Hi there. I have a problem on my computer and cannot find a solution to fix it. Every time I try to get online, this site Gameharbor.org keeps opening. And it also changes my default homepage and search provider. I’ve searched the web and was told that this Gameharbor is malware that should be removed manually. But I am not computer literate and not sure how to deal with registry entries. I’ve also run Malwarebytes and Norton, nothing found. How do I get rid of this annoying pop-ups completely?
If Gameharbor.org keeps opening itself on your web browser or your homepage is suddenly changed to this page, then your computer must be at risk of being infected by adware or browser hijacker malware now. Technically speaking, browser hijacking malware is not a computer virus, therefore it has the ability to escape the detection of most antivirus programs. Even though in some cases your current security products are able to report the existence of this threat, but it won’t let you eliminate it easily. Once you click on “Remove” or “Clear” option, it either gives you an error to block the deletion or keeps coming back after restarting the computer. Without any doubt, Gameharbor malware is very annoying and it can hide deeply on your system and cause many irreparable damages on your machine.
There are many reasons that can cause you to get hijacked by Gameharbor.org pop-up ads. In the majority of cases, this hijacker comes together with most free downloads such as free music or video players, download managers and other things. As we all know that there is no such thing as a free lunch, so the free download always bundles with uninvited guest like adware or PUP. None of these free programs clearly disclose that they are going to add Gameharbor or other additional add-on to your computer, so if you don’t read the terms and agreements or don’t follow their installation steps carefully, you can install this hijacker yourself mistakenly. As soon as it is installed, you will receive numerous of ads whenever you browse the Internet. In addition, your homepage will be changed to its web page which is filled with sponsored ads and malicious hyperlinks without your knowledge. You will also find new toolbar and favorite displayed without your permission, and they keep offering you unnecessary site icons or suspicious downloads. Once you click on the Gameharbor.org pop-up ads, it may even install backdoor and Trojan to your computer that slow down your computer speed, collect your information including credit card information, log-in password, browsing history and cookies and even redirect you to high-risk pages against your will. Now this Gameharbor malware can take control of web browsers including Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome and it also can infect multiple browsers at the same time. It only gives you annoying surfing experience and unsafe Internet environment so you need to take immediate action to remove Gameharbor.org hijacker from the computer without any hesitation.
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 Gameharbor.org 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 Gameharbor.org 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.
Gameharbor.org 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 they 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 Gameharbor.org 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 Gameharbor.org 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
Gameharbor.org is not a trusted web page. It won’t provide you any free and funny games as it markets, instead it is associated with browser hijacker that can disturb your regular browsing by showing you crazy and unwanted pop-up ads. If you click on any of those pop-ups, you can be redirected to various unknown websites that can help install viruses to your machine. The purpose of Gameharbor is to force users to its web page again and again so the producer can make money from the artificial website hits. It is also designed to monitor on users browsing behavior and help some third parties to advertise their products and promote their websites. As mentioned above, users should get rid of Gameharbor.org hijacker once upon detection.
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 September 18, 2014 1:18 am, last updated on September 22, 2014 9:04 am
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