I-Gosearch Removal Guide

Hey. Please help! While I was watching a movie on YouTube, a pop-up popped on my screen, I clicked on it without thinking twice. I thought there was nothing wrong to click on a pop-up. I ignored this problem at the beginning. Things became weird. No matter when I start to browse or search something, I was redirected to a websites named I-Gosearch again and again. My browsing websites became stuck and even crashed so frequently. Later, I realized that this thing must be a browser hijacker. It is so annoying now. What should I do now? How can I get rid of this malicious virus? It would be so grateful if anyone can help me get rid of this virus completely.

A Brief Introduction Of I-Gosearch

I-Gosearch is a malicious computer virus which is classified to be the browser hijacker family. This hijacker can add into your computer secretly without your knowledge or permission. This virus can be spread through many channels. For example, this virus may get into your system when you download and install “free” software such as game installation packages from the Internet; if you don’t pay attention on your online actions, by accident, you clicked on unknown links or pop-up ads on unknown forums; you visited the websites that have been compromised or open spam email attachments. All these actions may give the chance for the virus gets into your computer. So, you need to keep an eye on your online behavior as this virus seeks for every opportunity to dive into your computer.

Once I-Gosearch installed on your computer, lots of annoying and malicious activities may be conducted on your compromised computer. The most obvious symptom of this virus is that you may be redirected to its domain while you are surfing online with Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and etc. As a virus, it pretends to be a legit search engine. It displays a search box in the middle of its page and then it gives some icons offering you a quickly way to link your favorite websites like Facebook, Gmail, Youtube and Twitter. At the first sight, you may think that this is a useful webpage to help you save your time and provide your more online information. However, things go wrong after you used this fake search engine. While you are searching on it, it seems to provide you the link you need, but when you click on the link, it may return unwanted results filled with crazy advertisements and other popups. This thing indicates that I-Gosearch is not a good program and the thing provided on its domain is not reliable at all. It will modify system and browser settings so that it can run in the background automatically. Meanwhile, this virus is capable of collecting users’ browsing habit, search keywords or other profitable information for marketing and promoting related ads popups to your computer. Therefore, when you find I-Gosearch on your system, you should take immediate measures to get rid of this virus.

A Screenshot Of I-Gosearch

Basic Symptoms and Potential Risks of I-Gosearch

1. It can be added to Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome browsers without your notification.
2. You are rerouted to some unknown sponsored websites that you have never seen before when you surfing online.
3. You can get a bunch of popup ads show on the webpage which you are browsing.
4. It can be installed on your computer slightly.
5. This browser hijacker can introduce various infections and unwanted programs onto your system,
6. It can investigate your browsing behavior and gather your input information online.
7. It is also responsible for collecting computer user’s private information like IP address and online traces for unethical using of online marketing.

Note: If one of symptoms mentioned above is found in your computer, then you must know that your computer is being attacked by the browser hijacker. Since the browser hijacker is so dangerous, once your computer is infected, you should take actions to delete the hijacker. If you are not a computer expert, in case you lose your important data or damage your system, please welcome to contact Yoocare/Yoosecurity Online Expert for help now!

Manual Removal Guide:

I-Gosearch hijacks your default browser to redirect your web search results and modifies your default homepage and browser settings. Manual removal is the most effective way to completely uninstall it from an infected computer’s operating system, for the season that this hijacker is so cunning and dangerous, antivirus programs cannot get rid of it permanently. Here are the manual guides for users to remove the annoying hijacker.

1. Clean Add-ons and Extensions

* Internet Explorer:

(1). Click Tools in the Menu bar and then click Internet Options

(2). Click Programs tab, click Manage add-ons and disable the dubious 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 this virus

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 this hijacker’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 this browser hijacker 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_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\[RANDOM CHARACTERS].exe HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run ‘Random’ HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Random HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings “CertificateRevocation” =Random

(2). Find out and remove the associated files

%AllUsersProfile%\random.exe %AppData%\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Templates\random.exe %AllUsersProfile%\Application Data\~random %AllUsersProfile%\Application Data\.dll HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Random “.exe”

Video Shows You How to Safely Modify Windows Registry Editor:

Conclusion

I-Gosearch is risky and annoying browser hijacker. Once this virus gets into your computer, it may conduct lots of malicious thing on your computer. If you keep this pesky hijacker long in your system, you’ll face a severely slow computer performance, crashed Internet connection and personal information theft. It can take up most of your system resources and collect your essential information on the other hand. Hence, to protect your computer, you should eliminate this virus from your system as early as you can.

Suggestion: 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 on April 25, 2015 3:34 am, last updated on April 25, 2015 3:34 am