Remove The Weather Pilot Tab from your browser

What is The Weather Pilot Tab?

The Weather Pilot Tab is a browser hijacker, endorsed as a tool for easy access to current weather and local weather forecasts. It operates by modifying browsers to promote its fake search engine (search.stheweatherpilot.com). Additionally, this app monitors and records browsing-related information.

Since most users install The Weather Pilot Tab inadvertently, it is also categorized as a Potentially Unwanted Application (PUA). It is often distributed with Hide My Searches - another app falling under the same category.

Popular browsers such as Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, and Mozilla Firefox are the primary targets of browser hijackers. Following successful installation, these rogue applications reassign the homepage, default search engine, and new tab/window URLs to the addresses of their fake searchers.

I.e., with The Weather Pilot Tab installed, each new tab/window opened and each search query typed into the URL bar redirects to search.stheweatherpilot.com. As most fraudulent search tools are unable to generate unique results, they redirect to (or cause redirection chains ending with) a legitimate search engine.

In this context, search.stheweatherpilot.com is no exception and redirects to search.yahoo.com. These modifications may seem insignificant, and yet they significantly diminish the browsing experience. While they can seem easy to undo, any changes users attempt to make to affected browsers are automatically reset, if indeed access is permitted at all.

Therefore, the browser hijacker must be uninstalled to recover the affected browser. The Weather Pilot Tab also has data tracking capabilities, which it employs to record users' browsing activity (URLs visited, pages viewed, search queries, etc.) and collects their personal information (IP addresses, geolocations and other details).

This sensitive data is then shared with third parties (potentially, cyber criminals) seeking to misuse it for financial gain.

The presence of data-tracking content on devices can thus lead to serious privacy issues, financial loss and even identity theft. To ensure browser/system integrity and user safety, all dubious applications and browser extensions/plug-ins must be removed without delay.

Threat Summary:

Name	The Weather Pilot Tab
Threat Type	Browser Hijacker, Redirect, Search Hijacker, Toolbar, Unwanted New Tab
Detection Names	Avast (Win32:AdwareSig [Adw]), ESET-NOD32 (A Variant Of Win32/WinWrapper.V Potentially Unwanted), DrWeb (Adware.Spigot.155), Fortinet (Riskware/WinWrapper), Full List Of Detections (VirusTotal)
Browser Extension(s)	The Weather Pilot Tab
Supposed Functionality	It supposedly provides local weather and weather forecasts.
Promoted URL	search.stheweatherpilot.com
Serving IP Address (search.stheweatherpilot.com)	34.204.243.133
Affected Browser Settings	Homepage, new tab URL, default search engine
Symptoms	Manipulated Internet browser settings (homepage, default Internet search engine, new tab settings). Users are forced to visit the hijacker's website and search the Internet using their search engines.
Additional Information	The Weather Pilot Tab is distributed with another browser hijacker called Hide My Searches.
Distribution methods	Deceptive pop-up ads, free software installers (bundling), fake Flash Player installers.
Damage	Internet browser tracking (potential privacy issues), display of unwanted ads, redirects to dubious websites.
Malware Removal (Windows)	To eliminate possible malware infections, scan your computer with legitimate antivirus software. Our security researchers recommend using Combo Cleaner. ▼ Download Combo Cleaner To use full-featured product, you have to purchase a license for Combo Cleaner. 7 days free trial available. Combo Cleaner is owned and operated by Rcs Lt, the parent company of PCRisk.com read more.

Most browser hijackers share certain common traits. My Weather Live, Express Package Finder Tab, Gov Tax Info, and Get Breaking News are a few examples of hijacking apps similar to The Weather Pilot Tab.

Most PUAs seem legitimate and attempt to lure users into downloading/installing them with "useful" functions, however, the advertised features rarely work as promised and, in most cases, are nonoperational. Unwanted content is not designed for user convenience - its sole purpose is to generate revenue for the developers.

