NoteHomepage Hijacker - How to remove

NoteHomepage – a browser extension that hijacks your homepage, your search settings, and often comes together with other potentially unwanted software. Though it’s not very dangerous, NoteHomepage does have some problematic behaviors, such as unwanted installation and tracking.

This extension is very similar to MyCalendarPlanner, CalendarSpark, and especially WorldOfNotes. No surprise there – they’re both released by the same company, with the same features, without any significant upgrades. While WorldOfNotes installations seem to be winding down, NoteHomepage is being actively advertised all over the world with good results – tens of thousands of people have installed NoteHomepage.

NoteHomepage is made by Mindspark and that sort of thing is common for its extensions. It’s also common for them to use aggressive and misleading ads and bundling to spread, as well to be declared by a lot of reputable antivirus programs as adware. NoteHomepage and other extensions that work the same way are not considered desirable or even safe by cybersecurity experts.

NoteHomepage is a search hijacker that takes over the home page only for the benefit of advertisers:

Type of threat	Adware Browser hijacker
Issues with NoteHomepage	Browsing history and search queries exposed Unwanted installation Browser settings locked by the extension
Distribution and installation	Bundling Aggressive ads
Remove NoteHomepage	Remove malware (Combo Cleaner for Mac OS, SpyHunter for Windows) Uninstall NoteHomepage manually

Is NoteHomepage useful or dangerous?

NoteHomepage offers to create sticky notes in your browser. At first, you might think that something like that sounds pretty useful. The notes persist between sessions and you can edit them pretty well. However:

• The notes don’t sync across devices.
• The template that NoteHomepage uses is old and ugly.
• The extension takes over the search engine settings for absolutely no good reason.
• The functionality already exists in Windows and Mac OS operating systems where the notes aren’t limited to the browser.

So, is NoteHomepage lame but ultimately harmless? Well, not quite. This ad-supported add-on gets access to your browsing history and it can see literally anything you do on a few select websites, which often allows NoteHomepage to know what your search for. Usually, search queries are encrypted to protect our privacy, but that’s not good for advertisers. Newtab viruses – browser extensions that hijack the new tab page- can get around that by capturing what you type. Of course, if you read NoteHomepage’s privacy policy, there’s talk about behavioral advertising and sharing data on you with third parties.

How did NoteHomepage get installed?

A lot of people have questions like this when they find a hijacker in their browser: Why did the new tab page change? Why is the search website different? Where are all these pop-ups coming from?

Besides being a threat to privacy, NoteHomepage is also a sneaky potentially unwanted program. It seems to spread especially with videogame mods on filesharing sites. Free file downloads are used to spread malware all the time. Want to download a file? Here’s a redirect ad. Often, the ad is made to look like a download site, with vague words like “Download your file”. Careless users will accidentally download and install some random adware or malware because of these misleading ads.

Even when not downloading a file, the ads will spring up randomly and try to catch users unaware. For example, NoteHomepage has this vague “Continue” in its main page, which could trick a distracted user to install it when they don’t want to.

Then there are freeware bundles. Software that’s available for free, especially on download sites that offer their own installers, might come with some unwanted guests – “optional offers”. These offers include toolbars like NoteHomepage, adware programs, various useless utilities (like driver updaters) that try to convince you to buy the full version with annoying pop-ups. This is another way to get NoteHomepage and a bunch more junkware without even knowing.

And sure, you can find NoteHomepage manually and install it because you think t seems like it could be useful. The lack of reviews (there are a few negative ones), the fact that it’s developed by Mindspark, the mention of default search and home page in the description should be enough red flags to drop NoteHomepage like a hot potato and look for safer alternatives.

How to remove NoteHomepage

NoteHomepage can be uninstalled manually, but I would like to advise you to scan your computer with an antimalware scanner in addition to that. Combo Cleaner for Mac, SpyHunter for PC, or another program that you trust could do this. The problem is that NoteHomepage uses some of the same distribution tactics that malicious programs use, so if NoteHomepage made it onto your computer, there’s a chance some more nasty stuff did, too.

It’s also important to be careful when online. You can use an antivirus program with web protection, or maybe an ad-blocker to stop those malicious ads. And be very careful when you install free programs because the optional offers can be quite well hidden.

Automatic Malware removal tools

How to remove NoteHomepage Hijacker using Windows Control Panel

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

Delete NoteHomepage Hijacker from your applications.

1. Open Finder.
2. In the menu bar, click Go.
3. Select Applications from the dropdown.
4. Find the NoteHomepage 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 NoteHomepage Hijacker 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 NoteHomepage 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 NoteHomepage Hijacker 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 NoteHomepage Hijacker. Click on the trash bin icon next to NoteHomepage Hijacker 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 NoteHomepage 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 NoteHomepage Hijacker 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 NoteHomepage 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 NoteHomepage Hijacker, 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 NoteHomepage Hijacker 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 NoteHomepage Hijacker. Click on the "Remove" icon next to NoteHomepage Hijacker 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 NoteHomepage 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 NoteHomepage Hijacker. 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 NoteHomepage 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.