Remove Popular123.com Redirect Completely

Can’t Remove Popular123.com hijacker virus? This page includes detailed Popular123.com Removal instructions!

The Popular123.com website has a nice design and appears useful. Yet, it is not the homepage you chose. This page was forced on you. And there is nothing good about it. The appearance of the Popular123.com website is a sign that you have a browser hijacker on board. This malicious program is a classic in its field. It appeared out of the blue and is now wreaking havoc on your device. It will replace your homepage as well as your default search engine. The Popular123.com hijacker has turned your own web browser against you. Everything you do online is monitored. Every website you visit, every link you follow, everything! And the data? The hijacker will use it to select the right kind of advertisements for you. But that is not all. It will also sell every bit of information to third parties. You will be surprised how many potential buyers there are. They range from desperate marketing agents to dangerous hackers. The hijacker, after all, can steal your usernames, passwords and email addresses. Check your inbox now, it is probably full of junk mail. The hijacker is a menace that should not be tolerated. This app brings only troubles. The longer it remains active on your PC, the more complicated its removal will become. Therefore, don’t waste your time. Don’t neglect this hijacker. Use a trustworthy anti-virus program and remove it for good. Of course, you can follow our guide and remove the pest manually.

How did I get infected with?

The Popular123.com hijacker could have arrived as a bundled program. Or, it may have presented itself as an “urgent” software update. There are many ways for malware to travel the Internet. And the Popular123.com hijacker uses not just one. Yet, all these techniques rely on one thing – your negligence. It doesn’t matter if the tool arrived as a fake update or as an extra program, your vigilance could have prevented the infection. When installing a program, opt for an advanced setup method. This option is often described as a suitable choice for IT experts only. This is a deception. The advanced method is not complicated. It is a step-by-step installation wizard. Crooks don’t want you to use it. Under it, you will be presented with a list of all additional programs that are about to be installed. Deselect them. You would have downloaded these tools by yourself if you truly needed them. Be skeptical. Your vigilance can spare you tons of problems. Download your software from reliable websites only. If you see a pop-up stating that you need to update your Java or Flash, proceed with caution. Most often, these messages are part of a scam. Go to the software’s official website and download the update from there. This is your computer. You are the one who is responsible for its security.

Why is this dangerous?

The Popular123.com hijacker is a menace. It has changed your homepage without your consent. This should be irritating enough to take actions against this tool. Its removal will benefit your machine. To operate, the hijacker needs computer resources. It runs on your CPU and consumes a lot of RAM. The hijacker may cause some older machines to freeze and crash frequently. Even new devices may suffer unexpected crashes. But that is not the worst part. The malicious utility has full control over your web browser. It can block content from its competitors and replace it with its own. Thus, it limits your sources of information. Furthermore, you can’t make an objective research while this app remains active. It injects fake entries among the search results you are seeing. These, most of the time, are adverts. Yet, they are not marked as such. Dodgy websites pay hefty sums for their links to be displayed at the top. The hijacker is turning you into an easy target. You may become a victim of all kinds of scam. Luckily, you can put an end to this madness. Delete the hijacker upon discovery.

How to Remove Popular123.com virus

The Popular123.com 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 Popular123.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.

WARNING! Stopping the wrong file or deleting the wrong registry key may damage your system irreversibly.
If you are feeling not technical enough just use Spyhunter Professional Malware Removal Tool to deal with the problem!
>>Download SpyHunter – a Professional Remover.

Please, keep in mind that SpyHunter’s scanner tool is free. To remove the Popular123.com infection, you need to purchase its full version.

STEP 1: Track down Popular123.com related processes in the computer memory

STEP 2: Locate Popular123.com startup location

STEP 3: Delete Popular123.com traces from Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer

STEP 4: Undo the damage done by the virus

STEP 1: Track down Popular123.com 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 Popular123.com 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 Popular123.com 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 Popular123.com traces from Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer

• Open Google Chrome

• In the Main Menu, select Tools then Extensions
• Remove the Popular123.com 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 Popular123.com

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 Popular123.com, 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 Popular123.com 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 Popular123.com 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.