Welcome to our Hoho Search removal instructions. This article intends to help you remove Hoho Search from your system and is designed to work for Chrome, Firefox and all Windows versions.

Before we go into the removal process, it is good to have an idea of what Hoho Search is about.

What is Hoho Search?

According to security experts, Hoho Search is to be classified under the family of Browser Hijackers. It is not considered a virus as a virus is a malicious piece of programming code that seeks to cause harm to the computer in which it resides. A Browser Hijacker, on the other hand, is a non-malicious piece of programming code that only seeks to provide information to the user in the form of advertisements.

Some Browser Hijacker applications have been known to be able to track your browsing patterns and history, favourites and bookmarks. Hoho Search may affect any browser, including Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer. This means that as long as you have it in your computer, it will still be able to work and may display ads regardless of whichever browser you switch to.

Even though ads, generally, are useful for when you want to get cheap deals and discounts, the ads that are provided by Hoho Search are not the kind that you would normally like to get. Why so? As these ads may be generated by Hoho Search after it may have gathered information regarding your Internet browsing patterns, these ads would, usually, be tailored according to your preferences and may not be able to actually deliver on their claims. On the rare occasions that they do, the page which you may be directed to may be that of a webpage that you may have visited in the past. In this case then, clicking on the ad may only serve to be a waste of effort and time as you may not be able to gain anything useful from doing so.

More often than not though, the page which you may be redirected to after clicking on the ads may be one of the many third-party pay-per-click sites that would allow the creator to earn some income when people, like you and me, visit it. Sometimes, you may also be directed to sites that advertise a new program or software. Do note that these software programs may often be full of security loopholes that may create security issues with your computer in the future.

How to distinguish Hoho Search?

These ads may appear in many forms: banners, pop-up boxes or even as a separate window. But, luckily for us, in its bid to appear more trustworthy, these ads may usually be accompanied by taglines such as “Powered by Hoho Search”, “Proudly brought to you by Hoho Search”, “Generously provided by Hoho Search” etc.

How to avoid downloading Browser Hijackers again in the future?

According to our survey, the most common way in which computers get infected with Browser Hijackers is through one of the many readily available free downloads on the Internet. Similarly, torrent files also help to promote its spread. This is achieved by something called software bundling. The program in question may have been bundled together with an Browser Hijacker or other software. This resultant bundle may, then, have been made available for download as a set.

In such cases then, even though Hoho Search may be downloaded onto your computer, all hope is not lost yet! Only after installation it may be able to generate ads and potentially turn out be of a nuisance. Therefore, you should take extra care when going through the installation process. Instead of opting for the “Automatic Installation” to avoid hassle, go for the “Custom Installation” option. This is where you are able to review through the names of the files and folders that are to be installed onto your computer. Uncheck any files whose names are unfamiliar to you and you should be fine.

Remove Hoho Search from Chrome/Firefox

Step 1

Reveal Hidden Files. If you don’t know how to do this, ask us in the comments.

Step 2

Press => Control Panel => Uninstall a program.

Locate the Browser Hijacker and any other suspicious looking programs and uninstall them.

Sort the programs by Installed On.

Delete recent suspicious entries.

Step 3

=> Search=> Copy/Paste “notepad %windir%/system32/Drivers/etc/hosts” => Enter.

If you notice other IPs different from the localhost IPs – you might be in danger!

Ask for additional help in the comments.

Step 4

Remove Hoho Search from Chrome

Click => More Tools => Extensions.

Locate the Browser Hijacker and remove it.

Remove Hoho Search from Firefox

Click => Add-ons=> Extensions.

Locate the Browser Hijacker and delete it.

Malware Removal from Internet Explorer

Press on => Manage Add-ons =>

Find the Browser Hijacker and remove it.

Step 5

Right click on the Taskbar => Start Task Manager.

Navigate to Processes.

Locate any suspicious processes associated with Hoho Search. Right click on the process = > Open File Location => End Process = > Delete the directories with the suspicious files.

Step 6

=> Search => Type:

• %AppData%
• %LocalAppData%
• %ProgramData%
• %WinDir%
• %Temp%

Hit Enter after each new search. Check each Folder and delete recent entries.

If you run into any trouble – ask us for help in the comments section!