Qip.ru Removal Guide

Qip.ru is a Russian search page as you may have guessed from the .ru domain; however, since it can appear in your browsers being set by software you download, we have labeled it as a potentially unwanted program, or PUP. Although many users do not consider this category a threat and do not even take the applications that belong here seriously, even PUPs might present you with indirect risks, which may result in serious infections and more security-related issues for your operating system.We advise you not to keep any useless or unused tools and applications on your computer, let alone ones that might have the slightest chance to harm your PC. Therefore, we believe that your computer would be a safer virtual space if you removed Qip.ru. Please read on to find out why we think that this PUP might be able to cause risks and how you can protect your computer from these.

One of the most common ways in which this PUP may show up in your browsers is when you download and install an instant messaging program from welcome.qip.ru/im. It is important that you pay attention during the installation since there is a step in the installation wizard that you should not overlook if you do not want such an unwanted program on your computer. You are offered two choices: full installation (recommended by the installer) and custom install. Most users would simply leave the default “Full installation” choice and click on the Next button to get the process over with. However, if you go for the custom option, the browser setting changes will be revealed, so you will see that this PUP is actually trying to set Qip.ru as your home page and search.qip.ru as your default search engine. We recommend that you always go for the custom or advanced option when offered. If there are no such options, you may find the designated checkboxes with the additional changes or tools on one of the pages of the installation wizard. But it is also possible that the full content of the package will only be revealed in the license agreement, which most probably no one ever reads; although, it would be useful because you could still cancel the whole process if you find out that some potentially harmful applications are trying to sneak onto your computer.

Another way for Qip.ru to emerge in your browsers is to download malicious bundles from questionable websites. The most usual trigger is that inexperienced users may click on unsafe third-party content, such as banner or pop-up ads. It is also possible that there is an adware infection on board when you go surfing the web and you are viewing a totally legitimate website and click on a legitimate-looking advertisement. Adware applications can hijack advertisements and, for instance, redirect you to malicious websites. In either of these cases, you need to know that your computer will not be secure again, unless you remove Qip.ru and all other malware infections that may be present on your PC.

We have found that this PUP resides at the following IP address: 195.16.127.102, which was registered by Media Mir Ltd. and is located in Moscow, Russia. It seems that 82% of the visitors on this search page are from Russia, which is no surprise. But it does not mean that you cannot encounter this PUP if you do not live in Russia or anywhere near. The Internet has no boundaries apart from some cases when the locality does matter and certain websites cannot be accessed.

This search page is filled with potentially harmful third-party ads and other third-party content, such as articles and videos. Some ads are even inserted between other content to mislead the visitor. You should not click on anything on this page, let alone use the search tool because it might end badly for you. For example, you might end up on a malicious website. Clicking on unsafe content may also open new tab pages with even more dangerous websites. These may expose you to unsafe third-party advertisements or downright online scams. That is why we think that you would be better off deleting this useless PUP as soon as possible.

Of course, the choice is always yours. It is up to you how much you are concerned with your virtual security and your computer’s health. If you choose to eliminate this annoying PUP, we are here to assist you with the necessary steps. Since this application does not affect Google Chrome, you only need to take care of your Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox settings. This is not the kind of PUP you can simply uninstall via Control Panel. Instead, you need to overwrite certain Windows Registry value data to restore your Internet Explorer. The easier part is Firefox since you just need to reset it and no leftovers will remain. Please follow our guide below step by step because the slightest mistake might cause serious operating system issues for you. We advise you to only go for the manual method if you consider yourself an experienced computer user. If you want effective alternative solution, we recommend that you use a trustworthy antimalware program that will take care of all your security issues with the click of a button. For full protection, you should keep this security software always up-to-date.

How to remove Qip.ru from browsers

Internet Explorer

1. Tap Win+R and enter regedit. Click OK.
2. Find HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main|Start Page and change the value data from qip.ru to any URL you prefer (e.g., google.com).
3. Find HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main|Search Page and change the value data from qip.ru to any URL you prefer (e.g., google.com).
4. Find HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main|Search Bar and change the value data from qip.ru to any URL you prefer (e.g., google.com).
5. Find HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main|Default_Search_URL and change the value data from qip.ru to any URL you prefer (e.g., google.com).
6. Find HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main|Default_Page_URL and change the value data from qip.ru to any URL you prefer (e.g., google.com).
7. Close the editor.

Mozilla Firefox

1. Launch your browser.
2. Press Alt+H and choose Troubleshooting Information.
3. Press Refresh Firefox.
4. In the pop-up press Refresh Firefox one more time.
5. Click Finish.