Durington Hijacker Virus Removal

Can’t Remove Durington hijacker virus? This page includes detailed Durington Removal instructions!

Durington falls into the category of browser hijackers. What such viruses do is that they alter the browser settings and change the homepage and search engine to custom ones. They also have the ability to monitor user’s surfing habits and obtain the browsing history. By doing so, the virus can generate the kind of advertisement content that the user is most likely to click on. The aim of this malicious software is to create income by the PPC (Pay-Per-Click) method. Users are likely to notice new toolbars and extensions that have been installed without their consent. As a result of this malware infection, victim’s browsing experience will be constantly interrupted by annoying pop-ups, adverts, fake updates, blinking messages, exclusive offers and other type of ad content.

How did I get infected with?

And while the ads themselves are not dangerous, the websites they can redirect you to are possibly the source of other dangerous threats for your computer. Which is why you need to be aware how this browser hijacker can infiltrate your computer. As a typical browser hijacker, this malware can be distributed through spam emails, attachments and executable files, free software bundles, fake updates, dubious ads and pop-ups, etc. If you receive emails from unknown senders, it is strongly recommended not to open them. Chances are, they contain malicious software that can damage your computer. The same thing applies for any suspicious attachments and executable files from emails of unknown origin. It is also recommended to opt for an Advanced/Custom mode in the Setup Wizard when you install software from the internet. This way you can have full control over what programs are being installed on your computer.

Why is this dangerous?

Because the virus can provide targeted advertisements, it can be difficult to resist clicking on them. Some pop-ups may have curious titles like ‘Lose weight with this easy trick’ or ‘Become a millionaire overnight by following this simple rule’, while others can even offer exclusive deals that are too good to be true. In most cases they are. Such advertisements are proven to redirect to suspicious third-party websites that can further infect the computer with other viruses, which is why it is strongly advised not to click on any of them, regardless of how appealing they may look. Your private data is at stake here. Information like passwords, IP addresses, credit card numbers, bank account credentials, as well as document, photos and executable files can fall in the hands of hackers that can share such data for profit.

How to Remove Durington virus

The Durington 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 Durington 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 Durington related processes in the computer memory

STEP 2: Locate Durington startup location

STEP 3: Delete Durington traces from Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer

STEP 4: Undo the damage done by the virus

STEP 1: Track down Durington 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 Durington 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 Durington 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 Durington traces from Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer

• Open Google Chrome

• In the Main Menu, select Tools then Extensions
• Remove the Durington 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 Durington

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 Durington, 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 Durington 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 Durington 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.