I downloaded a music player before and then my homepage was hijacked by i-gosearch.com. It won’t let me change the homepage so I can’t get Google anymore. Every time I try to get online, I can see various pop-up ads. I have tried every single piece of software but until now I have found nothing. How do I stop being redirected to i-gosearch.com?
If you find your current homepage or search engine suddenly changed to i-gosearch.com and your web browser starts displaying crazy pop-up ads, it is a clear sign that your PC has been infected by adware or browser hijacker virus. Normally browser hijackers or adware are installed as a bundle. That is to say, they are packaged with other programs that you downloaded such as video player, flash player, adobe update or mp3 music player. Now many freeware tends to change your homepage or search provider without disclosing this information clearly. Careless users who didn’t read the Terms and Agreements while downloading a free software will easily become the target of this annoying threat. This hijacker can be added to Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome browsers without any knowledge and consent. Although it seems like a good site and with the same function like Google or Bing, in reality it is a low-quality search engine that displays more advertisements than legitimate results so you had better remove it as soon as it is detected.
i-gosearch.com can cause an immense problem to the functioning of your computer system by altering the browser settings and changing browser settings without any consent. It tracks user’s web browsing history, displays ads and even changes your registry settings and other important windows system files. Under such circumstance, your computer will be more vulnerable for further attacks and it may be compromised by more and more infections.i-gosearch.com may have the ability to show you the information you want, but it also has other illegal purposes – to redirect you to malicious websites, install other potentially unwanted programs and try stealing some of your personal information by monitoring your browsing habits. Browser hijackers are pretty annoying and it can display numerous ads among your search results. Unfortunately, there are no guarantees that i-gosearch.com promotes legitimate pages only, so if you can’t change your homepage back, you must get rid of i-gosearch.com hijacker first.
It belongs to browser hijacker virus which can totally mess up your browser setting.
It changes your default DNS configuration and blocks you accessing your favorite sites.
It may install some malware in your computer to make bad influence without your consent.
It degenerates your computer performance gradually.
Browser hijacker infection like i-gosearch.com may enter your system as an add-on for your browser or bundled-up with some free software. Most of time, it can be downloaded from a website you visited, something you clicked on, or a pop-up that you did not request to view. You may not even know when and how you download this browser hijacker which compromises your internet security until you find your computer is fully messed up. A hijack virus is a type of computer virus known for its ability to disrupt your Internet browsing. It can redirect your Internet searches to random sites, disallow you from visiting certain Web sites, and change your Internet home page. In addition, it is able to slow your computer, decrease your available memory, and flood your computer with popup advertisements. When you detect the presence of such malicious hijacker, a complete removal is needed without any hesitation.
1. You keep getting random pop-ups opening in new browser tabs.
2. When clicking on Google search links you get taken to sites that have nothing to do with the subject you searched for.
3. Anti-virus and firewall software won’t start.
4. Internet stops working.
5. Unknown software has been installed without your authorization.
6. You can’t access reputable sites unless you type the URL into the navigation bar
i-gosearch.com hijacks your browser to redirect your web search results and changes the homepage and browser settings. To completely uninstall it from an infected system, manual removal is the first choice because sometimes antivirus software cannot pick up the exact computer threat timely or remove it permanently. Now most browser hijackers are quite similar to spyware and adware threats and therefore cannot be removed with the help of popular antivirus products. Users can follow the manual guide here to get rid of this browser hijacker completely.
1. Clear all the cookies of your affected browsers.
Since this tricky hijacker virus has the ability to use cookies for tracing and tracking the internet activity of users, it is suggested users delete all the cookies before a complete removal.
Google Chrome:
Click on the “Tools” menu and click the “Clear browsing data” button.
Select “Delete cookies and other site data” to delete all cookies from the list.
Internet Explorer:
Open Internet explorer window
Click the “Tools” button
Point to “safety” and then click “delete browsing history”
Tick the “cookies” box, then click “delete”
Mozilla Firefox:
Click on Tools, then Options, select Privacy
Click “Remove individual cookies”
In the Cookies panel, click on “Show Cookies”
To remove a single cookie click on the entry in the list and click on the “Remove Cookie”
To remove all cookies click on the “Remove All Cookies” button
2. End the malicious process from Task Manager.
Once i-gosearch.com redirect is installed, computer user may notice that CPU usage randomly jumps to 100 percent. At any time Windows always has many running processes. A process is an individual task that the computer runs. In general, the more processes, the more work the computer has to do and the slower it will run. If your system’s CPU spike is constant and remain at a constant 90-95%, users should check from Task Manager and see if there is a suspicious process occupying the system resources and then end it immediately.
(The name of the virus process can be random.)
Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to quickly bring up Task Manager Window：
3. Show hidden files and folders.
Open Folder Options by clicking the Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking Appearance and Personalization, and then clicking Folder Options.
Click the View tab.
Under Advanced settings, click Show hidden files and folders, uncheck Hide protected operating system files (Recommended) and then click OK.
4. Remove all the malicious files related to i-gosearch.com hijacker manually.
%AppData%Local[random].exe
C:\Documents and Settings\LocalService\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\*.exe
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main StartPage
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
i-gosearch.com is a browser hijacker that can affect your Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Safari. It takes control of your web browsers and then changes your home page to its own website without your permission. Additionally, it redirects your search results to malicious sites, and hammers you with a barrage of popup ads during your browsing sessions. Although this site seems regular, it won’t offer the same services like any legitimate search providers. It only puts both your computer and your privacy in a high-risk situation. The hijacker can collect the terms of your search queries, record your browsing history and monitor your online activities without your knowledge. It also adds malicious browser extensions, browser helper objects, or unwanted toolbars to your PC without your approval. Therefore, you should get rid of it at all costs.
Published by & last updated on May 19, 2015 10:29 am
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