Cobalten.com Hijacker Removal (Chrome/FF/IE)

Can’t Remove Cobalten.com hijacker virus? This page includes detailed Cobalten.com Removal instructions!

Cobalten.com is a page you do NOT want to come across. If you do, brace yourself. You’re in for a bad time. The page’s display on your screen is trouble. It indicates that your computer is no longer infection-free. And, in fact, it harbors a hazardous hijacker. Yes, a browser hijacker lurks somewhere in the corners of your system. And, it’s messing it up. After the infection slithers its way in, it begins to wreak havoc. It wastes no time! At first, its corruption seems to bring only minor inconveniences. But, as time goes by, your predicament worsens. Issues escalate and evolve. What begins as a seemingly trivial problem grows into a severe threat. For example, the tool tends to first target your browsing. The application doesn’t let you make a single move, without intruding. And, its incessant interference reaches a point, when going online becomes utter hell. Remember! That’s the least threatening issue, you encounter. You face much worse ones. Don’t allow that. Don’t let your predicament escalate to that point. Protect yourself from the harmful hijacker. Do what’s best for you, and your system, and delete it ASAP!

How did I get infected with?

Hijackers are sneaky. They resort to the old but gold means of infiltration. And, not only manage to invade your system, but do it undetected. It may seem confusing, since they need your permission. But they do succeed! I’s a rather simple scheme. Let’s elaborate. Yes, no hijacker can access a PC without user’s consent. Yes, the tool has to ask if you agree to install it. And, yes, it can proceed with installment, only if you give it the green light. But, no, it doesn’t have to be outright about it. Here’s the thing. There’s no rule about how the hijacker seeks your permission. Only that it does. So, instead of choosing the straightforward approach, it does the opposite. The tool turns to slyness and subtlety. It does ask for your approval. But it does it in the most covert way it can. That includes the use of freeware, corrupted links, fake updates, spam emails. It can turn to every known trick in the book! But, ultimately, its success is up to you. You see, if you’re thorough enough, you can catch the hijacker in the act. You can spot it attempting invasion, and prevent it. But if you’re not, that’s it. You end up inviting a dangerous cyber threat into your PC, and not even realizing it. And, that’s what the hijacker counts on. It needs your carelessness. It relies on you to throw caution to the wind, and choosing to rely on luck. It needs you to rush, and skip doing due diligence altogether. Don’t ease the infection’s invasion! Be vigilant enough to catch it in the act, and stop it! Caution goes a long way. And, it can save you countless troubles. Carelessness does the opposite. Make the right choice.

Why is this dangerous?

Cobalten.com turns into your constant companion. The hijacker forces it on you, non-stop. Open a new tab? It’s there. Type a search? It’s there. Do anything at all online, and it’s there. Every time, you browse, the hijacker finds a way to redirect you to Cobalten.com. It even replaces your preferred homepage and search engine with the site. Did you agree to the switch? No. Were you aware of its implementation? No. Is it fact nonetheless? Yes. Cobalten.com shadows your every move. Even the ads, you get flooded with, are “Powered by Cobalten.com.” That’s right. Apart from the obnoxious redirects, you also get stuck with annoying ads. The hijacker makes surfing the web quite the nightmarish experience. That doesn’t go without consequence. The incessant intrusions slow down your computer’s performance. Your system begins crashing all the time. It’s a mess. And, that’s only the start of your grievances. The absolute worst part, of having a hijacker, is the security issue. The infection threatens to steal your personal and financial details. So, it can then expose them to the cyber criminals behind it. Make no mistake! Given enough time on your PC, it will succeed. So, ask yourself if you’re willing to give it that time? Or, would you rather, avoid the danger? Protect yourself, and your PC. Locate and remove the nasty hijacker at once. Heed the Cobalten.com page as the sign of action it is.

How to Remove Cobalten.com virus

The Cobalten.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 Cobalten.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.

STEP 1: Track down Cobalten.com related processes in the computer memory

STEP 2: Locate Cobalten.com startup location

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

STEP 4: Undo the damage done by the virus

STEP 1: Track down Cobalten.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 Cobalten.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 Cobalten.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 Cobalten.com traces from Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer

• Open Google Chrome

• In the Main Menu, select Tools then Extensions
• Remove the Cobalten.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 Cobalten.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 Cobalten.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 Cobalten.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 Cobalten.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.