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In this article we are going to try and help you remove Rambler Search Engine. Our instructions cover all Windows versions as well as most browsers – Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer etc.
If there is a program, which can be so annoying, that it could make you wish to forget about the internet and never open your browser again, then this program could be Rambler Search Engine. This is a browser hijacking program, which can cause incredible browsing irritation and disturbance by constantly displaying tons of aggressive ads, pop-ups, banners, links and promotional notifications all over your screen. What is more, it may also substitute your browser’s homepage or search engine, place some unfamiliar toolbar and redirect your searches to various sponsored websites. If your Chrome, Firefox or other favorite browser has been invaded by this program, then you are most probably feeling desperate to remove it from your system. However, getting rid of its ads and changes may not be possible unless you fully uninstall all the browser hijacker components from your system. This can be done with the help of the removal guide below, so if you are really looking for a permanent solution to your browsing disturbance, then, the next lines are written especially for you.
Rambler Search Engine – a browser-affecting program that can be an incredible annoyance.
Rambler Search Engine is a browser hijacker, which can severely affect your default browser, without your approval. This program is basically used for a very aggressive advertising method known as Pay-Per-Click, where sponsored ads are displayed on your screen to get them clicked. Your clicks bring revenue for the browser-hijacker owners, who actually earn from these sponsored ads, and they would do everything to redirect you to as many of them as possible and get you to click on them as much as possible. And since everything is run for profit, they may literally flood you with dozens of promotional messages, specific offers, web pages or ads. But this may often create some huge disturbance to your normal browsing activity and may really irritate you to an extent, that you may wish to remove the annoying program as soon as possible. Actually, due to its intrusiveness, this type of ad-generating software has been referred to as potentially unwanted, ever since it first appeared, but could it also be dangerous? Let’s find out.
Could Rambler Search Engine be a virus?
Fortunately, until now, no browser hijacker has been proven to be malicious. Indeed, it may create some disturbance, but this is nothing compared to the harmful effect a real virus or malware from the rank of a Trojan horse or Ransomware infection could do to your machine. That’s why even if you have Rambler Search Engine on your PC, there is nothing so serious to be concerned about. At its worst, Rambler Search Engine will apply some modifications to your browser settings and the way you normally browse the web, but a browser hijacker like this one could never corrupt your system, steal your credentials or encrypt your data the way that a nasty Ransomware cryptovirus would do.
However, despite that there is no direct risk for your machine, the presence of the hijacker on your system may expose you to some indirect security hazards and may affect your system’s performance in a rather undesirable way. For instance, you can never be sure how safe the pages you land on are, or whether you may come across some fake ads and misleading links that may infect you with some nasty virus. Your browser may become totally unresponsive to your searches and may freeze or it may take ages to load your pages. The system may also be affected and you may experience some significant lags, browser crashing, and generally sluggish performance because the unstoppable page redirects and ads will constantly keep some of your system resources busy with rather useless activity. On top of that, the Rambler Search Engine owners may collect and use your browsing-related data for various marketing purposes. They may track your history, bookmarks, and the pages you visit to build up a profile with your preferences and then expose you to more sponsored ads, matching your interests. For some people, all this annoyance could be enough to decide to permanently uninstall the browser hijacker and if you are one of them, then the removal guide below will definitely be of use.
How to prevent browser hijackers from getting on your PC?
Browser hijackers are not that difficult to prevent, but for that you need to know a few things. Usually, you may come across such programs in your spam email box, different freeware or shareware platforms, torrent sites, free software installers, or direct downloads from the web. They normally don’t come alone, but are bundled inside the installer of some other program – it could be a game, a player, optimization software or some attractive and free application. So, the moment you download and run the installer of such a bundle, you may not see the browser hijacker directly, but you should check for it manually. This can easily be done with options like “Advanced” or “Custom”, where all the content of the bundle is visible and you have full control over each and every program in it. This way, you can disable the potentially unwanted browser hijacker or some other similar software, and pick just the software you want. Trust us, if you apply this tip for every new software that you install on your computer, you will greatly reduce the amount of bloatware that may get installed on your system, and you will not have to deal with browser hijackers like Rambler Search Engine anymore.
Rambler Search Engine Removal
Many types of malware will restrict your access to their core files. It is highly recommended that you reboot your PC in safe mode before attempting to use this guide.
- To enable Safe Mode reboot you PC, then hit F8 repeatedly. When the corresponding menu opens please select Safe Mode with Networking.
WARNING! If you are using Windows 8,0 or later and/or your operating system is installed on a fast SSD drive this may fail to work. In this case click here to see how to start your PC in Safe Mode.
#1: Uninstall the malicious program from your control panel
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Enter control panel to look for any suspicious programs, which may have installed on your PC. To do that:
- Navigate to your Desktop
- Press simultaneously the Win button together with the R button (Win+R)
- In the Run window that just opened type appwiz.cpl
- Go through the list of programs and find Rambler Search Engine or anything else that may seem suspicious. Right-click on it and choose the uninstallation option
WARNING! Carefully read any confirmation messages that may be created in the process. Sometimes you may get offers to download more Adware applications and this can be linked to either the Yes or the No answer depending on the wording!
- Optional:
Go through the list of programs again and check online for any potentially unwanted programs. We have an article that covers this awesome free software that makes sure that your computer is free from bloatware and programs that you don’t need.
#2: Remove Rambler Search Engine From Chrome
Now we’ll remove the extensions that the malware has attached to your browser.
- Open your Google Chrome browser.
- Type chrome://extensions/ in the URL address bar and press Enter.
- Click on “Developer Mode” on the top right and look for the extension installed by Rambler Search Engine and anything that might be related to it. Copy their IDs (the string of letters), then remove them by clicking on the trash bin icon.
- Type Regedit in the Windows Start Menu and press Enter. Go in : HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Google\Chrome\Extensions and delete the entries corresponding to the suspicious IDs you recorded.
#3: Remove Rambler Search Engine From Firefox
- Open Mozilla Firefox browser.
- Type “about:support” in the URL address bar and press Enter.
- Click on the “Refresh Firefox” button on the right and confirm.
#4 Remove Rambler Search Engine From Internet Explorer
- Open your Internet Explorer internet browser.
- Click on the Gear icon on the up right, then on manage add-ons.
- Go through the list disable any suspicious extensions.
#5 Remove any leftover parasitic processes
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From the task manager:
- Use Ctrl + Shift + Esc and open the Task manager, then click on the Processes
- Go through the list of processes and look for unknown or otherwise suspicious entries.
- If you see anything suspicious right click on the process and shoes Open File Location, then terminate the process and delete any files you find in the directory.
WARNING! If the directory you open from this menu has no files inside of it it’s probably because the malware has hidden them. You need to reveal hidden files and folders in order to be able to see them. Click here if you don’t know how to do that.
From the start menu:
- Press simultaneously the Win button together with the R button (Win+R)
- In the Run window that just opened type msconfig
- Click on the Startup tab.
This menu controls which programs are loaded when windows starts after a reboot. Disable anything that seems suspicious. Optionally you can also disable any program that you don’t need and also has a high impact on your startup time.
Feel free to write to us in the comment section with any questions that you may have. Also if we have been helpful to you please share this article to help us reach more people like you.