Today when I go to one certain website a pop-up comes up wanting me to download an Adobe Flash Updater. I have not clicked to download this because I know it is a virus/adware that will be placed on my computer. However, for some reasons my homepage was changed to WebSearchy.com without my permission, and I can’t change it back to Google anyway. This happens on Internet Explorer, and I don’t know how to get rid of it. Any help will be highly appreciated.
WebSearchy.com is a phony search page that is related to a browser hijacker, adware or PUP(Potentially Unwanted Program). Actually this website itself is not harmful, however, if your browser keeps redirecting you to this page, it will be dangerous because a hijacker is able to offer you other malware and unwanted items. It may also show various pop-up ads, offers, discount coupons, and sponsored links via a pop-up box on shopping-related websites or other websites that are visited by computer users. It is annoying because it can block your antivirus program from running properly and keep leading you to phishing websites and other sites with questionable contents. Now Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and even Safari are the main targets of this hijacker threat. Once detect, an immediate removal is required.
Most browser hijacker viruses can come bundled with freeware or other potentially unwanted programs. They usually disguise as additional add-ons or plug-ins so many inexperienced users may download them without any awareness until they find out the web browser is going crazy and out of control. So computer users should always be very careful during the installation procedure and prevent other additional programs that can change your browser setting from getting installed on the computer at the same time. Always read the terms of use/service/agreement beforehand and never click on any pop-up ads out of nowhere on your computer screen. Even though WebSearchy.com looks like a legal search engine, in fact it can’t offer you any trusted results. All it can do on the computer is to change your homepage, modify your browser settings and generate different ads to interrupt your browsing experience. Don’t hesitate to get rid of WebSearchy.com hijacker once you have found it in your computer.
Note: This website may display various advertisements to lure users to click on it. It may inform users that they are missing plugin to play video or telling that you are the winner of the day in your area and you need to fill out certain “sponsor offers” in order to claim you “free gift” or something like that. However, don’t click on any of the advertisements shown on WebSearchy.com. Otherwise you will open a backdoor to let other viruses invade your computer to ruin your system.
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 WebSearchy.com without your permission. Other malicious activities can be shown on your computer after hijacked are listed below:
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
WebSearchy.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 WebSearchy.com 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 WebSearchy.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
WebSearchy.com is an ad-supported website that may display pop-up advertisements, messages and banners on the computer system once it is installed. It pretends When it is running, it displays non-stop advertisements promoting various paid bogus security tools and other potentially unwanted programs (PUPs). This website masquerades itself as a legal search engine and appears every time you open the browsers. It aims at blocking computer users from normal web browsing and changes the HOSTS file as well as other settings on your computer without your knowledge so that your infected computer will become more vulnerable to further infections. Therefore, you should get rid of it as quickly as possible to protect your computer from further damages.
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 May 5, 2014 4:22 am
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