My Firefox browser has changed to StartNow and I noticed StartNow toolbar suddenly added on the top of the browser. I tried to uninstall it and change my homepage back to Yahoo, but it didn’t work. I search on Google, and it says this is a browser hijacking virus. I run Norton but it found nothing. Also I cleared my cookies and history, nothing worked!! How do I get rid of this annoying StartNow Toolbar?
StartNow toolbar is an unwanted toolbar which can be downloaded from its official website or bundled with the other programs that users download from the Internet. It is associated with Dm.startnow.com redirect that can change your default homepage, search provider as well as other browser settings. These changes are made without asking your permission and most of the users find it very annoying. Technically speaking, StartNow toolbar doesn’t belong to a virus. Browser hijacker can neither replicate, nor spread on its own. However, it can act aggressive like a virus by interrupting your work while browsing and even try to redirect you to commercial websites using unfair methods. It makes net surfing rather tough.
Once the toolbar is installed, it has the ability to attack different browsers like Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome for its malicious purpose. You can’t uninstall it from Control Panel because it will not be listed in there. It works in the background and then security collects information about your web browsing and sends it to StartNow so it could provide various ads offering services and according to your interests. If you click on any of the ads, you will give an access of other infections like adware, PUP or Trojan viruses. The goal of this redirect malware is to generate traffic to third parties websites and make money from that. Therefore, follow manual removal instruction below to get rid of StartNow Toolbar step by step now.
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 StartNow Toolbar and its fellow 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.
If you open your browser window (includes IE, Firefox, Safari and Google Chrome etc.) and notice immediately that your home page has been changed to a page you do not recognize, then your browser may have been hijacked by a virus. For this type of hijack virus, it can change your homepage to Startnow.com without your permission. Other malicious activities can be shown on your computer after hijacked are listed below:
1. It can not only change your web pages, but also alter other settings to add toolbars, pop-up advertisements, and bookmarks that you did not create.
2. It can modify the homepage settings of your web browser, more commonly by reducing your internet security options. And the worse thing is it prevents you from changing them back.
3. New toolbars or Favorites are installed that give you icons and links to web pages that you don’t want.
4. It may block you from visiting certain website you’d like to visit and show an error page instead.
5. It will display constant pop-up ads, sometimes in such large amounts that you are not able to close neither the ads nor the browser.
StartNow 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 StartNow toolbar 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 StartNow 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
StartNow Toolbar is classified as a potentially unwanted application or browser hijacker that can be added on Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome without any knowledge. If you somehow get it installed on your computer, it is likely that you missed some hidden information while you are downloading some programs from the Internet because it usually comes on a target PC bundled with flash Player, pDF files or games etc. To avoid this download, you have to be more careful with the installation steps whenever you are downloading something new. Make sure you deselect any options indicating about changing your browser settings or adding another program. StartNow Toolbar can execute a lot of various malicious activities that should be removed instantly.
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 on May 12, 2014 5:12 pm, last updated on May 12, 2014 5:14 pm
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