When I started up my Firefox browser today, it brought up Isearch123.com page as my home page. It seems my browser was somehow hijacked! When I tried to change this spam search engine and go to browser settings, I didn’t see any suspicious toolbar and extension installed. I scanned the PC and it found nothing malicious. I don’t know what to do now and I need this fixed immediately. Any suggestions how to delete this?
If your home page keeps changing back to another page such as Isearch123.com, this might be a sign that your computer is infected with some kind of browser hijacking malware or adware. This website displays a regular search engine and it claims to help users get the search results they want quickly. However, this is a spam search engine that used to deliver ads. It displays ads more than legitimate search result. This website is connected to browser hijacker that usually used to boost advertising revenue, as in the use of blackhat Search Engine Optimization (SEO), to inflate a site’s page ranking in search results. Browser hijackers can be very tenacious, as well as sneaky. Therefore, it can’t be detected or deleted by any antivirus programs. This application can be added to Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome browsers and it has the ability to change your Internet browser settings in order to perform annoying activities to interrupt your browsing.
To be more specific, your browser can be redirected to Isearch123.com without your permission while you are doing a Google, Yahoo or Bing search and in this case other potentially unwanted programs could get the chance to access your PC secretly. Besides, the hijacker can change your default homepage, new tab and search provider without your consent. It forces you to use its search engine, but it never provides any reliable search results to you. You will only see that it includes many sponsored websites to your search results. In addition, it can show some advertisements with links to commercial websites. All web links that the Isearch123.com hijacker presents you are highly unreliable and could easily make your PC more vulnerable for further attacks. The hijacker can redirect your browser to malicious websites and it monitors all your browsing activities thus creating a considerable danger for your personal data as well. Not to mention your entire computer system will be slowed down till it’s practically unusable. Many browser hijackings come from add-on software, also known as browser extensions, browser helper objects, or toolbars. They can be distributed along various free applications. Considering this hijacker can keep track of your browsing activities and catalog every move you make online, you are suggested to get rid of it to protect your privacy and save your PC.
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 Isearch123.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
Isearch123.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 Isearch123.com 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 Isearch123.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
Isearch123.com is frequently categorized as a browser hijacker because it takes control of the Web browser and does things the user may not have specifically requested. It is another fake search website that can take control of your web browsers and change your browser settings in order to redirect your web searches to advertisements to earn money for its publishers. In most cases, this hijacker can be downloaded and installed inconspicuously along with other applications as a browser add-on. You may not notice the selected check boxes, thus you agree adding it and then get your homepage changed. Once the change is made, your attempts to change back browser settings are useless. This hijacker prevents users from viewing the Web pages they want to see. It also redirects users to irrelevant pages when they are searching information on Google, Bing, or Yahoo. The page can come up as a new tab or a new window whenever you are online. It is very annoying. Not to mention it can bring up many unwanted pop-up ads window on your browser. To sum up, this hijacker is designed to advertise sponsored website and its advertising is not honest, you should get rid of it 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 on December 12, 2015 1:46 am, last updated on December 12, 2015 1:46 am
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