If you’ve noticed that the DoctoPDF is set as your home page or search engine and you can’t recall making those changes, then it is possible that your system is affected by a PUP (potentially unwanted program) from the browser hijacker family and you should fix it as soon as possible. In this blog post we’ll inform you about the effective solutions of removing DoctoPDF from the Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Microsoft Internet Explorer and Chrome for good.
If your computer is infected by DoctoPDF browser hijacker you’ll be forced to use its own search provider. It could seem not to be dangerous, but you still should be very careful, since it may show intrusive and malicious ads developed to trick you into buying some questionable programs or products, provide search results that may reroute your browser to certain deceptive, misleading or malicious sites. We recommend that you use only the reliable search engine like Google, Yahoo or Bing.
Although, DoctoPDF hijacker is not a virus, but it does bad things, and it makes changes to settings of all your typical web-browsers. Moreover, an ‘ad-supported’ software (also known as adware) can be additionally installed on to your PC by this browser hijacker, that will display lots of ads, or even massive full page ads that blocks surfing the Internet. Often such these ads can recommend to install other unknown and undesired apps or visit malicious web-pages.
We strongly recommend you to complete the step-by-step guide which follow below. We’ll show you how to delete hijacker and thus get rid of DoctoPDF redirect from your Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Chrome and Edge forever.
How to remove DoctoPDF from Chrome, Firefox, IE, Edge
There are present several free browser hijacker removal tools. Also it’s possible to remove DoctoPDF manually. But we advise to combine all these solutions below into the one removal algorithm. Follow the steps of the guidance. Certain of the steps below will require you to exit this page. So, please read the steps carefully, after that bookmark or print it for later reference.
To remove DoctoPDF, execute the steps below:
- Manual DoctoPDF removal
- Run free malware removal tools to completely delete DoctoPDF start page
- Stop DoctoPDF and other unwanted web pages
- How to prevent DoctoPDF hijacker from getting inside your PC system
- To sum up
Manual DoctoPDF removal
The following instructions is a step-by-step guide, which will help you manually get rid of DoctoPDF homepage from the Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox.
Delete DoctoPDF related apps through the Control Panel of your PC
The best way to begin the PC cleanup is to uninstall unknown and dubious apps. Using the Microsoft Windows Control Panel you can do this quickly and easily. This step, in spite of its simplicity, should not be ignored, because the removing of unneeded apps can clean up the Edge, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Internet Explorer and Google Chrome from advertisements hijackers and so on.
Windows 8, 8.1, 10
First, press the Windows button
, then click Search 
. Type “Control panel”and press Enter.Windows XP, Vista, 7
First, press “Start” and select “Control Panel”.
It will open the Windows Control Panel as displayed on the screen below.
Next, click “Uninstall a program” 
It will display a list of all software installed on your PC. Scroll through the all list, and delete any dubious and unknown applications. To quickly find the latest installed apps, we recommend sort software by date in the Control panel.
Get rid of DoctoPDF from Google Chrome
If your Google Chrome browser is redirected to unwanted DoctoPDF web page, it may be necessary to completely reset your web browser program to its default settings.
Open the Google Chrome menu by clicking on the button in the form of three horizontal dotes (
). It will show the drop-down menu. Choose More Tools, then click Extensions.
Carefully browse through the list of installed extensions. If the list has the plugin labeled with “Installed by enterprise policy” or “Installed by your administrator”, then complete the following tutorial: Remove Google Chrome extensions installed by enterprise policy otherwise, just go to the step below.
Open the Google Chrome main menu again, click to “Settings” option.
Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the “Advanced” link. Now scroll down until the Reset settings section is visible, like below and click the “Reset settings to their original defaults” button.
Confirm your action, press the “Reset” button.
Delete DoctoPDF from Firefox by resetting internet browser settings
If the Mozilla Firefox settings like new tab, search engine by default and start page have been changed by the hijacker, then resetting it to the default state can help. It will save your personal information such as saved passwords, bookmarks, auto-fill data and open tabs.
