yamdex.net

What is yamdex.net?

A lot of computer users do not realize that their computers get infected with a browser hijacker, such as yamdex.net; not until they launch their browsers. This hijacker is mainly focused on one region and that is Russia. It is quite obvious from this search page because it is all in Russian. But do not think that it can only infect Russian computers. Since this browser hijacker mainly spreads on the web through freeware bundles downloaded from Russian shareware sites, it is possible to install it regardless of your physical location. Obviously, mostly Russian-speaking computer users would do so because of the language. But, if you accidentally land on an unfamiliar freeware site and you cannot understand it, no matter what language it is in, you may click on potentially unsafe third-party content. Therefore, it is worth understanding more about this malware infection so that you can protect your computer against similar threats. According to our malware researchers, you should delete yamdex.net as soon as you notice it in your browsers because it is possible that this hijacker exposes you to potentially harmful websites and content.

Where does yamdex.net come from?

As we have already mentioned, this browser hijacker comes from Russia and mainly targets Russian computers. Most probably you will not find an official website where you could download a standalone installer that installs this tool. The truth is that most of the time browser hijackers are spread on the web using alternative channels. This hijacker has been found distributed in software bundles hosted on primarily Russian freeware and other file-sharing websites. You should know that most users infect their computers by visiting unfamiliar and questionable file-sharing sites and click on some content there. Even if you accidentally find yourself on such a page, you should not engage with any content. The best is to close your tab or the whole browser and run a malware scan on a “just in case” basis. Because it is possible that the unreliable website you land on contains a malicious banner ad that may run a code in the background as soon as the page loads and may drop a bundle of malware infections onto your computer without your knowledge. That is why it is best to stick to official websites when it comes to downloading free products.

It is also quite likely that the bundle is packed with other malware threats apart from this browser hijacker. The most common “passengers” in a malicious software package include adware applications, browser hijackers, bad toolbars, Trojans, and potentially unwanted programs. Any of these threats may introduce you to unwanted and unreliable third-party content. This can result in being scammed out of your precious money, losing your identity, or simply downloading more infections onto your machine. We do not think that you would like to experience any of these; therefore, we advise you to remove yamdex.net right away.

How does yamdex.net work?

Once this hijacker infiltrates your system, it will change your browsers’ home page settings to yamdex.net. Thus, you will be exposed to the potential risks every time you start up your browsers. Since it seems that this hijacker can affect all major browsers, including Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, and Google Chrome as well, chances are you cannot escape this unreliable search page. This page, by the way, is full of third-party ads and all kinds of “eye-catching” articles. Clicking on an article may take you to another suspicious page (get-news.net) where you will be presented with a lot of other articles instead of the one you actually clicked on. It seems that most articles originate from blogistarter.com. If you end up on this site and want to close your tab, suddenly an advertisement appears instead and starts to talk to you in Russian, of course.

We do not recommend any engagement with these articles because you may be introduced to unreliable web content or third-party ads. And the same goes for the search tool as well. It is quite possible that this hijacker can manipulate the search results and display promoted third-party ads and links among the search results. After you enter your keywords and press Enter, your query gets redirected to a go.mail.ru results page. Clicking on any content on this page may lead you to malicious websites. The slightest chance of getting in contact with cyber criminals should be scary enough for a security-minded computer user to want to remove yamdex.net immediately.

How can I delete yamdex.net?

This browser hijacker is unfortunately quite persistent. You cannot easily get rid of it. Since it does not even have a working uninstaller, it may take a bit longer to eliminate this annoying threat. It is worth starting with undoing the main trick it uses to stay in your browsers, i.e., the restoration of the browser shortcut Target lines. Once you have finished with them, you should reset all your browsers to make all the changes go away. However, you also have another option here if you would like to go deeper and go for the manual instructions. We have included both options in our guide below. Please follow the steps carefully to make sure that no leftovers remain. Keep in mind that it is quite likely that there are other malware infections on your computer that need to be dealt with, too. For an automated solution, we suggest that you install a trustworthy antimalware application that will also safeguard your PC from future attacks.

How to remove yamdex.net from Windows

Restore the Target line

1. Right-click on the browser shortcut on your desktop.
2. Select Properties and go to the General Tab.
3. Make sure that Read-only is unchecked.
4. Click on the Shortcut tab and delete the added string in the Target line after the quotes. Click OK.
5. Right-click on the browser shortcut on your Taskbar to display the menu.
6. Right-click on the browser name option at the bottom.
7. Repeat steps 2 to 4 to restore the Target line.

How to reset your browsers

Mozilla Firefox

1. Press Alt+H and go to Troubleshooting Information.
2. Press Refresh Firefox.
3. Click Refresh Firefox again.
4. Click Finish.

Internet Explorer

1. Press Alt+T and open Internet Options.
2. Click on the Advanced tab and press Reset.
3. Mark Delete personal settings.
4. Press Reset and click Close.

Google Chrome

1. Press Alt+F and go to Settings.
2. Scroll down and click Show advanced settings.
3. Scroll down and click Reset settings.
4. Click Reset.

Manual Instructions

1. Tap Win+Q and enter regedit. Press the Enter key.
2. Find these registry keys and edit the value name “1” and data associated with yamdex.net. Replace it with a search engine of your choice: HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Policies\Google\Chrome\RestoreOnStartupURLs (64-bit only)
   HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Google\Chrome\RestoreOnStartupURLs
3. Find these registry keys and replace the value data of the value name “Default_Search_URL” and “Start Page” with any URL of your preference:
   HKLM\Wow6432Node\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\MAIN
   HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\MAIN
4. Find this registry key and replace the value data of the value name “Default_Search_URL” and “Start Page” with any URL of your choice: HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main
5. Exit the Registry editor.
6. Tap Win+E.
7. Locate %appdata%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\ folder.
8. Enter the profile folder and open prefs.js with a text editor (Notepad).
9. Find these lines: user_pref("browser.newtab.url", "yamdex.net") and
   user_pref("browser.startup.homepage", "yamdex.net").
10. Replace the yamdex.net strings with a search provider of your preference.
11. Close the text editor.

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