I have a “search-engine” virus as they have been calling it and so some people told me that I had to install anti-spyware to check my computer for malware, and i installed malwarebytes, spydoctor, super antispyware, adware EVERYTHING and they all did nothing. I need to get this Planet-surf.com hijacker off my computer as soon as possible because i can’t use search engines such as yahoo or google without it going to this completely different page & my computer is going slower than usual. Please help me!
If you find your current homepage or search engine suddenly get changed to Planet-surf.com and your web browser starts behaving strangely, it is a clear sign that your PC has adware or potentially unwanted program installed, or your browser has been hijacked by some kind of browser redirecting malware. Planet-surf.com may seem to be a regular search engine that provides a bunch of quick links to the most popular websites and lets you search images, pictures and news quickly. And its developers also claim to provide web users with useful service, offering functions which should help the users increase the web browsing quality. However, don’t trust such false advertising because this is only a spam search engine that can do nothing but deliver ads. The purpose of this hijacker is to advertise certain websites and drive more traffic so it just displays little information related to your search keyword and mostly you will get sponsored links and popups or banners instead. Generally speaking, such annoying hijacker is known to attack Firefox, Chrome and Internet Explorer browser, and it can function in most versions of Windows, including Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 10. Once detected, you should get rid of it immediately to avoid further damages.
Planet-surf.com hijacker is often installed bundled with freeware, shareware or ad-supported programs. Nowadays there are many different download managers, video streaming programs, video recording programs and similar free programs that have been bundled with suspicious browser add-ons or toolbars. Even when you take all the precautions necessary and never download anything from an untrusted source, you could still end up having this hijacker on your PC. Don’t use this website as your default homepage. It will track and store information about what you are browsing on the web, what pages you are visiting, etc. Also it can modify your homepage, redirect your search results to malicious sites, and hammer you with a barrage of popup ads during your browsing sessions. Your online activities will be interrupted and it could even introduce other threats to your PC without your permission, which can be very dangerous for your privacy and computer security. To keep everything safe and secure, you have to delete Planet-surf.com hijacker completely as soon as possible.
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 Planet-surf.com 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
Planet-surf.com 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 Planet-surf.com Virus Hijacker 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 Planet-surf.com 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
Planet-surf.com is an undesirable and unwanted page that can pop up as your default homepage or a new tab without your permission. It seems to be associated with Yahoo search that aims to provide users useful information. But in fact it hijacks all kind of web browsers including Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox as well as Google Chrome and can cause an immense problem to the functioning of your computer system. It alters the browser settings and changes other system settings without any consent. Also it tracks user’s web browsing history, displays ads and even
blocks users from going to the website they want. This search engine won’t offer the same services like other legitimate search providers. Instead it can collect the terms of your search queries, record your browsing history and monitor your online activities without your knowledge. You should have it removed as quickly as possible.
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 & last updated on March 25, 2016 5:27 am
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