How to remove the Free Forms Online Tab browser hijacker

What is Free Forms Online Tab?

Free Forms Online Tab is advertised as an app which provides quick access to various forms. In fact, it promotes a fake search engine (hfreeforms.online) and collects various user-system information. Like most apps of this type, it promotes hfreeforms.online by changing certain browser settings.

Note that people tend to download and install browser hijackers unintentionally. Therefore, they are categorized as potentially unwanted applications (PUAs).

Browser hijacking apps promote fake search engines by assigning their address as the URL of the default search engine, homepage, and new tab. Free Forms Online Tab sets them to hfreeforms.online, which is classified as a fake search engine, since it does not generate unique results - it simply displays those generated by the Yahoo search engine (search.yahoo.com).

Users with browsers hijacked by Free Forms Online Tab arrive at hfreeforms.online when they open a browser, new tab and enter search queries. The only way to stop this address from being opened is to uninstall Free Forms Online Tab. These apps do not allow users to undo or change the settings as long as they are installed.

As mentioned, browser hijackers often collect user-system information. Commonly, they target browsing data such as entered search queries, addresses of visited/opened web pages, IP addresses, geolocations, etc., however, many such apps also gather private, sensitive details.

The developers sell the data to third parties (potentially, cyber criminals) who misuse it in other ways. These actions can cause a variety problems. For example, people might have their identities stolen, experience problems relating to online privacy and internet browsing safety, and so on. Therefore, never download or install apps such as Free Forms Online Tab.

Threat Summary:

Name	Free Forms Online Tab
Threat Type	Browser Hijacker, Redirect, Search Hijacker, Toolbar, Unwanted New Tab.
Browser Extension(s)	Free Forms Online Tab
Supposed Functionality	This app supposedly provides quick access to various forms.
Promoted URL	hfreeforms.online
Serving IP Address (hfreeforms.online)	34.235.224.122
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.
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.

Some other examples of apps that are classified as browser hijackers include SearchSafe, StreamingSearch and Typing Test Guru. In most cases, they change browser settings, forcing users to visit certain addresses (fake search engines) and collect browsing-related and/or other details.

Furthermore, browser hijackers do not deliver any genuine value or features, and they can cause serious problems. Therefore, uninstall these PUAs immediately.

How did Free Forms Online Tab install on my computer?

Typically, users download and install apps such as Free Forms Online Tab through the download/installation set-ups of other, mostly free, programs. Commonly, PUAs are distributed by including them into the set-ups as 'additional offers'. This distribution method is known as "bundling".

Usually, offers to download or install additionally-included apps are mentioned in "Custom", "Advanced", "Manual" or other settings. Included PUAs are often downloaded and installed together with users' required programs when they leave the aforementioned settings unchecked and unchanged.

These unwanted downloads/installations are also caused when people click ads that execute certain scripts.

How to avoid installation of potentially unwanted applications

Third party downloaders, installers, unofficial pages, Peer-to-Peer networks (torrent clients, eMule, and so on), and other similar channels are often monetized by distributing various unwanted applications. Therefore, software should be downloaded only from official websites and direct links.

Unwanted downloads and installations can be prevented by declining offers to download or install unwanted apps before completing the download/installation process. Such offers can generally be found in "Custom", "Advanced" and other settings of the software set-ups.

Intrusive ads, which often appear on dubious web pages, can open other pages of this kind and download/install unwanted software. For these reasons, these ads should not be clicked. Remove any suspicious, unwanted extensions, plug-ins and add-ons installed on the browser, and software of this kind installed on the operating system immediately.

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

Notification stating that Free Forms Online Tab can read and change certain data:

Website promoting Free Forms Online Tab browser hijacker:

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

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 Free Forms Online Tab?
• STEP 1. Uninstall Free Forms Online Tab application using Control Panel.
• STEP 2. Remove hfreeforms.online redirect from Internet Explorer.
• STEP 3. Remove Free Forms Online Tab browser hijacker from Google Chrome.
• STEP 4. Remove hfreeforms.online homepage and default search engine from Mozilla Firefox.
• STEP 5. Remove hfreeforms.online redirect from Safari.
• STEP 6. Remove rogue plug-ins from Microsoft Edge.

Free Forms Online 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, "Free Forms Online Tab"), select these entries and click "Uninstall" or "Remove".

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

Free Forms Online 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://hfreeforms.online 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 "Free Forms Online Tab".

Optional method:

If you continue to have problems with removal of the hfreeforms.online 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 "Free Forms Online Tab" and other recently-installed suspicious browser add-ons, 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 "Free Forms Online Tab", look for a browser hijacker URL (hxxp://www.hfreeforms.online) 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 "hfreeforms.online", 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 hfreeforms.online 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 "Free Forms Online Tab", as well as all other recently installed browser plug-ins.

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 "Free Forms Online Tab", remove hxxp://hfreeforms.online 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: "extensionControlled"
Set both results to "false" by either double-clicking each entry or clicking the button.

Optional method:

Computer users who have problems with hfreeforms.online 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 hfreeforms.online 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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