How to Remove Playgr8.com Redirect Virus

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If you get redirected to Playgr8.com, that means you have a virus to deal with. Some nasty adware-type infection is currently making changes in your browser settings. As a result of its trickery, you’ll notice a huge pile of the playgr8.com pop-pus. Keep in mind that playgr8.com is nothing but a website. Hackers often take advantage of such domains to spread malware and spam online. It goes without saying that nobody wants to be stuck with a questionable website and its pop-ups. None of the playgr8.com web links is to be trusted. As mentioned, the adware is hiding somewhere on your device at this very moment. It is messing with your default browser settings completely behind your back. And if that doesn’t sound bad, you should wait till you hear the rest of it. Adware is famous for being annoying as well as harmful. Thus, this infection is yet to exhibit its full malicious potential. Once it gets downloaded, it adds a brand new browser extension. Was your permission in any way required? Parasites don’t get created to help you surf the Internet. This particular adware pest is no different. It sneaks itself onto your PC and starts making unauthorized changes right away. Your opinions and preferences remain out of the picture. Thanks to the browser plugin, you now get bombarded with ads. Sponsored, unwanted ads. Bear in mind that you have a parasite on your computer. All commercials and other third-party web links should be avoided. Hackers’ very last concern is to provide you attractive product deals. They are just trying to make money instead. By covering your PC screen with sponsored pop-ups, crooks successfully gain revenue. That means you become their sponsor every time you click open any of the playgr8.com commercials. Is that something you’d be willing to do? Cyber criminals shouldn’t really be rewarded for altering your browser settings. In addition, keep in mind these ads may be leading you to infections. If you’re unlucky enough, you could easily install more viruses. We recommend that you stay away from the advertisements brought to you by the adware. Don’t be gullible to think these ads could turn out to be beneficial for you. They are now part of your life solely so hackers could become richer. The parasite stubbornly redirects you to playgr8.com. It makes browsing the Web quite complicated so you have no reason to keep the virus on board.

Remove Playgr8.com

How did I get infected with?

Adware-type infections don’t shine with originality. In other words, these programs apply some of the old but gold infiltration methods. Number one technique is called freeware/shareware bundling. Instead of installing unverified programs, be careful. You should always make a thorough check in advance to make sure there are no infections in the bundle. Skipping installation steps would expose you to malware. To protect your safety, you have to keep an eye out for potential intruders. Opt for the Advanced option in the Setup Wizard, for instance. Don’t rush towards the “I agree” button as it gives you no information about the programs you’re about to install. Another piece of advice is to actually read the Terms and Conditions. Most PC users prefer to skip that part of the installation. Eventually, they end up downloading infections alongside the safe software they wanted. Preventing malware infiltration is a very simple task. All you have to do is be cautious and watch out for viruses. Trust us when we say, having to delete a virus is a much greater hassle. Some malicious programs also travel the Web via fake email-attachments. Delete the emails/messages you receive so no infection manages to get to you.

Why is this dangerous?

Due to the parasite’s presence, your PC speed is significantly slowed down. Your overwhelmed browsers also start crashing and/or freezing. The Internet connection might become unstable as well. As if that wasn’t enough, the adware floods your PC screen with commercials. That includes pop-ups, pop-unders, banners, interstitials, video ads. There is no more surfing the Web at peace anymore. If anything, you’ll have to avoid stubborn, irritating commercials on a daily basis. Avoiding those is indeed a must as they could turn out to be corrupted. In this scenario, you will either purchase a non-existent product and lose money or download malware. Both options sound equally unpleasant. Adware is even capable of stealing some of your sensitive details. For example, browsing history, IP addresses, email addresses and usernames/passwords. To delete the virus for good, please follow our detailed manual removal guide down below.

How to Remove Playgr8.com virus

The Playgr8.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 Playgr8.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.

WARNING! Stopping the wrong file or deleting the wrong registry key may damage your system irreversibly.
If you are feeling not technical enough just use Spyhunter Professional Malware Removal Tool to deal with the problem!
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Please, keep in mind that SpyHunter’s scanner tool is free. To remove the Playgr8.com infection, you need to purchase its full version.

STEP 1: Track down Playgr8.com in the computer memory

STEP 2: Locate Playgr8.com startup location

STEP 3: Delete Playgr8.com traces from Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer

STEP 4: Undo the damage done by the virus

STEP 1: Track down Playgr8.com in the computer memory

  • Open your Task Manager by pressing CTRL+SHIFT+ESC keys simultaneously
  • Carefully review all processes and stop the suspicious ones.

end-malicious-process

  • Write down the file location for later reference.

Step 2: Locate Playgr8.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 Playgr8.com virus from the windows registry

  • Once the operating system loads press simultaneously the Windows Logo Button and the R key.

win-plus-r

  • A dialog box should open. Type “Regedit”

regedit

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]

delete backgroundcontainer

  • 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:

hosts-redirect-virus

STEP 3 : Clean Playgr8.com traces from Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer

  • Open Google Chrome

  • In the Main Menu, select Tools then Extensions
  • Remove the Playgr8.com by clicking on the little recycle bin
  • Reset Google Chrome by Deleting the current user to make sure nothing is left behind

disable Playgr8.com from chrome

  • Open Mozilla Firefox

  • Press simultaneously Ctrl+Shift+A
  • Disable the unwanted Extension
  • Go to Help
  • Then Troubleshoot information
  • Click on Reset Firefox

remove Playgr8.com from 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

remove Playgr8.com from ie

  • Restart Internet Explorer

Step 4: Undo the damage done by Playgr8.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 Playgr8.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.

safebrowsing-biz-shortcut-removal

  • in the target field remove Playgr8.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 Playgr8.com Virus (automatic) Removal Guide

Please, have in mind that once you are infected with a single virus, it compromises your system 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.

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