What is Startme.online?
Startme.online is not a trustworthy search provider, so if you ever find it set as your new homepage, search engine, or a New Tab page, you should remove it from your browsers without consideration. We cannot say that you can keep it also if you have set this search tool on your browsers willingly because it is definitely not one of those fully trustworthy search providers. Specialists at anti-spyware-101.com say that Startme.online is the most prevalent in India and the United Kingdom, but the truth is that you might discover it set on your browsers no matter where you live. It looks harmless, we have to admit, and it is not malicious for sure; however, replacing it with a more trustworthy search provider would be a smart step, especially if you have nothing to do with its appearance on your browsers. That is, you have not set it on your browsers voluntarily. Fortunately, you do not need to be experienced in malware removal to delete Startme.online from browsers. It should be enough to replace it with a new URL. If it happens that you see it in the same place after closing your web browser and opening it again even though you have undone the undesirable modifications applied, it is very likely that Startme.online has modified the shortcuts of your browsers too so that it could not be removed easily. In such a case, the first thing you have to do is to fix these modified shortcuts.
What does Startme.online do?
Startme.online looks and acts as an ordinary search provider. That is, it returns search results to users when they enter the search query. It has been noticed that it opens Google search results. They were not modified at the time of research, but we cannot promise that you will not see any sponsored search results if you use Startme.online as your default search tool every day. What else makes this search tool a suspicious one is the fact that it does not have EULA or Privacy Policy. All trustworthy search providers have these documents so that users could find more about them and how they are going to act when they set it, but, evidently, Startme.online is not one of them. Because of this, we recommend being very careful with it because it might not only start displaying sponsored links one day, but it might also collect information about you and your browsing behavior. In most cases, such suspicious search tools record the so-called non-personally identifiable information, e.g., IP address, search queries, the type of browser, etc., but we, unfortunately, cannot promise that Startme.online will not touch any details that can identify you personally. As can be seen, Startme.online might have serious drawbacks, so keeping it is not recommended. Of course, you are the one in charge here, so decide whether or not to keep it yourself.
Where does Startme.online come from?
We cannot call a search tool trustworthy if it changes the settings of users’ web browsers without permission. This is the reason we cannot confirm that Startme.online is a decent search tool either. Our malware researchers are sure that only some users set this search tool on their browsers voluntarily. Others simply cannot explain why it is there, so they are sure that it might travel bundled with other applications and thus enter users’ PCs unnoticed. According to them, it might also come as a redirect, so it is not at all surprising that so many users can say nothing about its appearance on their browsers. Be more careful the next time and enable security software on your computer to protect your web browsers from unauthorized changes.
How to remove Startme.online
You could set a new website of your choice only after you delete Startme.online from your web browsers. It should be enough to reset those affected browsers to default settings in order to eliminate the suspicious search tool. If it happens that it stays where it is after resetting them, you should check your browsers’ shortcuts. In case they have been modified, i.e., you see Startme.online in the Target line, you must remove it and then save the changes. Use our manual removal guide if you need some help, or use an automatic tool to undo the changes applied to your browsers automatically.
Delete Startme.online
Fix your browsers’ shortcuts
- Right-click on the shortcut of your Internet Explorer/Mozilla Firefox/Google Chrome.
- Select Properties.
- Open the Shortcut tab and find the Target line.
- If you see Startme.online in it, remove this URL, i.e., make sure that the line ends in quotation marks, e.g. "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" .
- Click Apply and close the window.
Reset your browsers to default settings
Internet Explorer
- Open Internet Explorer and press Alt+T.
- Click Internet Options.
- Open the Advanced tab.
- Click Reset.
- Check the Delete personal settings box.
- Click Reset.
Mozilla Firefox
- Launch Mozilla Firefox and press Alt+H.
- Click Troubleshooting information.
- Click Refresh Firefox at the top of the page.
- In the confirmation window, click Refresh Firefox again.
Google Chrome
- Open Google Chrome and press Alt+F simultaneously.
- Click Settings.
- Go to the bottom of the page.
- Click Advanced.
- Click Reset.
- In the confirmation window, click Reset.
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