As well as hijacking browsers, PUAs can run intrusive advertisement campaigns (delivering pop-ups, banners, coupons, surveys, etc.), force-open untrustworthy/malicious websites, and track private data.

How did The Weather Pilot Tab install on my computer?

Some PUAs (including The Weather Pilot Tab) have "official" promotional web pages, on which they are typically advertised as "free". Unwanted applications are often unintentionally downloaded/installed together with other programs. This deceptive marketing technique of packing regular software with unwanted or malicious content is called "bundling".

Rushing download/installation processes (e.g. ignoring terms, skipping steps, using pre-set options, etc.) increases the risk of potential system infiltration and infections. Intrusive ads also proliferate PUAs. When clicked, they can execute scripts to download/install these rogue products without users' consent.

How to avoid installation of potentially unwanted applications

You are advised to research all content, before downloading/installing. Download from official and verified sources only. Do not use untrustworthy download channels such as P2P sharing networks (BitTorrent, Gnutella, eMule, etc.), free file-hosting sites and other third party downloaders, as they are more likely to contain deceptive and/or bundled software.

Treat download and installation processes with cation. Read the terms, study all available options, use the "Custom/Advanced" settings, and decline downloading/installing supplementary apps, tools, features and so on.

Intrusive advertisements usually seem normal and harmless, however, they can redirect to dubious websites (e.g. gambling, adult-dating, pornography and others). If you encounter ads/redirects of this type, check the system and immediately remove all suspicious applications and/or browser extensions/plug-ins.

If your computer is already infected with The Weather Pilot Tab, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to automatically eliminate this browser hijacker.

The Weather Pilot Tab browser hijacker installer set-up:

The Weather Pilot Tab browser hijacker asking for various permissions:

Website promoting The Weather Pilot Tab browser hijacker;

IMPORTANT NOTE! This deceptive site asks to enable web browser notifications:

Another website used to promote The Weather Pilot Tab browser hijacker:

Therefore, before commencing, perform these steps:

Google Chrome (PC):

• Click the Menu button (three dots) on the right upper corner of the screen
• Select "Settings", scroll down to the bottom and click "Advanced"
• Scroll down to the "Privacy and security" section, select "Content settings" and then "Notifications"
• Click three dots on the right hand side of each suspicious URL and click "Block" or "Remove" (if you click "Remove" and visit the malicious site once more, it will ask to enable notifications again)

Google Chrome (Android):

• Click on the Menu button (three dots) on the right upper corner of the screen and click "Settings"
• Scroll down, click on "Site settings" and then "Notifications"
• In the opened window, locate all suspicious URLs and click on them one-by-one
• Select "Notifications" in the "Permissions" section and set the toggle button to "OFF"

Mozilla Firefox:

• Click the Menu button (three bars) on the right upper corner of the screen
• Select "Options" and click on "Privacy & Security" in the toolbar on the left hand side of the screen
• Scroll down to the "Permissions" section and click the "Settings" button next to "Notifications"
• In the opened window, locate all suspicious URLs, click the drop-down menu and select "Block"

Internet Explorer:

• Click the Gear button on the right upper corner of the IE window
• Select "Internet options"
• Select the "Privacy" tab and click "Settings" under "Pop-up Blocker" section
• Select suspicious URLs under and remove them one by one by clicking the "Remove" button

Microsoft Edge:

• Click the menu button (three dots) on the right upper corner of the Edge window
• Scroll down, find and click "Settings"
• Scroll down again and click "View advanced settings"
• Click "Manage" under "Website permissions"
• Click the switch under each suspicious website

Safari (Mac):

• Click "Safari" button on the left upper corner of the screen and select "Preferences..."
• Select the "Websites" tab and then select "Notifications" section on the left pane
• Check for suspicious URLs and apply the "Deny" option for each

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Quick menu:

• What is The Weather Pilot Tab?
• STEP 1. Uninstall The Weather Pilot Tab application using Control Panel.
• STEP 2. Remove search.stheweatherpilot.com redirect from Internet Explorer.
• STEP 3. Remove The Weather Pilot Tab browser hijacker from Google Chrome.
• STEP 4. Remove search.stheweatherpilot.com homepage and default search engine from Mozilla Firefox.
• STEP 5. Remove search.stheweatherpilot.com redirect from Safari.
• STEP 6. Remove rogue plug-ins from Microsoft Edge.

