Erase Yatab.net (Browser Hijacker/PUP)

What is Yatab.net? And how does it function?

Yatab.net is a questionable browser extension that functions as a search engine. It is developed by a company called Chameleon.ad which is known to operate in the digital advertising field so Yatab.net will most likely be used with the intent to host different advertising campaigns. To achieve this, Yatab.net will change the default settings of your browser once it gets installed which is why security experts tagged this extension as both a browser hijacker and a potentially unwanted program.
Upon its installation, you will start to notice increased number of online advertisements that will aggressively attempt to trick you into clicking them and visit its affiliated sites. Some of the ads it display can get quite intrusive and can oftentimes cover the content of the website you are visiting. It will also cause sudden redirects to suspicious sites and can install other browser add-ons or toolbars on the affected browser. Aside from these, Yatab.net also has the following capabilities:

Access your data for all websites
Read and modify bookmarks
Clear recent browsing history, cookies and related data
Access browsing history
Access browser data

As you can tell, this browser hijacker can also collect your browsing information based on how you browse the web. The information may be used and shared with third parties to generate more sponsored content. So even though this dubious search engine may seem nice to look at due to its colorful background, it isn’t really safe to use and only poses potential privacy issues and may bring harm to your computer.
How is Yatab.net distributed over the internet?
Yatab.net is distributed in its official website as well as on free sharing sites as a part of software bundles. It is added along with other unwanted programs that are hidden during the installation. This is why installing these kinds of packages can be tricky because unless you opted for the Custom or Advanced setup, you won’t really find out the existence of the other extra programs in the package until it’s too late. Thus, the next time you install a software bundle, make sure that you use the recommended setup and not the quick one.
To successfully erase Yatab.net from your browser and computer, refer to the removal guide laid out below.
Step 1: First, you have to close the browser infected with the browser hijacker. And if you can’t close it manually, you can close it using the Task Manager instead. Tap the Ctrl + Shift + Esc keys and open the Task Manager.
Step 2: Next, look for the process of your browser, right click on it and select End task or End process to close it.
Step 3: Afterwards, tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box and type “appwiz.cpl” in the field and press Enter to open the Programs and Features in Control Panel.
Step 4: From the list of programs installed, look for any programs that could be related to Yatab.net or any suspicious program you don’t remember installing under the list of installed programs and once you’ve found it, uninstall it.

Step 5: After that, restart your computer and then open your browsers and reset them back to their default state.
Google Chrome

Open Google Chrome, then tap the Alt + F keys.
After that, click on Settings.
Next, scroll down until you see the Advanced option, once you see it, click on it.
After clicking the Advanced option, go to the “Restore and clean up option and click on the “Restore settings to their original defaults” option to reset Google Chrome.
Now restart Google Chrome.

Mozilla Firefox

Open Mozilla Firefox and tap Ctrl + Shift + A to access the Add-ons Manager.
In the Extensions menu Remove the unwanted extension.
Restart the browser and tap keys Alt + T.
Select Options and then move to the General menu.
Overwrite the URL in the Home Page section and then restart the browser.

Internet Explorer

Launch Internet Explorer.
Next, click the wrench icon for Settings.
Then click Internet Options.
After that, go to the Advanced tab.
From there, click the Reset button. This will reset Internet Explorer’s settings to their default condition.
Now click OK to save the changes made.
Restart your computer.

Step 6: Edit your Hosts File.

Tap the Win + R keys to open then type in %WinDir% and then click OK.
Go to System32/drivers/etc.
Open the hosts file using Notepad.
Delete all the entries that contain Yatab.net.
After that, save the changes you’ve made and close the file.

Step 7: Now you have to flush the DNS cache of your computer. To do so, right click on the Start button and click on Command Prompt (administrator). From there, type the “ipconfig /flushdns” command and hit Enter to flush the DNS.
Step 8: Hold down Windows + E keys simultaneously to open File Explorer.
Step 9: Navigate to the following directories and look for suspicious files associated to the browser hijacker such as the software bundle it came with and delete it/them.

%USERPROFILE%\Downloads
%USERPROFILE%\Desktop
%TEMP%

Step 10: Close the File Explorer and empty the contents of Recycle Bin.
Refer to the advanced instructions given below to ensure the removal of this browser hijacker from your computer as well as all the file residues it left behind.
Perform a full system scan using [product-code]. To do so, follow these steps:

Turn on your computer. If it’s already on, you have to reboot it.
After that, the BIOS screen will be displayed, but if Windows pops up instead, reboot your computer and try again. Once you’re on the BIOS screen, repeat pressing F8, by doing so the Advanced Option shows up.

To navigate the Advanced Option use the arrow keys and select Safe Mode with Networking then hit
Windows will now load the Safe Mode with Networking.
Press and hold both R key and Windows key.

If done correctly, the Windows Run Box will show up.
Type in the URL address, [product-url] in the Run dialog box and then tap Enter or click OK.
After that, it will download the program. Wait for the download to finish and then open the launcher to install the program.
Once the installation process is completed, run [product-code] to perform a full system scan.