What is Search.bookmyflight.co?
Search.bookmyflight.co is a new malware infection that may pose as a useful tool in your browsers if you travel a lot by plane since it offers features related to flight booking as well as a search engine. Unfortunately, our malware researchers at anti-spyware-101.com has found that this is simply a new browser hijacker that seems to share the same IP address as other similar threats, including Search.searchdescargar.com and Search.searchetan.com. If we want to be strict for the sake of your virtual security, we have to tell you that this questionable search page with all its features is totally useless since you can easily bookmark any related pages in your browsers without any risk. However, this hijacker may pose a threat to your system security; therefore, we advise you to remove Search.bookmyflight.co from your browsers as soon as possible.
Where does Search.bookmyflight.co come from?
Our research and user reports indicate that this browser hijacker may mostly spread in the US. However, since we have not found any official channels through which you could download or install this search page, it is quite clear that there have to be alternative channels if people get infected. The bad news is that this browser hijacker could be found bundled with other malicious software installers. This simply means that when you install this hijacker either with or without your knowledge, you may let other threats on board as well. This is why it is vital for you to know how it is possible to infect your computer with such a malicious software package.
There are two main possibilities. Either there are malware infections on your system, including adware programs and browser hijackers, or you land on a questionable website with unreliable third-party content. In both cases, of course, you need to click on unsafe third-party content to drop such a bundle; only the origin of the content is different. As you can see, if there is one single threat on your computer, there could be more following in no time. This is exactly why you should always keep your PC clean by, for example, running a system malware scan from time to time, and right after you delete Search.bookmyflight.co.
If you only use reputable and official pages to download files, software, and updates, there is a way lower chance that you end up with an unwanted bundle and its content on your system. But you can land on questionable sites even accidentally by clicking on the wrong link or ad, for instance. Still, we recommend that whenever this may happen you close the tab or the whole browser window before clicking on any content. Unfortunately, there could be instances when even this could not save you from dropping some dangerous threats onto your system. All in all, you need to remove Search.bookmyflight.co if you plan to keep your PC safe.
How does Search.bookmyflight.co work?
When you install this browser hijacker, it mostly alters your home page settings in the affected browsers, including Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Internet Explorer, but it also possible that your new tab page will also be changed. At the top of this search page you can see a fake bar with features, such as a search tool and a number of quick links related to flights. For example, the button “Book My Flight” redirects you simply to google.com/flights, while the “Track My Flight” button to flightstats.com/go/Home/home.do. Obviously, you can easily bookmark these pages (Ctrl+D) without risking being exposed to any unreliable third-party content. We also advise you against using the search engine because the results may be hacked and contain unreliable ads and links. As a matter of fact, before being redirected to a Yahoo search results page, your keywords are forwarded to query.bookmyflight.co, where it might be modified to include third-party ads and links promoted by this hijacker. If you do not want to end up on malicious websites and lose money as the consequence of an online scam, we suggest that you remove Search.bookmyflight.co right away. Below the main search box you can also find some quick-access links to popular pages, such as Facebook, Gmail, and Yahoo, which seem to be reliable.
How do I delete Search.bookmyflight.co?
It is possible that you can eliminate this hijacker simply by restoring your home page settings in your browsers; at least, this is what our specialists concluded. We have prepared manual removal instructions for you below this article if you would like to take matters into your own hands. If this somehow was not enough and this browser hijacker would regenerate itself, we advise you to reset all your browsers to be on the safe side. Since this infection may not be the only one on your system, we recommend that you do not stop until your PC is entirely clean. Therefore, we suggest that you use a reliable anti-malware program that will automatically defend your system from all kinds of malware attacks.
Remove Search.bookmyflight.co from browsers
Google Chrome
- Press Win+E to launch File Explorer.
- Locate the “%LocalAppData%\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default” directory.
- Delete the following files: Preferences, Secure Preferences, and Web Data
- Empty your Recycle Bin.
Mozilla Firefox
- Press Win+E to open File Explorer.
- Locate the “%AppData%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\{Unique Mozilla user ID}” directory.
- Open the prefs.js file in Notepad.
- Locate the user_pref("browser.startup.homepage", "http://search.bookmyflight.co/") string and edit the URL to overwrite with a home page URL, such as “google.com”
Internet Explorer
- Press Win+R and enter regedit. Click OK.
- Overwrite the value data of “http://search.bookmyflight.co” in the following registry keys:
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\Start Page (64-bit)
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\Start Page
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\Start Page - Overwrite the value data in the following value names in “HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchScopes\{0633EE93-D776-472f-A0FF-E1416B8B2E3A}”:
FaviconURL (value data: “http://search.bookmyflight.co/favicon.ico”)
FaviconURLFallback (value data: “http://search.bookmyflight.co/favicon.ico”)
TopResultURL (value data: “http://search.bookmyflight.co”)
URL (value data: “http://search.bookmyflight.co”) - Exit the registry editor.
tested removal of Search.bookmyflight.co*
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