CinematicFanatic New Tab - How to remove

CinematicFanatic is a browser extension that promises to enhance your browser with quick access to the latest film reviews, trailers, news, and other content for movie lovers. It’s unfortunate, then, that its features are extremely limited and that this extension is nothing but an excuse to force you to use the MyWay search engine.

Browser hijackers are browser add-ons that take over some browser settings without your permission. Usually, this is done to display more ads — for example, to redirect you to websites owned by the creators of the extension. Add-ons like CinematicFanatic say that they have a ton of features, but their real product is the search bar that they put in your new home page.

That’s why a lot of anti-malware products warn their users about this extension — it’s not good.

How CinematicFanatic works

When it comes to movie-related content, CinematicFanatic only pins a few links to film-themed websites to your home page. Browser bookmarks are more functional than this.

CinematicFanatic does a few other things, like read your browsing history, check what other extensions you have installed, show you pop-up ads, read what you search for in its search engine. It’s not great for people who care about privacy.

CinematicFanatic is not great overall and is better off removed:

Classification	PUP (potentially unwanted program) Adware Browser hijacker
Effects	The home page is changed The search bar sends search queries to myway.com Other new browser extensions are installed
Problems	Tracking Search redirecting Excessive ads in the search results Bundles other extensions Can be installed without permission
Removal of CinematicFanatic	Clean your computer of Malware (Combo Cleaner for Mac, SpyHunter for PC) Manually uninstall CinematicFanatic and other browser hijackers

 

CinematicFanatic, like other hijackers, spread by misleading ads and PUP bundles, knowing that most people don’t look for this type of browser add-on and it’ll need to be installed secretly or under false pretenses. An effect of dishonest installation is that a lot of people don’t even know how extensions work or how to manage them — they might get stick with CinematicFanatic, not knowing that they can remove it at all.

That’s how browser hijackers work — they worm their way into a browser and hope that they don’t get removed. The browser is still totally usable, however, the search queries are sent to MyWay, an alternative search engine; the home page is set to the same ugly and outdated design as many other hijackers, like Search Hub.

How to avoid malicious browser add-ons

To add to this, most of these extensions are installed in groups. You remove CinematicFanatic, then end up with some email thing or a weather extension on your home page. Maybe your address bar doesn’t lead to MyWay, but to Encrypted Search, Ask, or another unpopular search site. They might have impressive names or say that they perform some important function, but you can feel free to get rid of them.

Uninstalling or disabling these hijackers is the only way to get back the control of your browser. You cannot set a prefferred search engine while some extension is camping over the setting, and you can’t customize your own new tab page as long as CinematicFanatic is in control of it. That’s why it’s advisable to remove all these browser extensions and ignore any ads that try to ppush them in the future.

A few signs that a browser add-on is not trustworthy:

• It’s not obvious how it makes money. In most cases, it’s advertising, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but just always be aware that if a commercial extension is free, it’s probably still making money by collecting info about you.
• Check who the developer is. For example, CinematicFanatic is made by Mindspark — a company responsible for a ridiculous number of browser hijackers.
• The use of bundling is suspicious. If you download a free program and the installer offers you to change your search engine or something similar, you should probably uncheck that box. Lots of people will miss this offer and get CinematicFanatic or MyWay installed despite never really agreeing to that. That’s unethical.
• Asking excessive permissions is not great. Why does CinematicFanatic need to know your browsing history or what other extensions you have installed?
• A tiny ratio of reviews and ratings to the number of users. Just like CinematicFanatic, which, on Chrome, has nearly 30,000 users for one single rating. That could mean that many users don’t know that they even have CinematicFanatic installed.

How to get rid of CinematicFanatic

If you’re ready to get back the control of your web browser, whether that’s Chrome, Safari, or Internet Explorer, you only need to disable or remove all the suspicious add-ons by following the guide below. Not just CinematicFanatic, but any other ones that you didn’t intentionally install (though some browsers have default browser add-ons, those are totally safe).

It’s advisable to scan your computer with a reputable anti-malware program, like SpyHunter for Windows or Combo Cleaner for Macs. After all, it could have been a potentially unwanted program that installed CinematicFanatic for you, or an adware virus that opened one of the adware sites that so often promote various browser hijackers. That’s not guaranteed, your computer is probably totally clean, but it’s always good to be careful.

If the hijackers are resisting being removed, then you definitely need to scan for malware because there’s some program or setting that keeps the hijacker coming back.

Automatic Malware removal tools

How to remove CinematicFanatic Hijacker using Windows Control Panel

Many hijackers and adware like CinematicFanatic New Tab 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 CinematicFanatic Hijacker . You can click on "Name" or "Installed On" to reorder your programs and make CinematicFanatic New Tab 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 CinematicFanatic Hijacker from macOS

Delete CinematicFanatic New Tab from your applications.

1. Open Finder.
2. In the menu bar, click Go.
3. Select Applications from the dropdown.
4. Find the CinematicFanatic Hijacker 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.

TopRemove malicious extensions from Internet Explorer

• Press on the Gear icon→Manage Add-ons.
  
• Go through Toolbars and extensions. Remove everything related to CinematicFanatic New Tab and items you do not know that are made not by Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Oracle or Adobe.
  
• Close the Options.

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings

If you are still experiencing any issues related to CinematicFanatic Hijacker, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Press on the Gear icon->Internet Options.
  
• Choose the Advanced tab and click on the Reset button.
  
• Select a “Delete personal settings” checkbox and click on the Reset button.
  
• Click on the Close button on the confirmation box, then close your browser.
  

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

TopRemoving CinematicFanatic New Tab from Chrome

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Google Chrome window. Select “Settings”.
  
• Click “Extensions” on the left menu bar.
• Go through the extensions list and remove programs you do not need, especially similar to CinematicFanatic Hijacker. Click on the trash bin icon next to CinematicFanatic New Tab or other add-ons you want to remove.
  
• Press on the “Remove” button on the Confirmation window.
  
• If unsure, you can disable them temporarily.
  
• Restart Chrome.

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings

If you are still experiencing any issues related to CinematicFanatic Hijacker, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

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

TopRemoving CinematicFanatic New Tab from Firefox

• 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 CinematicFanatic Hijacker 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.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings If you are still experiencing any issues related to CinematicFanatic New Tab, 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.
  
• Choose Troubleshooting Information on the Help menu.
  
• Click on the Reset Firefox button.
  
• Click on the Reset Firefox button on the confirmation box. Mozilla Firefox will close and change the settings to default.
  

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

How to remove CinematicFanatic New Tab from Microsoft Edge:Top

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

• Go through the extensions list and remove programs you do not need, especially similar to CinematicFanatic Hijacker. Click on the "Remove" icon next to CinematicFanatic New Tab or other add-ons you want to remove.

• Press on the “Remove” button on the Confirmation window.

• If unsure, you can disable them temporarily.

• Restart Microsoft Edge.

TopRemoving CinematicFanatic Hijacker from Safari (Mac OS X)

• Click on the Safari menu.
• Choose Preferences.
  
• Click on the Extensions Tab.
• Click on the Uninstall button near the CinematicFanatic New Tab. Remove all other unknown or suspicious entries too. If you are not sure whether you need the extension or not, you can simply uncheck the Enable check-box to disable the extension temporarily.
  
• Restart Safari.

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings

If you are still experiencing any issues related to CinematicFanatic Hijacker, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on the 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.