How to Remove Hao123 Hijacker

Can’t Remove Hao123 hijacker virus? This page includes detailed Hao123 Removal instructions!

Hao123 is the name of a nasty hijacker. If the browser hijacker slithers into your system, be wary. Corruption ensues not long after. A sure way to know of the invasion, is to come across the Hao123.com website. The site’s appearance is hardly good news. Hao123 begins to force it on you, at every turn, following invasion. Consider it a warning, and heed it! To discard the signs of trouble, is to set yourself up for a bad time. There aren’t enough ways to stress the importance of prompt action. Hijackers are quite hazardous and harmful, and Hao123 is no exception. If you don’t get rid of it ASAP, you WILL regret it. The program bombards you with an ever-growing heap of issues. Ones that seem to evolve with time. What begins an online intrusion escalates into a security hazard. Don’t allow the escalation! Protect yourself, and your system’s well-being. Find and delete the nasty cyber threat at once. The sooner, the better.

How did I get infected with?

The Hao123 threat makes its way into your PC, as a free program you can download. Odds are, you allowed the infection in, without realizing it’s a dangerous threat. And, you can blame that on your carelessness. Infections, like the hijacker, prey on it. They rely on you to rush, and not bother reading terms and conditions. Your distraction, haste, and gullibility ease their invasion. So, why would you provide them? Don’t throw caution to the wind, when installing anything off the web! The web is a dangerous place that hides many threats. Always be on your guard, and do your research. Look through the terms and conditions. Learn what you give the green light to. Even a little extra attention can save you a heap of troubles. Due diligence helps to keep your system infection-free. The lack thereof does the exact opposite. Make the right choice.

Why is this dangerous?

Let’s clarify a few things. First off, you should note that Hao123.com is not by itself a malicious website. In fact, it may even get categorized as legitimate. It’s created by Baidu, which, if you didn’t know, is the Google of China. The Hao123 site provides an improved user experience, and offers better search results. It’s easy to use, and that appeals to web users. However, cyber criminals have also taken note of that. And, have found ways to take advantage of that. There’s a free program, roaming the web, and it goes by the name ‘Hao123 client.’ That program promotes the use of the Hao123.com page. And, as you may have guessed, that program is malicious. It got crafted by malicious third-parties with malicious intentions. Once they get their clutches on your PC, prepare for problems. They force unwanted reshuffles, cause system crashes, create lagging. The list goes on and on. It’s quite the mess. But, by far, the worst part of getting stuck with the Hao123 infection is the security hazard. The infection, forcing the page on you, spies on you. It monitors your online activities, and records everything you do. Then, after it gets a hold of enough data, exposes it. It hands over your information to the cyber criminals behind it. That won’t end well no matter how you look at it. Keep your personal and financial details private. Ensure your system’s well-being. Don’t let yourself get fooled by the seeming legitimacy of the Hao123.com website. It conceals the presence of a dangerous cyber threat. One, you must remove from your PC at once. Do it ASAP.

How to Remove Hao123 virus

The Hao123 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 Hao123 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 Hao123 related processes in the computer memory

STEP 2: Locate Hao123 startup location

STEP 3: Delete Hao123 traces from Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer

STEP 4: Undo the damage done by the virus

STEP 1: Track down Hao123 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 Hao123 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 Hao123 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 Hao123 traces from Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer

• Open Google Chrome

• In the Main Menu, select Tools then Extensions
• Remove the Hao123 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 Hao123

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 Hao123, 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 Hao123 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 Hao123 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.