Browser hijackers like Binkiland Search are a particularly nasty strain of malware and they exhibit some pretty unfriendly characteristics. And among those traits is the fact that these browser hijackers can assist cybercriminals or attackers in taking over the controls of your web browser. Your PC is then known in tech terms as a zombie computer. And you thought zombies were only confined to TV and movies!
And although this might sounds like something from a bad science fiction or horror movie, in actual fact, browser hijackers are currently among the highest percentage of malware found on the Internet. Furthermore, Binkiland Search and similar malware very often come bundled with adware and even spyware. Ads that are display on binkiland.com are usually very targeted which means that cybercriminals know your web browser habits and websites or web services you use the most.
Therefore it makes absolute sense to take all the measures you can to protect yourself against Binkiland Search and similar malware. How do you that? Read on we'll share five really simple ways you can limit the chances of being caught out by a browser hijacker, simply by changing the settings in your email inbox and exercising a little common sense.
5 things you should do if you don't want your computer to become an extra in the walking dead!
- Be extremely careful when you are opening attachments or links that come in an email. You should definitely be on your guard when dealing with email messages that have been sent by a sender who is unknown to you. Don't even open these sorts of emails and if you do by accident, delete them right away and never click on a link or open a file.
- You should also configure your anti-malware software so that it auto scans all the emails you receive that have attachments. A decent program will be able to weed out dangerous attachments and delete them before they reach your inbox.
- The same applies to attachments sent in an instant messenger application. These can be a real source of viruses, malware and browser hijackers, so be careful when someone tries to transfer a file – again, especially if you do not know them.
- In a similar vein you also need to make sure that your email provider is not set to automatically open attachments – if the file contains a virus, browser hijacker or other nasty, even your anti-virus may not stand a chance of stopping it in its tracks if auto opening is turned on.
- And while you're playing around with your settings, make sure that images are also not set so that they are automatically rendered when you log into your email and download new messages. Just because it's a picture, graphic or photograph, it doesn't mean that this is any less immune to infection than a file.
To conclude, by taking a little more care and spending less than a minute or two reconfiguring, or even simply checking, your email and instant messenger app's settings you will be making the Internet a safer place to be.
If you have any questions, please leave a comment down below. Good luck and be safe online!
Written by Michael Kaur, http://delmalware.blogspot.com
Binkiland Search Removal Guide:
1. First of all, download recommended anti-malware software and run a full system scan. It will detect and remove this infection from your computer. You may then follow the manual removal instructions below to remove the leftover traces of this infection. Hopefully you won't have to do that.
2. As this infection is known to be installed by vulnerabilities in out-dated and insecure programs, it is strongly suggested that you use an automatic software update tool to scan for vulnerable programs on your computer.
3. Remove Binkiland Search related programs from your computer using the Add/Remove Programs control panel (Windows XP) or Uninstall a program control panel (Windows 7 and Windows 8).
Go to the Start Menu. Select Control Panel → Add/Remove Programs.
If you are using Windows Vista or Windows 7, select Control Panel → Uninstall a Program.
If you are using Windows 8, simply drag your mouse pointer to the right edge of the screen, select Search from the list and search for "control panel".
Or you can right-click on a bottom left hot corner (formerly known as the Start button) and select Control panel from there.
4. When the Add/Remove Programs or the Uninstall a Program screen is displayed, scroll through the list of currently installed programs and remove the following programs:
- Binkiland Search
- WSE_Binkiland
- Binkiland
- GoSave
If you are using Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8, click Uninstall up near the top of that window. When you're done, please close the Control Panel screen.
Remove Binkiland Search from Google Chrome:
1. Click on Chrome menu button. Go to Tools → Extensions.
2. Click on the trashcan icon to remove WSE_Binkiland 2.3.0, Binkiland Search 1.0.2, BookmarkTube extensions.
3. Then select Settings. Scroll down the page and click Show advanced settings.
4. Find the Reset browser settings section and click Reset browser settings button.
5. In the dialog that appears, click Reset. That's it!
Remove Binkiland Search from Mozilla Firefox:
1. Open Mozilla Firefox. Go to Tools → Add-ons.
2. Select Extensions. Remove Binkiland 2.3.0, Binkiland Search 1.0.2, BookmarkTube browser extensions. Close Add-ons manger.
3. In the URL address bar, type about:config and hit Enter.
Click I'll be careful, I promise! to continue.
In the search filter at the top, type: binkiland
Now, you should see all the preferences that were changed by binkiland.com. Right-click on the preference and select Reset to restore default value. Reset all found preferences!
Remove Binkiland Search from Internet Explorer:
1. Open Internet Explorer. Go to Tools → Manage Add-ons.
2. Select Search Providers. First of all, choose Live Search search engine and make it your default web search provider (Set as default).
3. Select Binkiland Search and click Remove to remove it. Close the window.