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Can’t Remove Search.cleanmybrowser.com hijacker virus? This page includes detailed Search.cleanmybrowser.com Removal instructions!
Search.cleanmybrowser.com is a highly questionable domain. If it has replaced your preferable homepage, we must confirm your fears. The appearance of this website means only one thing. Your computer is no longer infection-free. You have the Search.cleanmybrowser.com hijacker on board. Don’t panic. This parasite is relatively easy to remove. If you act promptly, you can delete it completely and restore your browser’s settings. Yet, if you decide to ignore the problem, hell will rise. The Search.cleanmybrowser.com utility acts as an open door for many online threats. This parasite uses a pay-per-click scheme to generate revenue. It, however, has no verifying mechanism. Anyone willing to spend some money can use this tool to promote. Scammers included. More often than not, ads provided by hijackers are leading to fake web stores or pages that are part of scams. Don’t trust anything you see on your screen while this tool remains active on your PC. Be prepared! You will see a lot of adverts. All of them will be appealing. The hijacker will not expose you to just any type of ads. It will select the right kind. This task is easier than you might think. The furtive app can monitor your browser-related data. In other words, it can spy on you. Everything you do online is monitored. Which pages you visit, favorite websites, what search inquiries you make. Everything is recorded. The collected data is used for marketing purposes, as well as, sold to third parties. The Search.cleanmybrowser.com hijacker is threatening to expose your private life to the public. Don’t put up with this madness. Remove this infection before it is too late.
How did I get infected with?
The Search.cleanmybrowser.com parasite did not appear by magic. It was distributed to your PC via obscured download. The furtive app may have arrived as a bundled program, via email or torrent. There are many possibilities. Yet, all these techniques rely on one thing. Your negligence. If you were more vigilant, you could have prevented the hijacker from being installed. When installing a program, opt for advanced installation option. Only under it can you see all additional apps that are about to be installed. These extras, more often than not, are malicious. Stay on the safe side. Deselect them. Besides, if you truly needed such apps, you would have downloaded them by yourself. Crooks are imaginative. They will fake logos and fabricate stamps just to lure you into installing a program. Be always doubting. The Internet is bursting with parasites. Only your caution can keep your computer clean. Always read the terms and conditions and keep your anti-virus software up to date.
Why is this dangerous?
The Search.cleanmybrowser.com hijacker exposes you to numerous adverts. Pop-up windows, ad banners, and in-text adverts are blinking from all opened websites. Yet, these adverts are just the obvious ones. There are more. The hijacker also injects ads among the search results you are provided with. The hijacker is a program installed on your machine. It can control what you see on your screen. Thus, it can corrupt its competitors’ search results too. With the malicious tool on board, you can never be sure which search results are organic and which are promoted. Doing an objective research is an impossible task. This is just the tip of the iceberg. As we already mentioned, this furtive app collects information about you. It sells the data to third parties. As strange as it may sound, there are many potential buyers. They range from desperate marketing agents to dangerous hackers. Yes, hackers are interested in your information. The hijacker, after all, can steal your usernames, email addresses, passwords, etc. If you use your PC to pay the bills or to make an online purchase, the furtive app will record your billing address and credit card details. Can you imagine what may happen if a hacker buys that information? The consequences will be devastating! Don’t waste your time! The sooner you remove this intruder, the better!
How to Remove Search.cleanmybrowser.com virus
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The Search.cleanmybrowser.com infection is specifically designed to make money to its creators one way or another. The specialists from various antivirus companies like Bitdefender, Kaspersky, Norton, Avast, ESET, etc. advise that there is no harmless virus.
If you perform exactly the steps below you should be able to remove the Search.cleanmybrowser.com infection. Please, follow the procedures in the exact order. Please, consider to print this guide or have another computer at your disposal. You will NOT need any USB sticks or CDs.
