Do you know what Doni2016-search.com is?
Doni2016-search.com is rather similar to our recently researched browser hijacker called Paper-search2016. If you noticed it on the browser and decided not to trust it before getting some more information about the search engine, you did the right thing. Our researchers indicate that the application could be displaying suspicious advertising content. Apparently, the advertisements may show up while using Doni2016-search.com and some part of them might come from unreliable web pages. Given that they could lead you to malicious websites, we advise you to get rid of the software as soon as you can. The removal guide is placed below the text, so all you need to do is slide down. However, users who are facing such threat for the first time should continue reading the article and learn more about the browser hijacker.
We believe that the application could be distributed through suspicious file-sharing webpages. For instance, it could travel bundled with other unreliable programs. If that is the case, the search engine should appear as a suggestion on the setup wizard. Users might be able to notice it while choosing the advanced installation options. If you did download any freeware or other software from suspicious websites recently, perhaps the search engine was bundled with the installer you received. Often, users fail to notice such suggestions as they rush to finish the installation process. In the future, we would recommend you look carefully at the terms and try to get the setup files only from reliable web pages.
Doni2016-search.com screenshot
Scroll down for full removal instructions
After the installation, Doni2016-search.com might affect the default user’s browser. As for now, the application is compatible with Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, and Google Chrome. To hijack the browser, the program makes changes to particular data. For example, in order to replace homepage settings on Internet Explorer, the hijacker finds a value name called Start Page in the following location: HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main. Then it removes the link to a website, which was set to be your start page and inserts Doni2016-search.com. As a consequence, user’s browser no longer loads his preferred homepage site and opens the search engine.
If you thought about using the new search engine, you should know a couple of things first. Doni2016-search.com does not provide any Privacy Policy or End User License Agreement documents, which means users cannot know what kind of information it might collect or share with other parties. Moreover, since it could display third-party advertisements in your search results, some of them might have links to other web pages. If you click such content, you could be redirected to malicious web pages that may try to gather your personal data, distribute malicious software, or advertise other browser hijackers and threats alike. Thus, it might be better to get rid of the browser hijacker before anything goes wrong.
Users might be unable to eliminate the application while changing their homepage settings because the program may modify particular data. Therefore, the only way to erase it manually is to undo the modifications, although Google Chrome’s users should simply delete altered files as it might be impossible to modify them in the same way as Mozilla Firefox users can. Nonetheless, if the removal guide below seems too complicated or too much of work for you, there is also another option. Just install a reliable antimalware tool and use it to erase the threat. After the tool is installed, you should click on the button that starts the full system scan and then click the deletion button when the scanning is over.
Eliminate Doni2016-search.com
Internet Explorer
- Press Windows Key+R, type regedit and press Enter to access the Windows Registry.
- Locate the provided paths one by one:
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main - Find value names called Start Page on both directories.
- Right-Click them separately and select the Modify option.
- If the value data contains this link http://doni2016-search.com, delete it and type an URL address of a reliable web page, e.g. google.com.
- Click OK.
Mozilla Firefox
- Open your File Explorer and go to the given directory: C:\Users\user\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\{Unique Mozilla user ID}
- Select a file named as Prefs.js, right-click it and choose to open it with Notepad.
- Erase this particular code line: user_pref(“browser.startup.homepage”, “http://doni2016-search.com”).
- Press Ctrl+S and close the file.
Google Chrome
- Open the Explorer and go to the given path: C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default
- Right-click the following files separately and select Delete: Preferences, Secure Preferences.
In non-techie terms:
Compared to other threats the browser hijacker may be not that dangerous, but as it can be replaced with more reliable alternatives, there is no point to take any risks while keeping it on the system. This is why we advise you to eliminate Doni2016-search.com and use a search engine that can be trusted. If you take a look at the removal guide placed above this text, you can try to erase the application manually. It can also be deleted with a trustworthy antimalware tool; users should simply install it on the system first and then use the scanning tool to locate the hijacker. Also, if you keep the tool updated it could help you while guarding the computer against malware in the future.