Launch the Firefox and click the menu button (it looks like three stacked lines) at the top right of the browser screen. Next, click the question-mark icon at the bottom of the drop-down menu. It will open the slide-out menu.
Select the “Troubleshooting information”. If you’re unable to access the Help menu, then type “about:support” in your address bar and press Enter. It bring up the “Troubleshooting Information” page as on the image below.
Click the “Refresh Firefox” button at the top right of the Troubleshooting Information page. Select “Refresh Firefox” in the confirmation dialog box. The Mozilla Firefox will begin a task to fix your problems that caused by the hijacker responsible for redirecting user searches to DoctoPDF. After, it’s complete, click the “Finish” button.
Remove DoctoPDF from IE
By resetting Microsoft Internet Explorer web-browser you return your internet browser settings to its default state. This is first when troubleshooting problems that might have been caused by browser hijacker such as DoctoPDF.
First, run the Internet Explorer, press 
) button. Next, press “Internet Options” like below.
In the “Internet Options” screen select the Advanced tab. Next, click Reset button. The Internet Explorer will open the Reset Internet Explorer settings prompt. Select the “Delete personal settings” check box and press Reset button.
You will now need to restart your computer for the changes to take effect. It will remove browser hijacker that redirects your browser to undesired DoctoPDF page, disable malicious and ad-supported browser’s extensions and restore the Internet Explorer’s settings such as new tab, search engine by default and startpage to default state.
Run free malware removal tools to completely delete DoctoPDF start page
There are not many good free anti-malware programs with high detection ratio. The effectiveness of malicious software removal utilities depends on various factors, mostly on how often their virus/malware signatures DB are updated in order to effectively detect modern malware, ad supported software, browser hijackers and other PUPs. We recommend to use several applications, not just one. These programs that listed below will help you get rid of all components of the browser hijacker from your disk and Windows registry and thereby get rid of DoctoPDF home page.
Scan and free your computer of DoctoPDF with Zemana Free
We recommend you to run the Zemana that are completely clean your machine. Moreover, the tool will help you to remove PUPs, malware, toolbars and ad-supported software that your personal computer can be infected too.
Click the following link to download the latest version of Zemana Free for Windows. Save it to your Desktop.
164112 downloads
Author: Zemana Ltd
Category: Security tools
Update: July 16, 2019
When downloading is finished, close all windows on your computer. Further, open the install file named Zemana.AntiMalware.Setup. If the “User Account Control” dialog box pops up as displayed on the screen below, click the “Yes” button.
It will display the “Setup wizard” that will allow you install Zemana AntiMalware on the PC system. Follow the prompts and do not make any changes to default settings.
Once install is complete successfully, Zemana Anti Malware (ZAM) will automatically launch and you can see its main window as shown in the following example.
Next, click the “Scan” button to perform a system scan for the browser hijacker infection responsible for DoctoPDF . A scan can take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the number of files on your machine and the speed of your personal computer. While the Zemana Free program is checking, you can see number of objects it has identified as threat.
When finished, a list of all items found is produced. All found threats will be marked. You can remove them all by simply click “Next” button.
The Zemana AntiMalware (ZAM) will delete hijacker responsible for redirecting user searches to DoctoPDF and add items to the Quarantine. When disinfection is finished, you may be prompted to reboot your computer.
Remove DoctoPDF browser hijacker and malicious extensions with HitmanPro
Hitman Pro is a portable utility which searches for and deletes unwanted applications such as hijacker infections, adware, toolbars, other internet browser extensions and other malware. It scans your computer for browser hijacker that cause DoctoPDF page to appear and creates a list of threats marked for removal. HitmanPro will only erase those undesired applications that you wish to be removed.
- Download HitmanPro on your PC from the following link.
- Once the downloading process is finished, double click the Hitman Pro icon. Once this tool is started, click “Next” button . HitmanPro tool will start scanning the whole personal computer to find out DoctoPDF hijacker and other browser’s harmful extensions. A scan can take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the number of files on your computer and the speed of your system.
- When that process is finished, Hitman Pro will create a list of unwanted and ad-supported software. Review the scan results and then click “Next” button. Now press the “Activate free license” button to start the free 30 days trial to delete all malicious software found.
