How to remove the Checking My Email browser hijacker

What is Checking My Email?

Checking My Email is a browser hijacker which promotes hcheckingmyemail.com, the address of a fake search engine. Research shows that Checking My Email is installed together with Hide My History. Note that apps of this type often gather browsing-related information.

Typically, users download and install browser hijackers unintentionally and, for this reason, they are classified as potentially unwanted applications (PUAs).

In most cases browser hijackers promote fake search engines by changing browser settings such as address of the homepage, default search engine and new tab. Checking My Email changes them to hcheckingmyemail.com. This fake search engine displays results generated by Yahoo, it redirects users to search.yahoo.com. 

I.e., it does not generate unique results. To remove hcheckingmyemail.com from browser settings, users must first uninstall Checking My Email, otherwise this browser hijacker will reassign settings after each attempt to change them. This is not the only reason to uninstall Checking My Email.

Commonly, these apps collect browsing data such as IP addresses, entered search queries, addresses of visited pages, geolocations, and other data of this kind. They can also record personal, sensitive details. Furthermore, the developers can misuse the data to generate revenue.

For example, they may sell it to third parties (potentially, cyber criminals). Therefore, users may become victims of identity theft, experience problems relating to browsing safety, online privacy, etc.

Threat Summary:

Name	Checking My Email
Threat Type	Browser Hijacker, Redirect, Search Hijacker, Toolbar, Unwanted New Tab.
Detection Names	AVG (Win32:Adware-gen [Adw]), DrWeb (Adware.Spigot.157), ESET-NOD32 (A Variant Of Win32/WinWrapper.V Potentially Unwanted), Kaspersky (Not-a-virus:HEUR:Downloader.Win32.WinWrapper.gen), Full List Of Detections (VirusTotal).
Browser Extension(s)	Checking My Email
Supposed Functionality	Quick access to email service providers.
Promoted URL	hcheckingmyemail.com
Serving IP Address (hcheckingmyemail.com)	52.205.41.130
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	Checking My Email is distributed with another browser hijacker called Hide My History.
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.
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More examples of browser hijackers include My Converter Tab, Stream-Searchs and MyPDFSearch. Frequently, these promote fake search engines and collect data. They are advertised as useful, legitimate apps that supposedly improve the browsing experience, include various features, etc.

If Checking My Email, Hide My History, or other app of this types are already installed on the browser and/or computer, remove them immediately.

How did Checking My Email install on my computer?

Potentially unwanted applications are often distributed through the set-ups of other software. They are included as 'additional offers', which can be declined in "Custom", "Advanced" or other settings. Users who leave these settings unchanged allow PUAs to be downloaded and installed with other software.

Sometimes unwanted downloads or installations are caused through deceptive ads that, if clicked, execute certain scripts.

How to avoid installation of potentially unwanted applications

Commonly, third party downloaders, installers, unofficial pages, Peer-to-Peer networks such as torrent clients, eMule, and other similar channels are used to distribute PUAs. Therefore, the safest way to download programs and files is to use official websites and direct download links.

Check all "Custom", "Advanced", "Manual" and other settings and decline offers to download or install unwanted software. Do not click intrusive advertisements on dubious, unofficial websites, since they can open various potentially malicious websites or cause unwanted downloads and installations.

Remove any suspicious, unwanted, unknown extensions, plug-ins and add-ons installed on the browser, and programs of this kind installed on the operating system. If your computer is already infected with Checking My Email, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to automatically eliminate this browser hijacker.

Checking My Email browser hijacker installation setup:

Notification stating that Checking My Email can read and change certain data:

Website promoting Checking My Email 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 Checking My Email?
• STEP 1. Uninstall Checking My Email application using Control Panel.
• STEP 2. Remove hcheckingmyemail.com redirect from Internet Explorer.
• STEP 3. Remove Checking My Email browser hijacker from Google Chrome.
• STEP 4. Remove hcheckingmyemail.com homepage and default search engine from Mozilla Firefox.
• STEP 5. Remove hcheckingmyemail.com redirect from Safari.
• STEP 6. Remove rogue plug-ins from Microsoft Edge.

Checking My Email 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, "Checking My Email"), select these entries and click "Uninstall" or "Remove".

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

Checking My Email 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://hcheckingmyemail.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 "Checking My Email".

Optional method:

If you continue to have problems with removal of the hcheckingmyemail.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 "Checking My Email" and other recently-installed suspicious browser add-ons (e.g., "Hide My History"), 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 "Checking My Email" or "Hide My History", look for a browser hijacker URL (hxxp://hcheckingmyemail.com or hxxps://hidemyhistory.co) 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://hcheckingmyemail.com" and "hxxp://hidemyhistory.co", 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 hcheckingmyemail.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 "Checking My Email", as well as all other recently installed browser plug-ins (e.g., "Hide My History").

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 "Checking My Email" or "Hide My History", remove hxxp://hcheckingmyemail.com or hxxp://hidemyhistory.co 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 hcheckingmyemail.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 hcheckingmyemail.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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