Remove Digitalmerkat.com Hijacker

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

Digitalmerkat.com is a hijacker-related website. Its appearance indicates the presence of such an infection. So, if the page pops up on your screen, you’re in trouble. There’s a browser hijacker, lurking somewhere in the corners of your system. You best take immediate action to remove the threat. The sooner you do, the better! That’s because, consequently, the more it remains, the worse your predicament gets. There’s a plethora of repercussions that come with the presence of a hijacker. The problem, you encounter, courtesy of the infection, escalate with time. At first, you face online intrusions. You get redirected to Digitalmerkat.com, and other suspicious sites. Digitalmerkat.com even becomes your new homepage and search engine. Did you agree to the switch? No. But, that’s how hijackers operate. They force unwanted changes on you. They are quite meddling. Apart from the obnoxious redirects, they also bombard you with ads. That only further messes up your browsing. Imagine. When you so much as touch your browser, you get a flood of disruptions. Redirects to a plethora of pesky pages, as well as a shower of a variety of ads. Banner, in-text, pop-up, all of them. These continuous intrusions have consequences, as well. Your system starts to crash all the time. And, your computer slows down to a crawl. And, the worse part is, that’s not the worst of it. It’s not even close. Given enough time, you face far greater issues than those. Don’t let your situation reach that point. Act against the hijacker plague ASAP. We say again: The sooner you remove it from your PC, the better.

How did I get infected with?

Digitalmerkat.com pops up on your screen after a hijacker invades. But how does the hijacker invade? Well, it may surprise you to know, you agreed to install it. Yes, hijackers cannot enter a user’s system without explicit permission to do so. The tool has to ask you if you agree to allow it into your system. Only if you do, can it proceed with installment. So, it’s safe to say that the infection sought your consent on its entry. And, you gave it the green light. There are redeeming qualities, though. Don’t be too hard on yourself. It’s not a straightforward exchange. If it were, you’d deny the tool, and move on. And, it can’t have that. So, instead, it turns to trickery. It seeks approval through the most covert methods it can. Freeware, spam email attachments, corrupted links, or sites. It can even pretend to be a fake system or program update. Like, Adobe Flash Player or Java. So, you may believe you’re installing updates, but you’re not. In reality, you’re permitting the admission of a dangerous cyber threat. If you’d rather keep your PC infection-free, be more careful! Cyber threats prey on your naivety, distraction, and haste to invade. They exploit your carelessness as it provides an easy way in. Don’t grant it. Instead, go a different route. Be extra vigilant and thorough. Always take the time to do your due diligence. It goes a long way. And, it can save you a ton of troubles.

Why is this dangerous?

After the hijacker settles, it begins to meddle. But, as stated, it does much more than that. Much worse than that. The tool, using Digitalmerkat.com as a front, spies on you. It places your personal and financial details in jeopardy. The cyber threat follows instructions to steal your private data. Only to then expose it to strangers. Make no mistake! If you don’t delete it the first chance you get, the odds are stacked against you. The hijacker will succeed! It will keep track of your browsing activities, and record your every move. Then, once it gathers enough information it will send it to the people that published it. Don’t let that scenario unfold! Don’t allow cyber criminals into your private life! As soon as the hijacker reveals its presence with the display of Digitalmerkat.com, act! Find where it lurks, and delete it right then and there. It’s for the best, and you won’t regret it.

How to Remove Digitalmerkat.com virus

The Digitalmerkat.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 Digitalmerkat.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!
>>Download SpyHunter – a Professional Remover.

Please, keep in mind that SpyHunter’s scanner tool is free. To remove the Digitalmerkat.com infection, you need to purchase its full version.

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

STEP 2: Locate Digitalmerkat.com startup location

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

STEP 4: Undo the damage done by the virus

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

• Open Google Chrome

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