Remove ExciteRewards.com Hijacker from Chrome/Firefox/IE

Suddenly ExciteRewards.com took over your homepage and you cannot remove it.

ExciteRewards.com has been classified as a browser hijacker. As you can imagine, this thing is unpredictable, very aggressive and potentially dangerous so it’s only fair that the parasite found its place on our website. There is absolutely nothing exciting and/or rewarding about ExciteRewards.com’s presence on your computer so our advice is to get rid of it on the spot. Not only is the hijacker harmful but it’s also shameless enough to pretend that it’s trustworthy. Starting with its name, the ExciteRewards.com virus has a rich variety of tricks and deceits in store and unless you’re willing to fall victim to some of them, you will do the right thing and delete the parasite. The official website of this program appears to be rather legitimate as it offers a decent-looking search engine. Tiny detail: it doesn’t work. You’re soon to be convinced that when it comes to ExciteRewards.com, unfortunately, nothing is as it seems. A single moment of naivety might have catastrophic results so you have to keep in mind exactly how malicious this program is. To learn more about this pest before you proceed to uninstalling it, keep on reading. Of course, you will also find a comprehensive removal guide below this article because you will definitely need to know how to deal with the parasite. Luckily, getting rid of ExciteRewards.com isn’t a particularly challenging task but the sooner you do it, the better for your machine, your privacy and your nerves.

Remove ExciteRewards.com

How did I get infected with?

If you know when the hijacker got installed, that indeed is very impressive. The most common scenario here, though, is that ExciteRewards.com sneakily infiltrated your machine leaving you completely oblivious to it. One of the many devious traits PC infections exhibit is their sly nature which means they mainly travel the Web applying secretive and often unfair techniques. It’s almost impossible to know for sure when the parasite got to you, especially if you have the habit of installing freeware. There is a huge possibility that something malicious is attached to the programs and if they come bundled, you can be certain there are some “bonuses” included. Such bonus programs could cause you an immense headache later on because ExciteRewards.com is not even the most dangerous thing out there; yet, it creates a mess all over your PC. You can remain in control of the software you install quite easily – just opt for the Advanced/Custom option instead of the Basic one. It should be your first priority to prevent virus infiltration so take your time and don’t rush. Remember, a moment of caution always pays off big time in the future. Also, make sure you check out the Terms and Conditions of the software you download, however time-consuming this may seem to you. If you don’t know what you’re agreeing to, you can’t be upset later on when you realize your PC has been compromised. You would have no one to blame but yourself, correct? Correct. So don’t take your cyber security lightly.

Why is this dangerous?

At the end of the day, ExciteRewards.com is a PC virus. Granted, it’s dangerous. Once the hijacker gets successfully installed, its shenanigans start almost immediately. ExciteRewards.com replaces your default homepage and your default search engine with its own domain forcing you to use the ones ExciteRewards.com offers. Your permission is not needed. Then the ExciteRewards.com hijacker starts redirecting you to some unknown, unwanted and highly unreliable websites. Again, your permission is not needed. It’s utterly unimportant whether the search results the parasite displays are helpful to you or not. Both ways the program’s developers generate revenue so they really have no reason to take care of your browsing experience. What you see on the PC may not even have anything to do with what you want to see but due to the parasite’s presence, that’s given. All the links it generates are sponsored and are not necessarily safe. Quite the opposite, if hackers see a possibility to infect you with malware, they will not miss it. Some of the search results displayed by the hijacker will surely lead to corrupted pages and you might end up accidentally corrupting your already corrupted computer much further. Another interesting detail about ExciteRewards.com is that this thing monitors and steals your personal information. That means your passwords, IP address, email-addresses, search queries and even your browsing history will eventually be into the hands of crooks. They could use numerous methods to make money out of your data and it’s your responsibility to make sure hackers don’t get to use any of them. The most serious consequences this may lead to is a financial scam or identity theft; which, to put it mildly, is very hazardous. You don’t have to put up with all these issues so our advice is to delete the nasty ExciteRewards.com hijacker ASAP. In order to so manually, please follow the instructions below.

How to Remove ExciteRewards.com virus

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

The ExciteRewards.com 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 ExciteRewards.com from Add\Remove Programs

STEP 2: Clean ExciteRewards.com from Chrome Firefox or Internet Explorer

STEP 3: Permanently Remove ExciteRewards.com leftovers from the System

STEP 1 : Uninstall ExciteRewards.com from your computer

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

run command

 

Type “regedit

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 ExciteRewards.com homepage from Chrome, Firefox and IE

  • Open Google Chrome

  • In the Main Menu, select Tools then Extensions
  • Remove the ExciteRewards.com by clicking on the little recycle bin
  • Reset Google Chrome by Deleting the current user to make sure nothing is left behind

disable ExciteRewards.com from chrome

  • Open Mozilla Firefox

  • Press simultaneously Ctrl+Shift+A
  • Disable the unwanted Extension
  • Go to Help
  • Then Troubleshoot information
  • Click on Reset Firefox

remove ExciteRewards.com from 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

remove ExciteRewards.com from ie

  • Restart Internet Explorer

How to Permanently Remove ExciteRewards.com 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.

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