Contenko.com virus - How to remove

Contenko.com virus is a browser hijacker that can take over your browser, whether it’s Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firefox, or another one. The virus is distributed to computers bundled with various free programs that are quite common to download. Once it has infected your computer, the Contenko hijacker takes over your browser and monetizes your searches.

How Contenko.com spreads

Like said earlier, Contenko.com spreads by being attached to various freeware programs and installed alongside them (bundling). You are only able to see the Contenko.com virus if you are carefully following each installation step of the infected installer. Then you will be able to refuse installing any additional programs. Otherwise they will be brought to your system automatically.

Another way that hijackers spread is malvertising – malicious ads caused by an adware infection or by visiting malicious websites. Bad ads might lead you to download the Contenko.com hijacker. To avoid this, be vigilant, don’t run downloaded files without first scanning them using a competent antivirus program.

The Contenko.com browser hijacker can affect all of your browsers and hijack system settings to make itself very difficult to remove. It’s more than just a simple browser extension.

If your browsers open new tabs in Contenko.com or redirect search queries to that page, they may have been hijacked:

Contenko.com classification	Browser hijacker Adware
Contenko.com symptoms	Home page at Contenko.com Search queries land in this page Changing browser search engine settings doesn’t work
Contenko.com danger	Information difficult to find Search habits and private data exposed to third parties
Remove Contenko.com virus	Scan for malware using antivirus tools (SpyHunter) Remove suspicious extensions form your browser Restore browser settings

Contenko.com takes over the browser

Once there, the program changes your homepage and default search provider to Contenko.com. This is annoying if you’re accustomed to using a specific search page, besides, Contenko.com tries to promote a bunch of commercial websites in the web search results. While almost every search engine uses ads to make money, they might offer unique benefits. Not so with Contenko.com.

Although this search hijacker states to improve your browsing experience and make it faster, this is debatable. Contenko.com offers to only show one page of results and tells you to search with a better term if you don’t find what you needed. This is hardly a function, especially when the search page lacks any other features, like filtering or quick access to your online accounts.

Having Contenko.com as an option is good, however, having this page forced to open every time you try to search for info online is not. Especially when the Contenko.com virus has access to your browser. It can be used to get information about your browsing activity, track what websites you are visiting and what information you are looking for on the Internet, and use that data to allow third parties to improve their marketing system.

This business model is used by many fraudsters and there exist many browser hijackers: Geofoxip.com, Searchgg, WebSearch.com, and others.

How to remove Contenko.com

Remove the Contenko.com virus from your computer as soon as you detect it on your system. Go to Control Panel -> Add and Remove programs list and uninstall it from there. It is important that you remove all other programs installed with the hijacker, as some of them might redownload or reset back browser settings. Scan with Spyhunter as it identifies such programs quite well.

You should also check browser extensions for Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome. If you do not see Contenko.com listed but the browsers still continue to redirect your search queries to Contenko.com, you should use antimalware tools and scan your computer with them. Also, uninstalling the program from your computer doesn’t revert your search provider settings, so you might have to do it manually by yourself. Depending on the browser you are using, follow the instructions below:

Automatic Malware removal tools

Remove Contenko.com and restore the settings

How to remove Contenko.com virus using Windows Control Panel

Many hijackers and adware like Contenko.com virus install some of their components as regular Windows programs as well as additional software. This part of malware can be uninstalled from the Control Panel. To access it, do the following.

• Start→Control Panel (older Windows) or press Windows Key→Search and enter Control Panel and then press Enter (Windows 8, Windows 10).
• Choose Uninstall Program (if you don't see it, click in the upper right next to "View by" and select Category).
• Go through the list of programs and select entries related to Contenko.com virus . You can click on "Name" or "Installed On" to reorder your programs and make Contenko.com virus easier to find.
• Click the Uninstall button. If you're asked if you really want to remove the program, click Yes.
• In many cases anti-malware programs are better at detecting related parasites, thus I recommend installing Spyhunter to identify other programs that might be a part of this infection.

How to remove Contenko.com virus from macOS

Delete Contenko.com virus from your applications.

1. Open Finder.
2. In the menu bar, click Go.
3. Select Applications from the dropdown.
4. Find the Contenko.com virus app.
5. Select it and right-click it (or hold the Ctrl and click the left mouse button).
6. In the dropdown, click Move to Bin/Trash. You might be asked to provide your login password.

TopHow To remove Contenko.com virus from Google Chrome:

• Click on the 3 horizontal lines icon on a browser toolbar and Select More Tools→Extensions
  
• Select all malicious extensions and delete them.
  
• Click on the 3 horizontal lines icon on a browser toolbar and Select Settings
  
• Select Manage Search engines
  
• Remove unnecessary search engines from the list
  
• Go back to settings. On Startup choose Open blank page (you can remove undesired pages from the set pages link too).
• If your homepage was changed, click on Chrome menu on the top right corner, select Settings. Select Open a specific page or set of pages and click on Set pages.
  
• Delete malicious search websites at a new Startup pages window by clicking “X” next to them.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings

If you are still experiencing any issues related to Contenko.com virus, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on a Chrome’s menu button (three horizontal lines) and select Settings.
• Scroll to the end of the page and click on theReset browser settings button.
  
• Click on the Reset button on the confirmation box.
  

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.

How To remove Contenko.com virus from Firefox:Top

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Mozilla window and select the “Add-ons” icon (Or press Ctrl+Shift+A on your keyboard).
  
• Go through Extensions and Addons list, remove everything Contenko.com virus related and items you do not recognise. If you do not know the extension and it is not made by Mozilla, Google, Microsoft, Oracle or Adobe then you probably do not need it.
  
• If your homepage was changed, click on the Firefox menu in the top right corner, select Options → General. Enter a preferable URL to the homepage field and click Restore to Default.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings If you are still experiencing any issues related to Contenko.com virus, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Mozilla Firefox window. Click on the Help button.
  
• ChooseTroubleshooting Information on the Help menu.
  
• Click on theReset Firefox button.
  
• Click on the Reset Firefox button on the confirmation box. Mozilla Firefox will close and change the settings to default.
  

If the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program to identify malicious entries.

How to remove Contenko.com virus from Microsoft Edge:Top

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Microsoft Edge window. Select “Extensions”.

• Select all malicious extensions and delete them.

• Click on the three-dot menu on the browser toolbar and Select Settings

• Select Privacy and Services and scroll down. Press on Address bar.

• Choose Manage search engines.

• Remove unnecessary search engines from the list: open the three-dot menu and choose Remove.

• Go back to Settings. Open On start-up.
• Delete malicious search websites at Open specific page or pages by opening the three-dot menu and clicking Delete.

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings If you are still experiencing any issues related to Contenko.com virus, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings

• Click on Edge's menu button and select Settings. Click on the Reset Settings button on the left.
• Press the Restore settings to their default values option.

• Click on the Reset button on the confirmation box.

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.

How to remove Contenko.com virus from Safari:Top

Remove malicious extensions

• Click on Safari menu on the top left corner of the screen. Select Preferences.
  
• Select Extensions and uninstall Contenko.com virus and other suspicious extensions.
  
• If your homepage was changed, click on Safari menu on the top left corner of the screen. Select Preferences and choose General tab. Enter preferable URL to the homepage field.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings(older versions) If you are still experiencing any issues related to Contenko.com virus, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on Safari menu on the top left corner of the screen. Select Reset Safari…
  
• Select which options you want to reset (usually all of them come preselected) and click on the Reset button.
  

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.

Manual removal