Remove Earth Maps Search Engine

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

Did you set the Earth Maps search engine as your new default engine? If not, prepare for bad news. This search engine is associated with a nasty browser hijacker. The Earth Maps hijacker enters your computer unnoticed and takes control of your web browser. Once on board, the parasite wastes no time. It alters your browser settings and initiates an aggressive adverting bombardment. The good news is that this intruder is not a real virus. It cannot corrupt your entire system. The hijacker limits its influence to your web browsers. Do not underestimate the situation, though. The hijacker is definitely not harmless. It may become the indirect cause of a serious cyber infection. The hijacker has no security mechanism. It may redirect you to infected websites. The Earth Maps hijacker is a type of unsafe advertising platform. Anyone willing to pay can promote anything. Numerators crooks take advantage of the parasite. They spread misleading and false content. The hijacker’s ads may redirect you fake web stores, phishing websites, and infected pages. With this utility on board, you are more likely to end up on bogus websites than on legitimate ones. This pest has no place on your device. It is a breach of your security. Not to mention how annoying it is. Do not waste your time. Get rid of the intruder the first chance you get! The sooner it’s gone the better!

How did I get infected with?

The Earth Maps hijacker did not hack your computer. No, it is not that advanced. The hijacker “hacked” you. It tricked you into installing it unintentionally. Confused? Let’s explain. You either clicked on a corrupted link, installed a malicious software bundle, or downloaded a fake update. The truth is that your reckless actions got you in this trouble. Learn your lesson. Only you can keep your computer virus-free. Always do your due diligence. Avoid using torrents. Download your software from reputable sources only. Forget about the “Next-Next-Finish” installation strategy. Always make sure you know what you are giving your approval to. Before you click on the “Accept” button, read the terms and conditions. If you cannot spare enough time to read the whole document, use an online EULA analyzer to scan it. Also, make sure you use the Advanced/Manual setup wizard. Many software developers attach extra apps to the payload files of their programs. Only under the advanced option will you be given the opportunity to prevent the extras from installing. Make sure you deselect all suspicious applications. Bear in mind that these third-party applications, more often than not, are intrusive parasites like the Earth Maps hijacker. If you feel that something looks suspicious, there probably is a good reason for that. Abort the installation if you have to.

Why is this dangerous?

The Earth Maps hijacker interferes with every aspect of your day to day browsing. Every website you visit, every link you follow, every video you watch, everything is heavy on ads provided by the hijacker. This intruder is a pain in the neck that is hard to be tolerated. And it shouldn’t! The more time you grant it on board, the worse your situation becomes. The hijacker turns you into a target. Anyone may use the parasite to target you with customized advertising campaigns. All these ads you are forced to see are not randomly displayed. They were selected for you. The hijacker spies on you and bases its ads on the collected data. Can you imagine what may happen if it discovers sensitive information? You won’t like the outcome. The more information it has, the more irresistible the adverts will become, the bigger the chance you click on a malicious one. Unfortunately, that is quite possible. The Earth Maps hijacker has no verification mechanism. An unverified advert may arise unwarranted expectations at best. At worst, it will redirect you to a malicious website. Still, the appealing adverts are not the biggest problem here. The hijacker displays more advertising content than you might be aware of. There are hidden ads. These camouflaged traps may get you in trouble. There is a reason why the Earth Maps search engine was forced on you. The hijacker uses it to control the search results you are provided with. It injects fake entries among all search results. These fake results are also adverts. They, too, are hazardous. With the Earth Maps hijacker on board, you cannot trust your own browser. Do not put up with this situation. Act against the intruder ASAP!

How to Remove Earth Maps virus

The Earth Maps 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 Earth Maps 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 Earth Maps related processes in the computer memory

STEP 2: Locate Earth Maps startup location

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

STEP 4: Undo the damage done by the virus

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

• Open Google Chrome

• In the Main Menu, select Tools then Extensions
• Remove the Earth Maps 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 Earth Maps

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 Earth Maps, 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 Earth Maps 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 Earth Maps 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.