Tavanero Search “Virus” Removal (Nov. 2016 Update) 

Welcome, reader, to our Tavanero “Virus” removal guide. The following instructions will aid you in removing the unwanted software from your PC.

In case that  some strange search engine, ads, messages, and numerous page redirects are preventing you from browsing the web the way you used to do it before, then a browser hijacker called Tavanero Search may have taken over your browser. No, this is not a virus infection, but a specific type of software that is specially developed to display numerous advertising messages and incorporate some changes in your browser so that you could see as many ads and promotional sites as possible. And in case you don’t really want to experience such type of disturbance every time you surf the web, then the information below is written just for you. In this removal guide, we are going to explain to you how the browser hijacker programs operate and how to detect and manually remove them. So if you stay with us, by the end of this page, you will be able to completely uninstall Tavanero “Virus” from your system and bring your browser back to normal.

Browser hijackers’ typical features:

With the increased number of online advertisements, there is a new phenomenon that is causing some disturbance to online users. It is called a Browser hijacker – a piece of software developed to display a huge amount of ads, banners, pop-ups and promotional pages on the user’s screen every time they surf the web. Tavanero is a program of this type and is well known for the excessive amount of undesired ads messages, page redirects and popping boxes it displays, as well as the browsing interruption this activity causes to some people. You can easily identify when this program operates on your computer since it usually applies some potentially unwanted changes in the settings of your browser. You may notice that the homepage of your choice is replaced or the directories you type in the search box get redirected to some other web locations such as websites with top sales or various advertisements.

In general, such behavior is not considered illegal but part of an online advertising strategy. Applications like Tavanero are commonly used to display ads for the purposes of the advertising industry as well as a way to generate income. Through a method called Pay-Per-Click, many browser hijacker developers earn some profit that come from the clicks of the ads that are displayed. The greater the amount of the ads, the greater the chance you click on them and of course, the bigger the income. This pretty much explains why you are bombarded with so many ads and why they are so intrusive. 

The places where Tavanero could be found the most:

Browser hijackers are usually distributed through spam emails, websites, torrents, various platforms for free downloads or direct downloads from installation managers. Usually, they come along with other software, where they are bundled in the setup. Users may install them unknowingly if they install the whole bundle as it is, without checking the advanced options for customization. In case that you have recently installed some other application from an unknown source, you have probably ended up with Tavanero this way.

Tavanero: a PUP or a virus?

Tavanero could be really aggressive when it comes to loading your screen with pop-ups, banners and all sorts of promotional messages, links, and pages. At some point, it may really become impossible to close the intrusive ads and this is where users feel they have lost control over their machine and have been invaded by a nasty virus. But, fear not. This is neither a virus nor some nasty malware infection like a Ransomware or a Trojan. Browser hijackers are considered relatively harmless applications and it would be more accurate to refer to their activity as potentially unwanted rather than malicious. Such programs do not contain harmful scripts that could destroy your system or corrupt your files. A real malicious script like ransomware, however, could cause you troubles you don’t even want to imagine. So, these two types of programs have really nothing in common and it would be totally wrong to put them under one classification.

The indirect risks that Tavanero may expose you to:

Despite that browser hijackers don’t represent a security risk themselves, there are some indirect hazards that they may expose you to in case you interact with their ads. There is a risk you can’t predict and it involves clicking on some misleading ads, which may eventually sneak through the real ones. Even though in most of the cases the ads, banners, and pop-ups you see are real ones, malicious hackers still may create ads that may get you infected with malware and they may try to place them where you least expect. Sometimes, even the page redirects may land you on an insecure website or a page that has been compromised with some malware. That’s why it is a good idea to avoid clicking on such randomly generated ads and messages as much as possible. Or, if you want to eliminate that risk completely, simply follow the instructions in the removal guide below to remove the browser hijacker from your system.

How to Remove Tavanero Search “Virus”

I – Uninstallation

1. Use the Winkey+R keyboard combination, write Control Panel in the search field and hit enter.
   
2. Go to Uninstall a program under Programs.
   
3. Seek the unwanted software, select it and then click on Uninstall
   1. If you are unable to spot Tavanero, search for any unrecognized programs that you do not remember installing on your PC – the unwanted software might disguise itself by going under a different name.

II – Safe mode and revealing hidden files

1. Boot your PC into Safe Mode /link/
2. Reveal hidden files and folders /link/

III – Cleaning all your browsers

1. Go to your browser’s icon, right-click on it and select Properties.
   
2. Go to the Shortcut tab and in the Target make sure to delete anything written after “.exe”.
   
3. Now, open your browser and follow the instructions below depending on whether you are using Chrome, Mozilla or IE.

• Chrome users:

1. Go to your browser’s main menu located in the top-right corner of the screen and select Settings.
2. Scroll down, click on Show Advanced Settings and then select Clear browsing data. Just to be sure, tick everything and clear the data.
3. Now, in the left pane, go to Extensions and look through all extensions that are integrated within your browser. If you notice any suspicious add-on, disable it and then remove it.
   

• Firefox users:

1. Similarly to Chrome, go to the main menu and select Add-ons and then Extensions.
2. Remove any suspicious browser extensions that you may have even if they do not have the name Tavanero on them.

• IE users:

1. Go to Tools and select Manage add-ons.
   
2. Click on all add-on types from the left pane and check if there is anything suspicious in the right panel. In case you find anything shade, make sure to remove it.

IV – Removing Shady processes

1. Go to your start menu, type Task Manager in the search field and from the results open View running processes with Task Manager.
2. Thoroughly look through all processes. The name Tavanero might not be there, but if you notice any shady looking process that consumes high amounts of memory it might be ran by the unwanted program.
3. If you spot the process ran by Tavanero, right-click on it, open its file location and delete everything in there. Then go back to the Task Manager and end the process.

V – DNS check

1. In the start menu search box write View Network Connections and open the first result.
   
2. Right-click on the network connection you are using and go to Properties.
   
3. Select Internet Protocol Version (TCP/IPv4) and click on Properties.
   
4. If Obtain DNS server addresses automatically is not checked, check it.
   
5. Go to Advanced and select the DNS If there is anything in the DNS server addresses field, remove it and click OK.
   
6. Click OK on the rest of the opened windows.