Pesquisa.ninja Redirect
Written by Tomas Meskauskas on (updated)
What is pesquisa.ninja?
The pesquisa.ninja website supposedly provides users with an improved Internet search experience by displaying advanced results. On initial inspection, the features offered may seem legitimate and useful, however, pesquisa.ninja is categorized as a browser hijacker.
This deceptive application infiltrates systems without users' consent and then modifies Internet browser settings. Furthermore, it continually monitors Internet browsing activity and gathers various user/system information.
After stealthily infiltrating the system, pesquisa.ninja modifies the Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, and Mozilla Firefox browsers by assigning the default search engine, homepage, and new tab URL settings to pesquisa.ninja. It also installs additional applications/browser extensions called 'helper objects' developed to block users from reverting these changes.
As a consequence, the Internet browsing experience is significantly diminished, since users are continually redirected to pesquisa.ninja without their consent.
This browser hijacker collects various information that might contain personally identifiable details including IP addresses (to determine geographic locations), websites visited, pages viewed, search queries entered into search engines, and other data. The collected data may appear insignificant, but could encompass information such as PayPal or bank accounts logins/passwords.
The developers of pesquisa.ninja share this information with cooperating third party companies and it could be misused to generate revenue. This behavior may lead to serious privacy issues, and for this reason, you should eliminate pesquisa.ninja immediately.
There are hundreds of other PUPs with similar behavior to pesquisa.ninja including Baboom.audio, protectedio.com, and MergeDocsOnline. These browser-hijacking apps also claim to enable various 'useful features', however, none provide users with any real value.
Applications such as pesquisa.ninja are developed to generate revenue by displaying advertisements (via the 'Pay Per Click' - PPC - advertising model), collecting personal data (which is later shared with third parties to generate revenue), and causing unwanted browser redirects (thereby increasing the traffic of certain websites).
How did pesquisa.ninja install on my computer?
Browser-hijacking applications usually infiltrate systems during the download or installation of regular apps. This so called 'bundling' method is essentially stealth installation, since the rogue applications are usually hidden.
The developers are aware that some users do not pay enough attention when downloading and installing software, and thus, intentionally conceal apps such as pesquisa.ninja within the 'Custom' or 'Advanced' settings. By skipping this section, users often inadvertently install potentially unwanted programs and expose their systems to risk of further infection.
How to avoid installation of potentially unwanted applications?
Perform the download and installation processes with caution. Never skip any steps, closely analyze the processes, and decline all offers to download or install additional apps. Furthermore, use the 'Custom' or 'Advanced' options, rather than 'Quick' or 'Typical' - this will reveal any bundled software listed for installation and allow you to opt-out.
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Quick menu:
- What is pesquisa.ninja?
- STEP 1. Uninstall pesquisa.ninja application using Control Panel.
- STEP 2. Remove pesquisa.ninja redirect from Internet Explorer.
- STEP 3. Remove pesquisa.ninja browser hijacker from Google Chrome.
- STEP 4. Remove pesquisa.ninja homepage and default search engine from Mozilla Firefox.
- STEP 5. Remove pesquisa.ninja redirect from Safari.
- STEP 6. Remove rogue plug-ins from Microsoft Edge.
Pesquisa.ninja 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 "ActSys", "Wnet", "GoSafer", and other recently installed suspicious applications, select these entries and click "Uninstall" or "Remove".
After uninstalling the potentially unwanted programs that cause browser redirects to the pesquisa.ninja website, scan your computer for any remaining unwanted components. To scan your computer, use recommended malware removal software.
Pesquisa.ninja 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://pesquisa.ninja 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 "pesquisa.ninja".
Optional method:
If you continue to have problems with removal of the pesquisa.ninja browser hijacker, 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 "Tools" and click "Extensions". Locate all recently-installed suspicious browser add-ons, select these entries and click the trash can icon.
Change your homepage:
Click the Chrome menu icon (at the top right corner of Google Chrome), select "Settings". In the "On startup" section, click "set pages", hover your mouse over hxxp://pesquisa.ninja and click the x symbol. Now, you can add your preferred website as your homepage.
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" section, click "Manage Search Engines...", remove "pesquisa.ninja" and add or select your preferred domain.
Optional method:
If you continue to have problems with removal of the pesquisa.ninja browser hijacker, 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 "Extensions" and remove all 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, remove hxxp://pesquisa.ninja 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: "pesquisa.ninja"
Right-click on the found preferences and select "Reset" to restore default values.
Optional method:
Computer users who have problems with pesquisa.ninja browser hijacker 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 pesquisa.ninja browser hijacker, 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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