How to Remove MovieFanatic Search Malware

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

MovieFanatic Search is a malicious program. It’s part of the hijacker family, and it’s an utter plague. The tool invades your system via slyness and subtlety. Then, after it sneaks its way in undetected, corruption ensues. The hijacker makes sure to announce its existence. How? Well, by meddling. The program intrudes on every single move you make. MovieFanatic Search forces an avalanche of interference on you. It redirects you to Moviesfanatic.com when you go online. No matter what you do, you WILL get redirected. Not only that, but you’ll also get bombarded with advertisements. Pop-up, in-text, and banner ads flood your screen. Try to imagine what browsing the web turns into. A nightmarish experience. There aren’t enough ways to stress that. You get interrupted at every step of the way. So much so, that it takes a toll on your computer. It slows down to a crawl. Your system suffers frequent crashes. It’s quite the mess. And, it gets worse. Don’t put up with the continuous meddling of the hijacker. Don’t let it have free rein over your system. Get rid of it as soon as the opportunity presents itself. The sooner, the better! Its prompt deletion earns you the gratitude of your future self. Do it now.

How did I get infected with?

MovieFanatic Search turns to trickery to invade. And, it’s pretty masterful in the art of deception. The tool managed to get you to permit its install. All, while keeping you oblivious. Oh, yes. The hijacker keeps you clueless to the entire exchange. It may seem confusing, but it’s rather simple. So, here’s the thing. Hijackers have to ask you, the user, for permission on their installment. Only if you grant it, can they proceed with entry. That’s why, they make sure to ask the right way. A way that keeps you from denying them access. The old but gold means of infiltration come in pretty handy to ease their sneaking in. For example, the infection lurks behind freeware. It provides one of the easiest, if not THE easiest, invasive method. That’s because, users are quite careless when installing freeware. For reasons unknown, they rely on luck, and aren’t thorough at all. They don’t do their due diligence, but give into naivety and haste. Instead of reading the terms and conditions, they say YES to everything. And, that’s how you get stuck with a hijacker. The program lurks behind freeware, spam emails, corrupted links, fake updates. It lays low, and prays you’re careless enough NOT to spot it. It preys on your carelessness. Don’t grant it. Choose the opposite approach. Next time, you install anything off the web, be extra attentive. Vigilance can save you a lot of troubles. Always take the time to be thorough. Choose caution over carelessness. That allows you to keep infections out of your PC.

Why is this dangerous?

MovieFanatic Search threatens your privacy. It’s programmed to spy on you from the moment it invades. So, as soon as it slithers its way in, its espionage begins. The hijacker keeps track of every single move you make. And, it doesn’t only observe. It also records everything. That’s right. The cyber threat has a record of every move you make online. Let that sink in. A dangerous infection has access to your sensitive information. That includes your personal and financial details. And, what do you imagine happens after the infection steals enough data? It exposes it. Oh, yes. Once the hijacker gets a hold of enough data, it hands it over to strangers. Unknown individuals with questionable agendas. Do you think that ends well for you? Are you going to trust these people with your private life? Because, after they get their hands on your information, that’s it. They can use it as they see fit. So, the question becomes, will you allow that scenario to unfold? Will you let the hijacker succeed with its thieving agendas? Will you idly stand by as it steals and exposes your private information? Or, would you rather protect yourself, as well as, your system’s well-being? Do yourself a favor, and pick the latter. Get rid of the hijacker the first chance you get. The more time you allow it to spend on your PC, the worse your situation gets. Cut the infection’s stay as short as possible! Once the hijacker reveals itself via Moviesfanatic.com, take action. Acknowledge the page’s popping up as the warning it is, and heed it. Locate the cyber threat’s exact hiding place. And, delete it. The sooner, the better.

How to Remove MovieFanatic Search virus

The MovieFanatic Search 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 MovieFanatic Search 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 MovieFanatic Search related processes in the computer memory

STEP 2: Locate MovieFanatic Search startup location

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

STEP 4: Undo the damage done by the virus

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

• Open Google Chrome

• In the Main Menu, select Tools then Extensions
• Remove the MovieFanatic Search 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 MovieFanatic Search

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 MovieFanatic Search, 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 MovieFanatic Search 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 MovieFanatic Search 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.