I received a notification to update an Adobe product that is commonly used by internet users daily. After installing, the actual product download failed but now when I open Firefox and Internet Explorer it directs and goes to Isearch.zoo.com. I have tried to reset my homepage but it still does the same thing taking me to this annoying Zoo Search. How do I get rid of it?
Search engine redirection problem (often referred to as a Google redirection problem) is, no doubt, a very serious and quite annoying issue for many active Internet users these days. Isearch.zoo.com redirect is one of the bogus search pages designed to trick users for boosting affiliate payments from artificial traffic. It performs the same malicious activities like other browser hijackers do. When it is installed, it can initiate serious havoc on IE, Mozilla Firefox and other browsers. It modifies web browser settings without asking any permission in order to change default homepage and redirect a user to undesirable Internet sites. In addition, it can install unwanted toolbar on your browser which gives opportunity to advertise various products or services. Thus, whenever you browse Internet, a lot of pop-ups will come to your screen asking you to install a plug-in, download a program to clean your PC or update a fake flash player.
This hijacker always comes bundled with programs or toolbar that downloaded from the Internet. During the installation process, users may be directly notified about the installation may lead the search engine being modified, or the default start page will be amended and replaced with a new one (depending on the name of browser hijacker). If a careless user doesn’t this notification and does nothing to stop the changes, Zoo Search can easily hijack their homepage and mess up the target computer. Though this website itself may appear regular and harmless, in fact it is a search search page because if you try to look something up and enter the keyword to perform a search, you will only get sponsored links and different kinds of advertisements shown on an unreliable page. This web site is designed to offer fraudulent search results as well as promoting more malicious programs. Don’t be fooled by this malicious website since it is a dangerous website that hosts malware. Once found, you have to get rid of Isearch.zoo.com pop-up without a doubt.
Browser hijacker infection like Isearch.zoo.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 until you find your computer is fully messed up. A hijack virus is a type of computer virus known for disrupting 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.
Isearch.zoo.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 to 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 Isearch.zoo.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 Isearch.zoo.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
Isearch.zoo.com (Zoo Search) is nasty hijacker malware that can make your web surfing totally as a nightmare. After infected, when you open your favorite web browser, you will find some settings have been changed but you cannot recall changing them. Your home page will be replaced to Zoo Search and you may also see some undesired webpages that advertise different products that you do not need. Just be aware that these hijackers may monitor your online activity and send the results to an unknown person through backroom connections. Browser hijackers are related to adware and spyware, most antivirus software will not detect or remove them. Therefore, manual removal will be the best choice to get rid of this hijacker.
Note: If you are not a computer expert and have no idea how to perform the removal, please contact experts from YooCare Online Tech Support for further help.
Published by & last updated on July 17, 2014 2:25 am
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