How to Remove PrivacyZone Search Redirect

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

If your browser’s homepage is replaced by the PrivacyZone Search website, we have some bad news for you. Your computer is infected with a browser hijacker. Do not panic! We are here to help. This infection is not that serious and can be removed completely. But, before we continue, let’s take a moment to explain what this hijacker is. PrivacyZone Search Hijacker, also known as PrivacyZone Search Virus, is a malicious program that is installed on your computer. It is not a full-fledged virus. Yet, if you neglect it, it may become cause damage to your computer. The hijacker is an application that is programmed to generate ad revenue. Basically, for every ad you click on, the owners of the hijacker will be paid. And you will see a lot of adverts. The hijacker blocks its competitors’ commercials and replaces them with its own. It also injects extra ad banners and in-text adverts on every website you visit. Previously ad-free pages are now heavy on commercials. With every passing day, the hijacker will become more and more aggressive. You will hate the experience. Your online videos will be paused for commercial breaks. Every time you try to follow a link, additional tabs will open in your browser. Your web browser will struggle to display any web page correctly. It will start to freeze and crash frequently. Your computer will also get influenced. It will also start to perform poorly. The PrivacyZone Search hijacker is not a light program. It consumes an enormous amount of computer resources. Some older machines may experience system crashes. This, of course, leads to data loss and a lot of frustration. Luckily, if you take immediate action, you can remove the hijacker completely. If you are not comfortable modifying your system’s components, please, use a trustworthy anti-virus app. For manual removal, follow our guide. The sooner you remove this intruder, the better!

How did I get infected with?

The PrivacyZone Search hijacker is distributed via stealthy techniques. Spam emails, torrents, fake software updates and freeware bundling. These are just the most commonly used malware distribution methods. Yet, all these techniques have something avoid. All of them rely on your carelessness and negligence. A little extra caution can prevent them from succeeding. The bundling method, for example, relies on you using the Standard Installation Wizard. This process is completely automatic. Once you start it, you lose control over it. Whenever you are installing a program, opt for advanced/custom installation option. It can be a button or tab. Do not hesitate to use it. This method is not complicated. Under it, you will be presented with a list of all additional programs that are about to be installed. Examine them carefully. These third party apps, more often than not are malicious. Take your time to read the terms and conditions. Deselect all programs that look suspicious. Keep in mind that you can deselect all extras and still install the program you originally planned to set up.

Why is this dangerous?

The PrivacyZone Search hijacker is extremely annoying. It interrupts your browsing sessions and causes your browser to crash. Yet, this parasite can also be quite hazardous. Every ad displayed by the hijacker is potentially dangerous. The PrivacyZone Search hijacker does not check what is being promoted via its services. The crooks often take advantage of this situation. They use hijackers to redirect users to websites partaking in scams. Prepare to be introduced to hundreds of “great opportunities,” financial software, PC optimizers, games and pages with adult content. Do not trust these websites. They are not verified and are likely to arouse unwarranted expectations. Moreover, they may be infected with viruses. Same goes for the adverts displayed by the hijacker. One click on a corrupted ad may download more malware of viruses directly on your computer. The stream of bad news is not ending here. You cannot avoid the ads. No matter how hard you try, the hijacker will lure you into clicking on some. This infection injects fake entries among the search results you are provided with. No matter the search provider, the hijacker can modify the results. The fake entries are usually adverts. Yet, they are not marked as such. With the PrivacyZone Search utility on board, there is no way to tell which results are organic and which are promoted. Do yourself a huge favor. Remove this parasite before it is too late!

How to Remove PrivacyZone Search virus

The PrivacyZone 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 PrivacyZone 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 PrivacyZone Search related processes in the computer memory

STEP 2: Locate PrivacyZone Search startup location

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

STEP 4: Undo the damage done by the virus

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

• Open Google Chrome

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