The Weather Pilot Tab browser hijacker removal:

Windows 11 users:

Right-click on the Start icon, select Apps and Features. In the opened window search for the application you want to uninstall, after locating it, click on the three vertical dots and select Uninstall.

Windows 10 users:

Right-click in the lower left corner of the screen, in the Quick Access Menu select Control Panel. In the opened window choose Programs and Features.

Windows 7 users:

Click Start (Windows Logo at the bottom left corner of your desktop), choose Control Panel. Locate Programs and click Uninstall a program.

macOS (OSX) users:

Click Finder, in the opened screen select Applications. Drag the app from the Applications folder to the Trash (located in your Dock), then right click the Trash icon and select Empty Trash.

In the uninstall programs window: look for any recently installed suspicious applications (for example, "The Weather Pilot Tab"), select these entries and click "Uninstall" or "Remove".

After uninstalling the potentially unwanted applications that cause browser redirects to the search.stheweatherpilot.com website, scan your computer for any remaining unwanted components. To scan your computer, use recommended malware removal software.

The Weather Pilot Tab browser hijacker removal from Internet browsers:

Video showing how to remove browser redirects:

Remove malicious add-ons from Internet Explorer:

Click the "gear" icon (at the top right corner of Internet Explorer), select "Manage Add-ons". Look for any recently installed suspicious extensions, select these entries and click "Remove".

Change your homepage:

Click the "gear" icon (at the top right corner of Internet Explorer), select "Internet Options", in the opened window remove hxxp://search.stheweatherpilot.com and enter your preferred domain, which will open each time you launch Internet Explorer. You can also enter about: blank to open a blank page when you start Internet Explorer.

Change your default search engine:

Click the "gear" icon (at the top right corner of Internet Explorer), select "Manage Add-ons". In the opened window, select "Search Providers", set "Google", "Bing", or any other preferred search engine as your default and then remove "The Weather Pilot Tab".

Optional method:

If you continue to have problems with removal of the search.stheweatherpilot.com redirect, reset your Internet Explorer settings to default.

Windows XP users: Click Start, click Run, in the opened window type inetcpl.cpl In the opened window click the Advanced tab, then click Reset.

Windows Vista and Windows 7 users: Click the Windows logo, in the start search box type inetcpl.cpl and click enter. In the opened window click the Advanced tab, then click Reset.

Windows 8 users: Open Internet Explorer and click the gear icon. Select Internet Options.

In the opened window, select the Advanced tab.

Click the Reset button.

Confirm that you wish to reset Internet Explorer settings to default by clicking the Reset button.

Remove malicious extensions from Google Chrome:

Click the Chrome menu icon  (at the top right corner of Google Chrome), select "More tools" and click "Extensions". Locate "The Weather Pilot Tab" and other recently-installed suspicious browser add-ons (e.g., "Hide My Searches"), and remove them.

Change your homepage:

Click the Chrome menu icon  (at the top right corner of Google Chrome), select "Settings". In the "On startup" section, disable "The Weather Pilot Tab" or "Hide My Searches", look for a browser hijacker URL (hxxp://search.stheweatherpilot.com or hxxps://hidemysearches.com) below the “Open a specific or set of pages” option. If present, click on the three vertical dots icon and select “Remove”.

Change your default search engine:

To change your default search engine in Google Chrome: Click the Chrome menu icon  (at the top right corner of Google Chrome), select "Settings", in the "Search engine" section, click "Manage search engines...", in the opened list look for "hxxp://search.stheweatherpilot.com" and "hxxp://hidemysearches.com", and when located click the three vertical dots near this URL and select "Remove from list".

