What is Search.cal-cmf.com?
It can be quite disturbing when suddenly your default homepage changes to Search.cal-cmf.com. If that happens, it means that a browser hijacker was installed on your computer and now you have to work to remove it. Thankfully, this browser hijacker is not a major computer infection. It is more of a sign that there might be something wrong with your system, and you should take that sign seriously. Hence, when you get rid of the browser hijacker, you should also look for other dangerous threats. The best way to do that is to invest in a legitimate computer security program.
Where does Search.cal-cmf.com come from?
This browser hijacker belongs to the same group of similar programs as Search.yourclassifiedscenter.com, search.yourinterestscenter.com, search.yourmapscenter.com, and many others. The sheer abundance of such browser hijackers show that they are not extremely sophisticated, and the developers depend on the quantity rather than quality. Nevertheless, even if Search.cal-cmf.com is a simple application, it can still cause a few security issues, so it should be taken seriously.
Needless to say, you will not find this browser hijacker openly available at some official homepage. Instead, browser hijackers tend to come bundled with freeware. If you often download programs from file-sharing websites, you are automatically exposed to various threats. Third-party installers tend to bundle several applications together. If you are not well acquainted with internet security, you may not be aware of the potential threat. However, going through the installation wizard step by step would definitely help you avoid various undesirable applications. As mentioned, Search.cal-cmf.com is not a malware infection, so the chances are that it would not be hiding from you. The setup might inform you about the additional programs and features you are about to add to your system, but if you go through the installation blindly you may lose your chance to deselect Search.cal-cmf.com and other random apps.
What does Search.cal-cmf.com do?
Now that we have covered the most common ways of browser hijacker distribution, we should take a closer look at what Search.cal-cmf.com does. The good news is that there is nothing new about the program’s behavioral pattern, so the hijacker is easy to predict.
This intruder will affect Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer. The program will modify your default homepage settings, and it will display modified search results. Now, what does that mean? It means that you will still get everything you need when you search the web, but some of the results will be inserted there by the hijacker.
The problem here is that these modified search results might look quite attractive to you. Why? Because Search.cal-cmf.com collects information on your web browsing habits via tracking cookies. It is not illegal, but you can never know who could get ahold of that information, especially when the browser hijacker does not disclose its partners.
Another thing that bothers us is that Search.cal-cmf.com does not review the third-party content that gets promoted through it. The modified search results are included into that content, too. So basically anyone could embed their own content into those search result links, as long as they knew how to do it. And if those links happen to lead you to dangerous websites, a malware infection could be just a click away.
It might be hard to refrain from clicking those links because they will look as something you have been looking for. That is especially so if the tracking cookies collect information your web browsing habits and the browser hijacker manages to generate your online profile for custom advertising. Nevertheless, you need to remain attentive because safe web browsing habits is your best bet when it comes to protecting yourself from cybercrime.
How do I remove Search.cal-cmf.com?
The manual removal for Search.cal-cmf.com is quite simple and you can easily do it on your own. On the other hand, we would like to remind you about the potentially unwanted programs that could have entered your PC together with this browser hijacker. Although some of the programs could be removed via Control Panel, it might be challenging to locate them all. This is when you should invest in a licensed security application that would do the job for you. What’s more, it would also safeguard your system against other threats in the future.
Manual Search.cal-cmf.com Removal
Internet Explorer
- Press Win+R and type regedit. Click OK.
- Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main.
- On the right side, right-click the Start Page value.
- Select Modify and change your homepage address. Click OK.
Chrome
- Press Win+R and type %LocalAppData%. Click OK.
- Go to Google\Chrome\User Data\Default.
- Find and delete the Preferences, Secure Preferences, and Web Data files.
Firefox
- Press Win+R and type %AppData%. Click OK.
- Go to Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\[Unique User ID].
- Use Notepad to open the prefs.js file.
- Delete this string from the file: user_pref("browser.startup.homepage", "Search.cal-cmf.com");
- Save changes and exit the file.
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