How to Remove awardhotspot.com Redirect Virus

I get this awardhotspot.com redirect virus when I try to install a music player program from Internet. This redirect virus has infected my Internet Explorer and Firefox, each time when I try to open these browsers, it will redirect me to visit some strange websites like advertisement or porn. Uninstall it in control panel is useless from this virus removal, it keeps appearing on my browser! How can I remove it completely? Should I install another browser? What about using an anti-virus program?

What is awardhotspot.com Redirect Virus :

Being a nasty browser hijack redirect virus, awardhotspot.com belongs to malicious webpage which is created by the cyber criminals, usually the PC users will get this virus infection when they install or open some programs, .exe process or spam E-mail attachment. The cyber criminal will plant the virus to these files so that it can be spread widely. All the Window OS like XP, Vista, 7 and 8 can be the target of this browser hijack redirect virus. Anyway, awardhotspot.com can cause a terrible virus infection on the infected PC, PC users need to remove it completely to avoid further damage.

In general, awardhotspot.com can infect all kinds of the browsers, if the infected PC has more than one browsers, this redirect virus is able to infect one by one. At the beginning, PC users may use one of them normally, nevertheless, when the time goes by, other browsers will be under attack as well. The infected browser and even the whole computer will suffer a slow performance, Internet speed can be very slow and homepage can be replaced. It has been one of the most dangerous viruses on the Internet, it needs to be removed as soon as possible to keep the infected PC safe.

Symptoms of Infection:

1. Your computer performs slower and slower.

2. You need to wait a long time while opening a webpage and your browser runs much slower than before.

3. You are always redirected to some malicious websites.

4. The harmful redirect virus also causes poor Internet connection and system to crash frequently.

5. You will get many advertisement windows when you are surfing online.

Manual Removal Guides:

This redirect virus is a high-risk browser hijacker which will change the homepage and browser settings, and redirect your web search results to random sites containing lots of illegal advertisements and even Trojans, rootkit or other malware viruses. Anti-virus software cannot identify this computer threat accurately and timely or remove it permanently. Therefore, manual removal is the best choice to uninstall it completely from your computer. Users can follow the manual guide here to have this virus removed instantly.

1. Clean cookies

* Internet Explorer: Tools → Internet Options →the General tab, Delete the Cookies button can be directly seen in IE6, IE7 is to click the Delete Browsing History button then tick Cookies and click Delete.

* Firefox:Tools → Options → Privacy → Remove Individual Cookies → Delete corresponding cookies in the cookies showing box.

* Opera:Tools → Preferences → Advanced → Cookies →Delete corresponding cookies in Management Cookies.

2. Clean add-ons and extensions

* Internet Explorer:

(1). Click Start, type: Manage browser add-ons

(2). Hit Enter on your keyboard

(3). Click Manage add-on and disable all the suspicious add-on.

* Firefox:

（1）. Click the Firefox menu and click Add-on

(2). Click Extensions, select the related browser add-on and click Disable.

* Google Chrome:

(1). Click the Customize and Control menu button →Tools→ click Extensions

(2). Select the related Extension and click Disable.

3. Show Hidden Files

First, you need to show all hidden files so that you can fully check the files related to Redirect Virus.

(1). Click on the Start button and then on Control Panel

(2). Click on the Appearance and Personalization link

(3). Click on the Folder Options link

(4). Click on the View tab in the Folder Options window

(5). Choose the Show hidden files, folders, and drives under the Hidden files and folders category

(6). Click OK at the bottom of the Folder Options window.

4. Delete Virus Files

(1). Delete the related registry entries through Registry Edit

Guides to open registry editor: Click “Start” menu, hit “Run”, then type “regedit”, click “OK”

While the Registry Editor is open, search and delete the following registry entries listed below:

%AllUsersProfile%
%AllUsersProfile%\Programs\{random letters}\
%AllUsersProfile%\Application Data\~r
%AllUsersProfile%\Application Data\~dll
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings “CertificateRevocation” = ‘1’
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Attachments “SaveZoneInformation” = ‘0’

(2). Find out and remove the associated files of this browser hijacker virus.

Video Shows You How to Safely Modify Windows Registry Editor:

Summary

Just like other kinds of the browser hijack redirect viruses, awardhotspot.com is very dangerous. Not only can it download other viruses from malicious webpages but also can cause unsafe situation on the infected PC. The cyber criminal can install a backdoor process on the infected PC, once the PC users turn on the infected PCs, this backdoor process will run automatically, all the actions can be viewer and recorded, that means your personal information is not safe any more. This awardhotspot.com redirect virus can also escape the tracking of the security tools, it is suggested that the PC users should get rid of it in a manual way.

If you are not sure which files are related to malware, please contact experts from YooCare Online Tech Support for further help.

Published by & last updated on November 27, 2013 9:58 am