Remove Power Handler from Chrome, Firefox, IE

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Today’s article is all about the Power Handler virus. This program is a typical adware-type infection which has all the potential to cause you damage. As the parasite cannot harm you directly, it uses lies and deceit instead. Unless you’re willing to let it get out of hand, take measures now. The sooner such a pest get removed, the better. Bear in mind there is no such thing as a harmless PC infection. Even though Power Handler doesn’t seem to be particularly destructive, it isn’t a threat to be taken lightly. Since the moment this nuisance gets installed, it starts making unauthorized changes. Power Handler modifies all your browsers without any consent. As you could imagine, cyber parasites don’t get developed to take the victim’s opinions into consideration. Power Handler ignores your own preferences about your own browsing experience. It installs a browser extension or a plugin. Thus, you are no longer in charge of your browsers. Simple as that. The parasite effectively takes over and covers your PC screen with ads. Obviously, Power Handler serves hackers’ purposes so these commercials are anything but trusty. If a certain ad is brought to you by this pest, that is only because hackers want you to see it. Clicking the sponsored Power Handler advertisements helps crooks make money. Thanks to the pay-per-click mechanism, cyber criminals successfully gain profit online. All they have to do is flood your PC screen with commercials and trick you into clicking. Thus, don’t be surprised if the pop-ups seem perfectly reliable. This is a cheap trickery which is supposed to make the ads appealing. The adware is shamelessly trying to tempt you into clicking the various advertisements it generates. However, you have no reason to believe these commercials are actually helpful. Hackers are gaining revenue at your expense and the ads might turn out to be corrupted. Unfortunately, there is no telling which pop-ups is real and which one is fake unless you click. Are you willing to take this risk, though?

How did I get infected with?

There are many plausible explanations. Maybe the most popular method infections use is called freeware bundling. It allows all kinds of viruses to get spread online in silence. The one thing worse than infecting your machine is doing so without knowing it. Next time you download program bundles, opt for the custom or advanced option in the Setup Wizard. This will allow you to go through the entire bundle and check out for additional programs. If you spot some bonus that is hiding in there, you have to deselect it. The problem is, most PC users underestimate hackers’ creativity. If you rush the installation process thinking the bundle you install is safe, you may get surprised. We recommend that you take your time to make sure no viruses are part of the freeware/shareware bundle. Always keep an eye out for malicious programs and you’ll see that it is worth it. Reading the Terms and Conditions is yet another rule of thumb. Be cautious online and stay away from illegitimate websites or bundles. Last but not least, the spam emails and messages you receive could turn out to be dangerous as well.

Why is this dangerous?

As mentioned, the infection is compatible with all your browsers. It works with Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer. Power Handler causes quite a mess on your device as you cannot browse the Internet anymore. Instead, you’re being constantly redirected to unknown websites and your browsers freeze/crash on a daily basis. The Power Handler virus doesn’t stop there and jeopardizes your privacy too. It steals your browsing history, usernames, passwords, even email addresses and IP addresses. There is no parallel universe in which hackers should get access to your personal data. Thanks to Power Handler, they now monitor every single move you make online. There are plenty of monetizing platforms crooks could use to make money out of your details. You never know where and for what purposes your information could end up. The one thing you could be one hundred percent sure of is that your privacy is in danger. To delete Power Handler manually, please follow our detailed removal guide down below.

How to Remove Power Handler virus

The Power Handler 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 Power Handler 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 Power Handler in the computer memory

STEP 2: Locate Power Handler startup location

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

STEP 4: Undo the damage done by the virus

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

• Open Google Chrome

• In the Main Menu, select Tools then Extensions
• Remove the Power Handler 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 Power Handler

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 Power Handler, 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 Power Handler 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 Power Handler Virus (automatic) Removal Guide

Please, have in mind that once you are infected with a single virus, it compromises your system 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.