Over the past couple of days I found my homepage was hijacked by Websearch.Searchoholic.info somehow so I went to Internet Option setting to reset my homepage. it didn’t work. Since then my internet browsing has been interrupted quite frequently by numerous types of pop up ads. I tried to search a solution but the website would come up in a search too. That is crazy! It started when I clicked on the listing in the Yahoo search listing. I really need assistance removing this hijacker thing. I don’t even know how when and how it comes to my computer. Thanks in advance.
Websearch.Searchoholic.info is a bogus search page associated with annoying browser hijacker, adware or potentially unwanted program (also called PUP) that can take over your Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome of Safari. This hijacker comes from the infamous WebSearch scam that has many different variants such as Websearch.allsearches.info and Websearch.search-plaza.info. These corrupted pages are created by cyber criminals in order to promote sponsored pages and increase their traffic. Once it gets installed on a system, it can change your homepage to its own page without your permission, also you will always be redirected to other questionable pages when you perform a search on Google or Yahoo, or bombarded with useless ads which appear in your browser all the time, no matter what web-page you actually open and what browser you are using at that moment.
Even though this page seems like a normal search engine that provides online search for its visitors, it can do nothing good but provide users untrusted search results. This hijacker seeks to advertise sponsored website and its advertising is not honest, therefore most of the users find it very annoying. Mostly this redirect threat comes bundled with free programs that you downloaded from the Internet, including music players, PDF creators, etc. Technically speaking, browser hijacker is not a virus. But it still compromises your security because it may record all web pages you have visited and send gathered information out to attackers through a background Internet connection. So, we strongly recommend that you read agreement and terms carefully before you are going to download programs from Internet. Make sure you won’t get any additional programs that could modify your browser settings at the same time and get rid of Websearch.Searchoholic.info manually once you have found that on your computer.
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 Websearch.Searchoholic.info 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.
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
Websearch.Searchoholic.info 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 Websearch.Searchoholic.info 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 Websearch.Searchoholic.info 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
Websearch.Searchoholic.info is an undesirable and unwanted page that can pop up as your default homepage or a new tab without your permission. Such adware and pop-up is not necessarily malicious but it may promote bogus products and services. In addition, it changes your browser settings that can generate numerous pop-up ads, advertisement banners and sponsored links in your Web browser. The malware is able to infect web browsers like Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome of Safari, and it can add unwanted toolbar and extensions to the corrupted browser to slow down its performance. Websearch.Searchoholic.info redirect issue disturbs users every time they go to the Internet so it should be eliminated as soon as possible.
Published by on December 20, 2014 1:40 am, last updated on December 20, 2014 1:40 am
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