced to fake downloader pop-up messages that try to make you believe that you need the latest Adobe Flash update and offer you a download. However, these offers are virtually always malicious and even if they provide you with a working installer, there could be some unwanted surprises involved in the form of malware infections. But you can encounter all kinds of other unreliable third-party ads while surfing the net. These can be presented to you by adware programs hiding on your system or by shady websites promoting such ads and malicious third-party installers. You need to be aware of the fact that you can never be completely safe in your virtual world if there is even one single adware program on board. Such an infection can spy on you, surprise you with customized advertisements (best deals and coupons), and also alter normal and authentic third-party ads you would find on reputable and official websites.

You should always download programs, files, and updates only from official pages and avoid clicking on third-party ads altogether if you do not want to make the defense of your system even more vulnerable than it already is without proper security software. It is also important to add that most of the time you can still save the day after downloading a malicious bundle if you are cautious while installing it or cancel it altogether. Most installers reveal in a way what kind of browser settings they will change and what other additional programs they are installing if you do not deselect them. However, this step somehow is missed by a lot of users and this is how they infect their own machines with a bunch of malware threats in one single go. This is also why we emphasize that if you find this browser hijacker operating on your computer, you should quickly act and run a malware scanner to find all possible threat sources right after you delete Howtonews.ru, of course.

Once you let this hijacker on board, it schedules a task to open your default browser and load howtonews.ru/poweronsm page, which redirects to all kinds of shady advertising and survey pages that can pose a real threat to your system security if engaged with. This task is timed to launch every 33 minutes, which clearly means an exposure to such potentially harmful third-party contents every half an hour. Howtonews.ru is a news-related website with lots of articles on its main page. At the top of the page you can find a search box that actually redirects you to a possibly modified Google search results page. This means, we do not recommend that you use it at all because you could be introduced to unreliable third-party advertisements and sponsored links this way, which could lead to more malware infections or online scams resulting in your losing money from your bank accounts. We advise you to act as soon as you see the suddenly appearing browser window with questionable content if you do not want to let more infections on board or worse. In fact, there is really no reason why you would not want to remove Howtonews.ru from your PC right away.

In order for you to be able to eliminate this hijacker entirely, you need to delete the scheduled task first and then, reset your affected browsers, including Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, and Mozilla Firefox as well. If you need assistance with the necessary steps, please follow our guide below. The defense of your PC should be your priority if you do not want to damage or lose your files, data, or cause other types of security-related issues. Therefore, we suggest that you download and install a reputable and trustworthy anti-malware application like SpyHunter. This security software has proved to be a great tool to safeguard against all known malware infections when updated regularly and kept activated all the time.

How to remove Howtonews.ru from Windows

1. Press Win+E.
2. Locate your "C:\Windows\system32\tasks" folder.
3. Delete "httphowtonewsrupoweronsm" file.
4. Empty your Recycle Bin.

How to remove Howtonews.ru from browsers

Internet Explorer

1. Press Alt+T for the Tools menu.
2. Select Internet Options and click the Advanced tab.
3. Press Reset.
4. Mark Delete personal settings.
5. Press Reset and click Close.

Mozilla Firefox

1. Press Alt+H simultaneously and select Troubleshooting Information.
2. Click Refresh Firefox.
3. In the pop-up window, click Refresh Firefox again.

Google Chrome

1. Press Alt+F and select Settings.
2. Scroll down and click Show advanced settings.
3. Scroll down again and click Reset settings.
4. Click Reset.