How to Remove Alientab.net Hijacker (Chrome/Firefox/IE)

Can’t Remove Alientab.net hijacker virus? This page includes detailed Alientab.net Removal instructions!

The appearance of the Alientab.net websites as your new homepage is a bad sign. It means only one thing. Your browser has been hijacked. Do not panic! We are here to help. The Alientab.net hijacker is removable. Provided you act promptly, of course. If you decide to ignore the problem, however, hell will rise. The hijacker is a malicious program. It is designed to generate revenue for its owners. To do so, this tool will cross any boundary. It will ruin your browsing experience by bombarding you with tons of advertisements. Yet, the nuisance it causes is not the worst part. The Alientab.net hijacker is also a spying tool. This program serves its owners’ interests in more than one way. The hijacker has added its extension to all browsers that are installed on your computer. They are now infected and work as spying devices. Everything you do online is monitored, analyzed and sold to third parties. From your favorite websites to your usernames and passwords, everything may become a possession of a criminal. Do not neglect this hijacker. The longer it remains active on your device, the more time it has to collect information. You cannot benefit from its presence. Your PC, on the other hand, will benefit from its removal. The Alientab.net hijacker has never been meant as a light program. This parasite runs on your CPU and uses an enormous amount of computer resources. It can slow your computer down to a crawl. Your browser will struggle to display any content correctly. On top of that, it can cause some older machines to crash and freeze frequently. This leads to data loss and even to the dreaded Blue Screen of Death. Spare yourself many future headaches. Remove the Alientab.net hijacker now.

How did I get infected with?

The Alientab.net hijacker uses not one, but many techniques to travel the web. The most commonly used ones are the good old spam emails, torrents freeware/shareware bundling, and fake software updates. The bundling technique is the most productive one. To succeed, this method, relies on your carelessness and naivety. Be vigilant and doubting. Your caution can prevent such infections. Whenever you are installing a program, opt for an advanced/custom option in the setup wizard. It can be a button or tab. Do not hesitate to use it. Only under the advanced installation can you see all additional apps that are about to be installed. Examine the list carefully. These third party attachments, more often than not, are malicious. Make sure you understand what you are giving your approval to. Read the terms and conditions and do some online research. Install only the apps you trust. Keep in mind that you can deselect all extras and still install the program you originally planned to set up. This is your computer. You call the shots. Do not let others dictate the way you use it. If you think that something looks suspicious, there probably is a good reason for that. Trust your instincts. About the installation if you think it’s necessary.

Why is this dangerous?

The Alientab.net hijacker is a menace that must be removed as soon as possible. Do not neglect this parasite. It is ad-supported. To guarantee its owners’ stable income, it will drown you in a sea of advertisements. Yet, do not expect odd banners. Yes, you will see an increased number of such ads, however, you will be exposed to more advertisements than you can guess. The Alientab.net hijacker injects fake entries among the search results. It doesn’t matter which search engine you use, the Alientab.net utility can corrupt the results. The fake entries, most of the time, are ads. However, they are not marked as such. You can never do an objective online research simply because there is no way to tell which results are organic and which are promoted. And there is more. Anyone willing to pay can use the hijacker to promote. Scammers and individuals with questionable interests often take advantage of such applications. If you click on the wrong ad you will either end up on a fake web store or download malware. One click is all it takes for a virus to infect your PC. Unfortunately, there is no way to tell which ads are malicious and which are not. You cannot avoid the commercials forever either. The hijacker will, eventually, trick you into clicking on some unintentionally. At the most unexpected times, it will open pop-up messages right under the cursor of your mouse. The furtive will also redirect you directly to the sponsored websites. It will turn random website text into hyperlinks. One way or another, it will lure you into clicking on commercials. Don’t wait until it’s too late. Take measures now. Remove the Alientab.net hijacker immediately!

How to Remove Alientab.net virus

The Alientab.net 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 Alientab.net 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 Alientab.net related processes in the computer memory

STEP 2: Locate Alientab.net startup location

STEP 3: Delete Alientab.net traces from Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer

STEP 4: Undo the damage done by the virus

STEP 1: Track down Alientab.net 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 Alientab.net 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 Alientab.net 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 Alientab.net traces from Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer

• Open Google Chrome

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

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 Alientab.net, 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 Alientab.net 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 Alientab.net 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.