Optional method:

If you continue to have problems with removal of the search.stheweatherpilot.com redirect, reset your Google Chrome browser settings. Click the Chrome menu icon  (at the top right corner of Google Chrome) and select Settings. Scroll down to the bottom of the screen. Click the Advanced… link.

After scrolling to the bottom of the screen, click the Reset (Restore settings to their original defaults) button.

In the opened window, confirm that you wish to reset Google Chrome settings to default by clicking the Reset button.

Remove malicious plug-ins from Mozilla Firefox:

Click the Firefox menu (at the top right corner of the main window), select "Add-ons". Click on "Extensions" and remove "The Weather Pilot Tab", as well as all other recently installed browser plug-ins (e.g., "Hide My Searches").

Change your homepage:

To reset your homepage, click the Firefox menu (at the top right corner of the main window), then select "Options", in the opened window disable "The Weather Pilot Tab" or "Hide My Searches", remove hxxp://search.stheweatherpilot.com or hxxp://hidemysearches.com and enter your preferred domain, which will open each time you start Mozilla Firefox.

Change your default search engine:

In the URL address bar, type about:config and press Enter.
Click "I'll be careful, I promise!".
In the search filter at the top, type: "stheweatherpilot"
Right-click on the found preferences and select "Reset" to restore default values.

Optional method:

Computer users who have problems with search.stheweatherpilot.com redirect removal can reset their Mozilla Firefox settings.

Open Mozilla Firefox, at the top right corner of the main window, click the Firefox menu, in the opened menu, click Help.

Select Troubleshooting Information.

In the opened window, click the Refresh Firefox button.

In the opened window, confirm that you wish to reset Mozilla Firefox settings to default by clicking the Refresh Firefox button.

Remove malicious extensions from Safari:

Make sure your Safari browser is active and click Safari menu, then select Preferences...

In the preferences window select the Extensions tab. Look for any recently installed suspicious extensions and uninstall them.

In the preferences window select General tab and make sure that your homepage is set to a preferred URL, if its altered by a browser hijacker - change it.

In the preferences window select Search tab and make sure that your preferred Internet search engine is selected.

Optional method:

Make sure your Safari browser is active and click on Safari menu. From the drop down menu select Clear History and Website Data...

In the opened window select all history and click the Clear History button.

Remove malicious extensions from Microsoft Edge:

Click the Edge menu icon  (at the top right corner of Microsoft Edge), select "Extensions". Locate any recently-installed suspicious browser add-ons, and remove them.

Change your homepage and new tab settings:

Click the Edge menu icon  (at the top right corner of Microsoft Edge), select "Settings". In the "On startup" section look for the name of the browser hijacker and click "Disable".

Change your default Internet search engine:

To change your default search engine in Microsoft Edge: Click the Edge menu icon  (at the top right corner of Microsoft Edge), select "Privacy and services", scroll to bottom of the page and select "Address bar". In the "Search engines used in address bar" section look for the name of the unwanted Internet search engine, when located click the "Disable" button near it. Alternatively you can click on "Manage search engines", in the opened menu look for unwanted Internet search engine. Click on the puzzle icon near it and select "Disable".

Optional method:

If you continue to have problems with removal of the search.stheweatherpilot.com redirect, reset your Microsoft Edge browser settings. Click the Edge menu icon  (at the top right corner of Microsoft Edge) and select Settings.

In the opened settings menu select Reset settings.

Select Restore settings to their default values. In the opened window, confirm that you wish to reset Microsoft Edge settings to default by clicking the Reset button.

• If this did not help, follow these alternative instructions explaining how to reset the Microsoft Edge browser.

Summary:

A browser hijacker is a type of adware infection that modifies Internet browser settings by assigning the homepage and default Internet search engine settings to some other (unwanted) website URL. Commonly, this type of adware infiltrates operating systems through free software downloads. If your download is managed by a download client, ensure that you decline offers to install advertised toolbars or applications that seek to change your homepage and default Internet search engine settings.

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