Remove Elex Hijacker from Chrome/Firefox/IE

Suddenly Elex took over your homepage and you cannot remove it.

If your PC somehow ended up infected with this nuisance of a program, you’ve come to the right place. And you’re certainly reading the right article as we’ve tried to answer some of the most frequently asked questions concerning the nasty Elex parasite and its sneaky ways. Classified as a browser hijacker, this thing is an incredibly unpleasant sight on any computer. Especially yours. Since the minute it manages to get installed (because this usually happens without your permission) till the moment your patience runs out and you uninstall the virus, Elex has nothing but trouble to offer. After the hijacker successfully slithers into your PC system, it replaces both your default search engine and favorite browser homepage with its own unreliable domain. Why unreliable? Because all search results generated by the Elex program (presented as “accurate” and “relevant”) are in fact sponsored web links that could lead you to practically any website. As you can see, thanks to the parasite’s intervention, it’s an incredibly easy task to end up on a highly dangerous page filled with malware. Elex doesn’t guarantee you safety. However, we assume that you would appreciate being able to trust your browsers as well as the web links on your computer screen again so why keep a hijacker around? Apart from the modified search results and the fact that Elex constantly redirects you, this pest also generates a huge amount of pop-up ads, pop-under ads, banner ads, interstitial ads, video ads and many more types of ads that you never asked for. The Elex commercials are just as unreliable and potentially malicious as all the web links that this virus forces on you so it goes without saying they should be avoided. To top it all, the parasite’s unwanted presence effectively slows down your PC speed, your overwhelmed browsers might start occasionally to freeze and/or crash and your overall Internet experience will be disrupted. Does that sound like fun to you?

How did I get infected with?

Browser hijackers don’t deviate from the typical pattern that most infections take when it comes to distribution methods. That means if you know how to protect yourself from the pesky Elex virus, you should be safe from many other kinds of cyber infections as well. Now, even though you’re probably quite uncertain and confused about this parasite’s presence on your system, we have a couple of plausible scenarios as to how Elex got to you. Having in mind that freeware/shareware bundles offer the perfect combination of stealth and efficiency, it comes as no surprise that this sneaky technique is the most popular one. If you’ve recently downloaded some questionable software from an equally questionable website, the parasite might have been attached to the legitimate programs you gave green light to. Do you see where this is going? In case you’ve encountered this pest’s presence, you installed it yourself. To protect your device from such sly infiltration tactics in the future, always opt for the advanced/custom option in the Setup Wizard and pay close attention to the software you download. Make sure there is no intruder attached to the bundle and don’t hesitate to deselect any nasty “bonus” program seeking your consent. Remember, it’s a lot easier to avoid the parasite at such an early stage than to delete it later on. It is also a good piece of advice to restrain yourself from clicking any third-party commercials you might come across on the Web, spam message or spam email-attachment. Caution always pays off.

Why is this dangerous?

As we mentioned, the Elex parasite hijacks your browsers but having in mind this program is a hijacker, that’s not exactly a great surprise, is it? Once it gets installed, the virus adds a malicious browser extension to Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer so from this moment on, your browsing experience simple cannot remain unaffected. The parasite’s compatibility with three of the most commonly used browsers out there only makes the mess bigger. After the Elex browser add-on has been successfully downloaded, the hijacker starts to aggressively redirect you towards the specific websites that its creators want you to visit. Don’t fall victim to such a cheap trickery and don’t trust any of the questionable Elex search results. They are not worth the risk. You might be interested to learn that the only reason why hijackers were developed in the first place was to generate web traffic thus helping hackers gain illegal revenue though the pay-per-click mechanism and some other devious monetizing techniques. In addition, the Elex parasite collects about as much personal information as it possibly could, which, as you can imagine, poses a direct threat to your privacy. Let’s not go into detail about all catastrophic consequences that you might face when your data gets sent to the wrong hands. Hackers usually sell your browsing history, passwords, usernames, search queries, IP addresses and email addresses to third parties for marketing purposes but if they get access to some personally identifiable information, things could become very ugly very fast. And if the thought that greedy cyber criminals spy on your online activities doesn’t make you nervous, it certainly should. In order to get rid of this nasty intruder before it gets completely out of hand (because it will), please follow the detailed removal guide down below.

How to Remove Elex virus

If you perform exactly the steps below you should be able to remove the Elex 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.

The Elex adware is specifically designed to make money. It generates web traffic, collects sales leads for other dubious sites, and will display advertisements and sponsored links within your web browser.

STEP 1: Uninstall Elex from Add\Remove Programs

STEP 2: Clean Elex from Chrome Firefox or Internet Explorer

STEP 3: Permanently Remove Elex leftovers from the System

STEP 1 : Uninstall Elex from your computer

Simultaneously press the Windows Logo Button and then “R” to open the Run Command Window

 

Type “regedit”

 

navigate to HKCU\software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main

Modify the string with a value data and set it to google.com for example.

STEP 2 : Remove Elex homepage from Chrome, Firefox and IE

• Open Google Chrome

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

How to Permanently Remove Elex Virus (automatic) Removal Guide

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.