Please, keep in mind that SpyHunter’s scanner tool is free. To remove the Search.cleanmybrowser.com infection, you need to purchase its full version.
STEP 1: Track down Search.cleanmybrowser.com related processes in the computer memory
STEP 2: Locate Search.cleanmybrowser.com startup location
STEP 3: Delete Search.cleanmybrowser.com traces from Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer
STEP 4: Undo the damage done by the virus
STEP 1: Track down Search.cleanmybrowser.com related processes in the computer memory
- Open your Task Manager by pressing CTRL+SHIFT+ESC keys simultaneously
- Carefully review all processes and stop the suspicious ones.
- Write down the file location for later reference.
Step 2: Locate Search.cleanmybrowser.com startup location
Reveal Hidden Files
- Open any folder
- Click on “Organize” button
- Choose “Folder and Search Options”
- Select the “View” tab
- Select “Show hidden files and folders” option
- Uncheck “Hide protected operating system files”
- Click “Apply” and “OK” button
Clean Search.cleanmybrowser.com virus from the windows registry
- Once the operating system loads press simultaneously the Windows Logo Button and the R key.
- A dialog box should open. Type “Regedit”
- WARNING! be very careful when editing the Microsoft Windows Registry as this may render the system broken.
Depending on your OS (x86 or x64) navigate to:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run] or
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run] or
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run]
- and delete the display Name: [RANDOM]
- Then open your explorer and navigate to: %appdata% folder and delete the malicious executable.
Clean your HOSTS file to avoid unwanted browser redirection
Navigate to %windir%/system32/Drivers/etc/host
If you are hacked, there will be foreign IPs addresses connected to you at the bottom. Take a look below:
STEP 3 : Clean Search.cleanmybrowser.com traces from Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer
-
Open Google Chrome
- In the Main Menu, select Tools then Extensions
- Remove the Search.cleanmybrowser.com by clicking on the little recycle bin
- Reset Google Chrome by Deleting the current user to make sure nothing is left behind
-
Open Mozilla Firefox
- Press simultaneously Ctrl+Shift+A
- Disable the unwanted Extension
- Go to Help
- Then Troubleshoot information
- Click on Reset Firefox
-
Open Internet Explorer
- On the Upper Right Corner Click on the Gear Icon
- Click on Internet options
- go to Toolbars and Extensions and disable the unknown extensions
- Select the Advanced tab and click on Reset
- Restart Internet Explorer
Step 4: Undo the damage done by Search.cleanmybrowser.com
This particular Virus may alter your DNS settings.
Attention! this can break your internet connection. Before you change your DNS settings to use Google Public DNS for Search.cleanmybrowser.com, be sure to write down the current server addresses on a piece of paper.
To fix the damage done by the virus you need to do the following.
- Click the Windows Start button to open the Start Menu, type control panel in the search box and select Control Panel in the results displayed above.
- go to Network and Internet
- then Network and Sharing Center
- then Change Adapter Settings
- Right-click on your active internet connection and click properties. Under the Networking tab, find Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4). Left click on it and then click on properties. Both options should be automatic! By default it should be set to “Obtain an IP address automatically” and the second one to “Obtain DNS server address automatically!” If they are not just change them, however if you are part of a domain network you should contact your Domain Administrator to set these settings, otherwise the internet connection will break!!!
You must clean all your browser shortcuts as well. To do that you need to
- Right click on the shortcut of your favorite browser and then select properties.
- in the target field remove Search.cleanmybrowser.com argument and then apply the changes.
- Repeat that with the shortcuts of your other browsers.
- Check your scheduled tasks to make sure the virus will not download itself again.
How to Permanently Remove Search.cleanmybrowser.com Virus (automatic) Removal Guide
Please, have in mind that once you are infected with a single virus, it compromises your whole system or network and let all doors wide open for many other infections. To make sure manual removal is successful, we recommend to use a free scanner of any professional antimalware program to identify possible registry leftovers or temporary files.