How to automatically remove DoctoPDF with Malwarebytes
We suggest using the Malwarebytes Free which are completely clean your computer of the browser hijacker. The free utility is an advanced malicious software removal program created by (c) Malwarebytes lab. This program uses the world’s most popular antimalware technology. It’s able to help you remove browser hijackers, potentially unwanted software, malware, ‘ad supported’ software, toolbars, ransomware and other security threats from your PC system for free.
Installing the MalwareBytes Free is simple. First you will need to download MalwareBytes Anti-Malware on your personal computer by clicking on the following link.
326462 downloads
Author: Malwarebytes
Category: Security tools
Update: April 15, 2020
After downloading is complete, close all software and windows on your PC system. Double-click the install file named mb3-setup. If the “User Account Control” dialog box pops up as on the image below, click the “Yes” button.
It will open the “Setup wizard” that will help you set up MalwareBytes Free on your computer. Follow the prompts and do not make any changes to default settings.
Once setup is finished successfully, click Finish button. MalwareBytes Anti-Malware will automatically start and you can see its main screen as displayed on the image below.
Now click the “Scan Now” button to scan for hijacker which redirects your internet browser to undesired DoctoPDF webpage. This task can take some time, so please be patient. While the MalwareBytes Free is scanning, you can see number of objects it has identified either as being malware.
When finished, the results are displayed in the scan report. Once you have selected what you want to remove from your system click “Quarantine Selected” button. The MalwareBytes Anti-Malware will start to delete browser hijacker that responsible for internet browser redirect to the intrusive DoctoPDF web-page. Once finished, you may be prompted to restart the computer.
We advise you look at the following video, which completely explains the procedure of using the MalwareBytes to remove ad supported software, browser hijacker and other malicious software.
Stop DoctoPDF and other unwanted web pages
If you surf the Internet, you cannot avoid malicious advertising. But you can protect your web-browser against it. Download and run an ad blocker program. AdGuard is an ad blocking that can filter out a large number of of the malicious advertising, stoping dynamic scripts from loading malicious content.
AdGuard can be downloaded from the following link. Save it to your Desktop.
26658 downloads
Version: 6.4
Author: © Adguard
Category: Security tools
Update: November 15, 2018
After downloading it, double-click the downloaded file to run it. The “Setup Wizard” window will show up on the computer screen like below.
Follow the prompts. AdGuard will then be installed and an icon will be placed on your desktop. A window will show up asking you to confirm that you want to see a quick guide as displayed on the image below.
Click “Skip” button to close the window and use the default settings, or press “Get Started” to see an quick tutorial that will allow you get to know AdGuard better.
Each time, when you start your computer, AdGuard will run automatically and stop ads, DoctoPDF redirect, as well as other harmful or misleading websites. For an overview of all the features of the application, or to change its settings you can simply double-click on the AdGuard icon, which may be found on your desktop.
How to prevent DoctoPDF hijacker from getting inside your PC system
In many cases, the DoctoPDF browser hijacker is bundled with the installers from a free hosting and file sharing web sites. So, install a free software is a a good chance that you will find a bundled browser hijacker. If you don’t know how to avoid it, then use a simple trick. During the installation, select the Custom or Advanced installation mode. Next, click ‘Decline’ button and clear all checkboxes on offers that ask you to install third-party programs. Moreover, please carefully read Term of use and User agreement before installing any software or otherwise you can end up with another unwanted program on your machine such as this hijacker.
To sum up
After completing the step-by-step guide shown above, your PC should be clean from this hijacker and other malicious software. The Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Internet Explorer will no longer open undesired DoctoPDF web site on startup. Unfortunately, if the few simple steps does not help you, then you have caught a new browser hijacker, and then the best way – ask for help.
Please start a new thread by using the “New Topic” button in the Spyware Removal forum. When posting your HJT log, try to give us some details about your problems, so we can try to help you more accurately. Wait for one of our trained “Security Team” or Site Administrator to provide you with knowledgeable assistance tailored to your problem with the annoying DoctoPDF startpage.
