Remove GifaPalooza Toolbar

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

GifaPalooza is a creation of Mindspark Interactive Network. It may seem like a perfectly safe tool but don’t let hackers fool you. There is nothing harmless about the GifaPalooza application. In fact, the parasite has been classified as a browser hijacker. Have you ever had to deal with hijackers? If so, you already know how problematic these programs are. Consider your entire browsing experience effectively destroyed by the virus. Once it lands on your machine, this nuisance starts messing with your browser settings. The parasite hijacks all your favorite browsers including Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Internet Explorer. It makes surfing the Web neither safe nor enjoyable and that’s just the beginning. You may notice that your default search engine as well as homepage get modified. Both are replaced with the parasite’s malicious domain. In other words, you are stuck with the virus. There is no getting rid of the sponsored search results GifaPalooza generates. And it is immensely important to know GifaPalooza displays some corrupted links as well. You can’t tell which web link displayed by the parasite is safe and which one is corrupted. If you’re particularly unlucky, you may land on malicious websites filled with viruses. Yes, the hijacker exposes you to more infections on a daily basis. The more time it spends on your computer, the more worrisome your situation becomes. You have no reason whatsoever to put up with the hijacker’s shenanigans. This pest also adds an extension to your browsers. It may inject them with some sponsored commercials and unreliable pop-up ads as well. As if that wasn’t enough, GifaPalooza leads to a poor PC performance. The parasite causes your overwhelmed browsers to freeze and crash as well. You can’t even use your device at peace, let along browse the Web. As long as GifaPalooza is present, your personal information is in danger too. Hackers currently get access to your browsing history and other details. If they sell your data to third parties, things may go from bad to terrible.

How did I get infected with?

It’s impossible to determine the exact method GifaPalooza used. This program relies on some tricky, incredibly stealthy distribution tactics. The most popular technique is called freeware or shareware bundling. As you can see, it is among the easiest ways for malware to get installed. Hackers actually rely on the fact most PC users skip installation steps. Instead of checking out the bundle beforehand, many people rush towards the “I accept” button. The problem is, rushing gives you no information about the programs you’re about to download. That is why we recommend that you opt for the Custom/Advanced option in the Setup Wizard. Be very careful what you give green light to. If hackers have attached a certain “bonus” and you rush, you end up infecting your own machine. Take your time to make sure there are no additional programs in the bundle. Also, stay away from illegitimate websites as well as software. Make a thorough check of all programs you download and don’t let hackers cause you harm again.

Why is this dangerous?

The hijacker gets activated immediately after it gets installed.  GifaPalooza doesn’t waste any time and neither should you. If you encounter this program’s unwanted presence, you have to take measures. Do not overlook the threat posed by such a tricky parasite. Remember, GifaPalooza was created by cyber criminals to serve their purposes. It makes a couple of unauthorized modifications in your browser settings. In addition, GifaPalooza slows down your PC speed significantly and may generate some fake pop-ups. Restrain yourself from clicking anything this pest might display. Put your safety first because one single click could worsen your already bad situation. Ignore all coupons, discounts, banners and other product deals you may notice. Don’t allow GifaPalooza to cause you some irreversible damage. This pest of a program must be deleted for good. Its trickery jeopardizes your privacy too because the hijacker spies on some sensitive data. If you’re especially unfortunate, GifaPalooza might get access to some personally identifiable information such as bank account details. To prevent financial scams and identity theft, get rid of the virus. You will find our detailed manual removal guide down below.

How to Remove GifaPalooza virus

The GifaPalooza 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 GifaPalooza 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 GifaPalooza related processes in the computer memory

STEP 2: Locate GifaPalooza startup location

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

STEP 4: Undo the damage done by the virus

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

• Open Google Chrome

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

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 GifaPalooza, 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 GifaPalooza 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 GifaPalooza 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.