How to remove the Puppyness Search browser hijacker

What is Puppyness Search?

Puppyness Search is rogue software categorized as a browser hijacker. It is endorsed as a tool for easy access to domestic canine-related content, however, following successful installation, Puppyness Search makes alterations to browser settings to promote puppyness.club (a fake search engine).

Puppyness Search also monitors users' browsing activity and collects sensitive information extracted from it, which makes this browser hijacker a serious privacy concern. Due to the dubious techniques used to proliferate Puppyness Search, it is classified as a Potentially Unwanted Application (PUA).

Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer and other popular browsers are common targets of browser hijackers. They assign the addresses of fake search engines as the homepage, default search engine and new tab/window URLs.

Therefore, with Puppyness Search installed, each new browser tab/window opened and search query typed into the URL bar redirects to puppyness.club. Fake search engines are seldom capable of providing unique results, and so they redirect to (or cause redirection chains ending with) Google, Yahoo, Bing and other legitimate sites.

Puppyness.club cannot generate unique results - it simply redirects to the Bing (bing.com) search engine. Furthermore, browser hijackers can restrict/deny access to browser settings and/or reset any permitted changes made. Therefore, recovering an affected browser is impossible without removing the software hijacking it.

As mentioned, Puppyness Search has data tracking capabilities. It can monitor browsing activity (URLs visited, pages viewed, search queries typed, etc.) and gather personal information derived from it (IP addresses, geolocations and other details). This vulnerable information is usually shared with and/or sold to third parties (potentially, cyber criminals).

To summarize, the presence of data-tracking software on browsers/systems can result in serious privacy issues, financial loss and even identity theft. To ensure device integrity and user safety, you are strongly advised to remove all suspicious applications and browser extensions/plug-ins immediately upon detection.

Threat Summary:

Name	Puppyness Search
Threat Type	Browser Hijacker, Redirect, Search Hijacker, Toolbar, Unwanted New Tab.
Browser Extension(s)	Puppyness Search, Puppyness
Supposed Functionality	Easy access to domestic canine-related content.
Promoted URL	puppyness.club
Serving IP Address (puppyness.club)	162.255.119.243
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.

Auratab, EasyWebPagePrint and SearchThatMovie are some examples of other browser hijackers. They may seem normal and innocuous, and users are lured into download/installation with offers of various "useful" functionality. Despite how good the features may sound, they rarely work as promised and, in most cases, do not work at all.

This applies to most PUAs. The only purpose of these unwanted apps is to generate revenue for the developers. Regular users receive no real value and can instead experience serious problems. PUAs hijack browsers, force-open untrusted or malicious websites, deliver intrusive advertisement campaigns and collect private data.

How did Puppyness Search install on my computer?

PUAs are distributed through the download/installation set-ups of other products. This deceptive marketing method of pre-packing regular software with unwanted or malicious additions is called "bundling".

Rushing download/installation processes (e.g. ignoring terms, skipping steps and sections, etc.) increases the risk of unintentionally allowing dubious and/or bundled content into the system. Some PUAs have "official" promotional pages from which they can be downloaded. Intrusive ads proliferate these applications as well.

Once clicked, the ads can execute scripts to download/install PUAs without users' consent.

How to avoid installation of potentially unwanted applications

You are advised to research all software prior to download/installation and/or purchase. All downloads should be done from official and verified sources, since untrusted channels such as unofficial and free file-hosting sites, Peer-to-Peer sharing networks and other third party downloaders commonly offer deceptive and bundled content.

When downloading/installing, read the terms, explore all available options, use the "Custom" or "Advanced" settings and opt-out of additional apps, tools, features, and so on. Intrusive advertisements may seem legitimate, however, they can redirect to dubious websites (e.g. gambling, pornography, adult-dating, etc.).

If you encounter ads or redirects of this kind, inspect your devices and immediately remove all suspect applications and browser extensions/plug-ins. If your computer is already infected with Puppyness Search, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to automatically eliminate this browser hijacker.

Puppyness Search browser hijacker asking for various permissions:

Appearance of Puppyness Search browser hijacker promoting puppyness.club (GIF):

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▼ DOWNLOAD Combo Cleaner By downloading any software listed on this website you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. 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.

Quick menu:

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

Puppyness Search 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, "Puppyness Search"), select these entries and click "Uninstall" or "Remove".

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

Puppyness Search 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://puppyness.club 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 "Puppyness Search".

Optional method:

If you continue to have problems with removal of the puppyness.club 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 "Puppyness Search" 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 "Puppyness Search" (or simply "Puppyness"), look for a browser hijacker URL (hxxp://www.puppyness.club) 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 "puppyness.club", 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 puppyness.club 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 "Puppyness Search", 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 "Puppyness Search", remove hxxp://puppyness.club 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 puppyness.club 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 puppyness.club 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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