Does Websearch.a-searchpage.info hijack all your browsers including IE, Firefox and Google Chrome? Why your browser keeps redirecting to Websearch.a-searchpage.info without your permission? If you are suffering from this annoying issue, follow the guide to remove this nasty browser hijacker step by step.
Websearch.a-searchpage.info is categorized as a typical browser hijacker that mainly attacks browsers such as Firefox, Chrome and Internet Explorer. It is promoted by means of various ads on the Internet, commonly on download pages of popular web sites. Other than that, user may get this hijacker from unsafe freeware, shareware or advertising-supported programs such as various browser add-ons or toolbars. When it is installed, Websearch.a-searchpage.info can replace your home page to a predefined search engine and will not allow you to change it back. And below the search box, it shows different ads and fake alerts to allure users to click it. However, do not click any ads or links from this bogus search engine, once you did it, you will accept all kinds of adware, malware invading to your PC and perform malicious tasks.
Websearch.a-searchpage.info is a phony search engine designed to redirect web users and show them spam search results. It displays advertisements more than search results you want. Furthermore, it takes control of all your web search and often redirects the browser to unknown web pages. With no doubt, it is an annoying issue that always interrupt your browsing activities. Apart from the mentioned annoyances, this hijacker can also cause harm the system and compromise your computer because it is capable of monitoring web browsing habit on the computer. It can track your search terms and visited web pages. Information gathered by Websearch.a-searchpage.info will be used to send you relevant advertisements as you browse the web. Hence, in order to save your computer and protect your personal information from being stolen, it is suggested users to remove Websearch.a-searchpage.info as quickly as possible.
When Websearch.a-searchpage.info redirect is inside your computer, your security software may be blocked immediately and your homepage will be changed without your permission. In addition, it degrades overall web browser stability and performance as it wastes too much computer resources. The most irritating feature of this redirect virus is that it will keep redirecting you to various harmful websites against your will. If you try to search something from Google, Bing or other search page as your preferred, you will be redirected to other irrelevant page. Thus, this issue should be fixed as soon as possible.
1. It can redirect you to malicious websites with numerous pop up ads to interrupt and stop you from doing anything on your computer;
2. It can turn your computer to run slowly and pose sudden death;
3. It can introduce more unwanted viruses and ransomware to do further harms;
4. It can help cyber criminals track your online activities and capture significant personal data to cause you a loss of value.
5. It can change your default DNS configuration and block you accessing your favorite sites.
6. It forcibly customizes the default homepage, search engine and bookmarks of your computer.
Considering Websearch.a-searchpage.info redirect can’t be fixed by any security tools, uses can use the manual guide below to fix this issue.
1. Clear all the cookies of your affected browsers.
Since 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 select “Options”.
Click the “Under the Bonnet” tab, locate the “Privacy” section 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 button”
To remove all cookies click on the “Remove All Cookies button”
2. End the malicious process from Task Manager.
Once this dangerous redirect is installed, computer user may notice that CPU usage randomly jumps to 100 percent, slowing down the computer. If your system’s CPU spike is constant, 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 at the same time and it will open up task manager directly. Then change to “Processes” tab.
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 manually.
%AppData%Local[random].exe
C:\Documents and Settings\LocalService\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\*.exe
C:\Documents and Settings\LocalService\Local Settings\*.*
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System “DisableTaskMgr” = ’1′
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\system “DisableTaskMgr” = ’1′
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Download “CheckExeSignatures” = ‘no’
Websearch.a-searchpage.info is categorized as a browser hijacker that presents as a phony search engine and mimic Google home page in order to mislead victims. It is mostly bundled to freeware that you may download even on popular sites. As soon as it is downloaded, you can instantly see the effect after it has taken over the home page and replaced it with a search engine from http://Websearch.a-searchpage.info. Don’t neglect this situation, since it belongs to browser hijacker viruses and it may refer to the ZeroAccess Rootkit which can be used to steal private information or install rogue security programs. To completely remove this search hijacker, you must delete the add-on it has dropped into the browser, and follow the manual way above to have it deleted quickly.
Note: If you are not knowledgeable enough to be able to distinguish the location of this virus, or you are afraid of making mistake during the manual removal, please contact experts from YooCare Online Tech Support for further help.
Published by on June 7, 2013 1:26 am, last updated on June 23, 2013 1:09 am
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