Remove Startme.online Redirect

Can’t Remove Startme.online hijacker virus? This page includes detailed Startme.online Removal instructions!

The design of the Startme.online website resembles your standard homepage. Yet, this page is not your regular homepage. It was forced on you by a malicious application. Unfortunately, it’s true. You have the Startme.online browser hijacker on board. You are quite lucky, though. This parasite is not a full-fledged virus. It is a malicious utility which has managed to enter your PC unnoticed and modified your browser’s settings. You have new a homepage as well as a new default search engine. The good news is, you are stuck with one relatively easy to remove type of infection. The Startme.online hijacker is completely removable. All you should do is to act promptly. If you neglect the infection, however, hell will rise. The hijacker is programmed to bombard its victims with commercials. It injects ad banners and in-text adverts on every website you visit. For every ad you click on, the owners of the parasite will be paid. To guarantee its owners’ stable income, the hijacker will drown you in a sea of commercials. It will redirect your browser to sponsored web pages. Pop-up windows and messages will appear when you least expect them. On top of this, the hijacker will pause your online videos for commercial breaks. You will hate every second of the experience. To make the matters worse, your computer will become sluggish. This issue is also caused by the hijacker. This utility is no way a light one. The Startme.online hijacker consumes an enormous amount of computer resources. It may cause both your browser and OS to freeze and crash frequently. Do not put up with this situation. Download a trustworthy anti-virus app and run a full system scan. Or, you can try to remove the infection by yourself. For manual removal, please, follow our detailed guide.

How did I get infected with?

The Startme.online hijacker is not an ingenious virus. This parasite is nothing but a malicious program that has managed to enter your computer. The key to its success is your negligence. Without you and your approval Startme.online wouldn’t have infected your OS. As any other program, the hijacker needs your permission to operate. Yet, it doesn’t need to ask you openly. The crooks have invented ways to trick the users into installing unwanted applications. The most commonly used distribution methods include torrents, software bundling, and spam emails. All these techniques rely on your negligence and carelessness. Consider yourself lucky. This time, you got a removable infection. Yet, what’s going to happen next time? Learn your lessons. You are responsible for your computer’s security. It is in your best interest to adopt better browsing habits. From now on, whenever you are installing a program, opt for the Advanced installation option in the Setup Wizard. Only under it will you be able to see whether additional programs are about to be installed. If there are such programs, examine them carefully. Do some online research and read the Terms and Conditions/EULA. Install only the apps you trust. Another habit you should master is to avoid shady websites. Download your software from reliable sources only. Spam emails and other instant messages are also often used for malware distribution. Do not open letters from unknown senders. And of course, keep your anti-virus software up to date.

Why is this dangerous?

The Startme.online hijacker should be removed upon detection. This program cannot be beneficial to you. On the contrary, if it remains active for too long, it will get out of hand. With the time passing, the furtive tool will get more and more aggressive. You will see more and more advertisements. And you will hate them. Ad banners and in-text ads will soon cover your screen. Constant browser redirection will slow your Internet connection down. As annoying as the Startme.online hijacker is, this piece of software should not be neglected. Given enough time, the hijacker may cause serious damage. Unfortunately, not a single advert displayed by the hijacker is verified. Hackers and people with questionable interest often use such programs to spread corrupted commercials. One click on the wrong ad is all it takes for malware and viruses to be downloaded on your machine. Keeping the Startme.online hijacker on board is definitely not worth the risk. Don’t waste time. Take action against the hijacker now!

How to Remove Startme.online virus

The Startme.online 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 Startme.online 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 Startme.online related processes in the computer memory

STEP 2: Locate Startme.online startup location

STEP 3: Delete Startme.online traces from Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer

STEP 4: Undo the damage done by the virus

STEP 1: Track down Startme.online 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 Startme.online 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 Startme.online 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 Startme.online traces from Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer

• Open Google Chrome

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

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 Startme.online, 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 Startme.online 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 Startme.online 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.