Remove Istartpage123.com Hijacker from Chrome/Firefox/IE

Suddenly Istartpage123.com took over your homepage and you cannot remove it.

Istartpage123.com might seem like a legitimate search engine. However, that is the very last thing Istartpage123.com actually is. Even though its developers, the infamous Turing Tech Inc., make some admirable attempts to present their browser hijacker as a perfectly save and very practical program, it goes without saying that this is a lie. You should know better than to trust hackers when they try to manipulate you because your cyber security depends entirely on your own caution. Since the moment this parasite manages to land on your PC system, it immediately starts wreaking havoc so if you make the rookie mistake to keep it on board for too long, it WILL get out of hand. After Istartpage123.com slithers itself onto your computer, it goes after all your browsers and modifies them to serve hackers’ malicious purposes. Your preferences, opinions and liking are no longer relevant. Are you upset already? The hijacker’s trickery is just getting started. Istartpage123.com automatically replaces both your default search engine and favorite browser homepage with its own questionable domain because this way the virus takes complete control over your browsing experience. The only reason why this happens is because crooks are aiming for revenue and it’s safe to say that in order to gain money, they would not hesitate to expose you to all types of malware. Now that you know that money is involved, you should be feeling very nervous. If crooks get paid enough, they will bombard you with corrupted web links leading straight to infections, corrupted commercials leading to non-existent products or malware, corrupted software updates, etc. Long story short, nothing you see on your PC screen is trustworthy after Istartpage123.com got installed and if you don’t insist on cooperating hackers in their illegal schemes, you will uninstall their hijacker in an instant. Apart from the modified search results and the pile of potentially dangerous advertisements that Istartpage123.com brings along, the virus also successfully steals your personal data and sends it to crooks. You know what that means, don’t you? Your IP address, email addresses, passwords and usernames might easily end up in the greedy hands of some extremely unreliable third parties which poses the serious danger of financial scams and even identity theft. As you can see, even though hijackers aren’t a particularly virulent type of infections,  Istartpage123.com could absolutely demolish your Internet experience. Trust us on this one, you will be better off without the virus.

remove Istartpage123.com

How did I get infected with?

Hijackers apply mainly secretive techniques to get installed so the most common scenario is that Istartpage123.com was bundled with some free programs that you downloaded off of the Internet. Have you recently installed freeware/shareware bundles from some illegitimate website? There you go. Unless you’re very cautious and extremely attentive in the installation process (which many PC users are not), you’re putting your machine at a great risk. Remember, unverified websites don’t guarantee safety and the fact their software bundles come for free doesn’t mean they are harmless. To prevent virus infiltration, select the advanced or the custom option in the Setup Wizard and keep an eye on the programs that enter your computer system. More often than not, there is AT LEAST one highly undesirable and potentially very dangerous intruder attached to the bundle which will get installed unless you deselect it on time. Having to uninstall it later on will be a much more challenging task so keep in mind that caution pays off in the long run. Don’t be naive and don’t jeopardize your own safety. It’s also recommended to stay away from the various spam messages, spam email-attachments, random third-party web links, etc. you might come across while surfing the Web.

Why is this dangerous?

As we mentioned already, Istartpage123.com is light years away from being the harmless search engine that it tries to pass as. The supposedly “accurate” search results this thing bombards you with are nothing but a pile of sponsored web links leading to questionable pages. You should know that the hijacker was developed solely to boost the web traffic towards those specific websites in order to generate revenue for hackers. To do so, Istartpage123.com installs a malicious browser extension that is perfectly compatible with Google Chrome, Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. Then the parasite starts redirecting you and from this moment on you can be fairly certain that you will not able to find anything you’re searching for online. Apart from that, you could easily install more malware simply by clicking some corrupted web link generated by the tricky hijacker. Also, due to the parasite’s manipulations, prepare to see potentially dangerous pop-ups, useless pop-unders, useless banners, corrupted interstitials, etc. because the ads displayed by Istartpage123.com are just as unreliable as its modified search results. To top it all,  the virus monitors your browsing-related activities so hackers could sell it later on thus gaining more profit out of harassing you. Crooks should never have access to your private (and probably quite sensitive) data so, as you can see, this whole thing could have some irreversible consequences. To put an end to the numerous issues that Istartpage123.com brought along, please follow the detailed removal guide down below and delete the parasite for good.

How to Remove Istartpage123.com virus

If you perform exactly the steps below you should be able to remove the Istartpage123.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 Istartpage123.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 Istartpage123.com from Add\Remove Programs

STEP 2: Clean Istartpage123.com from Chrome Firefox or Internet Explorer

STEP 3: Permanently Remove Istartpage123.com leftovers from the System

STEP 1 : Uninstall Istartpage123.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 Istartpage123.com homepage from Chrome, Firefox and IE

  • Open Google Chrome

  • In the Main Menu, select Tools then Extensions
  • Remove the Istartpage123.com by clicking on the little recycle bin
  • Reset Google Chrome by Deleting the current user to make sure nothing is left behind

disable Istartpage123.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 Istartpage123.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 Istartpage123.com from ie

  • Restart Internet Explorer

How to Permanently Remove Istartpage123.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.

Leave a Comment