How to Remove Chrominio Malware (HIJACK.CHROMINIO)

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

Chrominio Malware is an annoying parasite. It is an aggressive ad-generating menace which hijacks your web browsers. Security experts categorize it as a Browser Hijacker. Do not panic! This parasite is not a virus. It cannot corrupt your entire operating system. The hijacker targets your web browsers. Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Edge. There is no immune app. Chrominio corrupts them and launches an aggressive ad bombardment. This parasite follows programming to flood you with adverts. It injects in-text and banner ads on every website you visit. You would notice that even web pages that used to be ad-free get heavy on coupons and discounts. Pop-ups and notifications appear out of the blue. Your videos get paused for commercial breaks. That’s the nature of the hijacker. It uses every opportunity to interrupt you with advertisements. It may even replace your homepage with a sponsored website. And as if that’s not irritating enough, but the parasite also displays deceptive messages that urge you to install fake updates. Do not put up with this situation. Chrominio is a deceptive intruder that threatens to lure you into online traps! This parasite has no place on your system. Spare yourself many future headaches. Find where this hijacker lurks and remove it upon detection! The sooner you clean your OS, the better!

How did I get infected with?

Corrupted links, fake updates, freeware, pirated software, spam messages. There are myriads of malware distribution ways. And Chrominio uses all known tricks. This parasite lurks in the shadows and waits for you to let your guard down. Do not make that mistake. No anti-virus app can protect you if you throw caution to the wind. Your vigilance, on the other hand, can keep your PC secure and virus-free. So, don’t be lazy. Always take the time to do your due diligence. Even a little extra attention can spare you an avalanche of problems. Don’t visit questionable websites. Download software and updates from reliable sources only. And don’t rush through installation processes. Bear in mind that most of the apps we download off the Web come bundled with bonus software. If you rush, you are very likely to overlook the red flags and install the extras. Do not give into naivety. These apps might be malicious. Choose caution over carelessness. When available, use the advanced/custom setup option. Under it, you would be able to select all unwanted extras. Make sure you know what you install. Read the terms and conditions before you agree to them. Opt out of the installation if you notice anything suspicious!

Why is this dangerous?

Heed the experts’ advice, as soon as you become aware of the Chrominio presence, take action. This hijacker has no place on your system. It is annoying, meddling, and quite dangerous. Do not discard the parasite as a mere annoyance! There is no such thing as a safe hijacker. Chrominio jeopardizes both your security and privacy. This parasite opens your browser to numerous online threats, as well as to surveillance. It threatens to steal sensitive information and to use it against you. Confused? Well, the situation is very simple. The hijacker spies on you from the moment it invades. It studies your browsing habits and bases its ads on the gathered data. On paper, if you enter “sneakers” into a search engine, the hijacker will display ads for sports shoes. In practice, though, it floods you with ads for sports gear, as well as sells the collected data to unknown third parties. Do you think that ends well? Anyone willing to pay can use the hijacker and its resources. Hundreds of crooks do! They employ the parasite to spread corruption. The crooks flood your browser with irresistible ads. They show you what you want to see. When you click, though, bad things happen! Do not test your luck. Remove Chrominio right now! Delete this parasite before it gets a chance to get you in trouble!

How to Remove Chrominio virus

The Chrominio 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 Chrominio 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 Chrominio related processes in the computer memory

STEP 2: Locate Chrominio startup location

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

STEP 4: Undo the damage done by the virus

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

• Open Google Chrome

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

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 Chrominio, 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 Chrominio 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 Chrominio 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.