My Internet Explorer does not work well. This began after my homepage was changed to an unknown site called 1startpage.com. Everything is out of order now in the computer. I am prevented from visiting many web sites. And my Internet connection is cut off every once in a while. How to eliminate this annoying thing?
1startpage.com is a website that appears to have no difference with other normal web sites. There is a simple search engine on its site that seems to be able to offer you a lot of online resources as well as useful information and improve your surfing experience. However, it is indeed a browser hijacker that can take over your browser and collect your valuable data for its developers. By recording your online activities, 1startpage.com also shows you some unreliable ads that meet your interests. Therefore, we should be careful when surfing online so as to avoid any computer threats.
Similar to some other browser hijackers Lab.trovi.com and Istart123.com, 1startpage.com is designed to be a search engine. When it installs in the computer successfully, it will become your new homepage and default search engine immediately. You cannot change them back to your favorites easily unless you have the hijacker removed. It stays steadily as the start page in your browser, trying to force you to start online activities from the given search engine. However, many of the search results are together with many ads and even some malicious websites containing virus infections that are waiting for an opportunity to enter your computer. 1startpage.com is not only helpful for its developers to acquire your browsing history, but also can be made use of by cyber criminals to take over the infected computer. Taking all these consequences caused by the browser hijacker into account, you should remove 1startpage.com as soon as possible.
1. It is able to become the startup page of your web browser via modifying browser settings. No matter which browser you are using (Internet Explorer, Safari, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox or Opera), you can see the browser is occupied by it completely.
2. It may also install plug-ins, extensions and toolbars in the browser so as to record your search history as well as cookies.
3. You need to wait for a long time when visiting websites because the browser always gets stuck and is slow in reaction.
4. This annoying redirect may also result in unstable Internet connection and system freezes frequently.
5. You are forced to receive many advertisement windows when the computer is connected to the Internet.
Manual removal is the method that can ensure a complete removal to 1startpage.com. Through checking different positions and then delete all associated files as well as registry entries, we can get rid of it from the system thoroughly. However, due to such a fact that the 1startpage.com browser hijacker has the ability to change with the passage of time, you may not be able to find the exactly same files being listed below. And backing up important things beforehand is recommended in case of wrong operations damaging the system.
1. Clean Add-ons and Extensions
* Internet Explorer:
(1). Click Tools in the Menu bar and then click Internet Options
(3). Click Programs tab, click Manage add-ons and disable the suspicious add-ons
* Firefox:
(1). Click Tools in the Menu bar and then click Add-ons
(2). Click Extensions, select the related browser add-ons and click Disable
* Google Chrome:
(1). Click Customize and control Google Chrome button → Tools → Extensions
(2). Disable the extensions of 1startpage.com
2. End Relevant Processes
(1). Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc together to pop up Windows Task Manager, click Processes tab
*For Win 8 Users:
Click More details when you see the Task Manager box
And then click Details tab
(2). Find out and end 1startpage.com’s processes
3. Show Hidden Files
(1). Click on Start button and then on Control Panel
(2). Click on Appearance and Personalization
(3). Click on Folder Options
(4). Click on the View tab in the Folder Options window
(5). Choose Show hidden files, folders, and drives under the Hidden files and folders category
(6). Click OK at the bottom of the Folder Options window
*For Win 8 Users:
Press Win+E together to open Computer window, click View and then click Options
Click View tab in the Folder Options window, choose Show hidden files, folders, and drives under the Hidden files and folders category
4. Delete Relevant Registry Entries and Files
(1). Delete the registry entries related to 1startpage.com through Registry Editor
Press Win+R to bring up the Run window, type “regedit” and click “OK”
While the Registry Editor is open, search and delete its registry entries
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Random
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings “CertificateRevocation” =Random
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\Explorer\run\Random.exe
(2). Find out and remove the associated files
%AppData%\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Templates\random.exe
%Temp%\random.exe
%AllUsersProfile%\Application Data\~random
%AllUsersProfile%\Application Data\.dll HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Random “.exe”
1startpage.com has become a very common problem. Even if you have real-time protection from the antivirus program, the computer can still be the victim of this browser hijacker. Inappropriate online actions by a user of the computer are the main causes for this problem. It is able to be be hidden in pornographic websites, unknown free programs or spam email attachments. Once getting into the computer successfully, 1startpage.com will bring many troubles to annoy the computer user. You will be redirected to other websites constantly and many unknown applications are downloaded into the computer without permission. Private data are not safe with it in the computer. Therefore, you should not enter important data online before you driving Istart123.com off from the computer.
The above manual removal is quite dangerous and complicated, which needs sufficient professional skills. Therefore, only computer users with rich computer knowledge are recommended to implement the process because any errors including deleting important system files and registry entries will crash your computer system. If you have no idea of how to process the manual removal, please contact experts from YooCare Online Tech Support for further assistance.
Published by & last updated on July 12, 2014 4:13 am
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