Doni2016-search.com

As 2016 is drawing to a close, we witness the emergence of a new browser hijacker family that typically has 2016 in its URL. In this article, we will talk about Doni2016-search.com, a malicious search engine that is nearly identical to Max-search2016.com, Paper-search2016.com, and many others. Its purpose is to hijack your web browser and replace its homepage address and to make you use it to search the Internet. However, like all of its clones, it does not work, so it cannot process any entered search queries. Nevertheless, it and its clones are still being disseminated, and if you got it on your browser, then you should remove it. Please read this whole article to learn more about it.

Like its predecessors, Doni2016-search.com comes from an unknown developer because it features no legal documents that indicate the company that made or owns it. Basically, it comes from an unknown source, and it is unreliable because of that. Nevertheless, this is far from the worst thing about this shady search engine. We have received information that says that it is distributed in a malicious manner that involves software bundling. Indeed, like its predecessors, Doni2016-search.com comes bundled with malicious installers featured on unreliable software distributing websites. The installers are designed to inject this hijacker into your browser, so you will not be asked whether you want to install it. The sites it is featured on change constantly, so if you know where you got it from, then please leave a comment in the comment section, letting us know this hijacker’s possible distribution channel.

As far as we know, Doni2016-search.com-distributing installers are designed to interact with your web browser and inject it into it. It seems that this hijacker can replace the homepage address of Microsoft Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, and Mozilla Firefox. The reason for hijacking the homepage is to force you to use it for searching the web. This particular hijacker does not hijack the browser shortcut’s Target and does not come with any software, so replacing it is not an issue. Even though you can access Doni2016-search.com, its search engine does not work, so it cannot process the search queries you enter into its search box.

However, if it worked, then we believe that it would redirect the entered search queries to a legitimate search engine to present you with search results. But, it would include questionable promotional links among the search results because if it did not promote anything, then it would be a net loss for its developers. Indeed, it is likely that this and other browser hijackers of the same family are made for advertising purposes. However, we do not know whether all of their promotions are safe and will not jeopardize your computer’s security. To be on the safe side, we suggest replacing Doni2016-search.com with another search engine or web page of your liking.

Before we wrap up this article, we want to point your attention to another issue regarding Doni2016-search.com. Like all browser hijackers, this one is also configured to collect information about you. Indeed, while there so concrete information about what it can collect, we believe that it should be able to automatically obtain your approximate geographical location, IP address, browsing history, search history, entered search terms, links clicked, and so on. Usually, this kind of information is used to make the promotional campaign better and generate more advertising income as a result. However, you should not allow this hijacker to obtain even the least bit important information and we suggest that you get rid of it altogether.

In closing, Doni2016-search.com is far from a legitimate search engine. It is a browser hijacker that is distributed via malicious software installers. If it gets on your browser, then it will replace its homepage address. It does that to force you to use it, but its search feature does not work. However, if it died, then it should subject you to ads included in it search results. Therefore, if you value your computer’s security, then you should remove this hijacker and replace it with a legitimate search engine or website.

Replace the homepage

Google Chrome

1. Open the browser.
2. Press Alt+F.
3. Find the On Startup list and select Set pages.
4. Change the homepage address and click OK.

Mozilla Firefox

1. Open the browser.
2. Press Alt+T and click Options.
3. Change the homepage address.

Microsoft Internet Explorer

1. Open the browser.
2. Press Alt+T and click Internet Options.
3. Change the homepage address.
4. Click OK.